by A. C. Arthur
“Now, I’ve saved the best for last,” Shirley said. “I’m so excited about this announcement, I could just bust.”
Shirley did a little shake that may have been meant to accompany her words about busting, but actually made her look a little insane, as she wore a tight green dress that surely would not support her body parts in the event any busting were to actually take place. Millie snatched the microphone from Shirley before anything like that could happen.
“As the chairperson of Temptation’s chamber of commerce, I’ll be making the next announcement,” Millie started to say.
Ava looked around for Gage at that moment because she really didn’t want to hear anything that Millie had to say. The woman was a troublemaker, and she was rude and annoying.
“This time last year, we welcomed back to town a member of one of our most esteemed families. I’d like to ask Grayson Taylor and his wife and children to stand,” Millie said.
Harper leaned over in her seat, looking past Ava to where Wendy sat. Wendy shrugged and Harper shook her head. Ava watched as Gray stood with Jack on his shoulders and Morgan stood with Lily standing in the seat beside her. The audience clapped once again.
“Yes, welcome back to the Taylors,” Millie continued. “I’m saying that with a plural because Garrek Taylor was back with us for a few months this year. Just long enough to snag the heart of our very own Harper Presley. Harper, you come on and stand, too.”
Harper groaned as she got to her feet, and Ava gave her a conciliatory pat on her back when she sat down again.
“It seems like all the Taylors are coming home,” Millie went on to say. “And with that comes our big announcement. As you all know, once upon a time The Taylors of Temptation was a reality show. And this show brought lots of revenue to our fair town. Now, thirty years later when reality television is still going strong, the Taylors are going to help our town out once again by filming an all-new reality show.”
Ava’s heart sank, and her throat went dry as whispers began to sound in the audience.
“That’s right, the new show is going to be called The Taylors of Temptation: Remember the Times. And it’s all set to air this time next year. Filming will start soon after the first of the year, so in addition to welcoming the rest of the Taylor sextuplets home, we’ll also be preparing for visitors. The crew and all those Hollywood folk will be staying here in town and eating and shopping. We’ll make enough money to fix the bridge down by the stream and make necessary improvements to the dock, as well as help some of the local businesses refresh their storefronts. We want to look our best, of course.”
All of a sudden Ava didn’t know what to do with her hands. They’d been resting in her lap, but now she was wringing them, and when she realized what she was doing she hurriedly dropped them to her sides. She didn’t want to look to her left or to her right, because Wendy and Harper were most likely staring at her in question. Instead she looked over the heads of the audience toward the barn, where Gage now stood, his gaze zeroing in on her.
“So let’s give a great big round of applause to the Hollywood producer Ava Cannon, who has been staying with us these past couple of months. Ava’s been here scouting locations and getting the Taylor family ready to be in the spotlight once again. Come on and stand up so we can all see you, Ava.”
Ava didn’t stand. She didn’t need to. All eyes were immediately on her. But the only ones she gave a damn about were his.
Chapter 13
Gage gripped the steering wheel as he drove them toward the dock. So many things had been flowing through his mind since they’d left the festival, but he knew he’d needed to take a moment to get his thoughts together.
“Is that what this has been about?” Gage asked when he stopped his car.
After Millie’s announcement he’d stood still, unable to move a muscle as he watched Ava moving through the crowd toward him. She was trying to get out of the row where she’d been sitting, but people kept congratulating her, or simply standing just to shake her hand. To shake the hand of the producer of the new Taylors of Temptation reality show.
“No,” she immediately replied. “We... What we have is separate.”
“Separate from you brokering a deal for a show that was never going to happen,” he replied.
His hands slipped slowly off the steering wheel to rest in his lap. He felt calm, dangerously so.
“The deal happened before us, or rather, before this ‘us’ began,” she said and then turned sideways in the seat to look at him. “Let me just explain from the beginning.”
Gage shook his head. “You followed me here and weaseled your way into my family, so that you could film us again. You knew how I felt about that show and being in the spotlight from day one, and you stayed, you continued. You lied to me. You used me and my family.”
“That’s not entirely true,” she continued. “When I was approached about this deal, all I knew was that your family had stayed out of the limelight for the last thirty years. I didn’t know why.”
“And you didn’t bother to ask,” he responded and felt his entire body begin to shake.
“I wanted a chance to get to know you and the family first, and then I was going to—”
“You were going to what, Ava? Would you have married me if I asked? Had my kids maybe? All to get your precious show. What’s the matter, one successful show wasn’t enough? Or was it that you couldn’t stand your own dysfunctional family so you decided to squirm your way into another one to see if you could destroy it, too?”
She jerked as if he’d physically assaulted her, and Gage frowned.
“I can explain,” she said slowly. “I can tell you exactly how this came about and the terms I’ve requested for you and your family.”
“I don’t give a damn about any terms,” he said, this time through clenched teeth because the calm he’d possessed was slowly slipping. “I don’t care about your explanations. This business ruined my family once, there’s no way I’m going to let that happen again.”
“Gage—” she started.
“No!” he yelled. “I drove you back here so you can get your things. I’ll call you a cab while you pack.”
He opened the door and stepped out of the car. He closed the door but still stood beside it waiting...for what, he had no idea. To wake up possibly, from this horrid dream. For her to tell him that Millie had lied and none of this was happening. That the woman he’d fallen in love with hadn’t screwed him just to see her name roll in the credits of another television show.
He heard the passenger side door open and close softly.
“I apologize for not telling you sooner,” she said. “I should have. I knew it all along, and I didn’t say anything. I guess I didn’t want to destroy the perfect moments we were having.”
“They weren’t perfect,” he replied and gazed at her over the top of the car. “They were lies. All of this was a lie. Just like the show that was on television thirty years ago. We were never that happy family enjoying the limelight. My father was never the happily married man madly in love with his wife. We’re not on television right now, so if in your mind this was going to end with a big wedding, a house and kids, you were wrong.”
“If you would just let me explain,” she tried once more.
“Explain what? That you were just fine sleeping with me and dragging me to parties, but when it really came down to it, you didn’t give a damn about me or my feelings.”
He took a breath, but more words came, and Gage was helpless to stop them.
“You want to explain why you lay in bed with me every night and never once bothered to tell me you were having my baby? Why did I have to find out the day after you aborted my child when the clinic called to check on you because your blood pressure was running high when you were discharged? Why are you constantly lying and deceiving me when I’ve told you how hard it was for
me to trust anyone?”
Silence fell between them after those last words. Ava stared at him with tears and confusion in her eyes.
Gage cursed.
He ran his hands down his face and cursed again.
“Gage,” she gasped.
“No,” he said. “Just no. It’s enough.”
“I didn’t know. I’m not like whoever she was. Let me—”
“No!” he yelled. And then sighed. “Just stay the hell away from me.”
When she didn’t move or speak, he walked around the car to stand directly in front of her.
“I mean it. Get yourself another consultant for your show and find another family to exploit, because it won’t be me or the Taylors. Stay away from me and my family.”
He walked away then, letting himself onto the yacht but going straight back to the lounge room, where there was a bar. He needed a drink. And he needed her off his boat and out of his life...before he could deal with the fact that his heart was breaking once again—and this time it had nothing to do with a television show.
* * *
It was her fault.
She shouldn’t be irritated as hell with Gage. But she was.
How dare he order her to get her stuff off his yacht and then call her a cab to get her away from him as fast as possible? And on top of all that, he’d warned her to stay away from him and his family, as if she had no choice but to listen to him on this matter. There were five other adults involved in this situation—whether she’d talked to all of them directly or not—and they each deserved the opportunity to listen to her proposal and provide an answer. She should just set up a meeting with them and see what happened.
But doing so would hurt him more.
More than what this woman had apparently done to him. He’d had a child, and she took it from him without even telling him. It was no wonder Gage didn’t trust people. And Ava had lied to him, as well. She couldn’t deny that fact.
Pressing this issue, forcing his family into the spotlight—with or without him—would seal Gage’s distrust box closed tightly forever. And even if he couldn’t bring himself to stay with her, he deserved love and happiness with someone.
By the time Ava climbed out of the cab, it was almost midnight.
She walked around to the trunk, where the driver was removing her bags. “Here you go.” She extended the twenty dollars to him and bent down to pick up the duffel bag he’d placed on the curb.
“Fare’s already taken care of,” he told her. “I’ll carry these others to the door for you.”
Ava frowned. What kind of guy put a woman out and paid for her cab fare?
The kind she was desperately in love with.
She knocked on the door, the last bits of her pride in her back pocket, and waited. Harper opened the door and offered her a small smile. A genuine smile.
Once she and all her stuff were in Harper’s foyer, Ava cleared her throat and said, “I apologize. I should have been up-front with everyone the moment I interrupted the volleyball game that day.”
“You could have done that,” Harper said as she folded her arms over her chest. “But then you wouldn’t have learned all you did about the Taylor family, and you wouldn’t have had the chance to fall in love with Temptation and Gage.”
Ava ran her hands through her hair and sighed. “I don’t know how any of that happened. I was just trying to do my job.”
“But something else occurred,” Harper said with a nod. “Been there. Done that.”
“You deceived and alienated a family that you not only needed for work, but loved and admired, as well?” Ava asked and chuckled to keep from crying.
“Not exactly,” Harper replied. “But it took me a minute to accept the love that had blossomed because of my independence and everything I’d built my life to be.”
“There’s nothing to accept now,” Ava said quietly. “Absolutely nothing.”
She walked away from Harper and up that gorgeous romantic stairway with heavy steps. It was all over. Tomorrow she would arrange for her and her mother to go back to LA.
“Oh, Ava. Darling, I wasn’t expecting you,” Eleanor said and then giggled.
Yes, Ava thought with a start as her eyes widened and her mouth gaped, her mother was giggling. And she was sitting up in the bed accepting grapes from Otis, who sat on the side of the bed, also giggling.
“Ah, hiya, Miss Ava,” Otis said before popping another fat grape into her mother’s mouth.
“What. Is. Going on here?” Ava asked. She couldn’t stop her feet from leading her deeper into the room. Even though her eyes were burning at the sight of her mother in such an—for lack of a better word—intimate position with a man.
“Otis took off work today. He’s been here taking care of me since this afternoon when Harper left to go see about you,” Eleanor said. “Did you have fun at the festival?”
“No,” Ava replied instantly. “That’s what I came to talk to you about.”
“Well, go ahead and talk,” Eleanor told her. “Otis has been such a doll, making sure I had everything I need while recuperating.”
“Right,” Otis said. He looked from Ava to Eleanor and then back to Ava. “But I think I’ll be going now.”
“Thank you,” Ava said. Since her mother apparently wasn’t getting the hint that she needed to talk.
“I’ll come check on you tomorrow,” Otis said as he stood. He set the bowl of grapes on the nightstand and was about to walk away when Eleanor reached for his hand.
“That’s very nice of you, Otis.”
“We won’t be here tomorrow,” Ava said. “I mean, I’ll be making arrangements for us to fly out tomorrow.”
“We are?” Eleanor asked, the surprised look on her face real and perplexing.
“Oh. Well, yeah, I’ll just be going. I, um, guess I’ll give you a call or something sometime, Ellie.”
Ellie?
Otis touched her mother’s hand, and the two shared a look. It wasn’t a look that Ava wanted to explore, and so she glanced away from them. Seconds later Otis was touching her shoulder lightly as he walked past.
“It was a pleasure, Miss Ava,” he mumbled before leaving the room.
Once the door was closed, Ava moved closer to the bed. “What was that?”
“That was me having the most fun I’ve had in the last ten years,” Eleanor quipped.
Her words, in addition to the situation, once again startled Ava, who sighed and sat on the end of the bed.
“Well, I messed up big-time. So the fun for both of us is over,” she said.
“You? The one who has her life together, who knows what she wants and is going to go get it with or without her mother’s approval. You messed up?”
Her mother was a lot of things, and condescending was one of her specialties. Ava very rarely admitted that Eleanor was right.
“I thought I was doing the right thing,” Ava said after recounting the whole story for her mother. “I figured if I could just rework the deal, the Taylors would definitely go for it. And I was going to tell them everything tomorrow night at dinner. I had it all planned out.”
“Yes, you seem to plan things out very well,” Eleanor said. “The problem is, you don’t account for life happening throughout your plan.”
Ava kicked off her shoes and turned around, pulling her legs up onto the bed. “What are you talking about?”
Eleanor waved her hand and then fluffed the pillows behind her before settling back again. “Life, Ava. It happens to all of us. Do you think I wanted my successful and handsome husband to turn into an alcoholic? Did I want to have the managing partner of the firm call me and tell me that if my husband didn’t get himself together, he would be fired and we would be thrust into the poorhouse?”
The last was a bit dramatic considering Eleanor and Ava had huge trust
funds courtesy of Eleanor’s godfather, who died six months after Ava was born. In addition, Ava’s father had made millions at the firm. He was a shrewd investor and doubled his yearly earnings consistently. So when he died he left a pretty hefty estate, with enough to take care of his wife and daughter comfortably for the rest of their lives.
“I wanted my fairy tale,” Eleanor continued. “I’d fallen madly in love with Haywood Cannon, and on our first date had pictured our lavish lives together. We would have a magnificent house full of beautiful children and want for absolutely nothing. I had to have an emergency hysterectomy after giving birth to you. Fifteen years later Haywood found out he was adopted. His birth brother killed four people before taking his own life. And when Haywood traced the rest of his family, he found out his parents were also criminals and had died in jail.
“He was devastated, and a glass of wine in the evenings turned into a bottle of scotch hidden in his office drawer, our bathroom and his home office. I thought if I continued on with our lives, proving to Haywood that I would stand by him no matter what his birthright, that things would eventually return to normal. The phone call in the middle of the night informing me that my husband was dead was a cruel wake-up call.”
Eleanor blinked. Her eyes shone with tears. Ava couldn’t speak—she didn’t know what to say because she’d never heard this story before.
“Life happens, Ava. There’s no way to plan for it, and no amount of running away from it will fix problems. It just happens.”
“I could have told him,” Ava said quietly and looked down at her hands. “I could have just told Gage the truth.”
“And I could have insisted your father get help.”
“It’s not the same,” Ava argued.
“The circumstances aren’t, no. But the concept is. Look at me, Ava.”
At the sharp tone, Ava’s head shot up, and she stared back at her mother to see tears streaming down Eleanor’s face.
“If I had told Haywood to get help, if I had insisted and then worked with him to get through the disillusionment he’d suffered, maybe he wouldn’t have thought driving off that cliff was the only answer. I had the love of my life, and I didn’t do enough to hold on to it.”
