Hot to Trot (Dancing in Texas #5)

Chapter Twenty

CHAPTER TWENTY

S CARLET ENDED UP with poison ivy, which was one mark against the whole country-living idea. However, it was a small price to pay for the wonderful night she'd spent in Adam's arms on the bank of his secret pond. It had truly been one of the best nights of her life. Not because their lovemaking had been explosive, but because they'd lain wrapped in the quilt, sharing favorite memories of their childhood, sipping cabernet, and devouring decadent dark chocolate.

A few fireflies had shown up to celebrate with them, and the stars had steadfastly observed Scarlet tilt even more toward the man she'd once thought of as humorless and tight-assed.

"What are you smiling about?" Rayne asked, passing the morning newspaper to Brent. "You're almost cheerful. Are you that happy to be leaving Oak Stand?"

Scarlet set the lid on the butter dish. "Who said I'm leaving?"

Brent lowered the sports section to peer at her. Rayne shrugged. "Well, you said your community service was over. I figured-"

"I have the play coming up. I can't leave yet.”

Brent narrowed his eyes. "That's unexpected."

"Why?" Scarlet asked, taking a bite of toast. She was ravenous. Strawberries and chocolate had only gone so far in supplying her with the calories she'd lost last night. She scratched her ankle.

He shrugged. "Because don't you have an audition or something?"

"I sent a tape. And why wouldn't I follow through on my obligation to direct the play?”

No one said anything.

"Oh, I forgot. You think I can't finish stuff." Scarlet grabbed the last piece of bacon. Henry had left for school over an hour ago so there was no one there to protest her pigging out. "See? I finished the bacon."

The phone interrupted the rebuke she had intended on delivering to her sister and her henchman.

Rayne answered it. "It's for you. Some assistant who wants you to hold for a David Sparrow?"

Scarlet's fork clattered to the plate. She almost knocked over her juice glass in her scramble to grab the receiver.

Rayne held it out of reach and mouthed, "Who is he?"

Scarlet ignored her sister, gesturing impatiently until Rayne gave up the cordless. Scarlet left the toast behind as she pushed through the swinging door into the kitchen.

"This is Scarlet," she said into the receiver.

"This is Etta. We’ve been trying to get in touch with you on your cell …to no avail. Glad we found you. Can you hold for Mr. Sparrow?"

“Sorry about that, and sure.” She paced while she waited for David to come on the line.

“Scarlet. My, my, my, you’re a hard woman to track down.” A pause. “This is David Sparrow. We met once at an after party.”

“I remember.” She exchanged a few more niceties before the director got down to business. “I enjoyed your audition tape. Intriguing take on the character.”

"Thank you," Scarlet murmured, feeling nauseous. Her hands shook because she knew what this call meant. Knew she was on the verge of something big.

"I'd like you to come out and do a read for us. I’d like to see you with Hugh and see how you two play off each other."

She screwed her eyes closed and tried to keep her cool. Hugh flippin' Jackman was going to play her father. Or was it Hugh Grant? Oh, snap! Either one would be huge. "I'd love to. When are you thinking?”

"I know it's short notice, but Saturday afternoon I’m off to England on a press junket for Siren Call . Can we make it happen late Friday? Early Saturday at the latest?”

Scarlet closed her eyes, the last bite of bacon turning in her stomach. Of course that’s when he wanted her to read.

Scenes from The Magpie Thief would be performed on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. There would be no way to audition for Sparrow in LA. then make it back to Texas in time to direct the play. Dress rehearsal and dinner at the center had already been set for Friday evening. Half the guys in rehab had family coming in and the tickets had sold out.

"Sorry, I've got a commitment then. I could try to move things around. I want to-"

"I wish I could offer you another time," he interrupted, "but we're already behind schedule. Production’s gonna be tight on this one, so if you can't make it, I’ll move forward with other possibilities. But, look, I get upholding commitments.”

Scarlet felt her stomach slide into her shoes. She couldn’t pass this up. Couldn’t. Opportunities to break in and blow up were seldom to be had. She’d be dog stupid to tell David Sparrow no.

Scarlet sucked in a deep breath. “Yeah, so I can’t really pass up the chance to work with you. Let me work on moving my commitments here and I’ll be in L.A. tomorrow morning."

“That’s what I was hoping to hear.”

She wrote down the meeting place and time, then hung up. Sinking onto the kitchen stool, she was slammed with guilt. But what else could she have done? This was her big break, her chance to step away from the small screen and leap onto the big screen. The part wasn't huge, but it was cleverly written and deeply emotional and would stretch her acting ability beyond any other role she'd ever taken.

Adam.

Her heart skipped a beat. What about him... and her? And the magic they'd shared last night? A mere six hours ago, she'd left him with a tender kiss, a sweet promise for a beginning.

Not an end.

But she had to go to L.A. Acting was her life. The guys at the center would be disappointed, but they would understand. Tipsy Nolan, the drama teacher at the high school, could step into Scarlet's shoes without blinking. The show would go on, the town would see the message hidden in the children's book, and Scarlet would get her biggest break since she'd donned her vampire cat suit.

But nothing would be solved with Adam.

She didn't know how she could leave him after last night. When had she'd gotten so attached to the idea of being with him? Everything felt so confusing, like being stuck in a mirrored fun house, not knowing which was the right direction to walk. Nothing familiar; everything disjointed and disfigured.

Rayne stuck her head in the door. “I’m heading over to the office for a pre-production meeting. We're filming here in a few hours, so you'll need to clear out. Wait, is everything okay?"

“It’s fine. But it looks like I’ll be clearing out myself. To L.A.," Scarlet ran her finger around the uneven tile of the bar.

"L.A.?"

"I've got a read on Saturday."

"I thought the play was on Saturday."

"It is."

Rayne lifted her eyebrows. "Oh. Oh, I see."

No, she didn't see. This wasn't about the play. Well, it was. But it was more about Adam. She didn't want to leave in the middle of their beginning. Even though it wasn't really their beginning - they'd been circling each other for weeks. It was the beginning of something really good for both of them.

And she knew what Rayne thought. That this was just another thing Scarlet has left unfinished. Unfortunately, it was true. And this time she would be leaving more than one thing unfinished.

She might be leaving her chance at love behind.

IF A DESIGNER WERE TO DESCRIBE Adam's small home on Hickory Street, they would use words like blank slate or austere which was a nice way of saying undecorated. Everything was colorless and plain.

White siding. Black shutters. Black door. Beige carpet. Blue couch. No art, save what Scarlet thought might be an original Picasso, or a really good knockoff.

But there was nothing simple about the man pacing the carpet. "I don't understand why this guy can't wait. I thought movies took forever to get made."

From her perch on the couch, Scarlet spread her hands. "They do, but there are schedules and they’re already behind on production. They can't proceed without a complete cast. It's a huge budget with lots of moving parts and they’re juggling the primary actors' other commitments not to mention setting schedules at a multitude of locations. I could go on and on, but really, what it boils down to is I have to go."

He stopped, his green eyes flashing. "You couldn't if you were still serving your sentence."

"But I'm not."

He grimaced and resumed pacing. Several seconds ticked off on the clock hanging over the one armchair.

"Adam, I don't want to leave, but I have to do this.”

He stopped again. "Why? Why do you have to go to this audition? It's not a commitment you already have. It's one you want."

“Of course I do. A huge opportunity to elevate my career has landed in my lap. This is the opportunity I’ve been dreaming of."

He sank into the armchair. "But you already have a successful career. You're on a show that's generating tons of interest. Why do you need this other role?"

She sighed. "Look, I didn't pursue the feelings we had between us because of your career, because of your reputation. How can you ask me to toss aside the opportunity of a lifetime when you weren't willing to do the same for me? That's a double standard."

He looked at her flatly. ”Having a relationship with you would have been misconduct. Not a selfish need to elevate my career."

“Wait, you think I’m being selfish ?”

He looked alarmed, but didn’t seem to have the words needed.

She rose and took her turn at pacing. “Maybe I am being selfish. But I don’t think it’s selfish to reach for a dream. And I know this makes it tough on our potential relationship-"

“Potential? I thought we'd already embarked upon a relationship. Not just sex. Remember?” He inhaled and then exhaled. “So what? You’re willing to toss all this away? For a job you don’t have yet?”

"I'm not tossing anything away. I simply have to take a shot.”

“How long will you be gone?”

"Not sure."

He leaned back. "I see. Well, that will be small comfort on cold, sleepless nights."

She wanted to feel his skin beneath her hand but didn't touch him. Had it been only last night she'd dozed in his arms, content as she'd ever been? She'd lay there, listening to the owl hoot and slapping at the occasional mosquito, fantasizing about a life she'd never known. A life with a man she could love, and who would love her back.

One phone call had changed everything. But not really. As he said she was in a television series that would start filming again soon. Wasn’t like she was going to quit her life so she could burn his dinners and kill the one plant he had on his kitchen bar. She was a working actress who had a forward trajectory.

"I will come back to Oak Stand at some point. I have to get my car," she said, knowing her voice sounded unconvincing. Life could get crazy for an actor juggling filming schedules on two different coasts. Not to mention Bert had left her a message about a possible advertising campaign with a cosmetic company. They wanted her lips on their ads. Things were heating up in the best of ways.

So where did that leave her and Adam?

She hadn’t been ready to answer that so soon. Wasn’t sure how she could when they hadn’t gotten past the glow of being together last night. Reality could deliver quite the bitch slap.

"Sounds like you believe what you’re saying.” His voice was dejected. Unconvinced.

“Um, I do.”

He sighed. "I'm so stupid. I knew who you were and how this was going to go down. I tried so damn hard not to want you. Not to trip over myself and go down, but I did it anyway. It’s my MO. I fall for the wrong girl every time. We’re at two different places in life and it was never going to work. Still, I jumped right in.”

"Don't say that. Two people can be different and still have a relationship. Neither one of us has to sacrifice who we are to be together. Just might not be the way you thought it would be. We’ll have to be flexible, and last night taught me that you’re fairly flexible.”

Her attempt at humor fell flat.

He shook his head, and she could almost see the regret leaking from him, filling the room. She felt it to her core. "It won't work, Scarlet. You're on a path that will always lead you away from me, and I'm not going to follow you around New York or L.A. That’s not the life I want. I need to have purpose. And you need to shine. We're too different. We want different things. And that’s okay. Our timing isn’t good, but I’m not sure it ever could be, you know?”

She rubbed her eyes. Was he right? Maybe they were merely two ships passing in the night, two stubborn ships unable to change course. She dropped her hands. "You want this to be goodbye?"

He swallowed hard, but his face had schooled into a mask. “It is what it is."

Something about the way he so easily accepted that it wasn’t going to work infuriated her. “Always scratching lines in the sand, aren’t you? Always making up damn rules for how you think life should be. Who says I have to stay here and be the little woman? Who says if you come to New York you have to follow me around and powder my nose? You’re just giving up. Not even caring enough to fight."

"I can't give up on something that never got out of the starting gate."

"We got out of the gate. We had sex three times last night. That's way out of the gate, mister!"

"Calm down, Scarlet," he said, patting the chair arm next to him. "Sit down. Please."

"No. You sit down," she yelled, even though he was already sitting. "You don't want to make it work because it's easier for you that way. You get to say, 'I screwed Scarlet Rose and then I dumped her."'

"Please. Let’s talk about this like adults."

"No. No, I won't. You’re being patronizing.”

“I prefer the term rational.”

“Well, I don’t. Ugh, everything is screwed. I shouldn't have gone with you last night. I shouldn't have opened my heart to you." Scarlet felt her emotions gallop out of control. Her heart squeezed so hard in her chest she thought she might collapse out on the floor. It had happened again. She'd fallen for a man and he didn't think her worthy enough to take a risk on. How had she been so stupid?

He watched her with a mixture of resignation and wariness, but he didn't try to calm her.

She dropped to the couch and put her head in her hands. She didn't want to cry, she wanted to pretend everything away. Adam was right. Their relationship was impossible. She jumped to her feet. "I've got to get out of here. I can't deal with this right now. I can't go through this another time."

Adam rose and reached for her arm. "Scarlet, don't leave this way. You're being overly dramatic."

“Well, it’s in the job description.” She twisted away from his grasp. “And I'm being honest about how I feel.”

“Okay, yeah. I see that.”

“Look, you’re right. We were a mistake from the beginning, and nothing, not even last night, can change the fact we're not meant to be. You said so yourself weeks ago. I'm not the right kind of girl, yet I let myself believe in a fairy tale. This isn't some movie or romance book. There isn't always a happily-ever-after. Sometimes things end and no one is happy."

He flinched and stepped back. He didn't seem to know what to say, and she damn sure had no words to make anything better.

She picked up her purse and headed for the door.

He didn't follow her. When she took one last look over her shoulder, she felt something in her chest break loose and flood her with grief. He watched her like he had no answers.

Her heart broke into little pieces.

How could this be happening. How were they over before they’d truly even begun. No words were left to fix the brokenness.

So she turned and walked out of his life.