Love Imagines (Sully Point, Book 6) (13 page)

"I'm already hungry. I'll be on the way as soon as we finish. Same plan as last night?"

"Yes, I think so. We take separate cars and then
later..."

"Yes, later. You know, I can't stop thinking about
you today, Rose."

"I'm having the same trouble."

They both laughed, that giddy laugh heard only in
the first blush of new love.

After saying good-bye for a minute or so, Rose
finally ended the call and met up with Beth and Maggie in the living room.

"It's all set with Ben. I told him six, is that
okay?"

"Yes, that's fine," Maggie said. "What are you
going to do for the rest of the day?"

"I don't know. I was pretty bored until you two
showed up."

"We have the perfect plan," Beth said. "Let's go
shopping for baby stuff for Maggie."

"I only have a couple things so far. I didn't want
to buy anything until I hit the six month mark in the pregnancy. But I'm past
that now, and more than ready, so let's do it!"

Rose smiled at her sister. Maggie was such a
vital, happy pregnant woman, so unlike most of the women she'd seen off the
streets at the clinic. But it didn't help anything to think about that now, she thought.
It was time to be happy for Maggie.

"Going shopping for baby things sounds like fun. But I'm not
wearing these sandals. Let me put on my sneakers and we can go." She turned to
leave the room and then whirled back around. "Hey, wait a minute. Beth, when I
talked to Ben he said they were doing a run-through. Shouldn't you be there?"

"Not today. William said they'd do scenes without
me today. I wanted to spend some time with you."

Rose felt overwhelmed. She went to Beth and hugged
her.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Then she felt Maggie hugging her from the side.

"We love you, Rose, and we missed you," Maggie
said.

"You're making me cry!"

"I'm making myself cry," Maggie said, sniffing.

"You two," Beth said in a shaky voice. "Stop it!"

Rose started to laugh, and Maggie began to giggle,
and the three of them held onto each other laughing, and nobody cared if some
tears fell, too.

* * * *

Ben felt pleased about the work of the morning. As he
left the Playhouse in a group of other actors for lunch, he didn't even notice
his guards. He was chatting with Lucretia when Suzanne was suddenly there,
right in front of him.

"Ben! Let's go have lunch," Suzanne said.

Ben saw Lucretia stiffen beside him.

"Hello, Suzanne. I'm not free for lunch."

"Okay then, dinner. I'll make you a fabulous—"

"Suzanne, we are not dating. Like I told you in
L.A., I don't want to see you again."

"You were just mad that I called you too much,"
she said with a wide smile. "But I knew you'd get over that."

"No, I didn't get over it. There is nothing
between us, Suzanne. You and I are finished. You need to leave Sully Point and
go back to L.A., now."

He watched as she flinched at his words. Her face
and body went still as a statue.

"Suzanne, did you hear me?"

She said nothing for a full minute. Finally, she
said, "I heard you."

There was no tone in her voice, nothing to read on
her face, just emptiness. He didn't know what to think, but then she turned on
her heel and left, walking away at a rapid pace.

"What was that all about?" Lucretia asked, her
eyes alight with curiosity.

"Lucretia, I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention
anything about this around town. Suzanne is a problem person in my life right
now, and that's all I'm going to say."

Lucretia stared at him for a moment. "You
look...scared. This is more than what you are telling me, I see that now. I
won't mention it to anyone."

"Thank you very much. Let's get lunch. I'm
buying," he said with a smile at her and a sense of relief. Maybe
Suzanne would leave. Maybe it was all over. With a lighter heart, he headed
toward Deb's Deli.

He didn't see Suzanne staring at him intently from
inside the shop he and Lucretia were passing.

* * * *

"It sounds like you did the right thing, Ben. I'll
talk to you later."

Ed Carter put his cell phone down on the large
dark granite island in the kitchen. He had been having lunch with Sophia when
the call came in.

"Well? Is it over?" she asked.

"Don't know yet. Now we wait, and see how she
reacts. He told her it was over between them, and asked her to leave town."

"Hmm. Maybe that will end it. I don't like this
Ed, and I worry about Rose. You're sure they had been together last night?"

Ed rubbed a hand over his face. "Sophia, I told
you. It was plain as day that they'd spent the night together. Plus, the looks
on their faces every time they made eye contact, believe me, they're in love."

"I'm just surprised because Rose hadn't been
seeing anyone, and then boom, she's in love."

"Looked like the real deal to me," Ed said. He
took a big bite of his sandwich made of roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, and
lettuce on multigrain bread. He'd have preferred white bread, but lately Sophia
was only buying multigrain for everything.

He enjoyed their new life in Sully Point. It was
an easy place to live in and make friends. He'd gotten used to the pace of life
here surprisingly quickly. They'd moved to Sully Point from the Adirondack
Mountains, and he could admit that the mountains had been too quiet for him. He
liked town living, and this town was small enough that he could get to know
everyone, without all the hassles of a big city. He'd had enough of that being
a cop in the city.

It felt a bit strange to step into those shoes
again, to brush up on his old detective skills. Yet, he could feel it in his
bones, that feeling he used to get on a case right before they found another
murder from the same killer...the feeling that something bad was coming and he
couldn't stop it.

He hadn't told Rose or Ben that he'd asked for
some people to follow Suzanne. He knew it was important for them to keep tabs
on her movements. He'd met the guys who'd be working that part of the job, and
they seemed qualified. They had the kind of faces that could vanish in a crowd.
After hearing Ben's news, he was very glad he'd told Sam to pay whatever it
took to get the extra men to keep track of Suzanne.

"I'm going to ask Rose over for tea tomorrow
afternoon," Sophia said. "I feel like I haven't really talked to her since she
got back."

"Remember, she'll have her guards with her."

"Do I have to give them tea also?"

Ed chuckled. "No, dear. They'll stay outside." He
pushed his empty plate away. "I'll be leaving in a bit to see the Sheriff. I
want to keep him up to speed on this. Do you need anything since I'll be out
and about?"

"How about you pick up a bottle of white wine to go
with dinner tonight?"

"I'll stop by George and Al's to pick some up.
What are we having?"

"Spanish-style baked red snapper, with mixed bell
peppers and some sweet Vidalia onions and a bit of the wine you bring home,
plus roasted red potatoes and a salad."

"Sounds scrumptious. One thing about living here that I
love is having fresh fish so often."

"Which reminds me, since you're going to be out,
you can pick up the fish order, too. I called the fish market this morning and
told them what I wanted. They'll have it ready to go by three."

"Anything else?" he asked.

She gave him one of her special smiles, the smile
he'd fallen for when he first met her so many years ago.

"No, darling, that's it. You planned to stop by
Frank's store to talk about the barbecue, right?"

"Yes, I had that on my list. I'll take off then.
Thanks for lunch." He stood up and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek as
she was still sitting at the counter. "I'll miss you," he said.

"I'll miss you more," she said, smiling up at him.

As he left, he wondered just how many times they'd
said those exact words to each other over the years. He wanted Rose to have
those years, with Ben if he was the one for her. Every now and then it stunned
him how lucky he'd been to find Sophia and have her love him. They'd been so
different from each other, but it had just worked between them.

His phone rang.

"Hello, Ed Carter here."

"Mr. Carter, this is Wayne, one of the guards on
Suzanne Hardtman. We lost her."

Chapter 6

Lucretia sensed something when she walked into her
store, right before she heard a woman's voice.

"You can't have him!"

Then there was pain in her head and blackness.

* * * *

Rose was shocked when she heard Lucretia had been
injured, and that her father was almost positive Suzanne had been the
perpetrator. She'd returned from the shopping spree with Maggie and Beth to
hear the bad news. Evidently, Lucretia had not shown up for the afternoon
rehearsal. She'd told Ben she had to check on her store after lunch, so he'd
left her there. William sent Ben to find her and he and his guards stumbled
upon her in the doorway of her store.

After calling Doc Watson, Rose was at least
reassured that Lucretia would be all right. She was in the hospital but only
for observation. She'd regained consciousness but didn't know who had hit her
over the head. However, she did remember what had been said to her. 'You can't
have him' pretty clearly indicated Suzanne was the culprit.

Ben wanted to come over, but Rose had insisted he
follow their plan of meeting up at Maggie's house for supper. Ed had told Ben
not to be seen going into Rose's apartment. She wondered how they would ever
manage to be together as long as this Suzanne thing was hanging over their
heads.

She put on a maxi skirt that was full and flowing
in a gauzy turquoise material with a scoop-necked fitted top of an abstract
print with turquoise, coral, and white. She liked the see through material of
the butterfly sleeves, and added a set of colored bangles on her wrist. Wedged
espadrilles were the final component of her outfit and as she swirled around in
the mirror, she decided she felt ready to see Ben. Leaving her hair down and
loose was still a novelty to her, and she used a couple of combs on the sides
to keep it out of her face.

Mel was waiting for her by the front door. He and
his partner had not been happy about the trip to the mall for baby things. Too
many people and too many places for someone to hide meant that the bodyguards
had stayed close as she shopped.

Rose put on her sunglasses and tucked her wallet
and phone into a small clutch purse.

"I'm ready to go," she told Mel.

He nodded and opened the door, and she walked out.
They were met at the bottom of the stairs by Owen who had the car waiting.

"I'll drive, Miss Carter," he said. "Just in
case."

"In case of what?"

"In case we're followed and need to get away
fast."

"Oh." She got into the car's backseat and Mel sat
up front next to Owen. They told her they planned to be outside during the
visit.

She had never been to Maggie and Eric's house and
loved the old Victorian look on the outside. Once indoors, she was surprised at
how open it seemed.

"We knocked down some walls," Maggie said, as Rose
stood staring around the open space of the living room.

"I'm impressed," Rose said.

"Come on back to the kitchen. Ben's already here."

Rose couldn't stop the smile spreading across her
face and she hurried after Maggie.

The kitchen was big, but had a comfortable feel to
it, like it belonged in some huge old farmhouse. Ben was talking to Eric,
standing by a wall with a pizza oven in it, and he turned when Rose entered the
room, as if drawn by a magnet.

He left off talking in mid-sentence, rushed
over to Rose, and gathered her up in his arms.

"Rose. I'm so glad to see you," he murmured into
her hair, as he hugged her tightly against his body.

"Ben." It was all she said. The feeling of being
in his arms was like coming home. She felt herself relax for the first time
since hearing about Lucretia.

After a moment or two, she felt his arms loosen
from the hug and she pulled back. Glancing up at his face, she frowned.

"You look worried. Has something else happened?"

"We just heard that the security team still hasn't
located Suzanne."

Maggie tapped a spoon against the glass of water
she was holding.

"I declare this a Suzanne-free night. Let's talk
of other things, and not that wretched person. I want to get to know Ben, and I
want you all to know Eric. There's nothing any of us can do about Suzanne,
right?"

Ben nodded, and so did Rose.

"Okay then. This is a Suzanne-free zone, starting
now. Is the food almost ready, Eric?"

As Maggie turned to go to her husband at the oven,
Ben gave Rose a quick peck on the lips. She smiled at him and was happy to see
him smile back at her and the worry recede from his face.

"I was just telling Eric about my grilling
technique for delicious chicken breasts for the barbecue. The trick is in when
exactly you put the barbecue sauce on them on the grill," Ben said. "So they
don't burn."

"I love barbecued chicken," Maggie said. "And
barbecued ribs. And...pretty much anything off a grill."

"From what I heard from Frank, we're going to have
a whole series of grills out at Sam's house," Eric said. "He plans on us
grilling everything. So far I've heard him mention steaks, burgers, chicken,
ribs, and then later on, fruit."

"Just how many people are expected at the
barbecue?" Rose asked.

"Well, the whole family and extended family will
be there. It comes to twenty-two people I think. I'm not sure if he's asking
any other friends to come in addition to family."

"I guess I'll need to make a really big salad
then," Rose said.