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“Fine,” she said with a dark glower. “You’ve caught me. I need your help, and if there was anyone else on this planet I could ask I would. But of all the dumb bad luck, you’re the only one I can ask.”
“Sucks to be you.”
“Is that all you’ve got for me after everything we’ve been through?” she countered, her eyes glazing a little. “At one time, you loved me.”
“A long time ago.” He stared, unable to believe she threw that card down. “A very long time ago.”
She held his stare and after a long moment said, “Listen, I suppose you have no reason to care any longer, but I’m on the verge of losing everything if I don’t succeed in convincing you to become the next star of the network I work for.” At his incredulous expression, she pushed forward in a rush. “You don’t understand. This could be good for both of us. I’m not asking you to do something for me without being compensated. Trust me, the money is good. And if the pilot gets picked up, it could mean even more money with endorsements and commercial deals, and I could help you navigate the tricky contract—”
“You mean you would help me negotiate a legal document?” he mocked, and she stopped her spiel. He gave her a patronizing look. “I wouldn’t trust you to negotiate my cell phone bill.”
“I could lose everything if I don’t land this deal,” she said, her eyes filling for real this time. “Please help me, Trace. All you have to do is agree to film the pilot, and anything after that we can renegotiate. I need this. My last three shows have tanked and no one wants to hear my pitches anymore. I’m like the black plague of Hollywood.”
Trace sipped his coffee, unable to believe her nerve and unwilling to believe her tears. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out. You’re a resourceful girl.”
“Damn you, Trace,” she muttered, wiping at the moisture leaking from her eyes. “I never realized how much of an unfeeling bastard you are.”
His mouth twisted in a wry smile. “Funny, I thought the same thing about you when you threw my offer of marriage in my face right about the time when my entire world was crumbling. I guess what they say about karma is true.”
“That’s not fair and not even the same,” she said hotly. “Are you such a weak individual that you’d dredge up the past to hurt me now?”
“I’m not dredging up anything. I’m stating facts. And I wasn’t the one who brought up the past first. You tried to guilt me into dancing to your tune by bringing up our history. But, honey, what you don’t realize is that for me, the past is simply that and I have no interest in revisiting it.” He walked away with a wave. “Sorry for the wasted trip. I hope your plane doesn’t drop into the ocean on your way back to California.”
He heard her gasp and then the front door slammed again as she bolted. He hoped that was the last time he saw Delainey Clarke ever again.
And he’d mistakenly thought his crippling hangover was the worst way to start his day....
* * *
RUDE. OBNOXIOUS. Petty. Selfish—a litany of unflattering words skipped across Delainey’s brain as she drove back into town. And after she’d exhausted all the mean words she could think of to describe the man she’d once fancied herself madly in love with, she tried feverishly to think of a way to salvage the situation.
Perhaps she could find another tracker who might be willing to step into the limelight.... But even as she entertained the idea, she discarded it. That curmudgeon Pilcher wanted Trace—no substitutes would suffice—and if she didn’t deliver the man, her tiny cubicle of an office was going to get a new resident and she’d be out on the street.
How could Trace be so cold to her after everything they’d been through? They’d been high school sweethearts and his sister, Miranda, had been her best friend. At one time, they’d been thick as thieves. And now? Well, she was surprised at how much it stung that he couldn’t stand the sight of her. For the briefest moment, she toyed with the memory of Trace, his dark blond hair a tousled mess, and his eyes warm with adoration as he stared down at her, his touch as gentle as a summer breeze. Trace had always been the quiet type, but with her he’d opened up. They’d spent hours, fingers twined together, planning an imaginary future that, now as she recalled the details, had been plainly impossible given her dreams and goals.
“We’ll have two kids—twins!—and they’ll be the cutest kids on the planet, of course,” she’d chattered happily one day their senior year while they were lying side by side on his parents’ roof, staring up at the summer sky. “And you’ll, of course, be the best dad in the world because you’re so patient and kind and super smart. I’ll work in California and come home on the weekends, or maybe you could do something in California and we could get a cute apartment together. I can’t wait to live someplace where you can wear shorts and a T-shirt nearly all year long. I’m tired of all the snow and freezing my tail off.”
Trace had laughed at her impassioned declaration and then had distracted her by sealing his mouth to hers, and his tactic had worked...for a time.
But in the end, Delainey had had no intentions of staying in Homer, no matter who was doing the asking. Sadness tugged at her heartstrings for the loss of something special, but she didn’t see the sense in crying for the past when there was nothing that could be done about changing it. Besides, her future wasn’t in Homer. She belonged in warm, sunny California, where the beaches were dotted with surfers and bikini-clad girls. Already she felt the Alaskan chill seeping into her bones, trying to take up permanent residence in her marrow. No, she may have been born in Alaska to a fisherman’s family, but Delainey was meant for bigger things, which is why Trace was going to help her get what she needed, whether he wanted to or not.
So how was she supposed to encourage Trace to do something he plainly didn’t want to do?
Hollywood was filled with difficult people; she’d just have to find a way to work around Trace. And if she couldn’t do that, she’d find a way to compel him to sign on the dotted line.
She detoured from her route and headed for the Search and Rescue office. Perhaps if she couldn’t get Trace to see things her way, his boss could.
There was more than one way to skin a cat—and she was desperate enough to try anything.
CHAPTER FOUR
DELAINEY HAD BRIEFLY considered going straight to Trace’s boss to plead her case to someone in actual authority, but after taking a critical look at her travel-wrinkled clothing and the dark circles under her eyes that no amount of expensive, high-end concealer could completely hide, she knew she had to freshen up first. For that matter, now that she gave it some more thought, she probably should’ve done that before attempting to persuade Trace to join Team Delainey after such a protracted hiatus, but she’d been running on pure adrenaline and hadn’t wanted to stop to think.
Sometimes thinking was bad. She needed action, not bouts of quiet pondering.
However, since her first plan had blown up in her face in spectacular fashion, she had to adjust her tactics.
She gripped her suitcase handle and blew out a determined breath as she stared at the small house where she grew up. If only she’d had it in the budget to spring for a hotel. The network usually paid for those things, but Hannah had to open her big fat mouth—that woman was the devil—and Pilcher hadn’t approved the hotel voucher. Delainey couldn’t help but worry that Pilcher was punishing her for the failure of Vertical Blind, which made her only all the more desperate to close this deal.
Which meant, for the time being, sucking up her aversion and distaste at the idea of going home and making the best of it.
Oh, God, if only she didn’t hate this place. Everything looked the same—same worn and faded shutters that never saw a fresh coat of paint ever, same stench of fish everywhere—same bleak sense of poverty clinging to every plank.
Panic overwhelmed her good sense, and she entertained the option of putting a hotel stay on her personal credit card. But she was already maxed out, and her savings account was, frankly, anemic at this point. So there was no option but the one staring at her.
Delainey purposefully lowered her shoulders and lifted her chin. She was stronger than this. One trip home was not going to derail her. She’d faced down bigger threats than her sad past. No problem.
She opened the door, wincing as it screeched on its hinges. The sound, to her ears, was a loud announcement to everyone in town that Delainey Clarke had returned with her tail between her legs. She jerked her hand away and nearly turned on her heel with a “Screw it” on her lips when she heard her brother’s surprised voice.
“Laney?”
“Thad?” She stared at her younger brother, unsure of her welcome. He looked different, older. Life as an Alaskan fisherman was a hard one, and it’d started taking its toll on her brother. There were faint crow’s-feet bracketing his gray eyes from squinting into the harsh sunlight reflecting from the water, and his arm was in a cast. “Surprise...” she said with a tremulous smile.
“Damn, girl, you are a sight for sore eyes,” Thad said, breaking into a grin and quickly folding her into a hug. She tried not to wrinkle her nose at the subtle scent of fish clinging to his clothing, but it brought back a wash of unpleasant memories and she had to stop herself from stiffening. Thankfully, Thad hadn’t noticed. “Man, I never thought I’d see the day...”
That made two of them. Delainey shrugged and smiled. “I had some business to do in the area and thought it was time for a visit.”
At that, his expression was mildly reproachful as he said, “Yeah, it’s been a long time. Too long. I know you and Pops didn’t exactly part on good terms, but eight years is a long time between visits.”
Guilt tugged at her. He was right but the idea of coming home before she’d achieved her goals had been an effective deterrent to visiting, even though at one time she and her brother had been close. She supposed it was her fault they’d drifted apart. “Did you get the Christmas card I sent?” she asked.
“Yeah. It was real sweet. That gas gift card was nice, too. Pretty extravagant, too, but I suppose when you’re pulling down the cash like you are...” Thad’s misplaced pride only made Delainey feel that much more like a fraud, but she had to shelve those feelings for now. Besides, if she managed to land Trace, her worries would be over. Finally.
“What happened to your arm?” she asked.
He lifted his arm to glance at it then answered with a shrug. “Slipped on fish guts and landed wrong. Pretty stupid way to break an arm. No glory at all,” he said. She smiled. Her brother hadn’t changed much. He was pretty much still the man-boy she’d left behind, and for that she was grateful. Thad reached for her suitcase and took it before she could protest. “I’ll put this in your room. How long are you staying?”
“Not long,” she answered, wandering the living room, wondering when her father and brother became better housecleaners. She’d expected an inch or so of dust on every surface, but everything was surprisingly clean. “If you’re not on the boat, who’s working with Pops?”
“He’s got a few guys he picked up for short-time work. My cast is supposed to come off within the next two weeks, and then I’ll be right as rain. It’s a good thing I was here when you arrived. Pops is sure gonna be shocked when he sees you.” The slight nervousness in Thad’s voice didn’t surprise Delainey. The homecoming wasn’t likely to be filled with a joyous hug and reminiscing. “Hey, Laney, there’s something I need to tell you.”
She nodded, half listening, and went to the kitchen. Again, the cleanliness shocked her. Her father had never been one to lift a finger when it came to domestic stuff and surely hadn’t expected Thad to pick up the slack, either. All of the household responsibilities had fallen on her shoulders, no matter that she’d been only nine when her mother had died. She couldn’t count the times she’d slaved in that kitchen, wishing and hoping for a different life. She hated fish, and when her father had put little store in her doing anything more than cooking, cleaning and eventually marrying a man from good fishermen stock and settling down, she’d burned with a desperate desire to bolt at the first chance. Delainey roused herself from her mental walkabout just in time to catch Thad’s awkward conversation.
“Laney...if you give her a chance you might really like her. She’s good for Pops, you know? I mean, she’s real sweet and Pops isn’t the easiest to get along with—”
“Wait... What are you talking about?”
“Brenda.”
“Who is Brenda?” she asked, confused.
“Didn’t you hear me? Brenda is Pops’s woman now. She’s real nice, so don’t go and say anything that’ll hurt her feelings.”
“Pops is dating?” The idea had never occurred to her, but now that she looked at her old house she saw it through different lenses. There was definitely a woman’s touch, aside from the obvious cleanliness. Silk flowers were sitting in a vase on the windowsill and she could actually see through the glass of the window, when before it was crusted with years of mud and hard-water residue.
“He’s more than dating. He married her.”
“Married?” Her father was married? “I couldn’t even get a phone call?”
“Well, Brenda wanted to tell you, but Pops... You know how he can get. He’s still hurt over the way things went down when you split. And you haven’t much tried to fix things since, so he figured you didn’t need to know.”
“He wants me to fix things?” She tried not to be insulted, but her blood pressure rose just the same. “He’s the one who said he never wanted to see me again.”
“You know he just says that stuff. He doesn’t mean it.”
“No, I don’t know that, Thad,” she retorted stiffly. “Where I come from, people mean what they say and say what they mean.” Not exactly. No one in Hollywood spoke from his or her heart. Because no one had one. Being fluent in doublespeak was a requirement, and Delainey had been woefully unprepared when she’d first landed on the scene as a young producer with stars in her eyes. She hated thinking of her young self; so embarrassingly naive. “So he went and got married. Good for him. Is she deaf, dumb and blind?” She’d have to be to voluntarily put up with Harlan Clarke.
“Not generally, but I’ve been told I have an exceedingly cheery disposition, if that counts for anything,” a voice from behind her answered, and Delainey whirled to find a short, chubby woman with apple cheeks and a frizz of dull blondish curls on her head, carrying two grocery bags. Thad rushed to help and the woman unloaded her bags, eyes sparkling with curiosity and knowing. “I’ve waited a long time to meet you, but I must say, I never expected you to be so much like your father.”
“I’m nothing like my father,” Delainey said, stiffening. “You must be Brenda.” At Brenda’s nod, Delainey offered a stilted apology but wanted to sink through the floor. “I didn’t realize you were here. I’m sorry for that comment.”
“Oh, honey, don’t worry yourself about that. From what my friends tell me, stepmothers and their stepdaughters are bound to share words at some point or another, so I figure we’ll just get that out of the way right quick so we can get on with being friends.”
Who was this woman? Delainey looked to Thad, almost for help, but Thad was already on Team Brenda and hoping Delainey would join the team, as well. Unfortunately, Delainey wasn’t interested in being on anyone’s team aside from her own. “I didn’t realize my father had remarried,” she said. “Congratulations.”
“Boy, I bet that cut like a razor coming out of your mouth,” Brenda observed almost cheerfully. “Darlin’, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Are you staying for dinner? I’m making your daddy’s favorite, spaghetti with meatballs.”
Delainey looked to Thad with a frown, and he supplied an explanation. “Since Brenda came around, he can’t get enough of her cooking. Loves her spaghetti and meatballs. It’s pretty good. You’ll like it.”
“My, how things change when you miss a few years,” Delainey muttered under her breath, feeling much like Alice when she tumbled down the rabbit hole. “Anything else? Perhaps Pops has suddenly taken a liking to classical music, too?”
“Goodness no, your daddy has a fondness for folk country and always will, bless his soul. I like some George Strait myself, but the bluegrass took some getting used to.” Brenda moved past Delainey and started making herself at home—well, Delainey supposed it was her home now, too. But she was discomfited to realize she felt some bristling sense that Brenda was poaching on her turf when Delainey hadn’t been around in eight years. “Are you too tired to help out? I know that flight can be a doozy. If you’re not too tired, I could always use an extra hand in the kitchen.”
“I don’t cook,” Delainey said flatly. She hadn’t cooked in years, almost refused to after she left Alaska. Cooking was domestic. She wasn’t a housewife. She was a businesswoman who held dinner meetings, if she ate dinner at all. She eyed the pasta. Too many carbs. “I’d planned to stay here, in my old room, but I didn’t realize... If it’s too much trouble, I can get a hotel room.”
“Thad has told me all about his successful sister living the glitz-and-glamour life in Hollywood, but there’s no sense in spending good money when you have family to take you in. Now, go wash your face and spritz off and we’ll gab like old hens in a henhouse before your daddy gets home. I’m sure we have lots in common.”
“I can’t,” she said, sharp enough to earn a pleading look from Thad, but she couldn’t act as if it was completely normal to cook a family meal with her new stepmother—a woman she’d never even known existed until five minutes ago—when it was bad enough that she knew her father wasn’t going to exactly do a cartwheel when he saw his ungrateful, selfish daughter showing her mug around town again. Delainey rubbed at her forehead and knew she couldn’t stay here. No. No. No. “Actually, I think it would be better if I stayed at a hotel. I wouldn’t want to disrupt the house. Besides, as much as I know you’re trying to smooth things over between me and my dad, our issues run deeper than you can imagine. It’s going to take more than sitting around the dinner table stuffing our faces with carbs to change what went wrong between us. I’m sorry.”
Brenda pursed her lips and narrowed her gaze. “Suit yourself, dear. But remember, regret is a terrible companion. It’s like a houseguest who never leaves.”
“I don’t have any regrets.”
“Sure you do. We all do, but yours are plainer than most, I can tell you that.”
“You don’t know me and I don’t appreciate you foisting your brand of country wisdom on me.” She looked to her brother. “Could you please get my luggage? I’ll find a place to stay elsewhere.”
“Come on, Laney...” But when Thad saw her mind was made up, he dragged her suitcase from the room and handed it to her as she waited by the door, eager to get away. “If you’d just give her a chance,” he said in a low voice that only she could hear.
“I’m not here to make friends, Thad. I just needed a place to sleep. I should’ve known that coming home wasn’t going to be that place.” At his crestfallen expression, she softened minutely. Thad was a good kid and had always been kindhearted. She caressed the scruff on his cheek and said, “I’ll call you when I get settled and we’ll go to lunch. I promise. In the meantime, take care of that arm.”
She’d just slammed the trunk closed when the sound of her father’s old truck rumbled down the street. Perfect timing, she wanted to mutter. Another five minutes and she’d have been gone. If she’d been thinking straight, she never would’ve presumed she could stomach staying with her father. She didn’t care if she ran through her savings account like water through a sieve; she wasn’t sleeping one night under the same roof as that man...and his new wife. Hand on the door handle, she contemplated leaving without a word uttered, but a part of her wanted him to acknowledge her—perhaps only so she could refuse the gesture. But when he stopped for the barest moment and gave her a once-over then kept walking, she balled her fists and wanted to scream. Delainey fought the urge to follow him straight into the house to give him what was coming to him. But she didn’t confront him. No, instead she stood like a statue, staring and doing nothing. Nice to see you, too. What a jerk. She climbed into her rental and drove away, not realizing until she was a mile down the road she had tears tracking down her cheeks.
CHAPTER FIVE
TRACE WANTED TO PUNCH something. No, that wasn’t the right word. He wanted to destroy something. How dare Delainey Clarke show up as if everything was peachy between them. That soul-sucker lost the right to show her mug in his personal space the day she’d thrust his offer of marriage back in his face and left town so fast she broke the sound barrier. And at his bleakest moment! He made it a point not to go there, but seeing Delainey again brought the memory front and center.
“You’re the only thing that makes sense in my life,” Trace had said, bending on one knee, his voice breaking as he presented the small diamond he’d scrimped and saved to purchase. He didn’t make a lot of money but he didn’t spend frivolously either, and it had taken a year to save up the cash to make the biggest purchase of his young life. But she was worth it, he’d told himself. Delainey was his heart and soul, and he needed her in his life more than anything. Especially after Simone. “Please do me the honor of being my wife.”
Delainey had stared at the ring as if it had sprung fangs and hissed at her and she actually took a step back, distancing herself from it and him. “No,” she whispered. Her green eyes had misted and widened and she shook her head, almost in horror. A sick feeling lodged itself in his gut and he felt like a fool kneeling, so he climbed to his feet and snapped the ring box shut. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” he asked, confused and hurt. “I know you love me and I love you, so what’s the problem?”
“The problem? If you don’t know, then you don’t know me at all. I have a degree in film production. What kind of job am I going to get here with that?”
“You’re serious about going off to California?” he asked, incredulous. “My career is here. You’ve always known that.”
“And you’ve always known that I have big dreams that aren’t here.”
“Yeah, well, what does that have to do with getting married?” he asked, irritated and defensive. He’d always thought her talk of running off to California was kid stuff, not the kind of real-life aspirations that adults followed through with. He’d assumed she’d use her degree to get a job with the local television studio in Anchorage, certainly not something in Hollywood. But even so, he didn’t understand why she’d reject everything he was offering based on that reason. “I mean, we could still get married, you know. We’d work something out.”
“And if we did, you’d want me to stay here, and I’m not going to stay here. I’ve been saving up for a plane ticket to California and first month’s rent and security deposit for an apartment.”
He stared. “You’ve been planning to leave?”
“Yes. I told you that was my plan after graduating college. I stayed a year past my plan, and I’m not going to stay here another year.” Her eyes, so beautiful to Trace, seemed to harden into green chips of stone as she continued. “You never listen to me, Trace. You’re a country boy and I’m made to be a city girl. I thought we could make it work, but the fact is I’ve been realizing that we’re not meant to be like I thought we were. I was going to tell you...”
“When?” he demanded to know. “After I’d purchased our first home?”
She graced him with a look. “Sarcasm? Is that necessary? This is hard enough to do without you being mean.”
“Forgive me, I just had my dignity stomped into the ground,” he replied caustically, tucking the ring box into his jeans when he really wanted to chuck it as far away from him as he could throw it. “So, are you breaking up with me, too?” At her silence, he swore under his breath, unable to believe this was happening. It was like a bad, bad dream. “You have excellent timing,” he said, happy to use anger as a shield against the pain that was coming. “Excellent timing. I thought I was at my lowest with my baby sister being murdered, but you showed me I had so much further to fall. Thanks, babe. You’re a doll.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, her face flushing. “I should’ve told you sooner, but then everything happened with Simone and...”
“And what? You wanted to wait to rip out my heart?”
“I was trying to be considerate.”
“Well, thank you for your consideration.” He scorned the sudden appearance of tears in her eyes, saying as he walked away, “Good luck in California. I never want to see you again.”
“Trace...”
But he kept walking. Closing his heart for good.
Trace opened his eyes and realized his fists were clenched so hard his knuckles had whitened and he’d carved little half-moons into his palms. Eight years was a long time, but apparently not long enough. Seeing Delainey again brought all the rage and hurt right back to the surface, spilling over the sides and contaminating everything around it. He hated her. God, he hated her. She’d used him, played him, and then when he hadn’t been of any more use to her, she’d left him behind.
So now Delainey needed him for something? She could go hang herself and see if he cared. Whatever trouble she was in, she could just figure out a solution without his help.
