Heartbreak, Tennessee (8 page)

“Well, you’ve already
been up and down Main—I’m sure the local merchants are thrilled, of
course, since you seem to have cleared out their entire inventory.” Amber
gestured at the stacks of packages lining one wall.

“Just a few trinkets
for the gang,” Sheryn shrugged. She was already missing her band and crew, who
were no doubt enjoying their unplanned vacation.

“Okay, we haven’t been
to the speedway yet—”

“Ugh—those
little match cars?” Sheryn interjected.

“Well, it’s hardly the
Indy 500.”

“I’ll pass.” Finished
with her makeup, Sheryn snapped the sizable case shut and sat down on the other
bed.

“There’s Coombs cave. Have
you ever been spelunking?”

“Poking around in some
musty old hole in the ground? No thanks,” Sheryn said, wrinkling her nose in
response.

Then she suddenly
sucked in her breath in a low whistle. “Can I help you?” she said, looking over
Amber’s shoulder out the door, and dropping her voice to its throaty lower
range.

Amber whirled around,
to find Mac filling up the door frame.

Mac hesitated in the
doorway, suddenly unsure what to do with his hands. The prospect of seeing
Amber again made him feel uncharacteristically awkward, but it couldn’t be
avoided. Better to get a handle on this mess from the start. Confront Sheryn
Sawyer and lay it out in no uncertain terms: Heartbreak wasn’t for sale, not to
her, not to anyone.

That was the reason he’d
called the shop and told them to get by without him for a few hours. He’d
nearly convinced himself that seeing Amber again had nothing to do with it.

But now, seeing her in
the bright morning light, he didn’t feel nearly so sure of himself. The
conversation of the night before came back to him in fragments. The thoughts
which had kept him from sleep the night before now threatened to drive him
crazy. On his way to Amber’s motel he silenced, if only temporarily, the
questions in his mind. He focused on putting one foot in front of the other,
turning the key in the ignition, driving the streets he’d driven thousands of
times in his life.

And now, finally, he
found himself once again in her presence, his heart pounding every bit as hard.
He could see Amber perched on the end of one of the beds in the motel room, and
Sheryn Sawyer in an outrageous orange getup on the other.

For a moment he
paused. Amber, unaware of being observed, was frowning and flipping through the
pages of a book. A cream-colored silk blouse and linen skirt showcased her pale
skin. Despite the hot, humid air, she looked fresh, like a new-picked peach. Her
glossy hair curved to her long neck, the graceful line broken only by the
dangling jet earrings, the large well-cut ebony stones set in loops of silver.

Once again, the
earrings were the only bit of indulgence, the only thing that detracted from an
appearance that was otherwise perfectly understated, unapproachable.

The glasses she wore
made him smile. So serious. It was almost as though the Amber he’d once known
had dressed up for a costume ball, had gone through a theater’s prop department
choosing all the right accessories to mask her true self, slipping into
character like an actress preparing for the stage.

He wished he could
continue to watch her for a while, looking for clues as she moved, and spoke,
and went about her day. Clues to where her old self had gone.

And whether he had
been the one to drive it into hiding.

But Sheryn had noticed
him. The moment was gone.

“Sorry,” he said. “I
was just looking for Amber next door, and your door was open...”

“Well, we’re delighted
you found us!” Sheryn said, practically bouncing off the bed to greet him. Tearing
his eyes away from Amber, Mac noted that Sheryn was far more diminutive than he
would have expected, barely over five feet, but she gave off a warmth and
kindness that surprised him, as well. Mac had always enjoyed her music, but as
much of a pleasure as it would ordinarily have been to meet the star, it was
all he could do to keep focused on the hand she extended long enough to shake
it.

“I’m Sheryn,” she said
coyly.

“Sheryn, please let me
introduce Lawrence McBaine, mayor of Heartbreak,” Amber said, a slight tremor
in her voice the only crack in her elegant armor, the only sign that she might
be as nervous as he was. When she turned to him, her gaze focused somewhere
below his own, refusing to make contact. “Mac, this is my employer and friend,
Sheryn Sawyer.”

It was obvious that
Amber hadn’t yet explained his existence to Sheryn, who regarded him with
unabashed curiosity while she accepted the hand he offered and gave it a small
squeeze. To make the moment easier for Amber, he greeted Sheryn pleasantly but
coolly, as though rubbing shoulders with celebrities was an everyday occurrence
for him.

“Sit!” Sheryn
commanded. “It’s not the Taj Mahal, but we’re getting pretty comfy here, aren’t
we, Amber? I wish I could offer you something. We had the most marvelous
breakfast, a darling boy brought it over from the Sunset Diner—what do
you call it, fried mush? Wonderful, and there’s something you folks do to the
coffee around here. It’s heaven, just heaven.” As Sheryn rattled on, indicating
the single chair in the room while she and Amber resumed their seats on the
bed, Mac stole another look at Amber.

Her pretty hands, once
again, gave her away. Though a calm smile was frozen on her lips, her fingers
clutched at the blankets covering the bed, twisting the fabric nervously. Her
eyes darted back and forth between Sheryn and Mac.

Her past and present
were unexpectedly meeting. He was a link to everything she had left behind, all
the demons she’d buried along with the forgotten joy and passion, locked
somewhere deep inside. And Sheryn was the present, representing the years of
hard work, the struggle to make something of herself and move out into the
world. Mac was aware of the contrast they made—one in heavy old work
boots, the other in a cloud of expensive perfume—and considered for the
hundredth time in the past twenty-four hours how much Amber’s life had changed.

“Are you an old friend
of Amber’s?” Sheryn asked.

Mac glanced quickly at
Amber before answering. “I suppose you could say that. We once knew each other
pretty well. We happened to run into each other last night and had a chance to,
uh, catch up on things.”

“How marvelous!”
Sheryn clapped her hands together in crafty delight as she stole an inquiring
glance at Amber. “And now we’ll all be working together. What could be more fun
than renewing an old friendship?”

Amber’s cheeks flared
in response. “We were planning to spend some more time touring today, Mac. Sheryn
really wants to get a feel for the town.” Her fingers brushed unseen flecks of
dust from her crisply pressed skirt.

“Oh, don’t be silly,”
Sheryn said, patting Mac’s arm firmly. “On your way, you two! I couldn’t
possibly stand in the way of such a wonderful reunion.”

“But Sheryn,” Amber protested. “You said—”

“You know, what I’d
really
like is to go to a show,” Sheryn
interrupted. “I believe I’ll catch that new picture I saw on the marquee down
the street. After all, this is sort of a vacation. Do you have any
idea
how long it’s been since I’ve been
to the movies? Oh, and I would love a bucket of that wonderful buttery movie
popcorn...”

As she talked on, the
ring of a cell phone sitting on the nightstand filled the humid room. Sheryn raised
an eyebrow as they all looked at it. “That’s yours, dear,” she said.

Mac didn’t take his
eyes off Amber as she answered.

“Oh—hi,” she
said, and she glanced at Mac and then quickly away, turning her body slightly. The
gesture was small, but spoke volumes, as Mac realized the call was private.

And from the tone of
her voice, not entirely welcome at the moment.

Mac and Sheryn
exchanged an awkward smile. Conversation would make it difficult for Amber to
hear her caller, so they sat in silence, Mac’s tall frame uncomfortable in the
flimsy chair. Sheryn played with a bracelet, the large faux jewels catching the
light and sending rainbows of color around the room while each pretended not to
be interested in Amber’s hushed words.

“Come...here? You’re
kidding, right?...No, no, I just meant, well, I don’t know what exactly you’d
do
here. Sheryn and I are keeping pretty
busy...”

At the obvious lie Mac
chanced a glance at Sheryn, who merely shrugged. After a pause, Amber shot a
look at Mac and away before he could read what was written in her eyes.

“Can it wait until I
get back?...No, I just thought we could go somewhere decent—there’s not
exactly anywhere
nice
here. I mean,
nothing you’d really like. Sure....No, I’m looking forward to it too. Really. I’m
glad you wanted to...mmm-hmmm...You too.”

The last words were
practically whispered. They could only have answered one declaration.

I love you
.

Another man had
professed his love to Amber while Mac watched, and it felt as though he’d been
rammed in the chest with an enormous weight. They were words that at one time
he’d had the right to use.

Of course she had
someone in her life. An attractive woman, gorgeous even, living in a city of
bright lights and glamorous parties, home to thousands of beautiful people,
some of them successful, powerful, rich.

Everything she’d left
Heartbreak for.

Everything she left
you
for, a taunting voice nagged from
deep inside.

Abruptly Mac turned on
his heel.

“I’m afraid I may be
in the position of having to disappoint you, ma’am,” he said to Sheryn, his
voice clipped. “Even though I enjoy your music, I don’t think Heartbreak is the
right spot on the map for you and your proposed park.”

“Oh, now, don’t you
think it’s a little early in our friendship to be talking about
disappointments?” Sheryn purred, taking the hand he extended and holding it in
her two petite hands. “We’ll save all that gruesome business stuff until my
husband gets here. He’s the brains of the show. Him and Amber. Right now I just
want to get to know every little inch of this cute little place.”

“Ah, well, I hope you
enjoy yourself, then. Amber should make an excellent guide. I’d wager that she
knows this place as well as any of our citizens.”

He managed to choke
out a curt “Ma’am” to Sheryn as he stalked out the door, but didn’t glance in
Amber’s direction.

If he’d fostered any
idle thoughts about spending a little more time with the woman he’d once loved,
they were sealed off for certain now. Mac might be a stubborn man, but he wasn’t
stupid enough to be made a fool of twice by the same woman.

As Amber slowly put
the phone down, Sheryn crossed the room and grasped Amber’s shoulders, forcing
her to look her in the eye.

“Out with it,” she
said. “What is the story between you and that gorgeous man who you just ran out
of here?”

“I did nothing of the
sort!” Amber protested, her heart sinking even further. Out of her peripheral
vision, she’d watched Mac’s quick exit. It had taken everything she had to keep
from dropping the phone and begging him to stay.

“Sugar, you might as
well have thrown a bucket of ice water at him,” Sheryn said, frowning. “You can
be damned frosty when you want to, you know that? And I suppose that was Lover
Boy on the phone?”

“I wish you wouldn’t
call him that,” Amber said irritably. Her head was suddenly pounding and she
massaged her temples, but the touch offered no relief. Too many thoughts were
spinning in her mind to sort through them all.

She found herself
wishing they were in one of the swank luxury hotels they sometimes stayed in
when touring, if only so there would be a mini bar. Amber rarely drank more
than a glass of wine or two, but a stiff shot of whiskey seemed as though it
might be the tonic she needed at the moment. Without bothering to ask, she
opened the lid to Sheryn’s makeup kit, knowing there was a bottle of aspirin
tucked inside, and helped herself to two pills.

“I’m sorry,” Sheryn
said, sounding anything but. “Was it
Dean
?”
She repeated her question, pronouncing the name with distaste.

“I don’t know why you’ve
taken such a sudden dislike to him,” Amber said. “He was
your
opening act, after all. You picked him. You thought he had
talent. If I recall you even took him out shopping and dressed him from head to
toe, remember? Hey, did you finish that bottle of water?” she added before
Sheryn had a chance to respond.

“Sure did,” Sheryn
said. “Every last drop. Hours ago. And I bet you can’t even get the stuff here.
They’d probably tell you to go get a drink out of the hose out back. I keep
telling you, what this town needs is a decent convenience store.”

Amber glared at
Sheryn. “There’s no reason for both of us to get cranky,” she said. “Though it
does look like I’m winning that bet.”