Her aunt sat back down on the stool.
“So I hear. Felicia stopped by the photo shop Friday. She’s concerned.”
Tamlyn rolled her eyes. Felicia should mind her own business, not go telling tales. She’d have a word with her on Monday.
“About what? So I got a little light-headed a couple of times.”
“She said you almost passed out. And each time, it was surrounding the topic of the accident. Or this man.”
Felicia and her aunt only knew about the times it had happened in front of them, not the times when she was alone.
“It’s happened plenty of times when I’ve been alone, unfortunately, and it had nothing to do with that guy. Or the accident. Maybe there’s something wrong with my heart.”
Corinne crossed behind the counter, pulled out the envelope and placed it in front of Tamlyn.
“Sweetheart, there’s nothing wrong with your heart. In fact, everything is right with your heart. You need to face this.”
“Aunt Corinne, there’s nothing to face. There was an accident, I was hurt, he was hurt worse, I forgave him and that’s all there is to it.”
Her aunt leaned on the counter and crossed her arms.
“And you’ve said he never apologized. You don’t find that disturbing?”
Tamlyn rubbed her forehead.
“He was a very troubled man, Aunt Corinne. When I saw him, he was still on pain medication, as was I. I’m not really sure what happened. But I forgave him, and it’s done.”
Tamlyn opened the bin of costumes and started laying them out on the sewing tables she’d set up. She almost had them all laid out when she felt her aunt come up behind her and tap her on the shoulder with the envelope.
“Fine. Then there’s no reason not to open the letter.”
Tamlyn took the envelope from her aunt and glared at you.
“Fine. Everybody’s ganging up on me. I’ll prove it’s no big deal. Which it isn’t.”
She ripped open the envelope and took out what looked to be a form letter. She began to read, and suddenly the letters began to swim before her eyes. Her head spun and she breathed as deeply as she could before she slumped onto the sofa.
“Tamlyn!” her aunt cried as she rushed to her side, softening her fall as best she could. “Oh, honey, what’s wrong?” she said as she fanned her with a magazine.
Tamlyn closed her eyes and her aunt pressed a glass of cold water into her hand, helping her take a sip.
“I don’t know what’s wrong. Nothing’s wrong. This just keeps happening and I don’t know why.”
“Was it the letter?” her aunt asked.
“I don’t think so. I didn’t get past the first part. I don’t even know what it says. I just saw my name, his name, the date of the accident.”
She pulled herself up further on the couch as her heart began to return to normal. She mopped the sweat from her forehead and took another sip of water.
Corinne picked up the letter from the coffee table and began to read. She set it back on the coffee table and turned to Tamlyn.
“The sheriff’s department is informing you of the sentencing time and date and asking if you’d like to attend. You have a right to, and you’ve been notified—and invited. As the victim.”
Victim? Even that word sounded strange to Tamlyn. It was no big deal. An accident, that’s all.
“Okay. Thank you,” she said as she stood and headed for her coffee.
“That’s it?”
Tamlyn turned toward her aunt. “Yes, that’s it.”
Corinne stood and walked toward Tamlyn, placing the letter on the island. “Tamlyn, I think you should go.”
Tamlyn took in a deep breath.
“Aunt Corinne, I really appreciate your concern. And everybody else’s. But I don’t want to go. I’m not going. It’s over, history. I’ll make an appointment with a doctor and maybe I can find out why I’m not feeling well. But I’m not going to the sentencing.”
“Sweetheart—”
“Thanks, Aunt Corinne, but I’m not going. And I don’t want to talk about it anymore. We have a lot of work to do. The show must go on.”
Chapter 13
Bradley couldn’t stop thinking about Tamlyn the rest of the weekend. They’d had a great time—after the awkward conversation about the accident—and if he hadn’t had to help with the set all day Sunday, he’d have asked her out to dinner or a movie or something.
As it was, he’d had to get pizza for all the kids’ parents who’d helped create big backdrops for the various scenes in the play. The kids weren’t there, and things went a little easier for that fact. Stephanie had warned him that it would be a long day, and it was.
He was glad it was over, and hoped the kids would be excited to practice their scenes in front of the actual—well, scenery. He didn’t even know the right names, and he laughed as he realized yet again how out of his element he was.
But he’d talked to his sister the night before, told her how everything was going and she seemed pleased. And that was worth every second of every trying day.
Besides, he had Tamlyn. He couldn’t imagine what he’d have done without her and her help with costumes. And, if he was honest, just her presence. It was calming to him, and he had one of his best days in a long time on Saturday. Her love of road trips and history almost rivaled his own, and she was just as interested in hearing about all the historical sights as he was in telling her about them.
When this was all over, he’d ask her out, and maybe they could get to know each other better. Maybe then she’d tell him more about the accident. It obviously bothered her more than she was letting on. Or maybe, he thought, she didn’t even know how much it bothered her. Things happened like that sometimes. He’d bring it up to her after this fiasco was done and the final curtain had dropped.
He sighed as he rolled into the parking lot of the middle school, dreading the day ahead. He wished he could fast forward to after the play was over and he could get his life back. His sister had carefully explained what he had to do today, and he’d give just about anything not to.
She’d laughed when he’d said, “I have to do what?”
She’d repeated herself calmly. He had to give a demonstration in scene blocking about how to do a love scene. They’d agreed they’d avoid a kiss, but since this was middle school kids, anything was possible.
He got out of the car, squared his shoulders and reminded himself he’d do anything for his sister. Even demonstrate a very emotional scene. He’d asked if he could use the death scenes instead, and she’d firmly said no. It was important for them to learn this so they knew what their boundaries were. Very clear.
Well, there was nothing to do but do it.
He waved at several of the parents in the parking lot, thanking them for their participation the day before and walked through the gates of the school with several of the students.
He heard two twittering voices behind him and steeled himself before Kayla and Delanie approached him.
“Hi, Coach Holbrook,” they said in unison.
“Good morning, ladies,” he replied as he picked up his pace toward the multi-purpose room.
“How was your weekend?” Kayla asked, matching his increased speed. Delanie wasn’t far behind.
“Great. How about you?”
“Nice. We had fun. But I bet we didn’t have as much fun as you and Miss Nelson did,” Delanie said when she’d finally caught up.
“We had a lovely time,” he heard from behind him, and he turned to see the smiling face of Tamlyn, her dark hair falling around her shoulders. He stopped short and it took the girls a moment to realize what had happened and circle back around.
“Yes, we did,” he said, holding her gaze as the girls reached them. “We went to Quinn Valley, saw some historical sights, took a hike.”
“Yes, we had a lovely lunch, too.”
“And did you walk her to her door?” Delanie asked with a giggle.
“That’s all you
’re going to get out of me, young lady,” Bradley said as he held his arm out for Tamlyn and walked her into the multi-purpose room.
“Whew. Dodged a bullet there,” he whispered as she sat down in front of the stage. They’d agreed she’d come this morning to do any last minute fittings so she’d have time to make any changes that were needed. Bradley sent Sean and another boy out to Tamlyn’s car to get the bins with the costumes, and Tamlyn set up a dressing room backstage, planning to call in the kids she needed one at a time for fittings.
Dress rehearsal was on Friday night, and there weren’t many days left to get everything in order.
Bradley started the rehearsal, and as he knew it would, things went from bad to worse. Sean, who was playing Romeo, was having trouble keeping a straight face as Bradley tried to show him the proper way to hold a lady and what would be appropriate on stage.
He spotted JW in the wings shaking his head and wringing his hands, and he just wished the stage would swallow him up. But he’d promised Stephanie, and they’d all come so far. He wasn’t going to give up now.
Chapter 14
It was comforting for Tamlyn to listen along as the kids ran through the play as she helped the actors try on their costumes, and make sure she was on her last leg of alterations. Things seemed to have gone well, and she was happy for Bradley that it was so.
The set looked great, like a real frontier town—not like any other rendition of Romeo and Juliet that she’d ever seen. Even the language, as formal as it was, was kind of interesting in a western twang. She hoped that everybody loved it, and she was excited for the performance next weekend.
She’d just finished the last costume and was still sort of listening to what was taking place on stage, and it seemed to still be going well.
At least until she heard Bradley’s voice rise ever so slightly, and she thought he sounded a little stressed.
She thanked the last student to be fitted and wandered over into the wings of stage left. What she saw made her stifle a laugh with her hand.
Bradley was on stage with Sean, who was almost as tall as he was. Sean was reading the scene where he kisses Juliet, and it appeared that Bradley was trying to show him the appropriate way to do it. He had his arm wrapped around Bradley’s waist and across the way on stage right, Tamlyn could see JW, the student teacher, shaking his head and wringing his hands. Clearly, it wasn’t going well.
Bradley took off his baseball cap and tapped it on his thigh and rubbed the back of his neck. He was clearly frustrated.
“I’m sorry. I’m trying to show you how to do this but it’s not working very well.”
Sean laughed. “Maybe it would be easier with a girl,” he said. “I’m kind of tall.”
The kids in the audience all laughed.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Bradley said. “You’re too tall.”
Tamlyn peeked around the curtain to look into the audience, wishing she could help. As she did, all eyes turned to her and of course Kayla and Delanie hopped to their feet.
“Coach Holbrook, Miss Nelson could stand in for me,” Kayla, who was playing Juliet, said. “You guys show us how to do a proper kiss and we can take it from there.”
She elbowed Delanie in the ribs and wiggled her eyebrows.
“Me?” Tamlyn said, a hitch in her voice. She’d never been on a stage before, unless it was with pins in her mouth. She had no idea what to do.
“Yes,” all the kids shouted.
“You’ll be fine,” Kayla said. “Coach can show you what to do,” she said, and as Bradley looked horrified, she slowly walked out onto the stage to the applause of the students. She didn’t know what else to do.
Her eyes met Bradley’s and they both shrugged in unison. He handed her the script, the very short scene they were going to do marked in highlighter.
She saw Bradley close his eyes for a moment, and she wondered how they were going to survive this moment, and she was pretty sure he was not too happy with his sister at this particular moment.
They made it through the lines, and when it came close to the time for the kiss, he reached out, pulling her close. He held her that way until they finished the scene, and she had to admit that his arms around her felt comforting. Safe and strong. She didn’t imagine that’s what Juliet would be feeling, as she’d only just met her Romeo, but Tamlyn had spent a great deal of time with Bradley, and she knew him to be kind and true, and very loyal to his family. So a great acting job wasn’t required for her to be very comfortable in his arms.
And when it came time for the kiss, she was acutely aware that she wished he would actually kiss her. He leaned forward, looked into her eyes and bent down, his warm lips brushing her—cheek, and after a second of disappointment, she sunk into the delicious sensation of his lips on her skin.
In fact, she was lost in it for a moment, and it wasn’t until the kids broke into whistles and cheers that Bradley pulled back and looked surprised himself that she straightened and took a step back.
Their eyes met, and Bradley stepped back like he’d just stuck his finger in an electrical socket, and looked just as unsettled. He squinted against the floodlights and looked out into the audience and said, “There you go, kids.”
“You didn’t actually kiss her,” Sean said from the front row.
“No actual kiss on stage. Not for this production. Kiss on the cheek only.”
“Why not?” Kayla asked from the audience as she glanced at Sean. Tamlyn was pretty sure she had a crush on him, and it might be a good way—maybe the only way—for her to get a kiss from him as he didn’t seem at all interested. “Romeo and Juliet were only fourteen, you know. Almost the same age we are.”
Bradley sighed. “That may be but I have strict instructions from your teacher and the school board, too. Cheek kiss only.”
He wiped the sweat from his brow and took a deep breath, glancing at Tamlyn and mouthing, “Sorry.”
Tamlyn actually wanted to laugh like the kids were. It was hilarious, and she was not at all sorry. In fact, she wished it hadn’t been a play and he would have kissed her just because he wanted to. But it really would make for a good story, and she joined the kids in their good-natured appreciation.
Everybody seemed to survive the ruckus, and she even saw JW laughing at one point—maybe for the first time—and she was glad that everybody was having so much fun.
Bradley continued on with Sean and Kayla, showing them what to do and fending off good-natured jokes from the students.
Two of the other boys grabbed the packed-up bins and followed her toward the door. She had to get to work and couldn’t wait for Bradley to take a break. As she reached the door, she laughed as he still looked like he was enjoying this about as much as slogging barefoot over white hot coals.
Chapter 15
The week sped by, and Corinne and Tamlyn had all the costumes just about ready. She’d been to rehearsals each morning and since the Friday dress rehearsal was for the performance, she’d worked feverishly to have all the costumes ready. The dress rehearsal the following day would be busy, but at least all of her costumes were ready. She hoped all the kids liked them.
She’d gone to her studio at River’s End Ranch right after the drama camp, and she and Felicia were just finishing up with their work day for the TV show. It sure was a good thing that they weren’t in any rush for that right now, as the drama camp had somehow taken up more of her time than she’d thought possible.
“I think that’s it for the day,” she said to Felicia as she rolled her ankle in a circle. Fortunately, she hadn’t had much trouble with it—but had still been experiencing bouts of dizziness, or whatever it was when she least expected it. She’d been too busy to call for a doctor’s appointment, but made a mental note to do that next week, after the play was over.
She rifled through her bag looking for her keys and her fingers closed around a piece of paper. She pulled it out and narrowed her eyes at the unfamiliar piece of pink paper, folded neatly with a piece o
f chocolate taped to it.
She opened it and laughed as she read it.
“What’s so funny?” Felicia asked as she shrugged her sweater on and looked around for her own car keys.
Tamlyn felt her cheeks flush as she tried not to make eye contact with Felicia.
“Oh, nothing. Just a note from Bradley.”
“Bradley, huh? You two sure have been spending a lot of time together.”
“I suppose we have, but there’s been a lot going on with the play.”
“Uh-huh. But you guys went on a date the other day, and you said you had a great time.”
Tamlyn spun toward her assistant.
“That wasn’t a date. He just needed some company.”
Felicia laughed and nodded as she put her hands on her keys.
“Yep, sounds like the definition of a date to me.”
Tamlyn rolled her eyes.
“I meant it was an appointed time to do something together, but there was no emotion attached.”
“As evidenced by the fact that you blushed right now when you read his note? Right. What did it say?”
The paper was still in Tamlyn’s hand and she opened it up again, knowing what Felicia would say next.
“Meet me tonight at six o’clock in the ranch’s restaurant. I look forward to seeing you.”
Felicia stopped with her hand on the door knob and laughed again, this time harder.
“No date. Got it.”
“He just wants to thank me,” Tamlyn said, trying to remain calm. She would have been very happy if it was a request for a date, but she couldn’t be sure. She had no idea how Bradley felt about her.
Felicia glanced back at the clock on the wall as she opened the door.
“It’s almost six now. Better hurry to your non-date.”
“Very funny,” Tamlyn said as Felicia wiggled her eyebrows and closed the door.
Her stomach fluttered as she looked in the mirror at her mess of hair and the very uninteresting outfit she’d put on this morning. Although she had been paying a little more attention to what she wore when she was going to the middle school and Bradley would be there, this wasn’t exactly a date outfit. But this also wasn’t a date.
Teaching Tamlyn Page 7
