Enough was enough. Tesha guided Cassie to her bedroom and pointed to the bed. "Lay down. Now." With her head down Cassie obediently went to the bed. She dropped her purse on the floor and put the basket next to it. Then she kicked her shoes off and climbed onto the bed, lay her head on the pillow and closed her eyes.
After she drew the curtains over the blinds and turned on a noise machine, Tesha closed the door behind her. She was on a mission and stormed past the two execs who held up coffee cups and looked at her with expectation. "Serve yourselves," she ordered, ignoring their astonished expressions and went through the doors and the garden.
When Jensen saw her coming, he lifted a hand in greeting. "Hey, heard you went to see my brother." He performed a perfect "sexiest man alive" smile. But the closer Tesha got, the more the smile disappeared.
"How could you, Jensen Ford?" Instead of pretending not to hear, the Bruce Willis looking cameraman peered around his equipment and watched them with rapt fascination. Another actor rushed into his chair across from Jensen's and looked on, while a man wearing a pink tuxedo top who Tesha figured was a makeup artist or something pretended to arrange an array of brushes and such.
Fist on hips, Tesha stood with her feet apart and ignored the audience. "Because of you, Cassie is at my house crying her eyes out." A bit of a stretch since Cassie was probably sound asleep, but she had cried.
Jensen's eyes widened. "She's crying?"
Tesha neared and pushed her index finger into his chest. "Yes. You hurt her feelings. Just because you are rich and famous doesn't give you the right to insult her. You of all people should understand someone who has the gumption to go after a dream. Cassie is a great person, a hard worker..."
"I didn't mean to insult her. I was mostly joking." He seemed sincere, his eyes looking past her toward the house. Tesha didn't trust him. He was an actor after all.
"You did and should apologize to her."
"Definitely." He stood and took a step around her. Tesha stopped him, by yanking on his arm.
"Not now. She had to lie down." Tesha narrowed her eyes at him and leaned forward at the waist. "Just see that you do apologize when you see her and don't ever insult my friend again."
Jensen reared back, his gaze watching her every move. "Jeez, you're the perfect match for Adam. You'll have him under control in no time."
She cocked and eyebrow and he held his hands up. "I'll apologize to Cassie next time I see her."
"Oh, you better." She spun on her heel and walked away almost mowing over a gawker who jumped out of her way.
The afternoon was pleasant enough. Mrs. Miller and her duo served lunch and Cassie had awakened refreshed after two hours and left to go work at the shop.
Mrs. Miller gave the counter one last swipe with her wet cloth. "I'm going to Nashville to visit Adam," she announced. "But first I best stop at the store and make sure Jerry hasn't blown anything up." She shook her head in annoyance. "He's a hard worker, but a bit too excited about the power tools."
"Can you take something to Adam for me?" Tesha went to the cabinets and began to pull things out. "I'll whip up a quick half recipe of my biscuits for him."
"Good idea." Mrs. Miller poured a cup of coffee and settled into a chair. "If that doesn't make him better, nothing will. You should market those, they are amazing."
Tesha began measuring and mixing. "What brought on this sudden impulse to visit him?"
"I have to make sure he's here for the Fourth of July celebration. He promised he would, but I better make sure he doesn't back out."
With all the commotion of the movie production Tesha had forgotten about the celebration. The town was planning a surprise during the celebration for Adam. "Have you given any thought to the fact that fireworks may be a bad idea for someone with PTSD?"
Mrs. Miller nodded. "We only need him to be present for the mayor's speech. It's in the afternoon, so plenty of time for him to be safe and sound in his house before the fireworks begin. Of course that doesn't account for Arnold Moore across the way who puts on a fireworks display of his own during his annual Patriotic party."
"I wonder how he dealt with it the past years?" Tesha mused aloud.
"Who knows," Mrs. Miller replied. "Maybe headphones and loud music."
Tesha cut out the biscuits and placed them onto a flat cookie sheet. "Please tell him I say hello and am planning to visit him. I hope to have a chance but it looks dismal with all this extra work lately. I'm looking forward to him returning to Lovely."
Mrs. Miller gave her a strange look. "You don't look ecstatic about it at all."
"That because he plans to break up with me." Tesha blew her bangs out of her eyes. "He's being a butt head."
"Men tend to become idiots when scared or embarrassed," Mrs. Miller told her and looked out the window. "Well, look at that. Is that Vanessa Morgan with her tongue down Bruce Willis's throat?"
"It's the cameraman, not Bruce Willis." Tesha insisted while looking out toward the couple.
"I don't think she'd kiss a cameraman like that," Mrs. Miller replied while craning her neck to get a better view.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Adam assessed the utilitarian hospital room. Grey walls, two fake oil paintings of outdoor scenes, one window with shades, no curtains, a chest of drawers against the wall with his personal belongings atop, a nightstand with a digital clock and a lamp with a crooked shade. That one was his doing.
If one weren't depressed before coming here, the damn room would sure do it. He swung his legs to the floor and went to the bathroom. At least he wasn't restrained anymore and could pee on his own.
Things had gotten bad during his last flashback. He'd lost control, wanted to hurt someone, kill himself. After almost three weeks without a flashback, this one had struck him hard. Maybe not so much that it was worse, but that he'd not expected it. Had begun to hope they wouldn't return. So much anger infused with fury had turned into a mass of tears, screams and pain.
He washed his hands and looked at his wrists. They were still scratched and bruised from fighting the restraints. In the mirror he studied his face. His bottom lip was healing, the bruises on the side of his jaw fading. One of his brothers. Caden. He'd attacked Caden when he'd attempted to subdue him.
God what if he'd hurt his mom or dad even? Although Roman Ford was a big guy, that didn't mean he could handle a man full of rage, blind with fear.
There was a tentative knock, Adam walked out of the bathroom to find Mrs. Miller standing in the doorway holding a basket. The familiar scent of Tesha's ham and cheese biscuits made his mouth water.
"Well, you look good as new," Mrs. Miller exclaimed and bustled past him to place the small basket on the bedside table. She turned and smiled at him. "Came to break you out."
Adam chuckled and brought a chair from across the room for her to sit. "I could use help breaking out. They keep this place pretty well monitored. What do you have in mind?"
It was good to see the older woman who'd always made him feel at ease. Even during his darkest moods when he'd first started renovating Vince's house, she'd never made him feel ill at ease. Her easy nature and understanding gazes never wavered.
"Go on, eat up." She lifted a small plate from the basket and placed two biscuits on it. "She sent six. So you have plenty for later." A small squeeze bottle of honey was produced and Mrs. Miller handed it to him. "Tesha said you liked to pour honey over them. I thought it was a grand idea and that's how I eat mine now."
While Adam ate, Mrs. Miller told him all about the Fourth of July celebration plans. She filled him in on the goings on at the movie production to include her sighting of who she thought was Bruce Willis pretending to be a cameraman.
"Tesha says she can't wait for you to come home and move back to your house," Mrs. Miller told him and raised her eyebrows. "She also told me you plan to break things off."
"And you're going to try and talk me out of it?"
"Goodness, no." Mrs. Miller gave him a stern look taki
ng in his surprised expression. "You're not good enough for her, dear. She deserves a man who loves her enough to fight for her. I think that pilot boy was nice enough. Maybe she'll date him again."
At the mention of Malloy, Adam stiffened. "Has he been back?"
"Not that I know of," Mrs. Miller produced a can of energy drink from her purse and popped it open. "But he is a looker." She winked at Adam and took a long drink.
"Should you be drinking those?" Adam eyed the can. "They have a lot of caffeine."
"Who knows?" A tingle of laughter and Mrs. Miller took another swallow. "That may be why I'm addicted to them."
Had Tesha mentioned Malloy to Mrs. Miller because she was already planning to date him? If that jerk was sniffing around Tesha, he would pound him into the ground. "Why do you think Malloy is a better choice for Tesha?"
"I don't know that I would say a better choice. If I had my say I'd pick you as the perfect man for her. You both have a lot of healing to do and it takes someone who is broken to understand what the other is going through. She is patient and willing to give you space and Tesha has spunk. She confronted Jensen Ford in front of the entire film crew when he hurt Cassie's feelings. She is not one to take any stuff."
Adam looked at his empty plate then to the basket. He took another biscuit from the zip lock bag and resealed it. "I miss these."
"So, will I see you on the fourth?"
Adam let himself into the house. It was quiet, seemed all the film crew was out behind the house shooting in the woods. He wondered what the 'super-hero' was up to. His bedroom was in pretty good shape even through Jensen's things were strewn about. He lowered the cardboard box he'd carried in and began to collect anything that wasn't his and then took the filled box out to the hallway. Once he emptied the room of Jensen's belongings, he took them across the hall to a spare bedroom and placed everything on the bed. It looked to be empty. Maybe whoever had been using it was done. Next Adam went back to his bedroom and stripped the bed.
"What are you doing?" It was the bossy woman who always carried a clipboard in her hand and a chip on her shoulder.
"Laundry," Adam replied pouring detergent in to the machine and hitting the 'start' button. "I'm washing my bedding and I'm moving back into my bedroom. My brother is now staying across the hall." He pointed at her clipboard. "Make a note on there that I will punch him in the face if he tries to move back into my bedroom."
The woman took a step back and blinked. "Maurice Black is supposed to use that room." She frowned down at her clipboard. "It won't do, you have to move out."
Adam neared the woman and didn't stop until well inside her personal space. "No."
"I'll speak to Mr. Bernstein about this. He won't be happy." She clip-clopped away and out the front door. Adam went to the kitchen and stopped. Everything was different. Where the hell was his coffee maker?
He was just putting off the inevitable. It was time to face Tesha, to make a decision about what was best. For the last couple of days while waiting to be discharged, he'd changed his mind many times.
Was it selfish of him to remain with her just because he hated the idea of her belonging to anyone else? What if he hurt her one day? What if the whole relationship thing was something he couldn't handle?
It was all so foreign. The idea of being accountable to someone and caring for another person scared the shit out of him.
An older man with a receding hairline, wire framed glasses and an expensive watch came in. He searched the space until finding Adam. It must be Mr. Bernstein who the clipboard lady had threatened him with.
"Ah, there you are. Come along. It's time." He waved for Adam to follow him.
Out of morbid curiosity, he did.
Half an hour later Jensen hovered over Adam who lay on the ground arms and legs in all directions. "I can't breathe," Adam told his brother. "What the hell was that?"
"It's a cross between a dragon and a man. Pretty neat, huh? Well, that's not what you saw, but that's what it will be on the screen. They hit you with a huge padded block of wood."
Adam rolled to his hands and knees. "I thought I was supposed to land on an air mattress or something."
"Nah, it's more realistic if you land on the ground. Dude you bounced." Jensen sank onto the grass next to him laughing. "You screamed like a girl, too."
"It fucking hurt." Adam tried to punch Jensen, but it pained him to move. "What if I broke a rib?"
Jensen stopped laughing and began to poke at him while Adam batted his hands away. "You're not a doctor, don't touch me."
"You're fine." Jensen stood and held his hand down to help Adam to his feet. "That was fun, huh? Wanna see it?”
A wide grin broke on Adam's face. "Yeah." The brothers jogged to the playback monitors.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
"Adam is over there," Cassie announced when she entered after delivering cupcakes to the dining area behind the house. "He and that jackass were running around doing something with the film crew from what I could see."
Tesha's stomach tumbled at the mention of Adam's name. "Jensen hasn't spoken to you yet?"
"He tried, but I told him I didn't want to hear anything he had to say." Cassie huffed and put her hands on her hips. "I don't like him."
It would be wrong to point out that Cassie happened to mention Jensen several times a day so Tesha shrugged. "Yes, he is a bit arrogant. But I suppose fame does that to people."
She wondered how long it would be before Adam made an appearance to tell her he'd not changed his mind and wanted to break things off. It would not surprise her if he didn't come over at all and just stand by what he'd said at the clinic. Whatever happened, she'd prepared herself for it. Either way she was moving forward, whether as a single girl or as Adam Ford's girlfriend, her plan to make New Horizon a place for healing and rest would continue. Enough with the entire crazy next-door neighbor crush thing.
Cassie left not much later and from what the actors had said that morning at breakfast, filming would run late so that gave her a free afternoon and evening to herself. Tesha took advantage of the few hours of solitude. She took a book and a glass of sweet tea and settled into one of the wicker chairs outside. Kylie ran around in the garden for a few minutes and then jumped on the seat next to her and promptly fell asleep.
The words on the page blurred as sleepiness threatened to take over. Tesha yawned and looked up to see Adam opening the gate. She took a fortifying breath. "Hello."
Adam neared and looked down at her. "You were about to fall asleep weren't you?"
Tesha stretched her legs across the seat of the chair and curved them around Kylie, not leaving any room for Adam to join them. "Uh huh."
"Thank you for the biscuits." His eyes scanned over her and instantly every inch of skin came to attention.
What was it about love that made one so sensitive? Every single one of his movements, expressions, and mannerisms affected her. Tesha nodded. "I know you like them. It's what girlfriends do." Okay that was a bit of a dig, but she couldn't take it back now.
Adam remained solemn, as usual a master of keeping his thoughts hidden.
It was not in her nature to play games and Tesha definitely did not want to extend the inevitable. If anything the sooner they ended things, the faster she could get the crying, heart break over with. She stood and faced him. "Come inside, please." If they were going to break up, she preferred it to be in private. Whether he dumped her or the other way around, hopefully there wouldn't be any witnesses.
Once inside, Adam seemed to relax. He followed her to her office. It was the only room beside her bedroom where they would not be disturbed. Tesha stopped and waited for him to talk. Based on his first words she'd gauge what he intended and act accordingly. Her plan was formulated and practiced.
He didn't speak a word. Instead moved around the room stopping occasionally and glancing at her. Sometimes his gaze was searching, other times he looked almost as if he wanted to devour her.
Enough was enoug
h. She gripped her hands together in front of her. "Adam, it shouldn't be so hard to tell me what you came to say. Let's just end things. If you are not ready for a relationship, then it's probably for the best. I'm sorry things didn't work out."
He listened to her and then looked down to the floor. When he neared, she stood frozen, waiting for the goodbye kiss or hug or whatever he was going to do. Already tears were threatening and she blinked doing her best to not let him see how the situation affected her.
His hands were firm on her upper arms as he held her and looked into her eyes. "I love you."
"What?" Why was he saying this now?
His irises darkened until almost midnight blue. "I'm in love with you. I don't want to lose you."
"Oh." She wasn't sure what to say and thankfully it didn't matter because his mouth covered hers and his arms surrounded her pulling her against his chest. He deepened the kiss and she wasn't sure whether to pull him closer or shove him away. They needed to talk.
His hands slid down her back while his mouth traveled from the corner of her mouth to her neck. Tesha moaned. She loved his hungry kisses, his touches full of want.
Although her brain told her they needed to stop and discuss things, her body had other ideas. Her body won, Tesha managed to find one of Adam's hands. She pulled him to her bedroom.
Half an hour later, they lay panting next to each other on her bed. Her blouse and bra were shoved above her breasts and her skirt looked more like a belt; it was most uncomfortable now that her sanity returned. Adam seemed to be just as uncomfortable, his pants and briefs pushed below his butt.
"We—we should talk," Tesha managed to say while fighting to breathe.
"Now?" Adam rolled to his side, lifted to his elbow and peered down at her.
"Yes, now. Adam, we need to clear things up. I have to know where I stand. I can't keep allowing my damn hormones to take over," Tesha muttered yanking her clothing back into place. "Don't you think you should readjust your clothes?" He had to do something and fast before she lost control again and attacked him. It was hard to keep her gaze from his exposed parts.
Even Heroes Cry, Fords of Nashville, Book 1 Page 17
