Darcy and Tinsley nodded in agreement.
“You need to talk to her. Find out what’s going on. I know God gave you some common sense. Use it,” Ellery told him and again everyone nodded in agreement.
Trent glared at her and then suddenly her face crumpled up and she burst into tears. “Sweet magnolia! I’m so sorry. These pregnancy hormones make me say the darnedest things.”
Gavin looked concerned as he pulled his pregnant wife against his side and promised Trent wasn’t mad. Now he couldn’t even be irritated with Ellery since she sat there crying buckets as she held her slightly rounded belly. What made him smile though was the look of abject fear on Ryker’s face.
“I have a call I need to make,” Ryker said as he was out of his chair and out the door before anyone could tell him he’d left his phone on the table.
“She’s right,” Harper said to Trent as everyone tried to cheer Ellery up. Harper and Trent had always been close. They both had the same no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is personalities. Then Harper met Dare and she’d changed. Not in a bad way, but the protective shell around her heart had melted. Trent didn’t like to think about it, but most of his cousins had changed as they found love. They were happier, lighter, and more comfortable with who they were. Trent was envious because as they talked about love, he knew he’d felt it once and then lost it all in one night.
“Trent,” Harper said, getting his attention again. “You’ve never backed down from anything. You were the first one to enter a fight to protect any one of us. You never quit chasing your dreams even when every roadblock possible was thrown at you. So why are you backing down now? Let me guess, because I have some experience—it’s scary as hell. When I started the bar, it was scary to invest everything I had in it. What did you tell me?”
Dammit. Harper did know him well. “The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.”
Harper grinned. “That’s putting it nicely. I remember something along the lines of ‘grow a pair’”
“I’ll think about talking to her, okay?” Trent finally relented.
“You know you taught me that trick.”
“What trick?”
“The one where you promise to think about it but not do it.”
Trent winked at her and shot the rest of his bourbon. He could promise to think about it since thinking of Skye was all he’d been doing since California.
“Here, Ellery. Will this help?” Georgina asked as she put a Shirley Temple in front of her with extra cherries. Ellery promptly burst into a new round of tears over the nice gesture.
The door opened and Skeeter walked in wearing oversized jeans and a sweatshirt two sizes too big for his frame. He looked around, shuddered, and narrowed his eyes at Ellery. “Miss Ellery, you’ve done scared the ghosts out of here with your caterwauling.”
Everyone sucked in a breath and stared in horror as Ellery froze. Then her lips parted and a laugh burst out. “Y’all, I am so sorry. Gavin said it’d get better the farther along I get.”
Gavin leaned back and tried to look innocent. That caused the rest of them to laugh. Tinsley asked about the baby, the married couples looked at each other as if having a silent discussion about babies, and Ryker poked his head back in. He returned to the table when he saw the tears were gone.
His family and friends talked all around him, but Trent didn’t hear them. They’d given him his space when he’d gotten back from California, never expecting what had happened there. It was another matter when Karri arrived. Then the questions had started, though only his brother, Wade, knew the full truth. That probably meant that Darcy did, too. For that matter, they all probably did but had the good manners not to mention it.
“The women have a point,” Wade said as Darcy joined in talking about baby things. “You know that the media can take an innocent picture and flash a fake headline on it. The only way you’ll know for sure is to talk to Skye.”
“I agree,” Ryker said on Trent’s other side.
Trent’s eyebrow rose in surprise. “You do? The man who has shut himself off from every personal attachment since that night—”
“I told you never to bring that up,” Ryker snapped.
“Exactly my point. It’s a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ situation. I don’t see you moving on and taking a risk with your heart.”
Wade clamped his mouth shut and sat back as if Ryker just might explode.
“What do I care if she’s the love of your life and you’re too scared to go after her?” Ryker tossed back his drink and stood up to leave.
“I’ll remind you of that someday,” Trent said as he looked up at Ryker.
“There’s a difference. I’ll never have that opportunity. But you do and you’re too chicken to go after it.”
Ryker strode angrily from the bar and Trent was left with Wade’s he has a good point shrug. So what if he had a good point? It’s right there in black and white—Skye had moved on. But what if she hadn’t? The voice in his head grew louder the more he tried to ignore it. He’d been hurt and he’d been angry. He’d been betrayed. Could he even afford to recognize the little glimmer of hope that began to take root in his heart?
2
“Has he responded?” Karri asked as she and Skye sat by the pool.
Skye shook her head. Tears threatened to spill in frustration. “I thought he would this time. I saw the three dots hovering. He’s seen it, he’d thought about writing something. Then he didn’t.”
Karri shifted uncomfortably. “I might know why.”
Skye’s heart plummeted and then sprang to life. There was a reason? Not just the complete silence she’d been receiving? She’d woken up from the best night of her life to find an empty house. Well, that wasn’t true. Lenny was there getting her ready for some meeting. But Trent was gone. Lenny said he hadn’t seen him and Karri hadn’t either. She’d immediately texted him and . . . nothing. She wasn’t going to give up, though. Her parents never gave up and fought for every harvest and she was going to follow their example.
So, Skye had texted—over and over. First she’d asked where he went. Then she told him how much that night meant to her. Then she’d flown Karri there to make sure he was still alive while Skye was stuck getting ready to film a movie. When Karri returned, she’d been quiet but said this life might be too hard for him. Celebrity had its upside but also it had a colossal downside. Right now the downside was all she was experiencing. Sure, her career had never been better, but her personal life had never been worse. She’d found love and lost it in less than twenty-four hours.
“Why?” Skye asked and held her breath as Karri turned her phone around. There was a picture of her co-star and friend Mason Hemming, hugging her from behind. Then she read the headline. Crap. Crap. Crap. It was worse when she read the article about how much Mason gushed about working with her. It was nice and professional, but the news twisted it to make it sound like they were dating. “Assholes! Don’t they bother to fact-check anything?”
“Either they did or they pretended to. It says a source from the set with inside information gave them the scoop and then they pulled quotes from Mason’s past interviews to make it seem as if you two are an item instead of him just being supportive of your career like the good friend he is.”