Love, Again, page 9
I followed her up the stairs, and she went into her yellow painted room while I walked into mine. The walls were the same light purple from before. The only thing that was different was the balcony door. Instead of the old wooden white one with frosted windows, there was now a set of French doors that led out to a newly built balcony.
I opened the doors and walked outside just as my phone rang with an incoming call from California. With a heavy sigh, I answered it. I had a strong feeling I knew who it was going to be.
“Hello.”
A sigh of relief echoed through the phone. “Aubrey, it’s Vance. How are you?”
I was right. Vance McMahon was the producer I was supposed to be working with. “Fine. How are you?” I asked.
“I called you yesterday, but I haven’t heard back. Thought I’d call again.”
“Sorry about that. I decided to do some traveling, but I did get your message.”
“And? What do you think?”
Biting my lip, I paced the balcony floor. I didn’t know what to say. A part of me wanted to do it, but the other part knew I couldn’t leave Oklahoma…Not yet.
“There’s a lot on my plate right now, Vance. I have too much going on. Believe me, I want to direct the movie, but I don’t have the time at this moment.”
“That’s perfect,” he replied, sounding happy. “I delayed filming for a couple of months. Plus, you’ll be getting double the money. I really want you on this project. All you have to do is say you’ll think about it.”
The words came out before I even had a chance to think. “Okay,” I blurted. “I’ll think about it.”
“Thank you. That’s all I ask.”
We hung up, and I leaned over the balcony, wondering what the hell I just did. I couldn’t tell Vance no, but I also couldn’t say yes. Hell, I don’t know what I want to do, but I had two months to decide. The sound of Cole’s truck echoed in the distance. It had a distinct sound to it, almost as if it was about to break down. I knew he could afford a brand-new one, but that wasn’t his style.
A few seconds later, Cole and Bennett both pulled up in their trucks. Cole hopped out and looked up at me. “Like the new balcony?”
Running a hand over the smooth wood, I nodded. “I love it. When did you rebuild it?”
“Two years ago. It was falling apart.”
Bennett tipped his cowboy hat at me when he got out of his truck. “Had a feeling you’d be staying. It was my Haywood charm, wasn’t it?”
Rolling my eyes, I couldn’t help but smile. “You know it. I’ll be right down.”
Emilia met me by the stairs. “So tell me a little bit about Cole’s brother.”
I threw my arm over her shoulders and smiled. “He’s tall, handsome as hell, and sweet as can be. All the girls in school loved the Haywood brothers.”
We walked down the stairs, and she got a good look at him through the door as he and Cole waited for us. Her mouth dropped open. “Whoa, he is sexy. Why can’t we find men like that in L.A.?”
I winked at her. “We do. They’re just always playing a part in the movies.”
She snorted. “Got that right. I want the real deal.”
Opening the door, I walked out first, and she followed me. Bennett was in the middle of drinking his water, but when he saw Emilia, his eyes widened and he almost choked. His attention darted over to me. “When Cole said you had a friend here, I wasn’t expecting Emilia Hart.”
I threw my hands in the air. “You know she’s my best friend. Who else would I have here?”
Bennett stepped up onto the porch, and Emilia held out her hand. “Thank you for coming to help us,” she said.
Bennett shook her hand. “Any day. It’s an honor to meet you. I love you in your movies.”
Emilia’s face reddened, her eyes transfixed on his. “Thanks.”
Chuckling, he let her hand go. “What made you want to come here?”
Emilia came up behind me and clasped her arms around my shoulders. “I wanted to spend time with Aubrey before she goes back on her bucket list trip. She gave up a huge directing job to come here. They still want her pretty bad though.”
I hadn’t told Cole anything about that or the fact that I just told the producer I would think about his offer. Cole froze and just stared at me. Clearing my throat, I patted Emilia’s hands so she’d let me go. “We should probably get going. We have a lot of things to buy today.”
Emilia moved out of the way and walked over to Bennett. “Why don’t we split up? Bennett and I will get the furniture for the kitchen and my bedroom, while you and Cole find something for the living room and your bedroom.”
Cole tried to hide his smile and shrugged. “I’m good with that if you are,” he said to me.
Emilia clapped excitedly. “Good, it’s settled.” She followed Bennett to his truck and winked at me as he opened her door. “I promise I’ll buy stuff you’ll like.”
I winked back. “You better.”
Bennett didn’t seem to mind being alone with her by the sly grin on his face. He mouthed the words thank you to me before getting into his truck. Cole walked over to the passenger side and opened my door. “Does Emilia really think I don’t know what she’s doing?”
“Who knows?” I said, laughing. “She may come off as a self-involved diva at times, but she really does have a big heart. I wouldn’t be friends with her if she wasn’t good people.”
“Hopefully Bennett doesn’t try to put the moves on her.”
The thought made me smile. “I’m sure they can handle it.” As much as I’d love to see Emilia settle down, I didn’t know if she was ready for someone like Bennett. Or better yet, I didn’t know if he was ready for someone like her. Their personalities were so much alike.
Cole and I hopped into the truck and started on our way. We rolled the windows down, and I closed my eyes as the wind blew all around me. “So…tell me about this movie you passed up,” Cole said.
Opening my eyes, I focused on the wheat fields that whipped by us. “Nothing much to tell, really. I was supposed to direct it, but after everything that happened, I needed time away from it all.”
“But they want you back?” he countered. “By the way Emilia talks, it sounds pretty serious.”
Releasing a heavy sigh, I turned to face him. “They’re offering me double to come back.”
His eyes widened. “Wow. I can only imagine how much that is. You probably make more in a year than I will my whole life.” If he only knew how much I had in the bank. I wasn’t about to gloat about it. Cole worked extremely hard to get where he was. When it was obvious I had no comment, he cleared his throat and focused back on the road. “Have you given them an answer yet?” he asked.
“No. The director called me this morning. They’re giving me two months to think about it.” Out of the corner of my eye, I tried to gauge his reaction, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. If he wanted me to stay, I wouldn’t think twice about it.
“Seems like too good of an opportunity to pass up, Bree. You’ll be missing out on another box office hit.” He smiled over at me, and I could see the genuineness in it.
“I’ll decide soon. I still have my bucket list to work on. Right now, that’s what I want to do.”
He chuckled. “Tell me about that. Where all have you been so far?”
Excitement fluttered through my body. “Oh my God, so many places,” I said, patting his arm excitedly as I turned to him. It caught me off guard, and I jerked my hand away, clasping it in my lap. “Sorry about that. I don’t know what came over me.”
Cole smiled and shook his head. “It’s okay. For a second there, it was like you were your old self again.”
“It felt like I was,” I confessed. It shocked me how natural my reaction came, especially touching him the way I did. Heart racing, I averted my gaze to the window. From the way my cheeks burned, they had to be flaming red.
“Aren’t you going to tell me?” Cole asked.
I cleared my throat and laughed nervously. “Oh yeah.” Pulling out my phone, I scrolled through my photos. “I’ll show you all of the pictures when you’re not driving, but I traveled all up the West Coast to Seattle. I loved it there.” We came to a stoplight and I said, “But what I really loved was the Minnesota State Fair.” I showed him a photo of the bucket of Sweet Martha’s cookies. “These were heaven.”
His lips pulled back and he laughed. “Of course, it had to be cookies. They were always your weakness. It’s kind of funny how something like that would be on your bucket list.”
I slipped my phone into my pocket. “They should be on yours too.”
He looked over at me and winked. “I might just have to try it out next year.”
That one wink made everything inside of me tighten. One of the furniture stores was just outside of town, which was only a few minutes away. I didn’t want to get out of the truck for fear it’d break the spell.
“Speaking of cookies,” he added. “It reminds me of my mother and how she used to bake them for you.”
Even though I was eighteen when my parents had died, Cole’s mother did everything she could to take care of me. “How is she?” I asked, knowing I sounded nervous. I had no doubt she hated me after what I did to Cole.
Cole grinned slyly. “She doesn’t hate you. On the contrary, she wants to see you. She wanted me to invite you over for dinner one night. That is, if you’re up for it.”
Gasping, I held a hand over my chest. “I would love to. I was so afraid your parents hated me, just like you.”
We pulled into the furniture store parking lot and he turned to me. “I could never hate you, Bree. Like I told you the other day, we both made mistakes. It’s up to us to fix them.” He opened his door, and I followed suit. I already knew how I wanted to fix them.
* * *
—
The furniture store had everything I needed. Cole helped me find the perfect living room set, which consisted of a light brown leather couch and two recliners, along with an antique coffee table and end tables for the couch. Bennett and Emilia were already back at the house when we arrived, so once Bennett helped Cole unload the furniture, we went back to the furniture store to pick up my bedroom set. Now that my king-size bed and dresser were loaded in the back, it was time to head home.
It was going to be interesting getting back to the house and having Cole help me set up my bedroom. It’d been many years since we’ve been in that room together. Lots of memories.
“Emilia and my brother seemed to be getting along really well,” Cole said.
“I think so too.” I didn’t really have a chance to talk to her alone at the house, but by the way things were looking, I’d say they were definitely attracted to each other. It got me thinking about Cole and other women. “You know,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest as I looked over at him. “We’ve spent all day pretty much talking about me and my career, but you haven’t really said much about yourself.”
He shrugged. “My life’s not as exciting as yours, Bree. I’ve been working at the station ever since you left.”
“Yeah, but you’re the assistant chief right now. Doesn’t that mean you’ll be chief one day? That’s a big honor.” The smile that lit up his face was one of pride for his hard work. He deserved it and much more. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for the people of Dusty Valley.
“One day, I will,” he replied. “Chief Brody’s going to retire soon.” Marvin Brody was still the chief when I left town. Storm clouds started to thicken in the sky, and thunder rumbled in the distance. I looked out the back window at my bedroom set. It was going to get ruined if we got caught out in the rain. Cole pressed his foot harder on the gas. “There’s a bridge up ahead that we can park under until the rain passes. Looks like it’s getting ready to pour.”
I nodded in agreement. “Sounds good to me.”
Luckily we made it under the bridge right before the rain started to come down. We lowered the windows, and Cole turned off the engine. The rain hitting the bridge echoed all around us. Cole stared at me, his narrowed gaze curious.
“What is it?” I asked.
He shrugged. “We’ve talked about our careers, and what we’ve been up to, but for some reason, you’ve avoided the one question I know we both want to ask one another.”
“So have you,” I said.
“You’re right.” His jaw clenched, and he looked away. “I remember seeing you in the tabloids with Ryan James.” The fire in his eyes made me tremble when he met my gaze. “Are you still with him?”
I shook my head. “That ended a couple years ago. I haven’t been with anyone since.”
Never in my life would I have ever thought I’d be having this conversation with Cole. There was never supposed to be anyone else, only him, and vice versa. I was terrified to hear about all the women he’d been with.
“What happened between you two?” he asked.
With a heavy sigh, I leaned my head against the seat and focused on the rain. “I wasn’t in love with him, Cole. He was a great guy, but I couldn’t give him what he wanted.”
“I see.”
I turned my attention to him. “What about you?” The look on his face was one I didn’t want to see. It was the same expression he’d give when he didn’t want to have to explain something. I’d seen it a million times before, one being when my favorite horse had died and he didn’t want to tell me. He opened his mouth to speak, but I held up a hand. “You don’t have to tell me. I’m beginning to think I don’t want to know.”
“You probably should,” he replied with a sigh.
Hearing that made my heart sink. “Why is that? Are you still with her?”
He chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “No. It’s just you know who she is.”
That made it even worse. It had to be someone from Dusty Valley, and someone I obviously didn’t care for. There were many girls in high school who tried stealing him away from me. “Who was it?”
He stared at me for a few seconds, as if contemplating his decision about telling me. I could feel the anger well up in my chest, even though I had no right to be mad.
“It was Allie Glenn,” he answered.
And of course, it had to be my one archnemesis. I think everyone had someone like that in high school. Allie always tried to compete with me on everything, the main thing being Cole. She hated me because he never gave her the time of day. And now…she’d finally won him. It was like a slap to the face, and it stung like hell.
“Anything to say?” he asked, voice curious.
I bit my tongue and shook my head. “I doubt you want to hear my take on the matter. Then again, it’s none of my business.”
His lips slowly pulled back into a smile. “You sure are cute when you’re jealous.”
Mouth gaping, I slapped his arm. As much as I wanted to be mad at him, it was hard when he smiled like that. “You’re such an asshole, Cole. You were jealous too when I mentioned Ryan.”
He nodded. “You’re right, I was. It’s a good thing we don’t have to worry about Ryan or Allie anymore. They’re gone.” The rain finally stopped, and he started the truck. “Let’s get you home before the rain starts back up.”
The rest of the ride back to Dusty Valley was silent. When we pulled up to the house, Bennett and Emilia were on the porch, waiting for us.
Emilia rushed down the steps with the biggest smile on her face. “I can’t wait for you to see the kitchen. It’s so cute.”
I got out of the truck while Cole and Bennett hopped into the back to get my bed. They carried the headboard up the porch stairs, and Cole glanced back at me. “This going in your old bedroom?” I nodded, and they disappeared inside.
Emilia grabbed my arm and pulled me close. “Girl, the tension between you two is crazy. What happened?”
She walked with me up to the porch, and we sat down on the swing. “We just talked, and he told me about his relationship with a girl I couldn’t stand in high school. Out of all the women he could’ve picked, it had to be her.”
Emilia snickered. “I’m sure she doesn’t hold a candle to you, babe. You’re Hollywood, she’s not. He wants you. It’s written all over his face.”
Cole and Bennett walked out and grabbed the rest of my bedroom suit out of the back of the truck. “He hasn’t mentioned anything about us getting back together,” I whispered. “It’s probably too late. Too much time has passed.”
“It’s never too late,” she whispered back. Taking a deep breath, she blew it out slow. “I don’t know what it is about this place, but it feels right.”
I stared at her twinkling eyes and smiled. “You like Bennett, don’t you?”
Her cheeks turned red. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“Just be careful. There’s nothing wrong with getting to know each other and having fun, but don’t let things get serious if you’re just going to up and leave. Don’t do what I did.”
She nodded. “I won’t.”
The guys walked out, and Bennett waved. “It’s been fun. I’m heading out.”
I got up and hugged him. “Thank you for helping us today.”
He squeezed me back. “You’re welcome. Anytime.”
When he let me go, Emilia was right there to walk him down to his truck. Cole grabbed my hand and pulled me over in front of the swing, away from Emilia’s and Bennett’s prying eyes. My whole body broke out in goosebumps from his touch, and even more so when he reached for my other hand.
“I don’t know what you want from me, or if you want anything at all. I’m going to be honest, and say that I haven’t been able to get you off my mind since you got into town. It was nice being able to spend today with you, but I think there’s more serious stuff we need to talk about.”
