If I Loved You (Harper Falls Book 1) (34 page)

She bent down and whispered to Edgar, "Stay
here baby, this will only take a minute."

"Did you hear what I said?"

"You stupid, crazy harpy." Rose rounded on
her with such force that Louise stumbled back against her car. "The
fact that you even have the nerve to show your face to me is bad
enough. Then to ask me for money? Unbelievable. But to bring my
father into this? Whatever sanity that you've been clinging to all
these years must have finally completely deserted you."

Desperate to somehow salvage the situation,
Louise drew herself up and gave Rose a look that at one time would
have had her shaking with fear. Now it only added fuel to her fire.
Louise ignored the warning signs and pushed on.

"Your mother never was woman enough for
him." Louise ran a bony hand down her side as if illustrating what
men really wanted. Rose wondered if the woman had looked in the
mirror lately. "He only married her because she got herself
pregnant and he thought he should do the right thing. It didn't
take much effort on my part to convince him that'd he'd made a
mistake. We spent a glorious month in Aruba. I believe your mother
was pushing you out around that time."

Louise hoped her gouging words would open
old wounds; she wanted to draw blood. But Rose barely felt a
twinge. The only reason she didn't walk away was morbid curiosity.
How far would this woman go? How much lower could she sink?

"We still see each other from time to time.
He's an amazing lover. But I don't have to tell you about amazing
lovers. Jack Winston would keep any woman satisfied. Did he tell
you about my little visit?"

And with that Rose had her answer. Louise
was
incapable
of hitting bottom; she
just kept slithering down to new depths of awful.

"Enough." Rose cut the other woman off
before she could continue. "These will be the last words I ever
plan to say to you, so listen carefully. First, I don't know what
kind of sick dynamic was going on between my mother and father and
you. But I do know that you all deserved each other. As for you
knowing where I can find
dear old
dad
? As far as I'm concerned you can take that little
secret to the grave. Don't you think if I'd wanted to find him I
would have? The last thing I need is another narcissistic parasite
in my life."

Rose watched Louise struggling to comprehend
what was happening. It was all slipping away and this time there
was no pulling it back. One more snip and Rose would be free for
good.

"As for Jack? You never had a shot and the
fact that you would insinuate otherwise amazes me. Jack wouldn't do
that to me. I know loyalty is a foreign concept to you but believe
me, it does exist." Rose felt her anger draining away. Louise
wasn't worth the energy. "But just for arguments sake let's say
you'd met him before he knew me. Unlike so many women, you haven't
gotten better with age. You reek of desperation. It rolls off of
you in sickening, unctuous waves. Jack wouldn't touch you, he could
barely stand to be in the same room with you. As for me? Even out
here the stink of you is too much. It's over, Louise.
We-Are-Done
." Rose picked up Edgar's
lead this time determined that nothing would stop her from getting
into the house. She hadn't gone three steps when Louise let out an
ear splitting scream.

"Police! Someone, please. I've been
viciously attacked. Someone call the police."

Rose didn't bother to look back. "I'll be
happy to dial 911. But we've had an audience for the last half
hour. You can try pressing your bogus charges, but I'm very
friendly with my neighbors and they no doubt will be more than
happy to testify on my behalf."

She was putting the key in the lock when she
heard the slam of a car door. The motor protested once and then
coughed to life. What followed was the sound of screeching tires.
It signaled the end of Louise. That part of her life was finally
over.

"No looking back, Edgar. My future is wide
open, and I plan on living it with you and Jack."

Edgar followed her into the house. He didn't
care about the drama that had just unfolded. He was with Rose, and
she was happy. The only thing missing was Jack. But Edgar knew he
would be back soon, Jack never left for long. He made a circle in
his bed and settled with a contented sigh. Rose and Jack and
Edgar—perfect.

ROSE WAS WAITING for the crash. She had been
up for almost twenty-four hours straight. In that time, she had
fallen in love—or finally admitted it, had the long overdue
confrontation with Louise, which by itself should have left her
feeling like a wrung out dish rag. And to top it off, she had spent
the last twelve hours pouring her heart and soul into the song
she'd almost decided she couldn't write. But this time when she
picked up her guitar and played the first few notes the words had
flowed out like the water from a gentle stream. Like Jack's
favorite stream. The place where he'd shared his childhood dreams.
Where they had made sweet love under the sheltering oak as a warm
spring rain began to fall on them.

Twenty-four hours of emotional turmoil and
she was still riding an adrenaline high the likes of which she'd
never known. She fed Edgar and let him out to run around and do his
morning business and then ran upstairs to take a quick shower.
After she had dried off and put on a pair of leggings and loose
cotton pullover, she checked the clock. Eight-fifteen. More than
anything she wanted to call Jack and tell him everything. About the
song, about Louise—about how much she loved him. But he wasn't due
back from Los Angeles for a few more days and those were things
that she needed to say to him in person. So instead she called
Paris.

"What!" Sam Laughton sounded out of breath
and in pain. He grunted again and let out of whoosh of air.
Whatever was going on sounded horrible.

"Sam, are you alright?"

"No," he grunted again. "My trainer is a
sadist. Enough Monique, I think we've kept my flab at bay for
another few days."

Monique? Of course, Sam
would
have a woman trainer.

"Sorry about that Rose. My schedule has been
so crazy that I have fit my workouts in whenever I can. By the way,
what time is it there.?"

"Almost eight-thirty. You know, in the
morning." All of a sudden her nerves were jangling around in her
stomach and as usual mouth was over compensating with inane
comments.

"Since this is the first time you've
initiated any contact with me in oh, a month, can I assume that you
have some good news?"

"It's done, Sam." She was glad he couldn't
see her little happy dance. "When it finally came it came in a
rush. I had the words in less than an hour and then I polished a
bit and recorded the background and vocals, and if you check your
email you can listen to the finished product."

"Impressive. Now, take a breath and relax.
And no more caffeine.

"No caffeine here, I'm riding a natural
high."

"Right," Sam sighed with exasperation.
Artists, colossal pains in the ass, every one of them

Rose waited impatiently while Sam went to
his office and opened the email attachment. She could hear the
familiar opening chords. She paced back and forth for the next the
next three minutes and forty-three seconds, now and then reminding
herself to breath. And then there was nothing but silence. Did he
hate it? Love it?
Say something, damn
it
.

"Where the hell did that come from?"

"Now see here, Sam. That is the best thing
I've ever written—no contest. I thought you were supposed to know
your stuff but obviously…"

"I meant," Sam's voice was barely below a
yell, effectively cutting off Rose's rant. "Where have you been
hiding this side of you? I'm familiar with all your work, Rose. I
agree that not only is this the best thing you've ever written,
it's also one of the best original songs I've heard in all the
years I've been in the business. Congratulations,
Unconditional
is exactly the anchor the movie
needs. You have yourself a standard; this song is going to be
around for a long, long time."

Rose was floored. She knew it was good, but
Sam's response was beyond anything she had expected. "It means a
lot to hear you say that."

"Just don't get used to the hearts and
flowers. I still need you here in Paris. When can I expect
you?"

"You don't
need
me there, Sam." She had worked with some
stubborn control freak producers in her time, but Sam Laughton put
the others to shame. "But if I do come it won't be until next week
and I'll only be able to stay for a few days." She would have added
that she wasn't coming alone, but she couldn't speak for Jack. She
hoped he'd want to come with her for a mini-vacation but nothing
there was settled between them, and until it was she didn't want to
make any plans.

"I'll need you for more than a few days but
we'll talk once you get here."

"I mean it Sam, a few days at the most. Now
if that's all, I have a dog who's probably wondering what happened
to me."

"Wait, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Your voice is amazing. Why the hell aren't
you recording your songs? I want you to sign with me and—"

"No, Sam." Not in this lifetime or any
other.

"With your looks and voice? Are you
crazy?"

"Goodbye, Sam."

"Rose, don't hang up." Sam incredulous.
Nobody in their right mind turned down a chance like this. "At
least think about it."

"No."

Rose ended the call before Sam could shoot
out another offer. She had to admit it
had
been a killer demo. She had put everything into
that vocal track. Her voice had contained a rich, vibrant, quality
that had never been there before. What Sam didn't understand—and
what she would never be able to explain—was that when she had
recorded the song it had taken on a life of its own. For a few
minutes only, she had been its willing vessel. She also knew
without a doubt that she would never sound like that again. Some
things you couldn't duplicate and, in this case, it was better not
to try.

Rose scrubbed her hands over her face. There
it was. She was starting to feel a heaviness to her movements. She
was close to running on empty, but there were still a few things
she needed to do before crawling into bed and shutting down for a
few hours.

"Edgar." She called when he didn't come
running. He was usually there the moment he heard the door open.
The backyard wasn't a big enough area for the rapidly growing dog
to get lost in or hide if he was so inclined. A little worried,
Rose walked down the path to the little nook on the side of the
house. It was the only place that she couldn't see from the deck
and though it didn't seem likely Edgar would be over there; she
went to look.

As she drew closer, she heard an odd noise.
Not a whimper or a growl but a combination of the two. She hurried
around the corner afraid that he might have somehow hurt himself.
What she found stopped her in tracks.

"Oh, Edgar."

There he was, his once clean brown and white
fur now matted with mud. He had found an old bucket that Rose used
when she was gardening. During the last rain it must have filled
with water and Edgar had tipped it over into a recently tilled but
unplanted flower bed. After that he was in puppy heaven. It looked
like he'd dug himself a nice hole and then rolled around, covering
himself from nose to tail in the wet dirt. He was a sight to
see.

Edgar raised his head and sniffed the air,
he knew that scent. He turned to Rose, grinning ear to ear. She had
time to notice two quick things before the she big, filthy dirtball
smothered her. One, if his dark brown teeth were any indication he
must have eaten as much of the mud as he rolled in. And two, it was
hard to be a stern disciplinarian when you were being licked by an
adoring dog.

Rose indulged Edgar and herself, rolling
around with him for several minutes. By the time she finally called
a halt to playtime he had transferred at least half of the mud onto
her

"We both need a bath." Edgar didn't look
convinced. "Listen, fella, it will be my second of the day, so
you're getting off lightly. But first I think we need to record
this for posterity. Stay here."

Rose ran to get her phone then returned to
find Edgar right where she'd left him.

"That's my good boy." She knelt down beside
him. "Say
big juicy bone
." And then
she took their picture. Rose laughed as she showed it to Edgar,
deciding to take his wagging tail as a sign of his approval. "We
make a pretty photogenic pair. I think we need to share this
one."

Rose typed a quick text, attached the
picture and hit send.

"That's done. No more procrastination, my
friend. Bath time and you're first."

JACK WAS GLAD to be home. The flight from
Los Angeles to Spokane had been smooth and uneventful, as had the
landing and subsequent drive to Harper Falls. Normally he would
have gone straight home but the idea of facing an empty house
wasn't terribly appealing. So he decided to stop at H&W first
to check in with Drew and pick up Edgar. He didn't know if Rose had
missed him, but he could count on his dog for an enthusiastic
welcome.

As he pulled up in front of the office, Jack
reached inside his jacket to get his phone and check his messages.
He always turned it off when he was flying and since he'd jumped
right in his SUV after landing this was the first time he'd looked
at it all morning. He scrolled through the list of missed calls and
texts not seeing anything that was urgent. Then he saw that Rose
had sent him a text about two hours ago. He got out and leaned back
against the closed door. How bad could it be? Rose wouldn't end
their relationship with a text. Bracing himself for the worst, he
opened it.