Rest Thy Head (17 page)

“I can’t.”

Peyton rolled her eyes. “You can’t prove it by me.” Somehow she liked his modesty. Drew had bragged on every little thing he ever did which did get tiresome. Who cared if he won MVP on his little league team when he was five?

They finished their rehearsal just as a summer thunderstorm rolled in. “Peyton, I don’t think your car windows are rolled up,” Ashley said.

“Oh, that’s right. I did leave them down, and I shouldn’t have after someone vandalized my car.”

Peyton hurried to the parking area. It would be too bad for the new seats in her sweet little car to get wet. She finished rolling up the windows just as the bottom fell out of the sky. “I’ll just wait here,” she muttered, unwilling to brave the downpour.

The rain fell in torrents that soon obscured her view out of the windshield. As the wind picked up, it looked as if the huge deluge of water fell horizontally instead of vertically. Thunder roared, and bright flashes of lightening seared her vision.

She’d give anything to be with Ashley right now. Both of them loved a good storm, something their mother could never understand. At the first sign of a cloud, Eleanor jumped into bed and covered her head.

Another streak of lightning illuminated the front porch of the inn. In that brief instant Peyton saw a man in a soldier’s uniform. A moment later a second flash revealed an empty porch.

How did he move so fast? Only a few seconds separated the two flashes of lightning. Wonder when he had checked in. Nobody had told her a soldier had come to Rest Thy Head.

The front door opened, and Jake came out onto the porch carrying a big umbrella. He put it up and splashed through the torrent to the parking lot. Peyton opened her car door while he held the umbrella over her head. “Come in, Peyton. The weather man says we’re in for a night of it.”

“Thanks. I was dreading to get soaked.”

They ran back through the rain, laughing the entire time, and Peyton totally forgot to ask him about the soldier.

***

“Ashley, are you busy right now?”

Both Ashley and Peyton, who were sitting in the living room reading through Jake’s script, looked up. “No, I’m finished for the day,” Ashley answered. “Can I help you, Patrick?”

“You sure can. I’m having a hard time with the first scene in Act Two. Do you mind if we run through it again before tonight’s practice?”

“Not at all.”

He pantomimed extreme relief. “How about we do it in the office?”

“Okay.”

Peyton didn’t know if they meant for her to go too, but she followed them to the office anyway. She was curious about the scene because she didn’t remember anything hard in that section of the script.

“I can’t believe you’d let your political convictions get in the way of our happiness!”
Ashley exclaimed as she tried to take on the personality of Sally Waters.

“It isn’t as easy as you make it sound, Sally.
Your father and…and yes,
you too, you’re all
still
rebels
at heart, and I’ve taken an oath
to be loyal to the United States.”

“Do you really intend to leave me?
Can you really get on that ship and sail out of my life forever?
We’re meant for each other!
Don’t you know that?”

“Sally…”

“I love you!
I’ll never let you go!”

Ashley rushed toward Patrick and threw herself into his arms.

“Sally, I told you…”

“I know what you said!
Kiss me!
Kiss me and then tell me you’re leaving
.”

She jerked Patrick’s head down, and when she did, his arms closed around her, and he kissed her back, a passionate, possessive, hungry kiss that Peyton doubted had anything to do with Sally and Benjamin and their political dilemma. Neither Ashley nor Patrick was that good of an actor.

Ashley stepped away first, her cheeks as scarlet as a cooked lobster. Her voice jerked. “We’ve got the scene down. I have to check on Griffin.”

“Ashley…”

“No, really. I’ll see you later.”

She spun around and almost ran from the room.

Patrick dropped into the desk chair. “My word,” he muttered. It looked to Peyton as if kissing Ashley had driven his blood pressure up and caused his heart to pound. She didn’t think he’d felt much of anything but the warm fuzzies when he kissed her.

Ashley
felt it too
, she thought.
That’s why she ran out of here
. What should she do about this disturbing dilemma? Maybe Patrick thought the dates they’d shared gave her a claim to his heart. If so, he was wrong. She liked him a lot, but she knew she wasn’t in love with him.

That’s what she got for dating the boss, even as a friend.

With a dazed expression on his face, Patrick stumbled out of his chair and went upstairs without a word.

***

The rehearsal didn’t go well that evening. Ashley and Patrick seemed stiff and unnatural, and Peyton flubbed her lines more than once. Patrick finally called an end to it. “Let’s wait until tomorrow to do any more. Everyone must be tired.”

Murmurs of assent greeted his announcement. Everyone knew how badly they had performed. As they filed out of the barn where they had been rehearsing, Andy Russell joined Peyton and Ashley. “Bad job, wasn’t it?”

“Pretty bad,” Peyton admitted, “but Jake’s a talented writer, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he sure is.”

“If only he wasn’t so self-conscious about his scars,” Ashley lamented.

“Oh, you can blame Carolyn for that.” Andy sneered as if the name had left a bad taste in his mouth.

Peyton perked up. “Who’s Carolyn?” she asked.

Andy snorted. “Carolyn Pope. She and Jake were engaged. It’s a long story, but if you ladies have time to hear it I’ll grab us a soft drink, and we can sit on the porch while I tell you about her.”

“We have time,” both Peyton and Ashley answered.

Andy laughed. “Have a seat, and I’ll get our sodas.” He went inside the inn and soon returned with three glasses, one for each of them.

“Now, tell us what happened to Jake and Carolyn,” Peyton ordered, wondering why Annie hadn’t told her about Carolyn.

“Carolyn’s one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. Great hair, expressive eyes, flawless skin, gorgeous figure; you name it, she’s got it. She knew it too.

“From the time she was just a little girl everyone told her how pretty she was. In fact, her mother entered her in a lot of children’s beauty contests. By the time she turned five she had a huge display case full of trophies and ribbons.”

Ashley sniffed. “Spoiled rotten.”

Andy nodded. “Yep, she sure was…is. Waterbury’s a small town, so everybody knows everybody, but Jake had never paid too much attention to Carolyn. In high school, football interested him more than girls, but when they were seniors, he and Carolyn had a class together, and everything changed.

“Jake fell crazy in love with her. He always said he had no idea why he hadn’t noticed her before, but I think it’s because she didn’t make him notice. Anyway, they started spending all of their free time together, and truthfully, Jake’s grades slipped a little. Carolyn needed and demanded his undivided attention which he willingly gave to her.”

He laughed somewhat self-consciously. “I didn’t like her very much. I played on the football team too, and I resented what I thought of as her coming between my and Jake’s friendship.”

“Most people would have felt that way,” Peyton assured him. “Did they go to college together?”

Andy nodded. “Yes, they did. Carolyn had planned to go to a larger school in North Carolina, but Jake persuaded her to go to a state supported university close to Waterbury. I think she liked the school. She should have; she was a cheerleader, a member of a nice sorority, worked on the yearbook, and was selected to be on the president’s advisory board.”

Peyton took a sip of her drink. “She was a busy girl. I know because I did all of those things when I was in college.”

“Oh, yeah, she was busy all right.” Andy’s tone told Peyton that she and Andy were talking about two totally different things.

“Did she find time for Jake?” Ashley wondered.

Andy shrugged. “Yeah, they kept seeing each other, but I’ve often suspected Carolyn went out with other guys behind his back.”

It made Peyton mad just to think about this Carolyn two-timing Jake. “Wouldn’t someone have told him?”

“Probably not.” Andy grimaced. “Everyone knew he wouldn’t believe anything bad about her, and most of Jake’s real friends weren’t willing to lose his friendship over it.

“Jake belonged to the ROTC unit on the campus,” Andy continued. He finished his drink and set the empty glass on a small table. “After he graduated, he went into the military as a second lieutenant.”

“Did he get send to Iraq or Afghanistan?” Ashley asked.

“No, not at first. He spent two years in Korea, and then he spent six months stateside. After that he was in Iraq for a year. He came home for six months, and then they sent him to Afghanistan.”

“Were he and Carolyn still a couple?” Peyton asked, wiping her damp hand on her jeans. Her glass was sweating.

Andy nodded. “Oh, he gave her a diamond the minute they graduated.”

Peyton frowned. “Then why didn’t they get married? They’d been engaged for five years when he got sent to Afghanistan.”

“He wanted to, but Carolyn put him off.” Andy’s lip curled. “She said she wanted to go to graduate school and get her business established before they got married.”

Ashley crunched a piece of ice loudly enough so that Peyton heard it. “What was Carolyn’s major?”

“Interior design. She and Jake wrote to each other, and he called her almost every week. She came into the pottery shop one day looking for a bowl and told me she had bought a wedding dress. Jake was coming home in six months, and they were getting married. Huh! Two weeks after that I went to Chamberlain to visit my aunt, and I decided to take her to a movie. I saw Carolyn at the theater with another man.”

Peyton’s blood boiled. She could feel her face turning red. How could that nasty Carolyn have treated Jake so badly, especially when he was off serving his country? “Did she see you?”

“No, she didn’t.” Andy shrugged. “I didn’t know if I should tell Jake or not, but I decided to keep quiet until he came home. Afghanistan was a dangerous place, so I didn’t want him to get distracted.” He gave a big sigh. “He got hurt anyway.”

Ashley swatted at a bug that had landed on her arm. “How did Carolyn take the news?”

“Before he came home or afterwards? I don’t think she realized the extent of his injuries before he came home, but the first time she saw him she turned pale and almost fainted.”

“That must have done his ego a whole lot of good,” Peyton spat.

“Oh, yeah, it did.” Andy’s mellow voice had gone cold and rock hard. “She didn’t actually break up with him for another six weeks, but everyone saw it coming, even Jake. I think it almost killed him, especially when she showed up two weeks later with another engagement ring on her finger.”

“The guy from the movie?” Peyton guessed.

“The very same.”

Ashley’s eyes snapped. “I’d like to give that little witch a good tongue lashing.”

Andy’s mouth turned down. “So would I, because if it wasn’t for her Jake wouldn’t be so self-conscious about his scars. When he first came home, he went out in public, saw his friends, and acted pretty normally, but after Carolyn’s rejection he turned inward, and today he’s a semi-hermit.”

“What happened to Carolyn?” Peyton asked, hoping for the worst.

“Oh, after she got married, she and her husband moved to Atlanta. His daddy was a big shot in some company down there, and he set Carolyn up with an interior design business of her own.”

“And so she lived happily ever after.”

Andy’s eyes gleamed. “No, she didn’t. They got a divorce two years after their marriage, and Carolyn moved back home to Waterbury. She opened a shop in town and does okay.”

“Did she ever try to get Jake back?” Ashley asked.

Andy hesitated. “It’s hard to say. When Jake and Patrick took over Rest Thy Head, she called and offered to decorate the inn for them.” He paused for an impish smile. “The way I heard it, Jake told her to take a flying leap.”

Peyton laughed and thrust her arm skyward. “Good. She got exactly what she deserved, but I don’t understand her. How could she cheat on him and be so shallow that she rejected a great guy just because of some scars?”

Andy shook his head. “I don’t understand it either.” He paused for a moment. “So you think he’s a great guy?”

“Sure I do, but don’t you start matchmaking. I just broke my own engagement because I caught my fiancé in another woman’s arms. I’m in no mood to get involved with anyone.”

“Your fiancé must be a fool.”

“Why, thank you. I think so too.” She leaned over and patted Andy’s hand. “And he’s my ex fiancé.”

They all laughed, and Andy stood up. “I’d better get home. I’ll see you tomorrow night at rehearsal.”

Everyone froze when they heard a sharp crack coming from the shrubbery near the porch. “What’s that?” Ashley exclaimed.

Andy strode to the edge of the porch to check it out. “Look at this. I think somebody was eavesdropping on us.”

Peyton looked and saw a freshly broken branch and trampled grass where the eavesdropper had stood. “That is so rude. Don’t people have any manners at all?”

“Maybe it’s the ghost.” Andy’s mouth twitched.

“What! Don’t tell me you believe in ghosts too.”

“Don’t you?”

“No, I don’t. I live in the haunted room, and I’ve never heard or seen a thing.”

“That’s too bad.”

Peyton gave him a stern look. “Do not try to make me believe in ghosts.”

Andy laughed. “Just wait. If you stay here long enough you’re bound to see one. I don’t think you have to worry about whoever eavesdropped on us. Jake told me a couple with three children checked in right after lunch. I’d bet anything one of those kids is the culprit.”