Page 113 of This Time Around
I know.Rebecca’s voice rang in my mind, along with the pain in her throat as she’d said it.It’d hurt her to say those words to me.It’d hurt me a thousand times more to repeat them back to her later when she called my name butstillcouldn’t give me what I needed to be one hundred percent certain walking away from the dreams I’d always had was absolutely the right thing to do.
“I’ll read it and let you know,” I said.“Go back to bed.”
“Like hell that’ll happen,” he replied.“Take care, Max.Give Rebecca my love.”
“Will do.Bye.”
I slid my thumb across the disconnect button on my screen and tossed my phone to the counter.
I had no idea if Rebecca had taken care of the morning chores before she disappeared to wherever she went, but for the first morning since I’d stepped foot onto her ranch, I was in no hurry to take them on.
Instead, I went to Rebecca’s office and grabbed a cheap pair of reading glasses I used when I settled in to lose myself in a script and the excitement of a new roll.
Then I grabbed the script, my coffee, and a pen, and went to work.
“Hey.”Rebecca’s voice jolted me from my concentration, and I jumped from the bed where I’d settled in to work.“What are you doing in here?”
Her gaze roamed the bedroom in the guesthouse but quickly returned and landed on the script in my hand.
“Hey.”My eyes were dry, felt like they’d been scrubbed with sandpaper and I took off my glasses and rubbed them.“What time is it?”
“Two.Busy day?”
Damn.I’d lost most of the day to the script and my hand was sore from scribbling millions of notes in the margins.The story was more emotional, more taxing, just as elegantly written as I’d remembered when it was first pitched to me and I’d only seen the opening scenes.
She was leaning in the doorway to the room, shoulder rested against the frame.Beautiful with a white, summer dress on.It looked like a thin crocheted pattern over white silk and draped loose and short to her mid-thigh.At her waist, was a pale pink belt.She looked as pure and beautiful as she always did, with her hair draped over her shoulders, a light sheen of gloss on her lips.
The elegance of the script in my hand.The pure beauty of the woman in front of me.Only one of them might have been actually possible for me to grab hold of.
I didn’t answer her question.Her face paled as I set down the script, her gaze not leaving the stack of papers spread all over the bed.
“Where have you been all day?You were gone early.”
“Church.”She shrugged a shoulder and a shy little smile lifted the edges of her lips.“And then to see my parents.I must have lost track of time.”
Pain seared my gut like she’d shoved a knife into it.She’d told me she hadn’t been to church since Joseph died.She’d never mentioned visiting her parents’ graves.
I shoved the script to the side and held out my hand.Her chin wobbled, but she pushed off the door and came to me, sliding her hand into mine.
I tugged her toward me, swinging my legs to the side of the bed so she was next to me.Her head fell to my shoulder and my hand cupped the back of her head, running down her hair to her shoulders.“Want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
That pain in my gut spread up to my chest, behind my rib cage and to my heart.All the doubts whispering in my head about her either not loving me, being unwilling to or simply unable to…or worse, simply not wanting to, buzzed louder in my ears.
Rebecca opened up at her own time, and I was usually better about giving her time.I knew secrets of hers no one else did and she gave that to me.
This was different, though.We were on the precipice where decisions had to be made.Ones until yesterday I hadn’t doubted.I’d give her all the time in the world, but she had to give me something.
My hand fell from her back and I shifted, putting some space between us.
She scooted away from me, adding more space.“Cooper—” she started and stopped when I held out the contract.The one that would cancel my part in the movie of a lifetime.
The one I’d walk away from if she gave mesomething.
“What’s this?”She took it, fingertips painted a light color pink to match her belt.Rebecca rarely wore makeup, she didn’t need it.I had never seen her with her nails done, which told me she was up incredibly early, making a concentrated effort to get ready and look proper for everyone in town.
Her eyes scanned the top paper and rose.“You’re pulling out of the movie?Then why are you reading it?”
