Dance Away with Me - Susan Elizabeth Phillips Page 0,126

gifted him with a yawn that he interpreted as a smile.

“I think she doesn’t hate me anymore.”

“I’m sure she doesn’t,” Tess said.

As the Eldridges left, Tess decided to make herself follow through on an idea she’d had. Maybe trying to help Rebecca would take her mind off the help she needed for herself.

* * *

Ian was furious. He couldn’t get the image out of his head—Tess walking away from him, the wind whipping her hair into a midnight dervish. And taking his child with her. Did she have any idea how much courage he’d needed to muster to tell her he loved her? He’d opened his veins. Bled all over. And what had she done? She’d thrown it right back in his face.

He took a long pull on his drink and looked out toward the Hudson River from the top floor of the five-story Tribeca building he owned. He’d chosen the furnishings here himself, including the uncomfortable Italian leather sofa where he was sitting. He’d even designed some of the pieces: the cantilevered chairs made of tubular steel and black mesh, the kidney-shaped coffee table balanced on a heavy ball of sandblasted glass, the thermoplastic wall sconces. His studio was on the other side of the wall, a cavernous loft three times the size of the schoolhouse studio and the place where he’d once done some of his best work.

Years ago, he’d divided the rest of the building into rent-free studios for emerging artists—his attempt to do for them what Bianca had once done for him. He didn’t regret giving them work space, but being around so many young creatives brimming with ideas was what had driven him from Manhattan to Runaway Mountain. They all wanted his advice, his encouragement, his blessing. Being around them made him feel like a fraud.

And so he’d run. For all the good it had done him.

Tess’s rejection shouldn’t hurt so much. Hell, this was the way he’d grown up. He was used to getting slapped around by the people he was closest to. He’d just never expected it from her.

And he’d never expected being alone to feel so suffocating.

* * *

Tess should have been—if not happy—at least reasonably content. One week rolled into the next. By the beginning of May, Wren had grown out of her newborn clothes, Diane and Jeff had scheduled a visit for after their river cruise, and the nightmares had disappeared. The people of Tempest were also no longer treating Tess as a menace to society. Artie taught her how to change the headlamp on her car when it burned out, and Kelly was instructing her in bread baking. Tess had been invited to join the local Women’s Alliance and discovered that its president, Mrs. Watkins, was an excellent herbalist, eager to share her knowledge. Fiona Lester had volunteered to show Tess how to make her own natural skin-care products, and Michelle was intent on helping Tess start a compost pile. Even Mr. Felder had stepped up by giving her a reading list about Tennessee history. “If you’re goin’ to stay here, you need to stop bein’ so damn ignorant.”

The community had so much to teach her, and Tess was eager to learn. Still, the ache in her heart wouldn’t ease. She was the one who’d kicked Ian out of his own house, and now she was left with a gaping hole in her life that she’d dug for herself. Who was she to tell Ian Hamilton North IV what he needed?

She was the woman who loved him and understood him better than he understood himself.

She yearned to call him to see how his work was progressing. If he was happy. But she didn’t call. Didn’t want to hear the relief he wouldn’t be able to hide that he’d escaped Tess’s messiness and finally had the space he needed. She touched the copper wedding ring she hadn’t gotten around to taking off and scheduled her second meeting with the director of the county health department.

Her career was falling into place, if not the rest of her life.

* * *

The health director had invited two Knoxville physicians to the meeting, both of whom were concerned about the lack of medical care for rural women. They were impressed with Tess’s background and eager to discuss a plan to move forward. Tess’s head was spinning by the time the meeting was over. It was all happening so fast.

Kelly, Tess had discovered, had a talent for finance. Thanks to carefully investing a small inheritance