Chapter 18
When he tapped his phone, Aaron gazed at the background image for a moment. It was the photograph he’d taken of Lia eating the grape ice pop. Her amazing green eyes stared back at him with a hint of mirth in them. Her lips were purple, and he recalled they’d had a grape flavor when he had kissed her. Her long dark hair teased the tops of her breasts that were barely contained beneath her skimpy pink top. The hard peaks of her nipples pressed against the soft knit fabric where the words “Sweet Dreams” were written.
That was Lia—his Sweet Dream. He wanted her back, and there was no let up when it came to wanting her. Even her leaving with Dallas had not put a dent in his desire for her.
“Shit,” he muttered as he realized the huge difference between Lia and Molly. He hadn’t wanted Molly back. Once she was gone, it was all over but the crying. That was that. He had looked at the pictures when he put them in the shoebox, and he’d felt a great deal of regret. Nothing else. No desire, no need, no wishing he could make love to her again.
He wanted to make love to Lia again. He wanted to hear her sing in the shower, and he wanted to have breakfast with her. He wanted to look offended when she snatched the basketball from him and dunked it. He wanted to sit in the fairy house with her because she considered it a magical place.
It wouldn’t matter if Lia left with Dallas a dozen times. It wouldn’t matter what she did. She could walk all over him, and he would want her back. He would take her back. He might as well be honest with himself.
The only thing that was keeping him pinned in a bed thousands of miles away from her was his tiny son. So he had only one option.
Call her.
He rolled the pink rock around in his palm as he waited for her to answer. Finally, she picked up and murmured hello. Damn, he had forgotten about the time difference. He had no idea what time it was in Paris.
“Sounds like I woke you up.”
“Aaron?”
“Yeah, it’s me. The asshole,” he said. She yawned. “What time is it there?”
She groaned. “It’s like after three in the morning.”
Damn. “Sorry, I didn’t think about the time difference. I can call back later.”
“No, I’m awake now.” She still sounded half-asleep. “Why are you calling?”
He gave the pink rock a squeeze. “I wish I could say this in person.” Letting out a deep breath, he said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being a jealous, insecure douche bag, and I know I’ve got issues. Maybe worse than I thought.
“When I saw Dallas standing there, waiting for you, that was a nightmare come true. Everything just fell apart inside me. I couldn’t stop it,” he admitted. “I thought I was done with the past. I threw away the shoebox. I didn’t tell you, but I got up before dawn one morning and I dumped it in the trash. I’d fallen in love with you, and I wanted to move on. But I guess not everything went with the box. Like my fear you’d leave me, too.”
He held tight to the pink rock. “The thing is, that fear may always be with me. I’ve got to figure out how to cope with it.”
She remained silent.
He didn’t blame her for not saying anything.
“No matter what happens between us, you’ll always be John Aaron’s aunt, and I want you to be part of his life.” He wasn’t going to stand in the way of a relationship between her and the baby. He wouldn’t do that to either one of them. “John Aaron needs to know his biological family, too.”
“Will you send me pictures of him?” she asked quietly.
Aaron sat up straight, disturbed by her question. “Aren’t you going to come and see him?”
“I can’t. Not for a while.” She spoke so softly it sounded as if she were slipping farther and farther away.
He tapped the pink rock against his thigh as hurt built inside him. “Listen, if you want, you can come and see the baby when I’m working. Dad and Miss Pauline will be here.”
“Thank you.” Her voice grew more distant, and Aaron grew edgier.
“You forgot your pink rock.”
“It’s not a pink rock.”
“The heart stone.” He held it in place over the center of his bare chest. “Lia, I want you to do whatever you need to do to get things right in your life. No matter how long that takes. I love you, and I’ll be here waiting for you if you decide to come back.
“I’m not going to be pushy. I’m not going to call you back or harass you. I’m going to give you space,” he said. “I can do that.” It wasn’t going to be easy. “I’m going work on myself. Change. Maybe there needs to be a new me.”
“Thank you,” she replied.
He pressed the stone hard against his weary chest as his heart threatened to fracture.
“You don’t have to thank me.” Gratitude was not what he wanted. He thought of the words she had said to him one night. He said them to her. “Lia, I’m not through loving you.”
After a brief silence, she said, “Good night, Cole.”
He grinned for the first time since she had walked out of his house. “Good night, Loretta.”
* * *
Two weeks later, the rolling hills surrounding Nashville soaked up a much-needed summer rain. At her father’s home, Lia looked out the dining room window at the manicured rose bushes whose blossoms opened to welcome the rain like a long-lost love. The rain wasn’t supposed to last, which was usually the story with summer rain clouds that came and went quickly.
“Good morning.” Julian strode into the dining room with a wrinkle-free blue oxford shirt and slacks. He always had that Hyde Park look about him, even at breakfast.
Lia joined him at the dining room table that had been set for breakfast by the housekeeper. “Busy day?” Lia began the conversation as Julian stirred cream into his coffee.
“Yeah.” He glanced at her. “I think you did great on Music City Live.” He referred to a talk show on cable television. “You handled that interview like a pro.”
Lia made a little groan. Having never appeared on a talk show alone, she’d been terrified as she sat in the chair opposite the host. Most of his questions had concerned the end of her relationship with Dallas, which had been made public last Friday.
Conner had issued a joint statement from Dallas and Lia to the press. It had read: “After much thought and consideration, we have decided to end our relationship. This is a mutual agreement, and we will always remain friends. We still care about each other as we do all the people in our lives as well as our fans. We cherish the years we spent together, but we are now looking forward to new and brighter futures.”
Just like that. Ten years over. There had been a flurry of activity online from entertainment bloggers and fans. She and Dallas had trended on Twitter for a while. Some people were supportive and understanding, while the haters lashed out at them. Lia, who had never been one for social media, had quit going online to avoid all the comments. She was going through enough personal turmoil without strangers bullying her.
“I’m not doing another talk show. I told Conner that.” She had said all she was going to say about Dallas publicly, and much to her relief, it seemed as if the hoopla over the weekend was already starting to fade.
Julian lifted his napkin. “When Dallas and Madison make their first public appearance together, there’ll be another round of gossip.”
Would she ever get out of this picture? “I wish them all the best,” she said, delivering what would be her standard response if asked.
“Do you?” Her father held out hope.
“Yes, I do,” she said with an earnest smile. Dallas was free from the lie, and so was she. “There was a time when I couldn’t imagine my life without Dallas,” she told her father as he ate. “Not because I loved him but because I felt I was only good enough because of him.”
“Lia, if that was my fault—”
“No.” She reached over and took her father’s hand. “It wasn’t your fault. I’ve learned that uncertainty is just part of being human, and when you find something that’s safe, you want to hang onto it. But I know now that everything will be okay. I don’t need Dallas.”
Julian nodded with enthusiasm. “I heard you were at the studio yesterday. That you and Tyler Stokes cut a new song. Rick and Cody are raving about it,” he said, referring to the sound engineer and rhythm guitarist. “What was the name of it?”
“ ‘Not Through Loving You.’ ” She took a sip of her orange juice.
“I’ll give Henry a call at Capitol.” The wheels of success started rolling. “Tyler’s got potential. He’s young and he needs a little polish, but we can work with him. Maybe let him be the opening act for Dallas and get his feet warm by opening a major show.” Julian glanced at her. “Would opening for Dallas be a problem?”
“Dad, I’m leaving.”
“Leaving?”
“I’m going back to Lafayette Falls,” she said. “For good.”
“For good? What does that mean?”
“That means I’ll be living there. Making a new life there.”
“You have a life here.”
“No. It’s not the life I want.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I love music, and I’ll continue to write songs. It’s just a short drive over here. I can come work in the studio, but the tours, the shows, the promo, the hotels,” she shook her head, “I’m done with that.”
Julian finished his coffee. “I’m assuming it’s the doctor, right?”
“Yeah. Him and the baby.”
“Lia, that’s like a ready-made family.”
“They’re my family.” Or so she hoped. “I hope someday they’ll be your family.”
Julian didn’t commit to that. “You’re a woman, and it’s your decision. But I would advise you that if the relationship goes south, get out. Don’t let things drag on,” he said. “Tell the kid, Stevie, I hope he’s enjoying the Jag.”
“He is. He’s sent me a video of him singing ‘I Will Always Love You’ to the car.” Lia laughed. She would be eternally grateful to Stevie for his help in shutting down the article Wilkes had intended to publish about her infidelity.
After all the online coverage of Dallas and her visiting their fan Stevie at the behest of his brother, Wilkes had pulled the article. Nothing had appeared in his tabloid. Of course, after she and Dallas announced their split, he had published some garbage, including comments from “sources close to the couple.” But thankfully, there was no mention of Aaron or Stevie.
She looked up and grinned at her father. “You know, Dad, you should marry Sheila.”
Julian reached for his coffee cup. “When did you say you were leaving for Lafayette Falls?”
The rain came and went all morning, even when Lia was at a car dealership looking for something practical. She drove away in a sturdy crossover vehicle with plenty of interior room for baby stuff.
At the sprawling home she had shared with Dallas, she waved at a couple of photographers perched at the end of the drive and zoomed by them. She hoped by next week there’d be a new story for them to follow.
Inside the house, she began the task of packing up her things. Dallas had taken off for Colorado. She had planned to head for the solitude of the Colorado ranch after the announcement of their split went public, but that had changed when she decided, to hell with it, she had already been away from the man she loved too long.
She stopped her packing when her phone vibrated. She wasn’t surprised to see a picture of John Aaron on his play mat looking wide-eyed at the colorful blocks and animals dangling above him. He wore one of the sleepers she had bought him. Soft blue with a white collar. She couldn’t wait to see him.
Aaron had sent her pictures of the baby every day, beginning on the day he left the hospital. She had a picture of John Aaron strapped in his infant seat for his ride home. Plus pictures of him in the crib, getting a bath, taking a nap, playing, and lying in the arms of the polar bear.
True to his word, Aaron had given her space. He hadn’t called her or sent any persistent messages. He was a changed man. Almost. Besides photographs of the baby, he had occasionally sent other pictures. Not of himself, but things that would play on her memory.
He had sent a snapshot of the basketball goal and one of Frank’s garden. He took a close-up of the rose quartz, which he had kept. He surprised her with a photograph of two new pictures he had hung in the foyer. They were prints of Frederic Remington’s Western paintings. Without words, he was working cleverly to sway her.
The man did not give up, and she loved that about him.
Her last stop before she left Nashville was Gilda’s house. She needed the morale boost, reassurance, and maybe a little magic. She draped the archangel scarf over her head as she rushed up the walkway in the rainy mist. Gilda waited with the door open.
On the porch, decorated with wind chimes and sun catchers, she shook off the raindrops before she went inside. She was greeted by the scent of roses wafting from a freshly cut bouquet on the coffee table and the sound of the Eagles singing “Take It Easy.”
Lia noticed an odd hand-sewn doll that looked like a stick man made of dark burlap. A folded piece of paper was stuck beneath a rope tied around the doll’s waist. “Gilda, is that a voodoo doll?”
Gilda sighed. “Do you see any pins in it?” She picked up the strange doll. “It is voodoo, but it’s a messenger doll. It’s the way you get a secret message to someone in the spirit world. You write your message and attach it to the doll. Then you leave the doll at a crossroads or a cemetery. Both are portals to the world beyond this one.”
“That’s a little strange, even for you.”
“Strange is only a matter of perception.” Gilda moved to the sofa. “I saw the new vehicle, so I’m assuming today is the day.”
“Yes. Finally.” She had waited until she had everything squared away in her life. She was returning to Aaron with no baggage. Nothing would take her from him again.
Lia sat in the armchair. “I wasn’t really nervous until a little while ago. Now, I’m kinda like—” She waved her hands frantically in the air.
“It’s a big step, but I think it’s one in the right direction.”
“We’ve both given each other space, time to think about what we really want.” She cut her eyes toward Gilda. “He doesn’t know I’m coming. I started to call him, but I wanted to talk to him in person. So, after my surprise visit, I don’t know. I may be coming back.”
“If you go, you won’t be coming back. He won’t let you leave.”
With her hands clasped together, Lia pressed them against her lips. “If I go and he wants me to stay, I’m not ever leaving him again.”
“We could do a binding spell,” Gilda suggested.
Lia laughed. “Knowing my luck, it would backfire, and I’d end up with Stevie.”
“We definitely don’t want that to happen.”
“I need to go.” She followed Gilda to the front door.
Outside on the breezy porch, they hugged. “Good luck, and call me if you need me.”
“I will. I’ll let you know what happens.”
“At least the rain has let up.” Gilda tapped one of the chimes, and musical notes floated in the air as Lia headed toward her vehicle.
She came to a sudden stop on the walkway. “Gilda, come here!” Her face lit up as she motioned for Gilda to join her. “Look at this. You were right!”
With a look of curiosity, Gilda hurried down the porch steps. Standing beside Lia, she shaded her eyes with her hand as she looked up at a wide rainbow south of the city. Fluid prisms of blue, red, yellow, and green arched across a sky where gray clouds splintered and drifted apart.
Gilda gave Lia’s shoulders a hug. “It’s a sign. Definitely. Follow the rainbow.”