by Regina Hart
Audra adjusted the microphone. “Happy birthday, Trinity Falls.”
Her voice trembled a bit, probably from nerves. Jack was nervous for her. But the cheers and applause that followed her greeting let him know she’d already won over her audience.
With a nod from Audra, the band started the first song. She accompanied it with her guitar, as easy with the instrument as though it were a fifth limb.
There was dancing in and on the seats. Several members of the audience—young and old—left their chairs, giving themselves over to the music. All too soon, the song ended. People jumped up and down, roaring their approval. Jack was filled with pride at their reaction to Audra’s performance.
She laughed into the microphone. “Thank you! Thank you so much, Trinity Falls. You’re a great audience. This next song is an original piece, inspired by your lovely town. I hope you enjoy it.”
Another opening chord played. It was reminiscent of the rushing waters of the Trinity Falls. The music was even more compelling than the previous song. After half a minute, Audra’s smoky voice joined the band. She weaved the story of a sheltered woman, determined to convince a thick-skulled man that she loved him. This time, even more people left their seats to dance.
“‘It’s not a fairy tale. It’s my love.’” Audra’s voice gained strength as she sang, seeming to feed off her audience’s enthusiasm. “‘This pain is as real as it gets. It can’t be healed by a magic rose, glass slipper, or talking pets.’”
Jack closed his eyes as her lyrics drew him back to their time together. “‘It’s like a fairy tale. Happily ever after.’” She’d said that to him on more than one occasion. Was she singing to him? His heart pounded faster and harder. Her words were tearing him apart. He prayed for her to stop.
Audra kept up her song of seduction. “‘Prince Charming, you cast a spell on me. Wake me up! Wake me up! We don’t need three wishes, honey. I know the words to say for our happily ever after. It’s not so far, far away.’”
Jack couldn’t catch his breath. His body heated as her words called him back to their most intimate moments. His pulse raced with the memory of her limbs entwined with his. He tasted need.
Mercifully, Audra’s song came to an end. The audience thanked her with more deafening applause. Jack breathed a slow sigh of relief, but his muscles were still strained.
Ramona returned to the podium. “Wasn’t that a great concert? The band really outdid themselves. And, Audra Lane, Trinity Falls can’t thank you enough for your great performance. We hope you consider this your second home.”
Audra blew a kiss toward Ramona, then waved at the cheering crowd.
Ramona continued. “Thank you all again for coming. We hope you enjoyed the celebration. Please join us in Freedom Park for a sesquicentennial barbecue with all our local favorites, including Doreen Fever’s Trinity Falls Fudge Walnut Brownies.”
Audra left the area with Vaughn and the concert band. Jack tracked her every move. The pleated skirt of her red minidress swung with each step that carried her away from him. His throat burned as he bade her a silent good-bye.
Two weeks later, Jack returned from his morning run to find Darius on his porch. What had brought his friend here so early on a Saturday morning? He slowed to a walk and stretched his shoulders to ease the tension stirring at the base of his neck.
The newspaper reporter stood from his perch on the porch railing. “I’ve been meaning to ask you. Were you referring to me when you mentioned ‘annoying siblings’ during your Founders Day speech?”
“Yes.” Jack used the back of his wrist to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He mounted the stairs and entered his cabin.
Darius followed him. “It’s been two weeks. I thought for sure you’d have made at least one trip to L.A. by now.”
Jack’s stride faltered on his way to the kitchen. Darius bounced off his back.
Jack glanced at him over his shoulder. “Why?”
He crossed into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water from the faucet.
“Come on, Jack. You’ve been regressing ever since Audra left.”
Jack drained his first glass. He gestured toward Darius. “Water?”
“You see? You’re back to your cryptic conversations. You’ve literally said three words to me since I’ve been here.”
Jack refilled his glass. “Considering the reason you’re here, that’s three words more than you deserve.”
Darius took a seat at the kitchen table. “I’ll have that glass of water, please.”
Jack took another glass from the cupboard and filled it with ice and water. He gave the glass to Darius before settling onto the seat opposite his friend. “Are you staying long?”
“Thanks.” Darius accepted the glass. “That depends. How long will it take you to explain why you haven’t visited Audra?”
“Why should I?”
“Because you’re in love with her.”
Jack almost choked on a mouthful of water. “I’ve only known her four weeks.”
“Yet she’s had a strong, positive impact on you in such a short period of time.”
Jack couldn’t deny that. The way he’d felt with Audra compared to the way he felt now without her was as different as day and night. Audra had led him out of the shadows and back into the light.
Jack moved restlessly on his chair. “I enjoyed those four weeks with her. But they were an aberration.”
“What makes you think that?”
“She lives in L.A.”
“So?”
Jack sighed with irritation—and regret. “Those weeks weren’t real. Audra was on vacation, remember?”
Darius sipped his water. “It was a working vacation. She came here to complete her contract for three songs.”
“A working vacation is still a vacation.” Jack pushed away from the kitchen table and carried his empty glass to the dishwasher. “We live in different worlds. She’s a Grammy-winning songwriter who lives and works in L.A. I repair rental cabins in northeastern Ohio.”
Darius snorted. “Rentals that you own, in addition to the Monitor, Trinity Falls Cuisine, and the bank.”
“Owning all those things won’t make the twenty-four hundred miles between us disappear.”
“You need to speak with Quincy and Alonzo. Ask them about the years they spent apart from the women they loved. I have a feeling they’ll tell you you’re being a fool for not trying to make this relationship with Audra work.”
“How?” Jack spun to face Darius. He threw his arms up. “She has lunches with music executives and club-hops with other artists. How can I compete with that?”
“Why would you have to? Audra likes it here.”
Why was Darius so stuck on this idea? Why couldn’t he understand not every couple could have a “happily ever after”?
Jack leaned back against his kitchen counter. “She was fine here for a couple of weeks. After a couple of months, she’d start climbing the walls. Trinity Falls can’t compete with L.A.”
Darius rested his right ankle on his left knee. “What makes you so certain?”
“Kerry grew up in Trinity Falls. I thought she was happy here, until she divorced me. Ramona was born in Trinity Falls. She’s spent her entire life trying to leave.” Having examples that validated his theory didn’t make Jack feel any better.
“Ean left Trinity Falls. He came to his senses and moved back.” Darius’s voice carried the satisfaction Jack didn’t feel. “But there’s an alternative solution.”
“What?”
“You could move to L.A.”
Jack stiffened. He’d never thought of living anywhere other than Trinity Falls. This town had been home to generations of Sansburys. Could he leave?
Yes, if leaving meant spending the rest of his life with Audra. “That’s an option.”
“What are you doing here?” Audra stood in the front doorway of her Redondo Beach townhome, scowling at Jack.
Her welcome was a frigid blast of air in th
e late August heat. Jack should have expected it, though. His good-bye to her had been cool, curt, and cruel.
Jack nodded at the cab driver idling at the curb, letting him know it was OK to leave. As the vehicle merged back into traffic, he collected his courage to face Audra again. He took in her brown capris and gray Los Angeles Lakers T-shirt. Those were the darkest colors he’d ever seen her wear.
“I’d like to speak with you. May I come in?”
She stood, silently barring the entrance for so long. Was she going to turn him away, send him back to his hotel? Jack’s palms began to sweat. Audra finally stepped aside and he entered.
“How did you find me?” She fastened the three locks on her front door—the doorknob lock, dead bolt, and security chain.
“Benita gave me your address.” And assured him Audra would be home in the afternoon, probably working. It was a very different image from the one Wendell painted. Why had I believed that guy?
“In exchange for what?” She led him into her living room.
“She was impressed by your Founders Day performance.” Jack’s face heated with embarrassment. “I promised to try to talk you into making your own album.”
“That won’t happen.” Audra settled onto a soft-looking, burnt orange armchair on the far side of the living room.
“At least I can tell her I tried.” Jack sank onto the matching sofa.
The room was bright and happy. The walls were painted a sky blue. Potted spider plants hung in her bay windows. The hardwood flooring was the same oak wood as her bookcase and entertainment center.
“So talk.” Audra was being as stingy with her words as she’d once accused him of being.
In her eyes, he’d previously found laughter, wonder, and desire. Now her champagne gaze was hard with temper.
Regret was sour in his throat. “I’m sorry.”
Silence.
Audra arched an eyebrow. “That’s it?”
“I . . .”
She rose from her seat. “You could have just called.”
Panicked, Jack popped off the sofa and blocked Audra’s path to her door. “I was wrong to push you away. I’m sorry I did that.”
“That apology took three weeks?” Audra crossed her arms. “You could have phoned that in. Why did you fly all the way to Los Angeles?”
“I wanted to apologize in person.”
Audra shook her head with a sigh. “Well, you’ve done that. Thanks for coming. Good-bye.”
Jack stepped to his left, blocking Audra’s escape again. She looked at him in surprise. He dragged his right hand over his hair. “That’s all you have to say? ‘Good-bye’?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Anything but good-bye.”
“I enjoyed your Founders Day speech.”
That isn’t any better. “Thanks.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face. Why couldn’t he communicate with her? He’d spoken from his heart to Kerry, to an entire town, but never to Audra. Why couldn’t he let his heart speak to the woman he loved?
Because he was afraid she wouldn’t love him back.
Jack pushed past his fear and pried open his heart. “The past three weeks have been hell without you. All the light you brought into my life has just gone away. I miss you.”
“Now that’s worth flying across the country to say.” Audra’s lips curved into a soft smile.
“It’s just a start.” Jack reached for her hand, relieved when she let him hold it. “Could you give us a chance?”
Audra cocked her head. The light returned to her eyes. “Are you suggesting a long-distance relationship?”
“I’m suggesting I move to L.A.”
Audra stepped back, trying but failing to free her hand from Jack’s. “You’d leave Trinity Falls?”
“For you.”
Audra caught her breath. Did the stubborn, dense man even realize what he was saying? What he’d been saying since he’d showed up on her doorstep? “Your family founded Trinity Falls. You can’t throw away your heritage.”
“I’m not throwing away anything. I can always visit Trinity Falls, but I want the chance to build a life with you.” Jack pressed her hand to his heart. “You make me a better person.”
“Then why can’t we live in Trinity Falls and visit Los Angeles?”
Jack frowned. “Don’t you need to be in L.A. for your career?”
“I can write songs anywhere.” Audra cupped his face, looking deep into his onyx eyes. “Trinity Falls feels more like home to me than Los Angeles ever has. I fell in love with your town—the place and the people.”
“What about me?” Jack’s voice was rough. “How do you feel about its rental cabins owner?”
Audra lifted up on her toes. She placed a soft, brief kiss on his yielding lips. “I fell in love with him, too. He’s my Prince Charming. And I know he loves me back.”
Jack smiled into her eyes. “How do you know that?”
She shook her head. “Oh, you silly, silly man. I knew you loved me when I saw you standing on my steps. When I first met you, you wouldn’t leave Harmony Cabins. Now you’re flying twenty-four hundred miles to say you’re sorry? That could only be love.”
Jack’s laughter rumbled in his chest, making her knees weak. “I’d take a rocket to the moon, if that’s where you were. You’re my ‘happily ever after.’”
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Trinity Falls
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CHAPTER 1
“I can’t do this.” Ean Fever closed the client folder. He leaned forward and laid it on Hugh Bolden’s imposing teakwood desk. Hugh was his boss and one of the principal partners with the New York law firm of Craven, Bolden & Arnez.
“Why not?” From the other side of the desk, Hugh’s laser blue eyes took aim at Ean’s face. His frown deepened the fine wrinkles between his thick gray brows. “It’s like all the other corporate litigation cases you’ve worked.”
“I can’t represent this client.” Ean steeled himself for his boss’s reaction.
“‘Can’t’ or ‘won’t’?” Hugh seemed more curious than confrontational.
“Won’t.”
The walls were closing in on him. Ean freed his gaze from the older man’s steely regard to take in the spacious office. It smelled like power and prestige. Thick silver carpeting complemented the teakwood furnishings—conversation table with four white-cushioned chairs, executive desk, cabi-netries and bookcases. The entertainment center, including the high-definition television, was black lacquer. The picture window behind Hugh framed several Manhattan skyscrapers as they pierced the hot August sky.
Commendations and civic awards decorated the walls and shelves. But the partner’s office didn’t give any insight into the man: his loved ones, his hobbies, his beverages of choice. And after almost seven years with the firm, Ean knew the older man little better than on the day he’d interviewed with him.
Hugh shifted in his chair. He crossed his right leg over his left and adjusted the crease in the pants of his navy Armani power suit. “What’s on your mind, Ean? You haven’t been yourself for months.”
Six months. Since his father’s death in February, after a long illness Ean had been unaware of. Why hadn’t anyone told him? “I need a change, Hugh.”
“To what? Employment law? Contracts? Torts?”
Ean shook his head as Hugh rattled off the divisions within the firm. “I have to go home.”
Hugh’s gaze flickered. His frown deepened. “Is your mother sick?”
Ean appreciated his boss’s concern. “No.” At least, not as far as he knew.
“Then why do you have to go home?”
“I’m doing this for myself.”
Silence stretched. Hugh took his measure, much as the seasoned litigator did during meetings with opposing counsel.
Tension ebbed from Ean’s neck and shoulders as he gained confidence in his decision. He hadn’t made this choice lightly. He’d sp
ent the past five months weighing the pros and cons, what he felt against what he knew. In the end, the two were the same. He felt the need to return to Trinity Falls, Ohio, and knew he had to make the move now.
Would someone like Hugh Bolden understand that? The firm appeared to be everything the partner wanted. Ean couldn’t allow that to happen to him.
Hugh sat back in the tall executive seat made of brown leather. His expression cleared. “Do you want a leave of absence?”
“No.” Ean rose, gathering his writing tablet and silver Cross pen from the table. “You’ll have my resignation before the end of the day.”
He checked his bronze Omega wristwatch. It was almost ten o’clock on the last Friday morning in August. He’d already put in more than four hours.
Hugh stood. Concern was evident in his expression. “You’re resigning? Isn’t this sudden?”
“I don’t think so.” Ean slid his hands into the front pockets of his dark gray Hugo Boss pants. “I appreciate the opportunities you’ve given me, Hugh, including the partnership two years ago.”
Hugh shook his head. “You earned the partnership. You’re a brilliant lawyer, Ean. I’ve enjoyed working with you. Are you sure you want to resign? Maybe you just need some time.”
His family or his career, those were Ean’s choices. He already knew how it felt to lose a family member. “Craven, Bolden and Arnez is one of the best firms in the country. But my life needs to go in a different direction.”
“Are you sure this is what your father would have wanted for you?” The question was surprisingly gentle coming from such a gruff man.
Ean tightened his grip on his writing tablet. No, he wasn’t. Was that the reason everyone had kept him in the dark regarding his father’s terminal cancer? Because his father was afraid Ean would risk his career to help care for him?
“I don’t know.”
Another long, silent scrutiny from Hugh’s sharp eyes. “I understand. I’m sure this decision wasn’t easy for you. But everything will work out. You’ll make sure of it.”
