See Jane Fall (31 page)

She brought the three suitcases and one
carry-bag out to the living room and put them in a neat pile. She
checked her watch. Time to wake up Sara.

She took a deep breath as she approached
Sara’s room, pausing before she knocked to put her assistant’s hat
on, but no less determined to reconcile these questions when she
got a chance. Today.

***

Samara wore her hair in a complex arrangement
of soft braids with a garland of white flowers, soft, natural
makeup, a short, floral peasant dress in a gauzy fabric with a
brown suede belt and high-heeled brown suede sandals. Lars couldn’t
imagine her looking more different than she had on the first day of
the shoot when she was in black, white and grey with sharp, angry
makeup and black leather combat-style boots. Now back to nature,
looking soft and luscious and innocent, neatly concealing her true
nature, which he now knew to be scheming, lying and vicious.

Sitting next to him on the way to the shoot,
Samara had been unable to engage him in conversation, because Lars
had nothing to say to her, and was even less eager to listen to her
stupid nonsensical chatter, and her annoyingly high-pitched giggle
all the way to Yellowstone Lake. Thank God for his imaginary rash.
Since this job was essentially completed after today’s shoot with
the exception of airport transfers on Monday afternoon, Lars would
not be spending an extra second of his time with her, and he
certainly wouldn’t allow himself to be caught alone with her ever
again.

Jane was another matter. He wanted to spend
every available second alone with her from now until her plane
taxied away, and if there was any chance he could convince her to
stay for a few extra days, he’d press his advantage. He wouldn’t
think about good-byes right now; right now he just wanted to get
things with Jane back on solid ground. He didn’t care if she’d
kissed Paul, as long as she wanted to be with him now, and he’d
tell her that the first chance he got.

She looked over at him from where she stood
watching Samara, and his lips turned up. She flushed a little as
she turned away.

Whenever you’re ready,
I’m waiting
for you, Jane Mays.

As if she read his mind, she sauntered over
to where he stood by his truck, like a déjà vu from yesterday
before Old Faithful started erupting.

She stood in front of him, hands on her
hips, after pushing her sunglasses up on her head. She tilted her
head, squinting up at him as the sunlight caught her eyes.

“Heya,” she started.

“Heya,” he answered.

“Sara says you’re going to Jackson
Hole.”

“I’m not.”

He watched a tentative smile tilt her lips
up, and she even let out a tiny chuckle as her mossy eyes searched
his. He could tell she was pleased and his heart swelled with
feelings for her.

Suddenly her face clouded over.

“You kissed her.”

“That’s not what happened.”

“What
did
happen?”

“What happened with you and Paul?”

“What are you
talking
about?
Nothing!”

“Jane, I saw you last night at the Prairie
Dawn. That was no euchre being played, that’s for sure.”

“Maggie and Nils—”

“No. I don’t want to hear about Maggie and
Nils. I’m talking about you and Paul. That’s it. I saw a whole lot
of hand-holding. And I saw him lean forward and—”

“On the cheek! He was comforting me.”

“By kissing you?
Some comfort!
”

She chuckled again, but it was an annoyed
sound this time. “This from the one who ripped my cousin’s clothes
off.”

“You actually
believe
that?”

“Someone saw her standing in her underwear
with your lips on hers. You tell me.”

“JANE! WATER!”

“Are you with Paul or not?”

“Are you with Sara or not?”

“JANE! WATER, NOW!” Ready for a costume
change, Samara stood with her hands on her hips, looking at Jane
and Lars, angry.

“We’re not done,” he muttered when Jane
looked back at him, and then watched as she turned to help her
bratty cousin.

***

The whole crew clapped enthusiastically as
Sara finished the last set of photos, and she made a pretty curtsy,
smiling at the crew and kissing the photographer before heading
back to her trailer to change for her weekend of relaxation.

Jane had transferred her bags to the smaller
van that Mr. Lindstrom would drive to Jackson Hole, while Lars
would drive Jane and the rest of the team back to Gardiner.
Tomorrow morning, Ray, Shanelle and Margot would be driven to the
airport for their flights home, and Jane would leave on Monday with
Sara, Franco and Sebastian.

Leave on Monday. Her heart clenched at the
thought of leaving Lars. She didn’t want to think about that right
now.

Shanelle braided Sara’s hair in a requested
French braid, and Margot finished hanging the clothes. One of
Trend
’s people would drive the trailer back to the rental
place in Bozeman and ship the designer clothes back to New York, so
Jane made sure that all of Sara’s personal belongings were packed
neatly in a bag she would take back with her to Gardiner.

Sara took her time changing, and finally it
was just Jane and her cousin left in the quiet of the trailer as
Sara finished dressing in jeans and a comfortable fleecy sweatshirt
for her ride to Jackson Hole.

“Jane…” Sara started, gently, and Jane’s
head whipped up at the soft, unfamiliarity of the tone. “I’m
worried about you.”

Jane tilted her head to the side, rolling
her eyes.
This should be interesting.

“You’re staying behind, and Lars is here,
and I know you like him…and I don’t think he’s who you think he
is.”

“You’re clearly mistaking me for someone who
gives a shit about your opinion.”

“Fine, Jane. Have it your way.”

Jane put her hands on her hips. “Okay. What?
What do you mean?”

“You know he was kissing me yesterday,
right?”

Jane stared at her. Until she had the full
story, she felt uncomfortable nodding yes.

Sara raised her eyebrows. “Hmm. You’re not
sure about that, huh? Even though Margot—”

“I don’t know, Sara. It doesn’t add up.”

“What doesn’t?”

“He hasn’t stayed at your place once. He
isn’t going away with you. I don’t know…maybe he doesn’t like you.
Maybe he actually likes…me.”

Sara’s mouth dropped open, staring at Jane
with a wide, mocking smile. “YOU? Are you
crazy
?”

“God, you’re such a—you know what, Sara? I
don’t want to talk to you anymore. Your bags are packed. They’re
ready for you. There’s a bag in the backseat of the van with
everything you need for a pleasant ride. Have a nice—”

Jane turned to leave, but Sara jumped up
from her seat and stood in front of the door. “There’s something
you need to hear.”

“Sara, get out of my—” Jane tried to reach
the doorknob behind her, but Sara quickly pressed the voice memo
app on her phone, choosing a voice recording dated yesterday.

“Listen.”

Jane rolled her eyes, but stopped to
listen.

“
Samara. You and me on Sunday
night.”

“
You promise, Lars? A night to
remember?”

“
I promise a night you’ll never
forget.”

“
I like the way you’re touching me right
now, Lars.”

Jane jerked her eyes to Sara’s and to her
shock, she didn’t see pleasure or satisfaction in them. She saw
pity.

“
Tip of the iceberg.”

“
What will you do to me, Lars?”

“
Whatever you want.”

“
You can always use your tongue, Lars…if
other things are…out of order. No getting out of it.”

Jane stomach rolled over and she threw up a
little bit into her mouth then swallowed it back down.

“
Sounds good to me.”

“
Deal, Lars.”

“
Deal, Samara.”

Sara hit the stop button and shoved the
phone in her back pocket.

Jane stared at the floor of the trailer as
her heart raced and her fingers grew cold. Her whole body trembled,
and she regretted that she didn’t insist on leaving before hearing
that conversation, which would be very difficult to erase from her
memory. It was his voice. They were his words. Sara had used his
name in every sentence, which meant she had recorded this
conversation on purpose. Jane doubted that Lars even knew she had a
recording. It didn’t matter.

The familiarity with which he spoke to Sara,
the fact that he was obviously touching her as the recording was
made, the image of him using his tongue on her—

Jane clamped her eyes shut against the
images assaulting her and, feeling faint, reached forward to steady
herself by placing her hand on the door by Sara’s shoulder. After a
moment, she felt Sara’s arms encircle her as they had so long ago,
and Jane was pulled into her cousin’s embrace. Suddenly she was ten
again and, seduced by the comfort Sara was offering, Jane rested
her cheek on her cousin’s bony shoulder, wetting her fleecy sweater
with the tears from her silent sobs as Sara ran her hands
soothingly up and down Jane’s back. It felt so good to be held, to
be held lovingly by someone who was her blood, her family.

“You can’t leave me now,” Sara whispered.
“Come to Jackson Hole.”

Yes. Yes, I will. I will go with you. With
my cousin, my family. I will…

She drew back, about to nod yes…when she
caught sight of Sara’s eager, expectant violet eyes. Panic was
retreating now that Sara was so close to getting what she wanted
most of all: a contrite, grateful Jane at her beck and call.

With blinding illumination, Jane felt the
last of the tiny threads break with an unforgiving, irrevocable
snap, and she knew she wasn’t going anywhere with Sara.

“You knew how I felt about him,” she
murmured, staring at her cousin as she would at a monster. “You
knew from the start.”

“Janie…”

“It doesn’t matter if you kissed him or he
kissed you. And that conversation you just played for me? That
doesn’t matter either. Not where you and I are concerned.” She
reached up, pushing a wisp of Samara’s dark hair back behind her
ear.

“You win. You win, Sara.” She tilted her
head to the side with a resigned grimace. “I quit.”

Jane heard Sara gasp as she reached around
her and pulled the door opened against the dead weight of her
cousin’s stunned body. Stepping out into the sunshine of the late
afternoon, she saw one of the
Trend
vans pulling out, headed
back to Gardiner, and she ran for it. They stopped and opened the
door for her, and just like that; Jane was free.

***

Lars had been waiting for Jane to finish up
in Samara’s trailer so he could return to Gardiner, so it surprised
him to see her sprint from Samara’s trailer to the
Trend
van
and hop inside. Since Samara was headed to Jackson Hole in a
different van with his father, he couldn’t blame the last-minute
change on a rift with her cousin. This time, he had to assume Jane
was avoiding
him
.

He may have gotten her back up a little bit
during their little spat about Samara and Paul, but it didn’t seem
like the sort of deal-breaker that would make her avoid riding back
with him. She had come from Samara’s trailer. Samara. He needed
answers and he knew where to find them.

“Folks,” he started, speaking to Ray,
Shanelle and Margot, “I need to speak to Miss Amaya for a moment
before we head back to Gardiner. I’ll be right back.”

Despite his previous pledge never to be
caught alone with Samara again, he needed to understand what had
just happened with Jane. He knocked on her trailer door.

“Back so soon?” she asked, opening the
door.

Lars shoved the door open, and Samara
stepped back as he entered the trailer and slammed the door behind
him. He put his hands on his hips, staring at her, his face
concealing nothing.

“What just happened with Jane?”

“You know…you’re cute, but you’re not that
cute.”

“Neither are you.”

“Fuck you. Nobody talks to me like that.
What’re you? Some tour operator in some shithole, backwater town? I
don’t have to answer to you.”

He stood against the door, arms crossed over
his chest. “You
will
answer to me. And you
will
tell
me what you said to upset her.”

“Me?” She snorted. “That’s a laugh. It
wasn’t
me
who upset her, cowboy.”

“Then who?”

“Boy, are you dumb.”

“You’re a woman. That’s the
only
thing keeping me from smashing my fist into your face.”

“Don’t threaten me.”

“You are a
despicable
person. I know
you lied to her, made up some story about me ripping off your
clothes and kissing you—”

“Splitting hairs.”

“—but I didn’t initiate that encounter, nor
did I enjoy it.”

She stared at his crotch. “All evidence to
the contrary.”

“Why do you want to hurt her so badly? What
in God’s name did she do to you?”

“SHE TOOK HIM AWAY FROM ME!” she bellowed
with such rage, Lars winced in shock, as if she had taken a swing
at him and connected.

“Who?”

“My father,” she breathed.

“Jane went to live with you because her
parents were killed in a car accident.”

“She took him away from me. He loved her
more.”

“No surprise there.” He knew it was cruel.
He didn’t care.

She stared at him with a furious half smile
on her face then fished her phone out of her back pocket. “You
think I’m a monster? I’m not the one who just broke her in
half.”

She tapped on two buttons and he furrowed
his brows for a moment, trying to figure out what he was listening
to. Then he realized. He was listening to himself…propositioning
Samara in the truck last night on the side of the road. He thought
she’d been texting
Trend
to fire the Lindstroms, but she’d
had other devious plans, apparently, and had been recording their
exchange. When he raised his eyes to hers, he knew they must have
been murderous because she flinched and stepped back.