Checking Holly Twice, page 14
“It is. You’ll see in time. Now, Forest? He’s the real thing. If I were you, I’d think twice about walking away forever. Again, there’s such a thing as airplanes.”
Before I could come up with an answer, she was back in her jacket, had scooped up Liza, and was on her way. I watched from the window of the mudroom door. Her headlamp lit up the snow in the path right in front of her. In the distance, though the trees, I could see the light from her house.
I washed and put away the teacups and turned off all but the pendant lights that hung over the island. The fire had pretty much died down, but I sat in the armchair anyway to watch the dying embers. Mrs. Knight’s assessment of Rhett was interesting. Was she right?
I remembered then Rhett’s reaction when I’d told him I’d gotten the Italy film. It was right before he left for his job in Paris. What had he said? I searched my memory bank, recalling only the tight look around his mouth and a certain glitter in his eyes when I’d described the role and the director who’d been so enthusiastic when I said I’d be thrilled to take the role even though it wasn’t the kind of salary I usually asked for. This was a passion project for me. One I’d felt I deserved after doing so much commercial work to please who…? Rhett?
Then I remembered what he’d said when I finished.
“Sounds risky, babe. You’ll really have to work on this one and not call it in with your usual tricks.”
Risky. Work on this one. Usual tricks.
How had I not seen it? The undermining, gaslighting, and most of all, jealousy. My excitement and success had made him feel bad about himself. His insecurity had caused him to lash out in the way he knew would hurt me the most. Betrayal.
The last of the embers in the fireplace faded to gray as I sat there. Dust to dust. Ashes to ashes.
And a rebirth. Mine. I would rise up and out of the ashes to reclaim my life. Never again would I allow anyone to treat me that way. This was my life. I’d never give my power away like that again.
I stood and straightened the stockings that still hung over the fireplace. Whatever happened after I left, Forest and Mrs. Knight and the children had given me a great gift over the last few days. I’d be forever grateful. With that thought, I walked straight-backed up the stairs and into my room.
I left the door open.
12
Forest
By six that night, the bar was packed. For the first few hours, I didn’t have a chance to talk to anyone, including Horace. Even with two of our best waitresses on staff that night, we barely kept up with the drink orders. I liked it busy, but this was ridiculous. Too many people were off work this week, plus out-of-town visitors.
For once, I didn’t count up my tips in my head all night hoping to have enough for groceries for the week. Friday night usually bought groceries, but during slow weekends it took both of my shifts to make enough to cover expenses. Kids cost a lot of money. They ate a surprising amount of food, too. I knew it would only grow worse as they got older.
I’d done the math earlier to make sure I could give up my second job here at Twisted Tinsel. With what I brought in from my accounting and bookkeeping clients and without a mortgage or any of the other debt, I could easily cover all of the bills and put some aside for savings. Yes, I would save more if I kept the shifts here, but I figured it was better for the kids if I was home with them. In addition, Mrs. Knight was starting to slow down some. Seeing her asleep in the middle of the day this afternoon worried me. Not because she’d ever let anything happen to the kids, but because she was getting older. I couldn’t lose anyone else.
There were a lot of young women in the bar tonight. Kids home from college or young adults visiting their families. Several were shamelessly flirting with me. Had I not had Holly waiting for me at home, I might have been tempted. But again, where would I take them? Bringing strangers into our lives was not in the best interest of the kids.
Then what was I doing with Holly? Guilt over the snow family rose up again. Playing house with Holly was dangerous for all of us.
The selfish part of me reared up, reminding me I didn’t have a life and that I’d had to give it all up for Dane and Ruby. I deserved a few nights of sex with a beautiful woman who had also happened to have saved my butt.
Around midnight, it started to clear out. Last call came at fifteen after twelve, so it wouldn’t be long before we could start cleaning up and getting the heck out here.
Horace poured us both a glass of water and came to stand beside me behind the counter. “Good night for us, eh?”
“Yeah, good for business, but rough on us.”
“Good job, man.” He patted my shoulder. “You were on fire.”
“I had a nap today.”
“Did the nap involve a certain young lady?”
“Maybe.” I flushed. It was dark in here, thankfully. Horace would give me all kinds of crap if he saw me blushing like a schoolboy.
“You two make a cute couple.”
“Right, other than she’s filthy rich, glamorous, talented, and headed out of town at the end of the year. This is just a fling. Nothing serious.”
“The way she was looking at you today made me think otherwise.”
I sat with that for a moment. Could it be true that she liked me for real? Would it develop into something more if she stayed? She’s not, I reminded myself. “She has the role of a lifetime waiting for her next month. No chance she’s staying. And I can’t go anywhere for two obvious reasons.”
Horace had stopped listening to me. Instead, he appeared to be paying attention to something on the television hanging over the bar. I followed his gaze. A blonde woman in her mid-fifties was being interviewed by one of the talking heads. The caption underneath her caught my attention next. Susan Turner, mother of Holly Turner.
“What is this?” I asked Horace, as if he would know.
He did know. Apparently, he’d been watching the television instead of listening to me. “It’s Holly’s mother. She’s saying Holly’s disappeared and she’s worried about her safety and state of mind.”
The crowd had thinned to just a few people. “Turn it up,” I said to Horace.
He fumbled around looking for the remote. I followed the subtitles. “She left town without telling me. We’re very close, so that’s not like her.”
“They’re not close,” I said. “Holly paid her to go away.”
Horace had finally located the remote and turned on the sound.
“When was the last time you heard from her?” The talking head was a fake-looking woman with one of those perfectly sculpted mushroom-like hairstyles.
“A few days before Christmas,” Susan said. “Then she vanished. My daughter’s fragile. What happened with her engagement, well, she’s just not strong enough to deal with the humiliation.”
“What a liar,” I said. “Holly doesn’t even talk to this witch.” No wonder. This narcissist was basically using Holly’s time away to make herself look like an angelic, doting mother when the opposite was true. Wasn’t this violating their legal terms? Holly would be devastated. Would it further unleash the hounds of paparazzi and press when she was simply trying to find a little peace? Most likely. If this woman truly cared about her, she would understand that and just leave her be. Instead, she was using this as an opportunity for attention.
“Classic narcissist,” Horace said. “I can spot ’em a mile away.”
“How come?”
“Dated a few, married one.”
This was new information. I hadn’t known Horace had been married.
“Some of us are attracted to them,” Horace said. “Like moths to a flame.”
Anger bubbled to the surface. I cursed. “People have seen her in town. Someone’s sure to call it in that she’s here. Especially if they believe this crap.” I waved at the television.
“Or what if she’s in trouble? Someone might have taken her,” Susan said. Holly looked a little like her. Both had good bone structure. However, this Susan probably reeked like an overripe piece of fruit. One who missed her chance when she was young and smooth-skinned and was now desperately trying to have her moment. I could practically smell her through the television. “This was taken somewhere in the middle of nowhere,” Susan said, referring to a pixelated photograph of Holly pumping gas.
The mushroom head said it had been taken somewhere in Oregon and sent in by a concerned citizen. When had pumping gas become concerning? The next clips were photographs of that chump Rhett running around Paris with his girlfriend and then a few of Holly and him in what they’d labeled “Happier times for Holly.” What was wrong with people? These were real humans with feelings, not simply celebrities who provided entertainment. My sister was right to insist on no television for the kids. There was nothing but toxicity out there.
“You go on home,” Horace said. “I’ll finish up here.”
“I appreciate it.” On the drive home, I had to figure out a way to tell her about this. She had to know, especially if my fears were correct and some well-meaning or interfering fan called the press to tell them that Holly was alive and well here in Garland Grove.
Holly had left her door open a few inches. Still, I knocked softly, and she called for me to come in. She was sitting up in bed reading. A pair of blue-framed reading glasses perched on the end of her nose.
“I thought you said you wouldn’t wait up,” I said.
She yanked off her glasses. “I wasn’t. Just couldn’t sleep.” She tapped the cover of one of my favorite mystery series. “I found this on the shelf downstairs. It’s very good. I can’t remember the last time I read at night instead of watching television. I didn’t even look at my phone after I put the kids to bed. It’s been nice. So quiet here. I can think. My mind isn’t so busy, and I can actually concentrate on reading.”
I’d taken my boots off downstairs but was still dressed from work. I smelled of grease and spilled beer. “I probably stink. I’ll take a shower in a minute, but I wanted to talk to you about something first.”
She set aside the book. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, but I saw something on the news that you should know about. It was your mother on one of those ridiculous cable news channels. She’s saying you’ve disappeared and no one knows where you are. She’s making it sound as if you’re either mentally ill or in peril.”
She paled and clutched the top part of the sheet as if she wanted to pull it over her head. “That’s a violation of the agreement.”
“I figured. She said you two were supposed to have plans for the holiday. Is that true?”
“God no. I haven’t spent Christmas with her in years. What triggered her to do something like this?”
“They had a photograph of you pumping gas in Oregon. It’s blurry, but it does look like you.”
“She must have seen that and decided it was a chance to get on television.” She placed both hands over her face and groaned in frustration. When she looked back at me, her eyes shimmered. “People in town saw you and me together. They’ll find your house and camp outside your gate waiting for me. This is what I didn’t want to happen. Not just because it ruins my week away, but because I don’t want you or the kids or the Knights exposed to all my stuff. They hunt me like an animal. Or maybe I’m an animal in the zoo. Either way, I’m trapped.”
“You’ll be safe here with me. We can hunker down for the rest of the week.”
She didn’t seem to hear me. “Don’t be surprised if you hear a helicopter flying above. That’s what they do to try to get a photo. I’m so sorry, Forest. I didn’t want my real life to touch us. It’s not fair to you or the kids.”
“I won’t have you worried about us. This won’t hurt me or the kids. You’re who I’m worried about. How can you live this way?”
Her gaze moved from me to the windows. Her small shoulders lifted in a shrug that conveyed such despair that I had to fight the urge not to haul her into my smelly lap.
“I don’t know,” she said softly. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s really a life at all. If I didn’t love the work so much, it would be different, I guess. I love to tell stories.” She returned to me. “On set, the energy I feel, the sense of collaboration gives me a lot of joy. The rest of this—sometimes I think it’s killing me slowly. Anyway, what else would I do? It’s the only thing I know how to do.”
I had this overwhelming urge to smash something. “You’ll always have a safe place to land here. We can look after you, shield you from all this, anytime you need us.”
She gave me a sad smile. “As much as I know you believe that to be true, you and the kids will someday have a wife and a mother. One who won’t be too happy to see crazy Holly showing up for holidays.”
I grimaced and ran my hand through my hair. “Three days ago, I didn’t think that would be possible or that I even wanted someone. But having you here, sharing the nights and spending such fun times with the kids, it’s made me realize how lonely I’ve been. You’ve given me so much in such a short time. Not just financially, but in here too.” I tapped my chest. “You woke me up. Made me see that my life of duty and struggle wasn’t all there is. I’ll be as loyal to you as you ever need me to be.”
She shook her head. “You can’t do that to yourself. There’s a woman out there somewhere who would give anything to be with a man like you. You deserve to have it all. Not just a scared rabbit who shows up once or twice a year.”
I knew she was right that I deserved the real thing with a woman who could be a steady presence here in our lives. However, at the moment, I couldn’t imagine there would ever be anyone I cared about more than I already cared about Holly. There was something so right between us, both familiar and comfortable yet with this powerful connection physically and mentally.
“You’re not a scared rabbit,” I said. “You’re a strong woman who has everything you need to have the life you want. Don’t let your mother or these other bottom-feeding jerks bring you down.”
Her eyes filled. “I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone treat me like you do. When I’m here with you, I feel as if nothing can hurt me. Thank you for giving me this week. I have a feeling I’ll cherish it for the rest of my life.”
“Me too. Whatever happens in the future, know this—you’ve made my life better in so many ways. I’ll always be grateful to you.” I got up from the chair. “I’m going to take a shower and come back to you. Don’t fall asleep on me.”
“I won’t.” She picked up her book. “I’ll be waiting and reading.”
However, as I crossed over to the door, instead of bowing her head to read, she placed the book on her chest and reached for her phone.
I woke to the sound of helicopters overhead. Fuzzy from a deep sleep, it took me a moment to remember what that meant. Damn. She’d been right. They’d found her, stopping at nothing, including flying over my house. I rolled over to find Holly already awake. She was sitting up with her knees drawn to her chest.
“That’s them,” she said.
I sat up and brushed hair from her cheek. “Listen to me. I’ve been thinking. We have two choices. We can either hide out here, which is completely fine with me. Or we can live our lives as if no one is watching.”
“What would we do if we chose the latter?”
“Take the kids sledding over at the Stevenses’ place. They turned their farm into a recreational place with sledding, sleigh rides, the whole thing. We could have lunch at their café. The kids have always wanted to go there, but I haven’t been able to afford it. Supposedly, they have the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever made.”
“That sounds nice.” She rested one cheek on her knees and pulled her arms tighter around her legs. “They’ll take your photographs. You’ll be everywhere. The kids are safe because they passed a law that they can’t publish the kids’ photos. But you’ll be everywhere.”
“Like your ex and the girl?”
She nodded. “Like that, yes.”
“They played those same tired pictures on television during the interview with your mother.”
“Did they show the one of them feeding each other?” She giggled. “So stupid. I wonder if they staged that one? Rhett loves attention and doesn’t care where he gets it.” Her eyes widened. She spoke though her fingers. “Oh my God. They’re just alike. Rhett and my mom. How have I not seen that until now? I can tell you exactly. All the noise in my life drowned out the truth. Here, I can see it all clearly.”
“Horace told me last night he attracts narcissists. Maybe you do too.”
“I guess you gravitate to what you know.” Holly unfolded her legs and opened the bedside table drawer and came back with her phone. “I’m afraid to look, but we should.”
I placed my hand over the phone. “Let’s not. Give yourself a break from all of it. She wants to ruin your time away. She’s punishing you for banning her.”
“I should at least call Marge. She and my lawyer can force her to shut up by reminding her of our agreement. I’m surprised she risked her allowance. Unless she’s found a rich boyfriend?”
“Could be. Or maybe her need for attention is greater than her greed?”
“They do rival each other.” Holly slowly turned to look at me. “How did you get so smart about this kind of thing?”
“I’m not really.” Her compliment pleased me just the same. If I had my way, I’d become an expert on all things Holly. Checking her twice would just be the beginning.
13
Holly
Marge picked up the phone right away. “What is that fool mother of yours thinking?” After letting loose an explosion of expletives, she drew in a deep breath and laid out a plan. “You get on Instagram and do a little video explaining that you’re doing fine but needed time away. You appreciate the concern but ask for privacy during a difficult transition in your life. Close with telling them that you have no relationship with your mother and that anything she says should be scrutinized by that lens.”
