Heartbreak, Tennessee (16 page)

“I’m sure Gray would
be flattered,” Amber said dryly.

“Gray? Oh, he was out
like a light.
He’ll
be sleeping well
tonight.”

“Yeah, well, I’m glad
somebody is. You know, the fire station is almost a mile from here.”

“I
do
appreciate you coming with me,”
Sheryn said, giving her an affectionate squeeze on the arm. “I know it’s almost
nine at night, and you’ve worked hard today. You’ve been a real doll about
everything. But tell me, is there anything else you need to talk about?”

Amber didn’t answer
for a moment. Walnut Street was illuminated by a big silvery moon as well as
the few street and shop lights. No one else was out on the sidewalks, though
undoubtedly things were hopping over at Buzzy’s.

Amber forced herself
not to wonder how Mac was spending the evening. She focused on the familiar
sights they were passing.

“Look,” she said. “See
that bench, over by the bank parking lot? That’s where I first kissed a boy.”

“Oooh, was it Mac?”

Amber shook her head,
smiling a little. Not much got past her friend. “No, a boy named Hutch
Stapleton. You know, I knew him for years and I never knew what his real name
was. But I’ll never forget, he had the cutest dimples. And over there—that
used to be Millie’s Sweet Shop. I used to work there sometimes after school,
sweeping up. Millie was a cranky old gal, but she had a heart of gold.” Amber
paused for a moment before adding, “And I suppose she’s passed away by now. I
can’t imagine it, somehow—Walnut Street without Millie walking home after
work, night after night, with that same black umbrella tucked under her arm,
rain or shine.”

“Life has a way of
doing that,” Sheryn said gently. “Throwing you for a loop. Changing, when you’re
not looking. Things never stay the same.”

“You can say that
again,” Amber said softly.

“But the important
things don’t change,” Sheryn continued. “No matter what happens when I’m on the
road, I know that Gray will be there when I get back. I know that every Thanksgiving
all my nieces and nephews will come and completely mess up the house—and
I’ll love every minute of it. And when they’re all grown up, it’ll be their
kids who come every year. And some day their grandkids, God willing.”

“You’re so lucky,”
Amber said quietly.

“And of course you’ll
always be a part of our family, too. But Amber, even when you come into the
world without a lot of luck, as you did, you keep getting chance after chance. God
never turns His back on you completely. Sometimes—”

Sheryn stopped and
turned, facing Amber in the pale moonlight.

“Sometimes you get
lucky enough to go back and change the past. Amber, I think now is one of those
times. I think you’re being given an opportunity that you shouldn’t pass up.”

For a long moment, the
two women stood close together, the only sound made by a sleek cat jingling its
tags as it walked along a fence nearby.

Amber looked down,
unable to respond. And then the moment was over. Sheryn began walking again,
and Amber took a few loping strides to catch up.

“Sure hope they have
my cupcakes in that machine,” Sheryn said with grim determination.

An hour later they
were back in the parking lot of the motel.

“This was a good idea,”
Amber admitted.

“Yeah, I was starving,”
Sheryn said, licking the last of the creamy filling from her fingers.

“No, I meant just
getting out—clearing my head a little. And talking. Thanks, Sheryn.”

“Thank me later,”
Sheryn said, scanning the half-empty parking lot. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but
isn’t that Lover Boy’s car over there?”

Following Sheryn’s
gaze, Amber spotted the sleek red sports car carelessly parked across two
spaces, the familiar “STAR 2 B” license plate illuminated by the harsh glare of
the streetlight.

“Oh, no,” she groaned.
“I was hoping he’d changed his mind. I couldn’t imagine he was serious about
driving all this way. I don’t think I’m up for this.”

Sheryn looked at the
car and back at Amber. “It’s over between you and him, isn’t it?”

Amber nodded. “Yes,
although now I’m wondering whether I made it quite clear enough. I should never
have agreed when he said he wanted to come all the way here, even if it is just
to talk.”

“Sounds like maybe he
wants to do more than just talk.”

Amber sighed. “I
actually think it’s been over for a while. Things haven’t been right between us
for months, only I could never find the right time, the right words to end it. Then
before you and I came down here, I told him that I thought it was best if we
stopped seeing each other.”

“Ouch. I had no idea. How’d
he take it?”

Amber wrinkled her
nose and managed a tiny smile. “About like you’d expect, I guess. First I think
he was shocked. I get the feeling he’s not used to women, um...”

“—telling him to
take a hike? I guess not,” Sheryn said, grimacing. “That boy thinks he’s
something, that’s for sure.”

“Oh, Sheryn, he’s not
that bad,” Amber said, giggling. “Although he sure did turn a funny shade of
pink. And he wouldn’t take no for an answer, no matter how many ways I tried to
say it. Made me promise I’d ‘think about it’ on this trip. So I promised. I
mean, what could it hurt?”

“Thought you’d come
around, was that it?”

Amber shrugged. “Maybe.
But he has to know that things haven’t been good for a while. I’m sure that
once he had a chance to think things over, he came to the same conclusion I did.”

She paused,
remembering. She and Dean had been together whenever their schedules allowed. They’d
attended concerts, parties, benefits. They’d been photographed together
countless times, their smiles captured for a waiting public.

But in all that time,
she couldn’t recall a single conversation that left her heart pounding. A
caress that lingered the way Mac’s did. A glance that held a fraction of the
heat generated every time Mac looked her way.

And yet, he was
comfortable. Being with him, even if he never stirred her passions, made her
feel secure. There were no doors that wouldn’t open for Dean Hamilton; maitre d’s
tripped over themselves finding the right tables. Amber hated to admit it, but
being with Dean had made her feel like life would never be hard again.

Or, at least, like she’d
never again have to plunge hands aching from hard work into a bucket of
detergent.

But that security came
with a price.

“I feel like we’ve
been treading water. In some ways Dean and I were exactly what the other was
looking for.”

“Well, he’s good
looking, I’ll give him that,” Sheryn conceded.

“I suppose. But more
than that, he’s made it. Or at least he’s about to. And for some reason that
seemed really, really important to me. Does that make me just awful?”

“Oh, no, Amber, it
doesn’t make you awful,” her friend said softly. “With what you’ve been
through, girl, no one could blame you for wanting a prince, someone who could
really take care of you for a change.”

“Yeah, I guess I just
didn’t know what that meant until now. With Dean, nothing was ever really
wrong
. We never argued. In some ways, I
don’t think I figured out it wasn’t going to work until...”

Until the moment she
and Mac exchanged that first kiss? The one neither of them expected, that
changed everything?

“Mmm hmm.”

That look. That look
in Sheryn’s eyes, the one that Amber had learned to dread, the one that
announced an idea was forming in that over-active imagination.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, Sheryn, but—”

“Just what would it
take to get you to move back here, girl?”


“Sheryn,” Amber
sputtered. “I hate it here. I’ve spent my whole life trying to escape. How
could you even suggest such a thing?”

“Well, I could argue
that point. When I see the way your eyes light up when we walk these streets,
watch you greet the people that live here with love, I think I could make a
very good case that this place has its hooks in you. But girl, I think you and
I both know that there is one very compelling reason for you to give it some
thought. In fact, even if this was a barren desert rather than one of the
loveliest places on the planet, I think you’d do well to think about changing
your address.”

“But...” Amber’s mind
raced, looking for arguments. “My job...” she said weakly.

“Heavens, am I going
to have to fire you to get you to take me seriously?” Sheryn threw up her arms
in exasperation. “Amber, you’re just about the smartest person I’ve ever met. Dozens
of folks have been trying to hire you away from me for years. Do anything you
want. Take up golf. Or needlepoint. Run for Heartbreak’s city council, for
goodness’ sake! Just move your sweet self back here where you belong.”

“Sheryn,” Amber
pleaded quietly. “This is all too much. I can’t—can’t even absorb
everything you’re saying. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I need time to think.
Time to process everything. I—”

Sheryn placed a hand
on her shoulder.

“Look at me, Sugar. Time
is not what you need. I know how you operate. You’ll sit and stew and argue
with yourself until you’ve convinced yourself to do the logical thing. The
proper thing. The thing that’s guaranteed to keep you miserable for the rest of
your life. What you need is to listen to your heart for once. Right?”

Amber looked into
Sheryn’s eyes, and for a moment saw herself reflected back. Her old self. The
self that
had
listened to her heart,
followed its dictates, run wherever the wind and whim had led.

Perhaps Sheryn was
right.

“Okay now, tell you
what I’m going to do,” Sheryn said, suddenly brisk. “I’ll baby-sit Dean for you
for a few hours, buy him a drink or two, and you run and do what you have to
do.”

“Oh, Sheryn...” Amber
hesitated, twisting the fabric of her cotton T-shirt in her fingers.

“It’s your chance,”
Sheryn urged. “Now go on. Go back there and change the past. And Amber? Make
sure you work out a happy ending this time.”

CHAPTER
NINE

A second truck was
parked in front of Mac’s house.

It was nothing like
the sleek red machine next to it, whose cab had housed her reunion with Mac
just three nights earlier. This one had seen better days. Small and compact, its
flaky yellow paint was marred by dents and scratches. One door panel was green,
and the rear bumper sagged on the left side. A pair of giant pink fake-fur dice
hung from the rear-view mirror, and a bumper sticker proclaimed “I have an
honor roll student at Heartbreak Elementary!”

Amber took a deep
breath and paused, slowly closing the door to the Mercedes with a soft,
well-oiled click. She held her sheaf of papers uncertainly in front of her as
she hesitated, as though they could shield her from the misgivings that filled
her.

She hadn’t anticipated
company.

Slowly she made her
way to the house, clutching the documents. They were her security blanket,
providing a reason for her to show up at Mac’s door unannounced. After all,
hadn’t Gray asked her to deliver them this evening?

Sheryn’s pep talk had
bolstered her, filled her with an urgency to see Mac again. It had seemed very
simple when she slipped behind the wheel, briefcase open on the seat next to
her, and charged out of the motel parking lot. Sheryn had a knack for making
things seem easy, as if every real life drama could have a fairy-tale ending if
only you wanted it badly enough.

The miles in between,
however, had eroded the high she’d been riding. Doubts clouded her thoughts. She
was a grown woman, not a princess waiting to be swept off her feet. The
unvarnished truth was that Amber had a good life, a good job, good friends, all
of them several hundred miles away from here. The place she once called home so
long ago was so unlike Nashville that she could never feel at home here again.

Could she?

As if she had a
choice. Mac was entertaining, that much was clear. Glancing in the window of
the yellow truck, Amber had spotted a woman’s purse on the seat. And felt a
surge of jealousy, wholly inappropriate jealousy of a woman whose claim on Mac
was no doubt far more substantial than her own.

Amber had to get back
home soon. Heartbreak was beginning to unsettle her, to shake the strong walls
she’d built up around herself. Half-formed memories teased her consciousness,
triggered by a once-familiar sight, a stranger’s greeting, the smell of
fresh-cut clover. A strange longing for what once was mixed with a discomfort
as palpable as a bee’s sting as she struggled to maintain her careful
aloofness.

That was then
, she kept reminding herself. She had been a girl then, a naive child. In a
way her life here seemed like a story she’d been told, a place she’d invented
with her imagination.