Arwen drank two margaritas and ate a whole plate of loaded potato skins while she waited for Rory to show up for his shift. She probably should have gone directly to his apartment, but who knows what she might have said or done? She didn’t trust herself around him, especially not in his bedroom. And she wasn’t about to capitulate. If he wanted something lasting, there had to be movement on both sides.
Her determination to control their meeting evaporated the moment Rory strolled through the door, wearing faded jeans that hugged his hips and the black T-shirt that displayed his beautiful tattoos. He took several steps into the café before he spied her at the bar.
He stopped, and the expression on his face softened somehow. The folds above his eyebrows evened out, the corners of his eyes turned up, and his stubborn mouth relaxed. In that moment, the bad boy morphed into something else. Something both dark but also romantic. No, he wasn’t the kind of man who would take her to a fancy restaurant, but he was the kind of man who listened to her songs and believed in her.
Arwen’s core exploded. She’d missed him. She’d missed the sex, but more than that, she’d missed the way he looked at her, as if she were something grand and special.
He continued toward her, stopping when he’d thoroughly invaded her space. “You’re here,” he said. “I was after missing you, love. Every day this last week or two. Are you back to stay?”
“Um, you got a minute, out in the alley?”
He nodded, and she followed him through the ready room and out into the alleyway, which was far less romantic in the afternoon light than it was in the dark.
“So,” she said once the door shut behind them, “are you going to move away?”
His shoulder hitched, and he broke eye contact. “Linda offered to rent her upstairs bedroom to me if I couldn’t find a better flat somewhere close. And Juni gave me a raise. Said she couldn’t manage the place without me.”
A wave of relief washed through Arwen. “Thank God. I was afraid you were going to take off for parts unknown.”
He looked back at her, his blue eyes filled with emotion. “How could I do that, love? When I understood that you needed to stay?” He took a step toward her. “Look, maybe I didn’t make myself plain. I want you, Arwen. I care about you. And I want to see you succeed.”
Arwen’s heart cracked open a little. “I’m sorry I didn’t understand that at first. And I’m…I’m blown away that you believe in me. I mean the part of me that I don’t believe in myself.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“But here’s the thing. I can’t change everything about me. I mean, I’m uptight. I want to be more relaxed, but I’m never going to be a rebel. And I’m never going to be happy with you unless you change. And I would never ask you to change. It’s got to be something you want for yourself.”
“I know,” he repeated. “I’ve never had a reason to change or to stay anywhere for very long. I’ve been a rolling stone for a long time. But…” He stopped for a moment, taking a breath and stepping closer. “I never had anyone who cared either. There’s nothing for me back in Ireland. In a lot of ways, I found a home here at the Jaybird. And you’re the most important part of that home.”
He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m going to stay, and I’d like to be your man for a while. I’ve got some money stashed away, and I was thinking about setting up a recording studio. I can’t write or sing, but I think I’m a good listener. At the very least, let me help you.”
Arwen stepped into his embrace. “I think I need help,” she murmured against the fabric of his T-shirt, which smelled like smoke and laundry detergent. “’Cause I lost my job today.”
He pushed her back a little and looked her in the eye. His face was a picture of concern, and Arwen’s heart opened up completely. She could love this man.
“How did that happen?” he asked.
She cuddled up against him again. “It’s a long story. How about you make me another margarita and I’ll tell you all the details?”
“Sounds like a good first step. I promise to listen diligently.”
Courtney’s face looked tear-swollen in the mirror, and no amount of concealer was going to hide the fact that she’d cried herself to sleep. She considered her options.
Tuesday was her day off. She could crawl back into bed, where she would probably end up crying some more. Or she could pull herself up and get on with her life. She’d fallen for Matt Lyndon, and it hadn’t worked out. This was a surprise? She stared at herself. “You knew the risks when you crossed the hall and knocked on his door,” she said to herself in a watery voice.
Shit. It was going to take a long time to get over him. But loafing around the apartment having crying jags wouldn’t roll back time or change her stupidity.
She should get up and get out. Take care of her errands. But before she hit the grocery store and the dry cleaner, she needed to apologize to Leslie and Sid.
So she took a long shower and tried to wash away Matt Lyndon. It didn’t work, but at least it woke her up.
An hour later, she pulled into the Dogwood Estates parking lot determined to make it through her day with calm and grace. But the sight before her was so depressing. Dogwood Estates looked almost abandoned. The windows on half of the units had been boarded up, the weeds hadn’t been mowed in weeks, and a group of young men were loading boxes into a U-Haul trailer parked way on the other side of where Sid and Leslie lived. People were moving out.
A ten-pound weight dropped onto her chest. In a few days, it would be Leslie and Sid packing up a U-Haul and moving away, maybe as far away as Arizona. Courtney would probably never see them again. She wiped an errant tear that dribbled down her cheek. She needed to stop crying. Now. Leslie and Sid didn’t need her tears.
She held this thought in her mind as she knocked on Sid’s door. Leslie answered, looking like an aging Rosie the Riveter in a chambray shirt knotted on one side and a cute red bandanna around her head.
“Hi,” Courtney said, trying in vain to keep her lips from trembling.
“Oh, honey, what’s the matter? What’s happened?” Leslie grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a motherly hug that smelled exactly like Estée Lauder. All of Courtney’s resolutions melted like a lump of sugar in a cup of hot tea.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed against Leslie’s shoulder.
“About what?” Leslie dragged her across the threshold and shut the door.
“About making you think I was angry, you know…about…about you and Sid. I’m not angry. I’m just…sad…sad…’cause you’re moving away,” she wailed.
“Hush, now.” Leslie patted her back and made soft cooing sounds as Courtney fell apart for the second or third time in as many days. What the hell was wrong with her? She couldn’t seem to stop crying.
“What’s the matter?” Sid asked.
Courtney finally raised her head to find Sid standing at the end of the short entrance foyer looking confused and adorable in his madras shorts and Rolling Stones tongue-and-lips logo T-shirt.
“I came to apologize.” Courtney sniffed. “About yesterday. I didn’t leave the protest because I was angry with you guys.”
Sid dug into the pocket of his shorts and handed her a handkerchief. “Here, honey. Dry your eyes. We didn’t think you were angry with us.”
“But we were worried about you,” Leslie said. “That’s why we sent Matt to find you.”
“But he said—”
“Well…” Sid drew out the word. “We might have led him to think that.”
“Why?”
“Can I get you some ice tea? A piece of pound cake?” Leslie asked like the perfect hostess.
Courtney shook her head. “What are you two up to?”
Sid turned away and sank into his recliner. “Sit down, sweetie.”
Courtney sat down on the couch, and Leslie sat beside her, reaching out to snag her hand. “When Matt kissed Arwen yesterday, Sid and I both saw how you reacted, and it—”
“Oh, for crissake,” Sid interrupted. “Arwen’s been shacking up with that Rory character over in apartment 5B. I can’t imagine what she sees in that guy. He’s—”
“Rory Ahearn lives here?”
Leslie and Sid nodded.
“So you see, dear,” Leslie said, “we knew Arwen and Matt were just work colleagues. That kiss was as innocent as can be. But you reacted like a woman in love.”
Courtney’s emotions took another wild flight, and she pressed Sid’s handkerchief to her eyes. “I’m such an idiot.”
Leslie put her arm around Courtney’s shoulder and hugged her close. It felt so nice to have someone care. Suddenly she understood why Sid had fallen for Leslie. She had a big heart, and she needed to take care of people. Now that Courtney had found her, she didn’t want Leslie to move away. Leslie had the capacity to become a stand-in for the mother Courtney had missed all her life.
“You two had an argument, didn’t you?” Leslie asked.
Courtney nodded. “And I apologized when I found out the truth, but…” Her throat knotted up. Dammit, what was wrong with her? She took a deep breath. “He’s made it clear that he can’t accept my apology. And I really don’t blame him.”
“Oh, honey, give him time.”
She shook her head. “No. I messed up this time. And besides, he’s like you and Sid, and probably Arwen. He’s going to be leaving. Soon.”
“What makes you say that?”
Courtney dabbed at her eyes and pulled herself together enough to tell Leslie and Sid the entire story, sparing nothing. When she had finished, Leslie looked at Sid. “That’s ridiculous. How could Matt’s own father fire him that way? And poor Arwen. She’s been our advocate for months and months.”
“And where the hell were Andrew and David?” Sid asked. “If you ask me, the only one who really cared about us was Matt.”
“I told you that boy had a heart of gold. Are you willing to admit that I was right and you were wrong?” Leslie asked.
Sid nodded. “Yeah, I am. I had that guy read all wrong. Look, we need to go over to LL&K right now and give Charles Lyndon a piece of our minds. I mean, we’re the client, aren’t we?” Sid stood up.
“You’re right, dear, we are,” Leslie said in a mild tone. “But before we go charging into LL&K with our guns flashing, we need to plan a strategy.” She stood up. “I think we need to consult with Linda.”
“Look, guys,” Courtney said, “no amount of protesting is going to change things. I mean, you guys are going to Arizona, and who knows where Rory’s going to go. He’ll probably take Arwen to Nashville or something. And Matt will move back to the city because he’s not cut out to be a small-town lawyer. And…”
Her voice wavered again, and she had to swallow back a lump. “I don’t want you guys to pick a fight with Charles Lyndon,” she finally managed to say. “I want to find a way for you guys to stay here.”
“But aren’t you furious with him?”
Courtney parsed through her emotions and shook her head. “I’m sad, Sid. I’m so very sad. I feel like everyone I care about is leaving and I’m going to be left here all alone.”
“Oh, honey, don’t.” Sid crossed the living room and sat down beside Courtney on the couch. “I had no idea you felt that way.”
“You’re my last link to Dad,” she said, tears falling down her cheeks. “You’re like family. Please don’t go.”
“I don’t want to go, sweetie. But Leslie and I have been all over the county looking at apartments. There aren’t any here that we can afford.”
“Well,” Leslie said with a firm nod, “that’s not entirely true.”
“What?”
“These apartments still exist. If we could find some way to stop GB Ventures from tearing them down.”
“How are you going to do that?” Sid asked.
“Oh my God, I just had an incredible idea,” Courtney said.
“What?” Leslie and Matt asked simultaneously.
“There’s one man in Jefferson County who has the money to do it. And he happens not to give a rat’s behind about what the Lyndon family wants or needs.”
“Who is that?”
“Jefferson Talbert.”