If I Loved You (Harper Falls Book 1) (4 page)

Martin and Anita Jones and their three
children lived within walking distance of the school though none of
the children went to Harper Academy. When the headmistress was
explaining to Rose where she would live, she had whispered this
information, as though going to public school was some shameful
secret. But Rose didn’t care—she was going to live with a real
family. One that had children, and a mother and father.

As the car from the school pulled up in
front of the well maintained two story home, she could barely
contain her excitement. She had spent the last six months hiding
her natural curiosity and exuberance. Showing enthusiasm for
anything was the quickest way to have it taken away. She hoped this
family played and laughed and had a dog. Oh, please, let them have
a dog.

Just then, as if someone had been reading
her mind, a huge black and white dog came running around the house
barking what Rose hoped was a greeting. She had pictured a much
smaller dog, one that wasn’t almost as tall as she was. The driver
didn’t seem overly worried. He skillfully maneuvered the animal
away from the car door and helped her out.

“Don’t worry, miss,” he assured her. “That’s
just Barney. He’s as gentle as a lamb.”

As if to prove the driver’s point, Barney
chose that moment to swipe her hand with his large, wet tongue, and
that was all it took—Rose was in love. She giggled and threw her
arms around the dog’s neck, feeling like she had made at least one
new friend.

“Get your hands off my dog, rich girl.”

Rose jumped back in surprise. She supposed
the tall, slender girl with a mass of tangled black hair was
yelling at her; she
was
the only one
near Barney. But
Rich
Girl
? Hardly.

“Tyler, what did your mother tell you?”

“I don’t remember, Uncle Stan.” The girl dug
the toe of her scuffed sneakers into the dirt; her eyes not quite
meeting the big man who had driven Rose from the school.

“We agreed to be nice, Tyler,” a soft but
firm voice admonished.

Another girl had joined them, smaller than
the mean one and much friendlier.
She looks
like a fairy princess;
Rose thought the first time she
saw Jordanna Wilde. Her hair was an endless mass of moonlight
colored curls, and her eyes were the color emeralds. Rose couldn’t
help wondering what it was like to be so beautiful.

“Hi.” The girl’s smile was warm and
welcoming. “I’m Dani; I live next door. And this is Tyler. She’s
really nice when you get to know her.” Seeing Rose’s skeptical
look, she added, “I promise. Before the summer is over we’ll all be
best friends.”

And they had been. It became a rare
occurrence when one was seen without the other two. After school,
holidays and every summer, except one. For the next nine years,
nothing could keep them apart. And now they were all back where it
started. Nothing made Rose happier than knowing the two people she
loved most in the world only lived a few blocks away.

“Finally,” Tyler called out as Rose entered
the coffee shop. “You leave us messages about some big news and
then you’re late. I ordered you your usual Earl Grey. Sit and
spill. The beans, not your tea.”

“Tyler was up all night working, so she’s
kind of wired. I made her order decaf.” Dani was always trying to
curtail Tyler’s caffeine intake. She wasn’t very successful.

Rose looked at her friends and was amazed at
how much they still looked like the girls she had met for the first
time all those years ago. Dani still looked like a princess,
curling light gold hair and deep green eyes. But this woman was no
damsel in distress. She was a kick ass photographer who had
fulfilled her dream of traveling the world. Afghanistan to Nice,
war zones or film festivals, Dani had done it all. Now she was
based in Harper Falls, still flying out when the right story came
along, but ready to put down roots and stop living out of a
suitcase. She had just been hired to do a photographic history of
the town in honor of the upcoming centennial celebration. It was a
job that would keep her a homebody for the foreseeable future.

“We could have gotten together later in the
day,” Rose looked at Tyler with concern. “You need to get some
sleep.”

Tyler’s eyes did look tired, but she had
such an inherent vitality that it was hard to tell unless you
looked closely. Much like the nine-year-old Tyler, the grown up one
thumbed her nose at constantly worrying about her appearance. Her
hair was piled into a messy bun on top of her head, and her jeans
and baggy man’s shirt had various colors of paint splattered all
over them. Her high cheekbones and full mouth spoke to a mixed
heritage that couldn’t be easily pinned down. A bit of Native
American, some Irish, perhaps a smattering of Nordic blood from way
back. It was a spectacular combination of coal-black hair and pale
gray eyes. She had a tall, slender, athletic body. What curves she
had were subtle and sleek. She had the face and figure that could
have graced fashion magazines. Tyler found the idea hilarious. She
was an artist, period. She had nothing to do with the way she
looked. Put
that
down to genetics
and some randy Vikings. Some girls had once called her a mutt.
Whether it had been out of spite or jealousy, it was a term Tyler
happily embraced. Bluebloods, she’d spit with contempt, you could
keep them. And the one blue-blood whose name wasn't to be mentioned
was the worst of the lot.

Early on in their friendship, it was Rose
who felt like the mutt, and it would have been so easy to fall into
the plain friend roll. But Dani and Tyler didn’t spend their time
looking in mirrors. They were normal little girls who scraped their
knees and climbed trees and went shoeless from June to September.
Before long Rose stopped worrying about being an ugly duckling
among swans. As a result, she didn’t notice when her body began to
change. Her beauty had been a gradual thing. There were no sudden
growth spurts, no overnight development of curves. But by the time
she was eighteen she was almost as tall as Tyler and her hair had
taken on a rich auburn sheen. When the three of them went out
together, people might notice Tyler and Dani first but they never
overlooked Rose.

“What I need,” Tyler said with obvious
impatience, “is for the two of you to stop playing mommy and let me
chose how much caffeine I consume or how many hours I sleep. Now,
let’s drop that boring subject and switch to a different one. How
was your date with Dr. Dull? Did he live down to your
expectations?”

“Well,” Rose sighed, “there are a lot of
ways to describe last night, but
dull
isn’t one of them.”

Tyler and Dani exchanged looks. The
conversation wasn’t starting how they'd expected. They always
shared postdate reviews. Tyler rarely dated any man more than a
month but while they lasted her men were hot and wild. Dani liked
what she called the sexy professor type, intellectually challenging
and easy on the eye. Rose usually began with how nice her date had
been, nice restaurant, nice conversation, followed by a nice kiss
goodnight. In other words, nice and dull. This new twist had them
sitting up in their seats.

“We met at that place down on Maple Street,
the one with the cotton candy colored door.”

“Not
Pink
Tank
?” Dani cringed. “I thought I read that that place
had been shut down weeks ago for health violations.

“You didn’t eat anything iffy, did you?”
Tyler asked.

“No.” Rose sighed. “But my date did.”

The evening had started out fine. She and
Calvin had agreed meet at the restaurant instead of him picking her
up. Rose had thought the place seemed a bit dingy but otherwise it
looked clean. They had a bit of pre-dinner chit chat, well, he did
most of the chatting. He spent most of the time telling her about
his exciting work as an actuary.

“An actuary?” Tyler exclaimed. “Where do you
find these guys?”

“Not every guy is a race car driver or
extreme sports enthusiast,” Dani reminded their friend.

“Before you two start the same argument
we’ve all heard a thousand times, can I finish my story?”

Tyler and Dani both nodded and gave the
tick-a-lock sign on their mouths.

“Everything was fine until the food
arrived.” Rose grimaced before telling them what happened next.
“Calvin would take a bite and then make an odd face. He sniffed at
the next bite and then held it out and asked me if I thought it
smelled off. When I told him, I wasn’t sure he just continued to
eat his food, smelling everything before he put it in his
mouth.”

“How was your food?” Dani asked. Rose could
tell they were doing their best not to laugh.

“By that point I had lost my appetite, so I
didn’t eat much,” Rose admitted. “I kept telling him to send the
food back but nothing would stop him.”

“And?”

“And before he even finished he started
complaining that he didn’t feel well. I took advantage of the
situation and as soon as the bill was paid I hustled us out of
there. We hadn’t gotten more than a few steps out the door when
Calvin turned towards me and threw up all over my Prada pumps.”

“Not the pale pinks ones,” Dani gasped. “Off
with his head.”

“The hell with his head,” Tyler interjected.
“We’re talking Prada. Pale pink suede Prada. Off with his
balls.”

The three friends finally gave in and burst
out laughing. When Tyler suggested grabbing the nearest knife and
tracking down Calvin’s testicles, it set them off on another round
of giggles.

“I wish I could have laughed last night,”
Rose said after they had calmed back down. “There I stood,
unsuccessfully trying to shake the vomit off my shoes as Calvin
stumbled off towards his car, without a single word of apology. If
it hadn’t been for the owner of the flower shop that was next door
to the restaurant, I don’t know what I would have done. She saw the
whole thing and ran out with a garden hose. She got all the goo off
me
and
the sidewalk and then gave me
a pair of flip-flops to wear home.”

“What a nice thing to do.”

“She saved the day. Which reminds me,” Rose
reached into her purse and pulled out a couple of business cards.
“From now on, if you need flowers get them at
Peony.
The owner’s name is Lila, and she just
opened up a few weeks ago. I want to send as much business her way
as I can.”

“Rose, I know we laughed, but I’m sorry your
date turned out to be such a disaster.” Tyler leaned over, giving
her hand a squeeze. “At least you know
that
isn’t likely to ever happen again.”

“You’re right,” Rose agreed and plunged in
with her big announcement. “So I wanted you both to know that as of
last night, I am pulling out of the dating world. No more boring
dates or bad dates or dates involving projectile vomiting. For the
foreseeable future, I am officially a man free zone.”

“Come on, don’t you think you’re
overreacting?” Tyler asked. “You could just avoid any dates that
involve food.”

“Or give it a week before you decide
anything,” Dani reasoned. “You might feel differently in a few
days.”

“Louise called.”

“When?” Tyler and Dani exchanged concerned
looks.

“Last night. She’d left a message on the
machine.” The old school land line and answering machine served the
purpose of giving Louise access but making sure Rose never had to
talk to her. No one else had the number, and Louise only used it
for two purposes, to announce she was getting married or
divorced.

“So she found another sucker,” Tyler’s words
dripped with disgust.

“It’s her one of her few talents.” That and
being a crazy, psycho bitch.

“Well, now I get your sudden moratorium on
men. Louise, plus Calvin, equals celibacy.”

“It’s not like I was sleeping with any of
the guys I’d been out with lately,” Rose reminded them. “I can take
care of my needs just fine, so I might as well cut out the
middleman.”

“So Louise is getting married, again.” It
was hard for Dani not shudder. “It was inevitable that she would
call with the
good
news. I wish you
would just rip that phone out and cut her off for good.”

“And have her show up on my doorstep?” It
had been almost twelve short years since Rose had seen Louise. The
last thing she wanted was the woman to be anywhere near herself or
Harper Falls.

“Please, not another word about that whack
job.” Tyler paused for dramatic effect. “I have an idea.”

Rose groaned. She loved Tyler, but her ideas
tended to induce headaches. Or the police—sometimes both.

“No.”

“Just hear me out,” Tyler smiled. “What you
need to do is grab a gorgeous, hunky man and let him screw your
brains out. One night, no strings attached.”

“And this will help me how?”

“How could it hurt?” Tyler wanted to know.
“Gorgeous man, great sex. On top of that, it will shake things up,
get you out of your rut. You don’t need to give men up; you just
need to change them up.”

“Since when are men better in bed just
because they look good.” That hadn’t been Rose’s experience.

“They aren’t, necessarily,” Tyler conceded.
“You would have to choose a guy with a reputation for pleasing
women.”

“Tyler, this isn’t a great idea,” Dani
warned.

“And how would I find this sex machine?”
Rose asked, ignoring Dani’s objection. In spite of herself she was
beginning to see the appeal of this idea.

“We’ll do a little research,” Tyler assured
her. “Ideally you want to be familiar with the guy, he shouldn’t be
a complete stranger, not for a one night stand. So, someone you
know on sight but not someone you would run into every day.”