Page 91 of Hot to Trot

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.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

ADAM STARED UP AT THE myriad of lights above him. He almost lolled his tongue out but was afraid it would be overacting.

"Cut!" Tipsy Nolan yelled.

He pushed himself to an elbow and studied a grinning Marco, clad in a flowing cloak. "Watch that damn sword. You almost emasculated me."

"Ifemasculatemeans cut yourcajonesoff then I almost completed my mission."

Adam gave the former gang member a scowl and rose from the dusty wooden floor of the high-school stage. The dress rehearsal had gone smoothly and Tipsy had pitched only two fits in the past hour. He figured the show would go on. He'd thought about not showing for the play, but his sense of duty won out over his utter despair.

She'd left yesterday.

Jared had seen her roar out of town and hadn't bothered with a ticket because he'd been in the middle of eating a banana split at the Diary Barn.

Adam wanted a do-over on their last moment together. Maybe then he wouldn't feel so damned empty. Maybe then he could have fixed what had broken so easily betweenthem when she’d shown up in his living room.

He’d let her go.

Truth had sat in Scarlet’s words. He hadn’t been prepared to fight for their future together. Because what difference would it have made to do so? He couldn’t figure out how they could work, and he’d given little thought to a future before he’d tipped over into the territory they’d traversed that night under the Texas sky. Because he was the police chief and she was an up-and-coming actress. They were at cross purposes, living in two different worlds.

So he’d let her go.

When he’d wanted to do nothing more than scoop her up and keep her locked away in Texas.

The past few days had been hard, the only bright spot coming when he found out that Jared had used his computer to file some reports. That the cursor arrow had been on the file with the security footage had likely been happenstance. His guilt had had him jumping to conclusions. He figured that any threat had been neutralized with Scarlet’s vacating Oak Stand, and if it hadn't, he would deal with whatever repercussions came his way.

He’d done the delicious crime, he’d do that time. Or whatever.

"Okay, that's a wrap, folks," Tipsy said, her bright pink fuzzy shoes clacking up the steps to the stage. The shoes looked like something out of a black-and-white movie. Except the color, of course. "Everyone be here at one o'clock for hair and makeup. No exceptions."

The guys looked at each other with horrified expressions.

"I ain't wearing no makeup," Juan said. "My old lady's coming and she ain't seeing me looking like no-"

Tipsy clapped her hands. ''This is theater, gentleman. Not a beauty pageant. On this stage, your job is to become someone else. Don't forget to tell your old lady that."

With that, Tipsy sashayed away.

Adam's radio crackled to life. "Chief, give us a twenty-one."

He dialed dispatch. “At the high school.”

"Some lady called in about a body part on Leonard. At least that's what it sounded like. She was hysterical," Jared said.

A body part?

“Are you sure? A body part?”

“That’s what it sounded like. She was cryin’ and stuff so…”

Adam rushed out the double doors of the auditorium into the late-afternoon sun. "What sort of body part? Are you sure this isn't a prank?"

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