Ain't She Sweet (Seven Brides for Seven Mothers #2) - Whitney Dineen Page 0,36
that?
“Your mom is an adult; she can certainly make her own choices.”
“She traveled with me when I started modeling at twelve. By the time I was fourteen, we spent one season in Paris, and another in New York. We weren’t home in LA that much.”
“So, you blame yourself for your parents’ marriage not working out?” He hits the nail right on the head.
“Maybe,” I tell him.
“You can’t carry the weight of other people’s choices, Tara. No one’s shoulders are big enough for that kind of burden.”
Penny wakes up and crosses the couch to my lap like she senses I could use some comfort. “I needed this time in Oregon to let the dust settle and figure out who I really am.”
James pulls half of my blanket over to his side of the couch and covers himself with it. “Do you think you might go back to LA at some point?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him honestly. “I’d hoped taking the job here would afford me the time and space I needed to figure out exactly who I am. But now it looks like I’m not going to be given that luxury.”
“The press will eventually give up on you, don’t you think?”
“I’m sure. The problem is that I have a nice thing going here with no one knowing who I really am. If they expose me here, then it’s less likely I’ll be able to keep my identity hidden somewhere else.”
“You’d leave?” He sounds surprised.
“If I want a quiet life to pursue my dreams I’d have to. Once people know who I am, they’re going to treat me differently.”
He tucks his fist under his chin striking a similar pose to The Thinker statue by Rodin that I saw in Paris several years ago. “The way I see it, you have two other options, and they’re not mutually exclusive. The first is to give the people of Spartan a chance before running.”
“What’s the second?”
“Quit running altogether and tell the press what you just told me.”
Chapter Eighteen
Ruby
“Forty-two people checked in yesterday,” Ruby tells Chris. “How do we begin to figure out if one of them is the reporter who keeps hounding Tara?”
Chris turns the computer screen in her direction before opening another tab. Within seconds, more than half of those names pop up. “These are the people who have reserved horses, boats, zip-lines, and bikes.” She opens another tab and types away before announcing, “These are the ones with spa treatments booked.”
Ruby looks impressed by her friend’s ingenuity. “How many don’t have either?”
“Three.” Chris writes two names on a piece of paper. “The first is a woman so we know it’s not her. The other two are men. Graham Schmidt and Syd Byerly.”
Ruby slips the paper in her pocket. “Do you know what they look like?”
“I didn’t check in either of them, so no. I’ll put a flag on their names in the computer. That way I’ll be notified if they order room service or charge anything else to their room.”
“Let me know as soon as something comes up,” Ruby says excitedly.
James
If you ask me, Tara’s making a mountain out of a molehill regarding the press. I know she’s famous, but it seems a little egotistical to think that her presence would be the big deal she thinks it will be to the people of Spartan. Folks here are too busy living their own lives to care about something like that.
I leave the dog with Tara and take off to the restaurant to pick up our lunch. Kiley hands over two bags and says, “Looks like you’re hungry today, huh?”
“I’m having lunch with a friend,” I tell her with a smile.
“And here I was going to offer to help you eat all this food,” she replies flirtatiously.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t flattered by the attention, but Kiley is only nineteen. Add the fact that she’s my mom’s employee and nothing about that situation sounds like a winner.
As I walk back through reception on my way to Tara’s room, my mom waves me over to tell me she’s narrowed down her list of suspects to two.
“Do you want me to knock on their doors and see if either of them looks familiar?” I ask.
“You could but then you’d let him know you’re on to him.”
“So?”
“It would be confirmation that you’re trying to hide something. Maybe he’ll decide that Gwen came to Oregon for a reason other than seeing her daughter and he’ll just leave.”