by Lisa Prysock
He nodded slightly, dismissing the remark as if it was nothing out of the ordinary for him to be on hand for them. “See you at about seven, then. You two try to get some rest.” Turning to go, he stopped after reaching the foyer and glanced over his shoulder. “Keep that ice on your ankle. I better get back up to the barns or they’ll wonder what happened.”
Nicole nodded and smiled. “I will, and thanks for everything you did today. It means a lot to me.”
“That’s what friends are for.” With that, his long, muscular legs carried him out of the cabin in a few swift strides.
She watched him leave, staring out of the window near the door as he headed toward the van while Amy settled down in the recliner. She was aware her daughter had retrieved her favorite blanket and the doll she’d brought from Santa Monica, but the handsome wrangler was certainly throwing a distraction into her plans for a quiet vacation. She was supposed to be thinking about Drew’s marriage proposal, but since meeting this Wyoming man, she was entirely distracted. Nicole muttered under her breath, reminding herself she needed to protect her heart. “Friends, we’re just friends.” But something told her there was more to it than friendship when it came to her and Jack Colten. Half of her was curious with hope and half of her felt distress. Looking at her ankle, she realized her heart was already in trouble.
TRUE TO HIS WORD, JACK arrived at about 7:15 with two pizzas from The Sweetwater Pizzeria. He also brought root beer and vanilla ice cream for root beer floats.
“Root beer floats!” Amy beamed up at Jack as he stomped his boots on the welcome mat and headed into the kitchen to place the pizza on the island. “We love root beer floats and pizza!”
“Good. I hope you like pepperoni with cheese.” He placed the ice cream in the freezer and everything else on the island. Then he smiled to see Amy had all of the ingredients on the other end of the island for a salad, including a paring knife for chopping and a salad bowl.
“We love pepperoni and cheese, but we also like veggie pizza.” Amy eyed the two pizza boxes and then washed her hands while Nicole tried to get up from the sofa, wincing as soon as she put weight on her injured ankle.
“Great, because I also brought a veggie pizza! I took a wild guess.” Jack grinned and high-fived Amy.
Seeing Nicole as she hobbled toward the kitchen, he rushed to her side and helped her find a seat in one of the wooden stools at the island. “Thanks,” she managed, taking a deep breath as she sat down.
He appeared to observe her wincing as he stepped towards the sink to wash his hands. “Looks like you’re still in some pain. Have you taken anything for that?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t like to take any medicine if I can avoid it.”
Jack nodded and began opening the packaging and then rinsed the lettuce at the sink. Then he paused, set the lettuce down, and crossed the kitchen. “I almost forgot the most important thing.” He reached inside one of the pockets of his leather jacket hanging on the hook near the entry. Producing a stick of real butter, he placed it on the island.
“What’s this for?” Nicole asked.
“Extra, extra butter,” Jack and Amy said in unison, high- fiving each other again only with two hands.
“Oh yeah, for the popcorn.” Nicole giggled as Jack returned to washing the lettuce, a smile remaining on her face as she watched him work at making the salad.
“What can I do to help?” Amy looked up at him eagerly.
Looking around, he noticed Amy had turned on the stereo to soft music, placed a candle at the center of the wooden plank table in the dining area nook, and set the table for three. “Well, it looks like we need napkins and cups of ice.”
“Got it,” Amy smiled, heading for the napkins in the pantry. “My mom picked up paper napkins at the store yesterday, too.”
“That’s great, little one. Moms are good at remembering all that stuff. Did you decide on a movie to watch?” he asked as he drained the lettuce and then began cutting it into pieces over the salad bowl.
“She has it narrowed down to a couple choices,” Nicole explained, observing Jack’s culinary skills. He seemed so comfortable in the kitchen. “She’s been looking at our DVD movie selection this evening. She’s kind of disappointed about missing the chuck wagon BBQ at the pavilion area this evening. She wanted to hear that band perform, Redemption Revolution.”
Jack nodded. “They’re really impressive, but we can catch them later this week.”
“I think we should watch Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving, and then A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion. Can we watch both, since I can’t decide on just one?” Finished with the napkins, she couldn’t reach the ice but managed to reach the cups. Jack caught on and pulled the ice bin down from the freezer, placing it on the counter where she could reach the contents. She waited to put ice in the glasses to see how he would answer.
“Fine with me, as long as you stay awake for both of them. You’ll definitely be up past your bedtime. That’s about three hours of movies,” he pointed out.
“Oh, now you’ve caught on to my plan.” Amy grinned as she returned to her duties, and he chuckled at her comeback.
The gorgeous cowboy glanced at Nicole, causing her to smile and blush shyly when their eyes met. “Can she manage staying awake for both?”
“Sometimes she does. Other times, she’s out in five minutes.” Nicole shrugged. “She had a nap today, so maybe.”
“All right,” he agreed. “We’ll give both movies a try.”
Amy began moonwalking across the kitchen, causing her and Jack to laugh.
“When did you learn to moonwalk?” she asked her daughter, shaking her head with a smile and wondering what Amy would do next.
“Casey taught me this morning when you were talking to Jill after breakfast, before we went ice skating.”
“Oh, that’s sweet. You’re pretty good at that dance move already.” Nicole couldn’t help but smile again. Her baby girl was growing up fast and developing quite the personality. She reached for her purse on the edge of the island where she’d left it when Jack had brought them back from the ice skating rink. Finding a compact and lip gloss, she realized she looked a little disheveled from her nap. She ran a hand through her dark black tresses and put on a little gloss.
She read the text appearing on her phone when her cell lit up. She’d silenced it for her nap and forgotten to turn it back on. As Jack finished slicing a cucumber, she quickly responded to Drew’s question about how they were doing:
We’re doing great...having a peaceful dinner and movie night here in our cabin.
Drew: Miss you and thinking of you. I’ll call you tomorrow.
Okay, she texted back. She found herself unable to keep up with explaining anything much about their vacation to Drew. In any case, she needed time to think and intended to keep her communications with him short until she could sort things out in her own mind and heart.
“Dinner’s ready,” Jack announced, holding an arm out to help her to the table. Nicole turned her attention to her daughter and the wonderful, handsome man at her side. What was it about him that was so refreshingly different than Drew Fairchild and Lane Richards?
Chapter 9
“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”
—Henry Ward Beecher
Hours later, after dinner and both movies, Amy had fallen asleep half way through the second one and Nicole was wide awake. She’d really enjoyed the intermission they’d had of root beer floats and making popcorn.
“Would you like me to make us some coffee?” Jack asked softly after he’d carried Amy to her bed, Nicole hobbling alongside him to tuck her daughter under the covers.
“That sounds great,” she whispered, motioning toward the dresser top and the nightlight she’d brought from Santa Monica, “but can you plug in the nightlight? Sometimes she has nightmares and she’s afraid of the dark ever since...” Her voice trailed off. She hadn’t meant to delve into the past. N
o matter, he plugged in the nightlight and didn’t press her for the rest of the sentence until they reached the kitchen and had the coffee brewing in the Keurig.
“So, as you were saying, Amy has nightmares and is afraid of the dark ever since...” Jack slid a mug of coffee her way a moment later and they waited about a minute for his cup. Then he brought his cup to the island and leaned over closer toward her, resting his chin in his hands, his elbows on the island.
“I shouldn’t have brought it up, but Amy’s father, my first husband, Lane Richards, left her in a car by herself one night for a few hours after our divorce while he went on a date with some girl. I don’t know any other details and don’t want to know. All I know is it was typical behavior for Lane and I had more than enough of it in our short twenty-four month marriage. My lawyer made sure he was limited to supervised visitation ever since and now, he seldom asks for any time with her. Amy was about five years old when it happened, but as smart as she is, it didn’t take her long to figure out some of what was happening. It frightened her, but she was smart enough to bring it to my attention when he brought her home. It was a classic Lane move; anything to be with other women, no matter the cost to those around him.”
“Wow. That’s pretty low. I know Lane Richards is a famous actor, but I didn’t know he was a womanizer.” Jack cleared his throat and shook his head, standing up. “Cream or sugar?”
“Just cream, please. There’s half and half in the fridge. Hollywood can be challenging to navigate when it comes to the dating scene.” Nicole remained on the wooden stool at the island, knowing he wouldn’t let her get up to help herself. He’d brought her more ice for her ankle and made her prop it up on a pillow during the movie. He handed her the creamer and she continued with a little more of her story. “I should have known Lane was going to be trouble from the very start. He was my first Hollywood break. He had connections who helped my career take off. We got along well at first, but it was short-lived. He broke my heart, but I had to be strong and go on. I had Amy to consider.”
“I’m surprised he has any visitation at all. That’s got to be hard on both of you.” He stirred his black coffee with a spoon absently, and then tasted some more of the delicious goodness in a cup.
“It certainly isn’t the way I thought things would turn out.” Nicole stared into her cup as she stirred the creamer and coffee together. “As long as he pays his child support, I guess she’s better off without that kind of stuff going on. One day he’ll realize what he lost, in both of us.”
“What made you go into acting? I mean, that whole Hollywood scene is crazy from everything I read about it or hear.” Jack drank more of his coffee.
“I guess that goes back to my childhood. My dad was a preacher in a small town in Wisconsin called Apple River in Polk County. I was always in everything that had to do with drama at school and church, but when I became a teenager, things took a turn for the worse. I guess you could say I was their wild child.”
“Naw, you don’t strike me as a wild child.” Jack laughed, one eyebrow raised. “Preacher’s kids are never wild.”
“No, really, I was terrible. I was the worst ever preacher’s kid. I could’ve won an award for all the trouble I managed to cause my parents. I guess things really began when my so-called friends at school began making fun of me for being a preacher’s kid. You know, calling me a Goody Two-shoes and all that. This went on for a few years until I’d had enough.”
“Tell me about it,” Jack laughed and rolled his eyes. “My folks were preachers, too. I joined the football team and all the teasing finally stopped when they saw I could bring in the touchdowns.”
Nicole’s mouth dropped open. “We were both PK’s? Preacher’s kids?”
“Apparently, but I’ll tell you my story after you finish yours. Ladies first,” he insisted, swirling his cup of coffee.
“All right, long story short. To find a way to cope and because I had no backbone at that age, I started hanging out with the wrong kids and getting in trouble to belong. It was one thing after another. You know, drinking, lies, staying out past my curfew, listening to the wrong music, doing anything crazy just to have fun and fit in with the popular crowd. Of course, I didn’t think about many of the consequences. All I know is I had a daring, adventurous side and a knack for getting into trouble. The kind of stuff I’d never want Amy to do. It’s funny how having a child of your own changes you.”
He listened, nodding, occasionally drinking more of his coffee or adding an encouraging word as they talked, asking questions at times. Nicole could tell he was genuinely interested in everything she had to say.
“Anyhow, the gossip at church and in our small community didn’t help anything. The more they gossiped, the worse I behaved. It seemed I was always in trouble.”
“I went through a brief stage like that. I can relate.” Jack nodded, warmth and understanding emanating from his manly voice.
“I’m sure my parents breathed a huge sigh of relief when I actually managed to graduate. It was a miracle, really. I wasn’t doing homework, missed assignments, skipped class a lot. Through all of this, there was one thing I did well. I loved being on the drama team. I was given a lot of lead roles. Those were the only times when I was happy and the only times when I seemed to stay out of trouble. I flourished on stage and did everything better when I had a new play or a role to work on. It’s probably one of the only reasons I managed to graduate. When I turned eighteen and finished high school by the skin of my teeth, I got on a bus to Hollywood and never looked back.”
One of his eyebrows shot up. “You mean you turned your back on your family? You left your hometown just like that?”
“Yep, and I didn’t regret it—that is until my daughter was born. At the time, I was disgusted with religion and rules. Then I realized she needed family around, but we live so far away because of my career.”
Jack drank some of his coffee and then studied her with a pensive look before asking, “Santa Monica is a long distance from Wisconsin. How far is it from Hollywood?”
“The studio where most of my movies are made is about thirty-five to forty minutes from our beach house if I take the Porsche, depending on traffic. We also travel a lot at times, depending on where the set is, but it’s still hard for me to find time to go home to visit. I keep a fairly rigorous schedule.”
“You drive a Porsche? Which model?” Jack asked, a little country twang coming out in his speech. For some reason it only seemed to make him even more handsome.
She smiled. “It’s a vintage red 356 Speedster.”
“Nice,” he grinned. “I know a little something about cars, but more about horses. As cars go, that’s a classic. So, you don’t get home to Wisconsin very often.”
“It’s complex. I guess I stayed away too long and some of my relationships are still difficult there.” Nicole sipped some of her coffee.
“Did they know you were going to Hollywood when you left at eighteen?” Jack sat down on the stool beside her at the island. “I mean, did you say good-bye to anyone?”
“No, and it didn’t help anything that I didn’t leave on the best of terms, but we did eventually make it home a few years ago. I also let my parents know I was okay after about seven months in Hollywood when I landed a minor supporting role in a movie after a ton of auditions.”
“I guess it’d have been worse if they’d saw you on screen and you hadn’t warned them ahead of time.” His remark was intuitive.
“That’s what I was thinking, too. Turns out, they were just super happy to hear from me and they’d been praying I’d call them.” She shook her head, paused, and sipped her coffee. “I shouldn’t have let it all go down that way, but for some reason, I didn’t think they’d let me go after my career and follow my dreams.”
“I can understand that, I guess.” Jack continued to study her as if he was trying to put a puzzle together. “So did your folks come out to Hollywood to visit you?”
“Not at first, but eve
ntually, after Amy was born, my parents came out to Santa Monica, several times in fact. Anyways, sometimes we’re in our New York apartment, sometimes the Victorian beach house in Santa Monica, sometimes the RV in a remote location.” She tried her best to summarize her career and past so he could understand a little. She left a lot out, realizing it would be shocking to drag him through all of the details. She hadn’t exactly been an angel her whole life.
“I’m glad you re-opened communication with your parents and family. That’s important. What about school for Amy when you have to travel and be on the set?” he asked.
“Since Amy is homeschooled, I can bring her along with me when I’m filming most of the time, but not always. I just finished portraying the leading lady in a movie being filmed in Canada and it wasn’t possible to have her with me. The role was complex and I really needed to focus. Sometimes the part is so demanding; most of my new roles need all of my attention. I have to memorize my lines the night before and then we’re doing takes all day. It can get really intense and it always involves long hours.” She paused to drink more coffee and drummed her fingers softly on the island counter. “Look Jack, it’s snowing! Let’s move to the table in the nook so we can watch it from the bay window while we finish our coffee.”
“Sure.” He held out his forearm for her to lean on as she hobbled over to the table. Then he refilled their cups, brought the creamer over, and sat down across from her. For a moment, they both watched the snow falling softly in the darkness, a comfortable and peaceful silence settling over them.
After a few moments, she continued. “Bringing Amy along also depends on if I can find a nanny to travel with us. My best friend, Brooke, homeschools Amy with her daughter, Madison. My daughter is the same age, so when I’m traveling, Brooke, her husband Dan, and Madison have become a second family for her.”
“So when was the one time you were able to visit your family in Wisconsin?” Jack leaned back in his chair.
