Tattooed Hearts (16 page)

“Then it’s you
rs, or I can buy you one.”

Her mother smiled and
placed the sweater to the side. “I’ll use it this winter.” She examined one of
Claire’s favorite pair of skinny jeans. “You’re so tiny. Do you eat in L.A.?”

In spite of herself,
Claire smiled. “I’ve always
been small. It’s a
curse.”

“Forrest towers over you.”
Her mother observed while folding another pair of jeans. “Honey, don't think
I’m not aware of what’s in your heart. I’ve watched you run away from him. He’s
loved you all of his life. Don’t you think it
’s time
you allow yourself to be happy? Both of you deserve to be happy.”

Claire sat on the bed and
took another sip of her coffee. “It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s too late.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He told me to go back to
L.A.”

“So you’re leaving becaus
e Forrest said so.” Her mother arched a brow. She sat
beside her daughter and pressed a hand against Claire’s. “You left him without
an explanation. I don’t think you ever told him what drove you to leave. The
only father he’s ever known just died. To furt
her
complicate things he now has to deal with knowing that wasn’t his real father.”
Her mother exhaled. “So let’s see, he’s hurt, angry, and betrayed. And now
you’re running again when he needs you the most.”

Without another word, her
mother walked out of
the room
, leaving
Claire alone with her bag
packed and ready to go. She pushed a handful of beads up her wrist and the
bracelets jangled in protest. Wretched memories swirled in her head.

‘Go back to L.A., Claire, that’s your home.’
Forrest’s words haunted
her. She peered at her bag. A string of images, emotions
buried, but never truly died breathed life in her heart. Ten years fell into
the distance.

Time to
fight.

Tugging at the bracelets,
she removed the layers
long used to cloak the memories, shielding
her heart.
The only one left was a silver feather bangle bracelet because Forrest had
given her that one. But it didn’t conceal the black ink, and it’d always been
her favorite.

Reaching for her phone,
she found Jason’s number and texted.

I’m staying.

Ja
son’s response came quickly.

Good. I’m proud of you.

Chapter Thirteen

“Sometimes you have to follow your heart, no matter the
consequences.”

Minka Greene Montgomery

Two weeks later, Claire
sat at a corner table at Vapor with her eyes glued to the crisp blank page in
the spiral-bound journal. Clear-polished fingers tapped the pen on the table to
Jack Savoretti’s gritty soul-soaked vocals crooning
Breaking
the Rules.
No
t one freakin’word. She wasn’t
dubbed the queen of heart-wrenching lyrics for nothing, although the empty
spaces in her notebook dared to argue otherwise. She peeped at the silver clock
on the brick wall
. So what
she’d been sitting here
for ninety minutes
?
That was
pocket change in
songwriting land. In some instances, it’d take her two to three hours to write
a sentence. But on most days, she could write a song in a day. After one month
on the island, she was still where she started two months ago.
Nada.
Ni
chts
.

She blamed her creative
crisis on none other than sexy Doctor Forrest Montgomery Desvareaux or maybe
he’d dropped his middle name and was now only Forrest Desvareaux.

Whatever!

He was the culprit. To rub
salt in her already wounded heart, he’d gone
and left
the island. He ran all the way to New Hampshire for the last fourteen days, and
no one had any clue when he’d return. Her life was a beautiful irony.

Her phone vibrated on the
table. Claire glanced at the glowing screen. James Harrison. Her manage
r’s name made her stomach twist with jitters. She picked up
the phone and answered the call. “How is it going in Tinseltown?”

“Tinseltown is wondering
when you’re coming back.” His voice was warm on the other end, but she knew her
manager well enough to kn
ow he had his business hat
on.

She had asked James for an
additional two weeks. Well, two weeks had come and gone. “I need more time.”

“It’s been a month,” he
said, a hint of exasperation in his voice.

She didn’t blame him. How
much longer could he give Av
a vague statements
explaining her abrupt disappearance?

“You have a full calendar
that you keep pushing off,” James continued.

“I know.” She stirred in
her chair. “I just need...”

“Two
more weeks.”
He exhaled on the other end. “He’s that important?”

“Yes,”
she answered without a beat. James discovered her in New
York at a karaoke night. He’d been by her side since, not just as a business
partner, but also a trusted friend. “I need to close this chapter in my life.”

“Have you made any
progress?”

“He’s not he
re.”

“So why are you still on
the island?” he asked after a short silence.

“He has to come back
eventually. Martha’s Vineyard is his home.”

“And yours,” James said
gently. “Are you thinking about moving back?”

She opened her mouth to
say no and stopped. “I
haven’t given that much
thought.”

“Then why are you going
after a man whose heart belongs to a place you no longer call home?”

There was that word again.
Home.
“I need more time.”

“All right, but I can’t
stop Hollywood from coming to you. The inquiring mi
nds
want to know why you’ve vanished.”

The last thing she needed
was paparazzi taking over the island. “We can ask Ava to release a statement.
Something about me needing to be with my
mother.”

“Then everyone will want
to know what’s wrong with your mother.
I can see the
headline now. Claire Peters’ mother in rehab or better yet, Claire Peters’
secret addiction to cocaine,” he teased.

Claire shook her head. She
always admired James’ sense of humor. Not today. Vapor’s door opened, her heart
skipped with antic
ipation and Claire quickly looked
up to see a gleaming Lily, a sick-looking Minka and a very quiet Keely entering
the bar. She waved at them. “I have to go James.
Two more weeks.”

“That’s the first day of
spring.”

Perfect.
That’s when the island
would start coming back to life.
More importantly,
if things went
accordingly, she’d be in Forrest’s bed the next morning. “Okay the day after.”

“How about that Monday?”
he proposed.
“Since we’re talking
about a Saturday.”

“All right
, Monday works.” Her stomach twisted at the thought of
leaving. She ignored the pang, ended the call and turned her attention to the
fraternal twins. Lily was at the bar making out with her husband. “Why such
gloomy faces? Weren’t you supposed to be in Fal
mouth
shopping for baby furniture?”

Minka groaned.

“Minka got sick on the
boat,” a very subdued Keely replied. “She threw up on my shoes.”

“Sorry,” Minka mumbled.

Claire studied Minka, her
friend looked tired and a little
run
down. “Good thing you had
your
personal Montgomery boat at your service and not
the ferry. So did you take a test? We need to find out if you’re pregnant or
not.”

Lily pulled a chair and
joined them. “We can get some pregnancy tests.”

“Some?” Keely raised a
brow.

“Well, yeah,” Lily ans
wered.

“She took ten tests,”
Minka informed the other women.

Claire chuckled. “Two
wasn’t enough to confirm you were carrying Adam’s baby?”

Lily rubbed her protruding
belly. “Minka doesn’t even have to take a test. I am now an expert on when a
woman is pr
egnant. And she’s pregnant.”

“I did take a test
. W
ell
, three to be sure,” Minka
said faintly.

Claire and Lily gasped
then smiled. Keely reached for her phone and started tapping away.

“So,” Lily said with a
grin. “You’re going to make us suffer.”

Minka bru
shed a strand of curls away from her face. “Well, Jason and
I wanted to wait until we get the ultrasound before making the big
announcement.”

Claire pulled Minka into a
hug. “Shit Minka. I’m so happy for you and that husband of yours.”

Keely dropped her
phone in her purse and hugged her sister. “Sis, that’s
wonderful.”

“Well, we don’t know for
sure yet. I mean…the heartbeat and…”

“I understand where you
are,” Lily said gently. “I’ve been there. Everything will be fine.”

“When is Jason coming
home?” Claire
asked with concern. She could always go
back to the house with Minka and keep her company if needed. It wasn’t like the
words were flowing anyway.

“Later
tonight.”
Minka answered. “I’m going to head home and sleep until he
gets here.”

“I’ll drive you. Ada
m is preparing a salad for me,
then
we can leave.” Lily
looked at the blank sheet of paper in front of Claire. “Making progress?”

“Lots,” Claire replied
dryly. “Has Adam spoken to Forrest?”

Lily shook her head.

“He hasn’t called Blake
either,” Keely announ
ced.

“And
definitely not Jason.”
Minka picked up a glass of water,
seemed to contemplate if it was a good idea to gulp down the liquid, and
decided against it.

“Your
salad, beautiful.”
Adam placed the to-go container in
front of Lily.

Lily beamed, turned,
and planted a passionate kiss on Adam’s lips.

“Seriously, get a room,”
Keely mumbled.

“It’s a slow day today.”
Adam’s gold eyes flickered with mischief. “I’ll be home early. I love you.”

They watched him walk
away.
Tall, dark, edgy, and sexy
with a capital
S.
Even now happily married,
women still let their gazes linger a second or two too long. Like Forrest,
Jason, and Blake, Adam never seemed to care or notice.

“God, he’s
pulchritudinous,” Lily exclaimed.

“Pulchritudinous?” Claire
asked.

“Beautiful,” Minka
translated,
her face still colorless.

“Magnificent, charming,”
Lily continued.

“Sounds like an awful
disease,” Keely said with a smile, appearing a bit more relaxed.

Minka and Claire chuckled.

“Whatever. All of them are
,
” Lily continued. She
pushed her ch
air back and stood up. “Come on, ladies,
I’ll drop you home.”

“Keely,” Claire called
after her friend, as the others walked ahead.

“What’s up?” Her friend
asked back at the table.

“Is everything okay?”
Keely smiled, but Claire noticed the usual
joie de
vi
vre
was missing. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

Claire didn’t buy the
answer, but chose not to push. After ten years of friendship, one knew when to
take a back seat and let the other come to you when ready.

“Have you bid on Forrest
yet?” Keely asked.

“No.”

Keely smiled and squeezed
her shoulder. “You should. The auction ends this week. I
gotta
go.
Text you later.”

After Keely joined the
others and left, Claire sat in silence for a beat. Her mind drifted to the
theme of
Tattooed Hearts–
feelings, unrestrained
passion, the heart and the head constantly at war. Nothing
about the plot was foreign
. Now all she had to do was
capture all those emotions
in beautiful words.

She picked up the pen
again and stared at the white sheet of paper.

Nothing.
Writer’s block in
full effect.

“Hey,
Claire.”

She looked up at Tyler as
he pulled a chair and made himself comfortable. Sandy brown hair and warm,
friendly blue eyes, he was handsome and her first kiss. He didn’t shake her
world then and still didn’t. A nice guy though, a s
weetheart.
Not her type, but as far as friends went, he was a keeper. “Collecting your ten
dollars?” she teased and was glad to get a chuckle out of him.

“Not today,” he answered
in his good-natured way. “Would you headline a show for me this Friday?”

Cla
ire’s mouth gaped open. She’d toured the world, but never sang on the
island.

“It’s a charity event to
raise some money for the boys and girls club on the island,” he added. “Adam
and Jason have been working on it with me. Your name as headline would bring
a huge audience.”

“I’ll do it.” She’d always
been a sucker for a charity event and always supported any effort to give back
to the island.