Page 34 of To Bring You Back
Drew’s blue irises focused on her, brows raised.
Too much emotion had surged through the question. She’d sounded too much like a horrified girlfriend.
“The story may be nothing more than a rumor.” Drew spoke quickly. “All I meant to say is we can’t know exactly what kind of life he’s living behind closed doors.”
No kidding. If he was sleeping with Harper, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d crossed that line with someone who was supposedly only a friend.
She picked up the ladder and tilted it against the house with athwack. Before she could pull the cord to start the power washer, Drew laid a hand on her shoulder.
She straightened to face him.
“I don’t know if the story is true. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” He lowered his hand.
She forced herself to breathe deeply. She was falling for Gannon all over again, and she’d needed the reminder of who he was. She ought to talk to him directly. If she could get him to admit his relationship with Harper had turned intimate, she’d know he hadn’t changed. Her crush would be crushed.
That would be good news. Not a reason to be angry.
Still, pressure built in her chest.
Beyond Drew, another pedestrian stood on the sidewalk, this one a man. He lifted a camera.
“This isn’t Gannon.” She motioned at Drew and started for the sidewalk. “There’s nothing to see here.”
Drew jogged out in front of her but stopped after a couple of steps because the man retreated to his car. Adeline turned her back, as she should’ve done as soon as she’d seen the camera. Tabloids weren’t above posting unflattering photos, and she’d been well on her way toward giving them some.
Drew rejoined her. “They ought to recognize I’m not him.”
“Why else photograph us? Unless it’s to report me for more violations with the neighborhood association.” She eyed her yard. Should she have a permit to paint the house? She’d better call tomorrow and find out before she faced another fine.
“You’re upset.”
Of course she was. She had a chore as big as a house, she was falling for Gannon though he might still be up to his old tricks, and now she was being gawked at and photographed at her worst. “I’m not sure what would be worse—paparazzi or the neighborhood association.”
Drew squinted at the now-deserted road. “You’re in the clear with the neighborhood association. Since you finally agreed to let us help, we’re organizing a group to remove the old porch the weekend after next, with the new one going in shortly after, and you’re working on the paint. What else is there?”
“I don’t know.” There was the crack in the house’s foundation, but that wasn’t affecting the structure of the house, and the neighborhood association would have no way to know about it.
Even so, every time she thought she was doing all right, some surprise issue surfaced. Gannon. A letter from the neighborhood association. What would it be next? She picked up the power washer and yanked the pull so the motor roared back to life.
She climbed the ladder and got to work, her thoughts louder than the machine. Drew left without saying much, and shortly after, Tegan appeared at the foot of the ladder. He must’ve asked her to help.
Night had fallen by the time they finished the job.
Inside, Adeline shut herself in her room.
So Gannon mimicked Psalms in his music. She flipped open her Bible to the book and paged through a few of the songs David had written.
Her eyes fell on a verse in Psalm 33 about playing stringed instruments to worship God.
If God would tolerate a man with a past like Gannon’s quoting Psalms in his music, maybe she, who’d been working so hard to be a good Christian, could play her bass again. If, that was, she didn’t have to sell it to keep her house.
10
Adeline held the phone to her ear and peeked between the curtains. The window from the second-floor spare room looked out over the porch to the street. In the dim glow of the streetlights, she couldn’t be sure a photographer didn’t sit in one of the cars parked on the narrow road. “Is it far-fetched that someone would take a photograph of me because of you guys?”
“Why do you ask?” John, forever easy going, might as well be talking about the weather, not paparazzi.
“Last night some guy took a picture of me talking with a friend, then went running off. I thought maybe it had to do with the house, but …” She wouldn’t worry him by saying she’d received a fix-it letter. She’d checked today, and her painting project didn’t require a permit, so that wasn’t the reason for the attention. “More people are coming by the food trailer. The picture of you there went viral—maybe not by your standards, but by ours. And Matt went to a party last weekend? That didn’t help anything. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen milling around, looking for Gannon.”
