The Chesapeake Diaries Series 7-Book Bundle: Coming HOme, Home Again, Almost Home, Hometown Girl, Home for the Summer, The Long Way Home, At the River's Edge

by Stewart, Mariah

  Had he really not changed all that much since he was eighteen?

  He hadn’t given her much of a chance to talk, but really, what could she say? He’d heard the “I’ll be back” line before, and sure, she probably meant it when she said it. If she didn’t intend to come back, she’d have told him. Dallas was honest, he’d give her that.

  He walked along the hot sidewalk, and with each stride, he saw the rest of his life spreading out before him in chunks of June-July-August, just as it had long ago. She’d leave in September, and when Cody finished school in June, she’d be back. And he’d be waiting, counting the days, until she got there.

  The sad, simple fact of my life at age thirty-eight is is that I love her. I always have, and I probably always will. Not much different than things were when I was eighteen—that’s the sad part. The simple part? That’s the part about loving her. I can’t not love her. I tried. It didn’t work.

  “Took the cure but it failed,” he muttered as he crossed the road in front of his clinic and went in through the front door.

  You are one pathetic chump, he told himself. One big, sorry …

  “Dr. Wyler, the Fosters are here with Mika and she’s been prepped for surgery.” Mimi met him at the door that led back to the operating room.

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Grant went into the back and prepared for the operation on the schnauzer. Feeling sorry for himself was going to have to wait. He pushed all thoughts of Dallas to the back of his mind, then went in to do the job of trying to save the dog’s life. Dallas had her priorities, and he had his.

  “That went well,” Dallas said sarcastically as she slid into the passenger seat of Norma’s Jaguar sedan. “They couldn’t have been more annoying if they’d tried.”

  Norma passed a tip to the valet and snapped on her seat belt as the door closed quietly. “I told you they think you’re playing with them.”

  “Why would they think that? I’ve worked with Adam Kessinger before. He knows me. He knows what I’m like. Why would he think I’d be playing him? If I wanted more, I’d have asked for it point-blank. Why would he think I’d be playing him?”

  “Because everyone else in town does it?” Norma shrugged. “I did warn you …”

  “Yes, you did.” Dallas leaned her head against the headrest and sighed. This had been her third turndown in as many days.

  “Everyone expects that you will agree to star in the film if and when the price is right.”

  “Damn it, that makes me so mad.” She felt like punching something. “I’m wondering if there’s any point in meeting with Helga Graham tomorrow. She never liked me very much anyway.”

  “It’s up to you. I have no problem canceling out on her.” Norma smiled as she made a left. “She never liked me much, either.”

  “I guess I’m going to have to go to the alternate plan,” Dallas said.

  “Which is?”

  “Finance it myself. That is, if I can afford to.” She made a face. “I don’t even want to know how much of my assets Emilio walked off with.”

  “Oh, I know the exact number,” Norma told her. “That would be zero.”

  “What?” Dallas frowned. “That can’t be right. California law—”

  “Dallas, you’re as bad as Emilio. Apparently neither of you read the fine print.”

  “What fine print?”

  “In the marital settlement agreement. The part where both parties agreed that all community property would go to Emilio and both of you would keep your personal assets.”

  “So all the money I made …” Dallas thought aloud.

  “Is yours. And all the money he made … is his.”

  “I made a whole lot more than he did.”

  “No fooling.” Norma’s smile spread from ear to ear.

  “Didn’t his lawyer catch that?” Dallas was still wide-eyed that Norma had managed to protect her earnings.

  “He did. But since I gave Emilio twenty-four hours to sign the agreement before I pulled it off the table, he wasn’t about to take a chance of losing millions of dollars in real estate.”

  “So my investments … my bank accounts … the artwork I bought before we were married …”

  “All yours, darlin’.”

  “I can do it.” Dallas sat straight up. “I can finance the film. I can make this movie on my own.”

  “That’s going to take a chunk of it. Not to mention that it’s going to be a lot of work.”

  “Not if I hire the right people.”

  “First you have to find the right people,” Norma reminded her. “Really good people are not that easy to find.”

  Dallas grinned. “Hey, I found you, didn’t I?”

  “Poor Cody is exhausted, but I never saw a child fight sleep the way he did tonight. He just couldn’t hug that dog of his enough,” Berry said. “And he’s never come into a room specifically to hug me as he did not once, but three times since you arrived.”

  “He missed Fleur terribly when we were in California, and you, too, of course,” Dallas told her. “He couldn’t wait to get back here. I think that, deep inside, he was afraid that we wouldn’t come back. He took a whole stack of photos of the dog to share with Elena. I know he was happy to see her. She’s been with us since he was born, you know. She stayed with him when I had to travel, she keeps house, she cooks, she hires the landscapers … she’s like the perfect wife. Everyone should have one.”

  “Well, now that Cody’s tucked into bed, tell me why you decided not to meet with Helga Graham.” Berry sat at the kitchen table, Ally at her feet.

  “I decided it was a waste of my time.” Dallas explained why she’d been turned down over and over.

  “The nerve of them all. If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was a conspiracy,” Berry said haughtily. “Well, the hell with them. We’ll think of someone else. We’ll go to Plan B.” She leaned forward and asked, “Is there a Plan B?”

  “River Road Productions.” Dallas sat across the table from Berry and stretched her legs out in front of her. “I’m putting up my own money to make the film. If I can’t make it the right way, there’s no point in making it at all. I’m not Charlotte. Laura Fielding—she’s Charlotte, and she’s going to be incredible.” Dallas smiled smugly. “Everyone who ever discounted her as an actor is going to be kicking themselves when they see how fabulous she is as Charlotte.”

  “How can you be so sure …?”

  “I had her read the part for me yesterday morning. Berry, you are going to fall in love with her, I promise you. Please trust me on this. She’s going to be the perfect Charlotte to your perfect Rosemarie.”

  “But putting up your own money, dear.” Berry shook her head. “That’s much too great a risk for one person to take.”

  “I’m willing to take it.”

  “You believe in this that strongly?”

  “If you’re willing to be Rosemarie, then yes, I’ll believe in this project with my whole heart and I’ll put everything I have into it.”

  “You have a son to consider. You can’t take the chance of bankrupting yourself and jeopardizing your future—and his—for the sake of one film.”

  “I don’t believe I’m going to lose,” Dallas said adamantly.

  Berry stared out the window for a few moments.

  “Then here’s the deal. I’m in for fifty percent.” Berry added, “No need to change the name of the company.”

  “Berry, you’d put your money into this? It’s going to take a whole lot of cash.”

  “I made a lot in my day, spent a lot but invested more. My investments have done reasonably well in spite of the economy. And there are all those videos and DVDs and whatnot, a steady stream of dollars into the old bank account. What else should I do with the money, Dallas? Sit back and see how much of it the next recession eats up? I’m your Rosemarie, but only if you let me in for half.”

  “You drive a hard bargain, lady.” Dallas jumped up and hugged her. “You will not be sorry, Berry,
I promise you.” She danced around and repeated, “I promise you.”

  Ally scooted closer to Berry to get out of the way of Dallas’s dancing feet.

  “Yesterday I signed an agreement of sale on a condo in L.A. I figured we’d need a place to stay while we’re out there making the film.”

  “Good thinking,” Berry said absently, then fell silent.

  “What?” Dallas asked after a few quiet minutes had passed. “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m wondering why we have to make the film in L.A.”

  “Where else would we make it?”

  “We could make it here,” Berry suggested.

  “There’s no studio here,” Dallas reminded her.

  “But there could be.”

  “Where?” Dallas was intrigued. “Where would we all work, where would we film?”

  “Hal Garrity owns several warehouses down along the river, at the end of River Road. Last I heard, he doesn’t know what he wants to do with them.” Berry smiled. “You could set up a lot of the technical work right in there. And as for shooting, for heaven’s sake, the story takes place in a small town. Hello, Dallas. St. Dennis?”

  “We’d need people …”

  “Who’d bring revenue to our town. And keep in mind there are many talented people in New York. L.A. isn’t the center of everyone’s universe, you know. People move around all the time to work on these things, dear. Why not here?”

  “It could work.” Dallas thought it through. “I think it could work.”

  “Oh my, won’t Cody be thrilled. He wants so badly to stay in St. Dennis.”

  “There’s no question he’s much happier here. All the time we were in L.A. he kept asking when we were coming back. It was only four days, but to him I suppose it seemed like weeks. It would definitely be the best thing in the world for him.” And in the long run, the best thing in the world for me, too. Won’t Grant be surprised? “Cody will be beside himself when we tell him that he can go to school here. He even asked me if Logan could move to L.A. with him so they could go to the same school.”

  “Shall I call Hal in the morning?”

  Dallas nodded. “First thing. We’ll talk to him first thing.” She paused to reconsider. “On second thought, better make that the second thing …”

  At five thirty the following morning, Dallas was sitting on Grant’s back porch steps, drinking her first cup of coffee and nibbling on a croissant. When he let the dogs out—which he had to do because they were barking like maniacs at the back door even though he kept telling them it was probably just a raccoon or a stray cat—he all but fell over her.

  “Coffee?” She held the cardboard take-out cup up to him.

  “Thanks.” He took the coffee and sat down next to her, looking puzzled. “You’re back.”

  “Don’t look so surprised. I told you I would be.”

  “You’re up early.”

  “I set the alarm for four thirty,” she told him, “so I could be here when you let the guys out.”

  “You could have knocked. Or called.” He lifted the lid on the cup and took a sip. “Cuppachino’s finest organic blend. My favorite.”

  “Carlo said it was.”

  “So. You’re back. You’re really back.”

  She handed him a paper bag. “Doughnut or cruller?”

  “Doughnut. Definitely.” He looked inside. “Peach. Oh, yeah. I guess Carlo told you about the doughnut, too.”

  She nodded and watched him take a bite.

  “So I guess you want to know about my trip,” she said. She leaned back against the porch railing and slipped her feet out of her sandals. Her right foot reached out to his left, and her toes stroked his instep slowly.

  “I do. Great doughnut, by the way.” He pulled a napkin from the bag and wiped the corners of his mouth. “How was your trip?”

  “It was fabulous, thanks for asking.”

  “I guess you accomplished what you wanted?”

  “Oh, yeah. You could say that.” She smiled and watched him try to ignore the fact that his foot was starting to twitch.

  “Got the backing you needed?”

  “The money for the film is there.”

  “So. I guess it’s all a go, then, huh?” He looked as if he were trying hard to look happy for her. “I’m glad. I know it means a lot to you.”

  “It does mean a lot.”

  “So who’s backing it?”

  “River Road Productions.” She watched his face. For a moment, nothing seemed to register.

  “River Road. That’s some coincidence.”

  “How ’bout it?” She’d try to play it cool, but she couldn’t keep from grinning. “It’s me. Me and Berry. We’re River Road.”

  “Well, that’s cool. That’s a good name.” He reached down and grabbed her foot to stop its movement on his.

  Just another reason to make her smile. She knew she was getting to him.

  “It’s River Road not just because that’s where the family home is, and not just because it’s our money that’s going to finance the whole thing.” She turned so she could look him full in the face. “It’s River Road because that’s where the studio is going to be. Well, it will be, if Hal sells us the warehouses.”

  Grant put the coffee down.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Hal owns some warehouses at the other end of River Road, right along the river. Berry thinks they could be converted into space we could use to make the film, like our own studio, where film could be edited and scenes could be constructed. She’s going to talk to him this morning about selling the buildings to us.”

  “You mean, you’d …”

  “Set up shop here in St. Dennis, yes.” She was grinning again. “Making films right here. At least, the first one. If it does well, we’ll go on to another one. Baby steps, you see. One picture at a time.”

  “That means you …” He appeared to be afraid to say the words, so she filled in the blank.

  “… will be staying in St. Dennis, yes. That’s exactly what it means. Actually, we’re going to live here. Home and business in the same place. This place. I hear lots of people work from their homes. It’s a trend.”

  When he didn’t react, she reached over and turned his face toward hers. “Grant? Did you hear what I said?”

  “For a moment, I thought you said you were staying in St. Dennis.” He reached for the coffee and raised it to his lips again.

  “I did.” She reached for his free hand and held it.

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously. When I finally stopped to think about it, I realized there was every reason to do it here, and none that I could think of for doing it in California.” She smiled. “Except for the fact that there are studios already built out there. Other than that, everything and everyone I love is here. Berry. You.”

  “Don’t say things just because you feel grateful.” She could feel him starting to pull away. She wasn’t going to let him.

  “I was—am—grateful to you. That has nothing to do with the fact that I love you. I can feel more than one thing at the same time.” She raised her left hand, palm side up and open. “See? Gratitude.” She raised the right hand in a similar fashion. “Love. Two emotions. Both very real. One not dependent upon the other.

  “I had a lot of time to think over the past week. Mostly while I was on the plane, or when I should have been sleeping. There was so much going on in my head. I went out there because, hey, it’s where you go to talk to people when you want to make a movie. But I didn’t want to be there. It didn’t feel like home anymore. I felt more at home here. I wanted to be here with you. When Berry suggested we look into buying Hal’s old warehouses, it was as if a light went on inside my head, and it all fell into place. Of course it felt right. It is right. I spent most of last night kicking myself for not having thought of it sooner.”

  “You could have come over here and spent the night kicking me. I’d have let you in. Go back to the part where you said you
loved me and say it again.”

  “I do love you. I’ve always loved you.” She smiled. “I want you to be my guy.”

  “God, I can’t believe I actually said that to you.” He ran a hand through his hair and laughed self-consciously. “That was so lame.”

  “I thought it was darling. I thought it was the sweetest thing anyone ever said to me.” She slid herself onto his lap. “I kept thinking about it all the time I was in L.A. That you’re my guy.” She kissed him on the lips. “I want to be your girl.”

  He cupped the side of her face, then kissed her, a long lingering kiss etched with the promise of many, many more to come.

  “You are my girl. You’ve always been my girl, always will be.”

  “Always,” she repeated.

  “I can hardly believe this. I’ve waited for twenty years to hear you say those words.” He frowned, and momentarily his hand on her foot went still. “Does that make me sound like an idiot?”

  She shook her head. “Twenty years ago, we were too young. We both had places to go, things to do. Right person, wrong time. Now we’re both here, in the same place at the same time.”

  “Right place, right time. Right person.”

  She nodded. “Maybe this is the way it was supposed to be all along, I don’t know, but I think we should make the most of this second chance.”

  “You know, they say love’s better the second time around.”

  “I’ve heard that, too.”

  She leaned in to kiss him. The back door swung open and hit the side of the house with a bang.

  “Dad, your answering service is on the phone and—” Paige stopped short. “Oh.”

  “Dallas just stopped over to let us know that she and Cody are staying in St. Dennis,” Grant told her. “Isn’t that great news?”