Leah could picture the pout on her friend’s face. “Betsy, it hasn’t exactly been all fun and games, you know. I couldn’t go home because of the reporters, the amount of messages on my phone would stress even you out, and…”
“I ruined your life, I know. I feel horrible. I really do.”
Leah couldn’t tell if there was actual sincerity in Betsy’s voice or if she realized how trite she sounded right then.
“I want to make it up to you,” Betsy gushed.
“How?” What could her friend do to make the nightmare of her life any better? Send her to a spa for the day? Order one of those fancy baskets Betsy basically got for free thanks to the marketing from Charmed? That wasn’t Leah’s world, it was Betsy’s. Those were things Betsy would love, not Leah.
She just wanted to be left alone.
“Before you say anything, just hear me out, okay? I need you to promise.”
Leah snorted. “I’m not promising you anything. I’ve learned my lesson.” Betsy had used the same sentences last time and Leah had blindly promised, but not just to hear her out. If she remembered correctly, she said something along the lines of I don’t need to promise; you know I’m your girl if you are in a bind.
Well, she was no longer that girl, that was for sure.
“Ouch.”
“Can you blame me?” Leah asked.
There was silence on the other end of the phone before Betsy grumbled incoherently before she gave her typical oh-well-this-is-me giggle.
“Of course I don’t blame you, silly. That’s why I want to make it up. I have the best idea ever. It’s going to make right all my wrongs, I promise.”
“No more promises, please.” Leah could write a book based on all the promises Betsy had made throughout the years and broke.
“Fine, fine. Just hear me out, okay? I’ve thought up the best idea and even got the approval from my boss, which, as you know, is a miracle of itself. I sold it as helping boost ratings. Everyone loves a happy-ever-after story and—”
“No.” No matter what Betsy was about to suggest, her answer was simple.
No. Hell no. Not-in-this-world no.
“But…come on, Leah. Just hear me out, please.”
Betsy could beg, plead, tempt, and promise the world, but the answer would still be no.
“This will be good for you. It’ll solve everything, I prom…oops.” Betsy giggled while Leah gritted her teeth. “Let me bring up a team to your little town and do a focus story. On you, on the town, and on your romance with Wade. We’ll sell it as Lonely Leah Finds Love, and everything that happened gets erased. No more drinking issues, no more broken hearts, and you get back in the good graces after the things you said about Marietta. It’s a win-win for everyone. In fact, if you read the gossip papers tomorrow, you’ll see that we took care of the whole alcohol thing.” Betsy tripped over her words in her rush to get them out before Leah could stop her. It was like watching a runaway dog, knowing there was nothing to do but stand there and trust the silly thing came home…eventually.
Except, this was no dog and there was no hope for return.
“What do you mean, you took care of the whole alcohol thing?” Why did she have a feeling she was about to be skewered with the dull edge of a spoon?
“We found out who switched your glasses, that’s all.” Betsy’s voice was chipper. Too chipper. “Someone made an anonymous confession, leaked it to the right source, and it’s about to be plastered all over the news.”
“Who?” Leah’s mind raced in circles as she tried to remember the happenings of that day. It was very possible her glasses had been switched, but by who?
“One of the girls. Don’t worry about it. We’ve taken care of it.” There was a measure of satisfaction in those words, along with a measure of pride.
“What did you do?” Betsy had told her, multiple times, that to keep a job with Charmed, you had to be cutthroat and willing to cross a few lines.
She always warned Betsy there were a few lines that should never be crossed.
“I promised you I’d take care of it, and I did. Just say thank you and agree that me coming to Marietta is a brilliant idea.”
Brilliant idea? No way.
“I’m leaving in the morning, so don’t bother. It’d be a waste of a trip.”
“But…” Betsy inhaled, the sound reminding Leah of a whistle. “If you weren’t leaving in the morning, you’d do it? That’s awesome! I’ll cover the cost of you flying home afterward, too, so don’t worry about that. Send the receipt for the cancelled flight to me, and I’ll get you reimbursed. Thankyou-thankyou-thankyou.”
“Whoa, slow down, that’s not what I said at all.” Leah knew when she was about to get steamrolled by the Betsy train, and this was one of those times. “No. I said no, and I really mean it. I love you, but I’m out. No more favors. No more last-minute miracles. I don’t know if I have a job because of your show, my reputation is ruined, and Grams is not all that thrilled with the comments I made.” Leah leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. “No, Betsy. I just want to go home.”
“I know I made a mess of things. Please, let me make it up to you.”
She loved Betsy. She really did. But…
“Unless you can turn back time, I think you’ve done more than enough.” She rubbed the kink in the back of her neck. If it weren’t for seeing Wade again this afternoon, she’d wish this day over.
She wasn’t sure what he had in store for them, but she was intrigued. And maybe, just maybe, they could talk about the phone call and his response and…
“Don’t come home. Please? Give me three days. That’s all I ask. Three days to make amends. You won’t even know we’re there. Well…” She caught herself. “You will but I promise it won’t be a bad experience. Everyone has promised to be on their best behavior and the only focus we have is rebuilding what we torn apart.”
Was Betsy serious right now? Did she not hear her say no? Leah couldn’t get over the gall Betsy had. Shouldn’t surprise her though. Betsy did work in reality television, and she was quite good at her job.
“Betsy, for the last time, no. Drop it okay?” Just like she was ready to drop this conversation.
“Think about it, please? The producers want to make it up to you. I want to make it up to you. Please, please, just think about it. That’s all I ask,” Betsy begged.
There was a small part of Leah that liked having Betsy beg, truth be told.
But there was a larger part that was ready for a break. From Betsy. From the mess and chaos that came from having Betsy in her life.
Of the many lessons she’d learned from this whole experience, it was that.
No more chaos. No more messiness. She was ready to focus on her career, living with more peace in her life, and maybe, one day, finding love.
If she could get over Wade.
Which she doubted would ever happen.
Chapter Nine
The moment Leah opened the door to Copper Mountain Chocolates, she was ready for that cocoa and for whatever else Sage was cooking up for the day.
When she opened the door, there was a line at the counter but only one table occupied.
Leah waited her turn, somewhat patiently, while pursuing the display in search of a treat to nibble on. She didn’t notice that the line in front of her disappeared and she was the only customer left in the store.
“Are you going to stand there all day and drool over the chocolates or just eat one?” Sage set a mug of her cocoa down on the counter and laughed at her.
“Sorry.” Leah gave her head a shake. “I’m a little out of it today.”
“No kidding. Dylan mentioned you stayed up all night baking. Where’s my cinnamon bun, huh?”
Leah’s eyes widened. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry. I…”
Sage held up her hand, smile wide across her face. “I’m only teasing. Dylan brought one in already.”
Leah reached for her cocoa and breathed in deep. “I basically
filled his freezer with baking so if you’re wanting more, just say the word.” God, she loved the smell of this cocoa. She had no idea what Sage put into it. It was hands down the best she’d ever tried.
“Come and meet my niece, Portia. She’s been working here since October, and we could use a break after stamping all these foils for our gold coins.” Sage grabbed a tray with two cups and a small plate of treats and led the way to the table in the corner where Portia sat.
“What are the coins for?” Leah asked as she sat and looked at the stack of foil sheets on the extra chair.
“The St. Paddy’s Day hunt. We hide them all throughout the town. It’s pretty fun, actually. I’m trying something different this year, though.” Sage nodded toward the plate she’d set in the middle of the table.
The chocolates on the plate were round, all the same size and thickness, but that was about all that was similar to them. They were all different flavors, from what Leah could surmise.
“Oh, different coins,” Leah said. “I like it.”
Sage broke a chocolate circle into pieces, passing each of them one to taste.
“Different chocolates with different colored foils. Normally, we only do one color—gold—but Portia came up with the idea, and well…why not?”
Leah glanced over at Portia who blushed.
“I think it’s perfect. Come on.” Leah reached for another piece of coconut milk chocolate. “Who doesn’t love this stuff anyway, right?”
“What are you going to do when you move back to California and don’t have your brother bringing home my chocolates or hot cocoa?” Sage leaned back in her chair and studied Leah.
She squirmed in her chair a little, feeling very uncomfortable. Not from the question but from the look her old friend gave her.
“Come back home more often?” Leah assumed that was the correct answer. From the satisfied grin on Sage’s face, it indeed was.
“That might be a good thing, unless you want people believing the nonsense written about you in the papers.”
Leah’s hand froze as she reached for her mug. To have someone else talk about it—someone not in her family…the fist-sized ball of panic locked in place within her grew.
“The nonsense?” she squeaked.
“Yes, the nonsense.” Sage frowned. “You remember…where you called Marietta a backwater town in the middle of nowhere surrounded by ranches and cowboys?” Sage looked her straight in the eye, leaving Leah wishing she were anywhere but here. “That you couldn’t wait to leave and spread your wings, to discover there was more to life than what our small town has to offer,” she continued.
Portia coughed discreetly while Leah squirmed even more.
“Sage…” Leah wanted her friend to understand. It was more than a want. It was a need. She needed Sage to understand, just like she needed her town to understand that she never meant those words…not like that.
“Was it worth it?”
Leah shook her head. “It was the biggest mistake of my life.” Her phone rang, and she pulled it out of her jacket to give it a quick look.
Betsy. Leah shook her head. Seriously, could the girl not take no for an answer?
“Is it important?” Sage asked before Leah could decide whether she wanted to answer it or not.
Her conversation with Josie this morning played through her mind. She would need to show the people of Marietta that they were important to her, and while she had no idea how to do that…she knew it would take little steps.
Like this one.
She hit the ignore button, shut off the volume, and stashed the phone back in her coat pocket.
“No, it’s not important.” Not as important as being here, in the present, with her friend. She wasn’t going to be in Marietta much longer, but for the time she was here, she would make it count.
“Sage, this is my home. No matter what happens to me, this…” She glanced out the front window and thought of what Marietta really meant to her.
It was home. It was safe. It was…heartache and comfort and growth and security and…
“This is where you run to lick your wounds.”
Leah nodded. “I was wrong. I…that show took advantage of me, and I’d let my walls down. I trusted someone I shouldn’t have, and it cost me in the end.”
“So it’s all true?” Sage took a sip of her cocoa and watched her over the brim of her cup.
Leah wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think it’s all true. They embellish a lot.” She let out a very long sigh. “Charmed isn’t…exactly what I thought it would be. It’s…crazier than what you see on television. There’s so much that happens behind the scenes, it’s almost scary.”
“Did you get the bracelet?” Portia paused in stamping the foil and gave Leah her full attention.
“Portia…”
“No, it’s okay,” Leah reassured Sage. “I did get a bracelet, with tiny charms. It’s actually really pretty. I had to sign a contract that I wouldn’t sell it or the charms for at least two years, though.”
“Why would you want to sell it?” Portia asked. “I’d keep that forever as a reminder of the experience.”
Leah snorted. “If the experience was a good one, sure.”
“What do you mean?”
Leah pursed her lips. She wasn’t allowed to talk about it. Non-disclosure agreement and all that stuff. She’d tell those closest to her, but everyone else…she needed to figure out what to say and how to say it.
“Things aren’t always how they appear on the show is what I think she means, right?” Sage offered on Leah’s behalf.
Leah nodded, thankful for Sage stepping in.
“So, what’s it like? The mansions always look amazing and—” Portia leaned forward, completely intent on finding more about what the hit reality television show was really like.
“It looks like a fairy tale, right?” Leah said. She hated to destroy Portia’s obvious love for the show. “Not all fairy tales have happy endings, at least, not the original ones. Charmed is whatever you want it to be. A fairy tale, a nightmare…it’s basically a choose your own adventure but shared with millions of other people.”
Portia seemed to take that in. She leaned back and placed her hand on her expanding belly, rubbing it gently as she did so, and gave her a thoughtful nod. “Doesn’t sound like the fairy tale I’d want.”
It took Leah a moment to respond; she was transfixed by Portia’s pregnancy. She cast a glance toward Portia’s hands and noticed the absence of a wedding ring.
“Me neither,” Leah finally said. Guess she wasn’t the only one disappointed by fairy tales. She wasn’t going to prod, but she couldn’t help but be curious as to Portia’s story—why she was here in Marietta, pregnant and working for Sage.
“But your friend works for the show, right?” Sage asked.
Leah swirled the cocoa in her mug around a little, watching as the whipped cream dissolved into the chocolate gold and took a sip before she nodded. “Right. I was on there to do her a favor. She had a last-minute cancellation, and she would have been fired if she didn’t find a replacement.”
“Fired? On Charmed? They wouldn’t do that.” Portia was taken back.
Leah chuckled. “Oh honey, in the land of reality television, there are no second chances. It’s a sharks’ world, and I should have known better.”
She did know better. It was why she’d called Dylan for advice. She couldn’t call Wade for many reasons, one of them being he was on a guided hike in the woods. Another being it would have been extremely uncomfortable given her proclamation of love and his avoidance of that declaration.
Portia reached across, placing her hand on Leah’s arm for a second. “I’m so sorry. It sounds like it was anything but a fairy tale.”
“So, the comments…” Sage brought the subject back around.
“Would you believe that fruit-flavored dessert wine mixed with soda doesn’t taste like alcohol? Especially when you’re forced to sit in the hot sun all day with very littl
e food to eat?”
Sage’s eyes grew rounder than the chocolate coins on the table.
“You don’t drink,” she said.
The breath Leah let out hurt. It came from the bottom of her soul and was full of wishes and regrets. “They knew that, too. I guess someone overheard me talking with Betsy about how I was only supposed to be there the first night, and then they decided to take a very boring day and make it into something more show-worthy. They wanted explosive and that’s exactly what happened.” She half turned in her seat, facing Sage directly.
“I am so sorry for everything I said. I was heartbroken and going on that show wasn’t the way to deal with it. I love Marietta. It will always be my home, and it was wrong of me to say otherwise.”
Sage looked at her, searching her gaze as if to read the truth in her eyes.
Leah had never been more honest.
“I believe you,” Sage finally said.
Leah’s whole body sagged with relief.
“I hate to tell you this though, Leah, but…” Sage winced as if she knew the words she was about to say would hurt.
She didn’t need to say them though.
“But I have a lot of work ahead of me, don’t I?” If Sage read about what she’d said in the papers, then it was almost guaranteed everyone else in Marietta had, too.
“Josie says I need to stop hiding and get out there, talk to everyone before I leave, which happens to be tomorrow morning.” Leah glanced at her watch and realized it was already after four o’clock. She was late.
“If I can give you a piece of advice? Cancel your flight and stay for another week, at least. Otherwise, you look really guilty. It will only back up everything the media has been saying—whether it’s true or not.”
Leah startled. “That’s exactly what Betsy suggested.”
“Betsy’s the producer friend? And she wants you to stay?” Sage frowned.
“She wants to bring a production crew up here for a day or two to film me, this town…something about Lonely Leah Finds Love, except…” Her throat suddenly became very dry, like the air in Arizona on a hot summer day dry, and she couldn’t get the words out.
Charmed by Chocolate (Love at the Chocolate Shop Book 6) Page 8
