Page 46 of To Bring You Back
He made quick work of his other messages.
Somehow, he’d hoped to find something from Adeline, but of course, there was nothing.
She’d already had questions for him about Harper. He could only imagine the events of the last eighteen hours alienating her further.
13
On Wednesday, Adeline pulled a crumpled shopping list from her pocket to make sure she had everything Asher had asked her to pick up for Superior Dogs. Water, soda, a variety pack of chips, and two bottles of barbecue sauce. She leaned her forearms on the handle of the cart and plodded to the checkouts.
She didn’t mean to browse the tabloids, but a picture of Gannon earned a double take.
Olivia had stopped by the food trailer to announce that she and her friends had found the cabin where Gannon was staying. It wasn’t a cabin at all, but an estate with over a dozen bedrooms in the main house, usually rented out for corporate retreats. Awestruck had flown out and played a show this weekend, but now that they were back, Olivia and company planned to more or less camp at the estate’s gate.
By now, they may have seen Gannon, but he hadn’t reached out to Adeline since their disagreement at the lake.
In the picture featured on the tabloid, he looked angry—angrier, even, than when she’d told him Drew thought he wasn’t a Christian. A separate photo showed Harper English with bruises, and the headline made the connection, accusing Gannon of beating her.
Adeline’s muscles hardened with offense.
Gannon? Beating someone? His response to Adeline’s poor behavior the other night had been to deliver her home and give instructions to help her stay safe. She’d never felt threatened by him.
Quite the opposite.
She was drawn to him, and the only thing keeping them from friendship was Adeline’s reluctance to call and apologize.
She finished loading the groceries onto the belt and then slipped the magazine from the rack. The article contrasted the ever-popular picture of Gannon and Harper laughing in each other’s arms on the red carpet to a shot of a bruised-up Harper leaving his apartment.
He’d said he’d let her stay at his place once while he was in Wisconsin.
If that was when they snapped this picture of a bruised Harper, the writer of this article twisted Gannon’s actions, using his hospitality to make him look bad. The nerve of the tabloids, accusing someone of something as serious as abuse.
“That too?” The cashier’s question drew her attention to the empty checkout belt.
“No. Sorry.” She returned the tabloid to the rack. She wouldn’t fuel an industry that hounded her and featured such ridiculous headlines against Gannon.
Conviction stabbed her belly.
She shouldn’t have accused him of not being a Christian because of something she’d seen in the press. The judgment and criticism aimed his way came from enough directions already. He hadn’t needed more from her.
She finished at the register and loaded the food in the car. When she got behind the wheel, she took out her phone. Her nerves hummed like horror movie violins, but she hit the button to call Gannon.
After a single ring, his voice came on. “Leave a message. I’ll call you back when I can.”
She had expected to reach him directly, and the brevity of the recorded greeting didn’t allow time to plan a voicemail. The beep sounded, but what could she say on a machine?
“Um, hey. It’s Adeline.” Should she ask him to call her back? No. No, leave the awkwardness of admitting she’d been wrong here, in a message, and be done with it. “I am calling to apologize. I shouldn’t have said the things I did the last time we talked.”
Did she need to give more details?
No. He probably wasn’t sitting around, waiting for her to get her act together.
Maybe he’d thought he liked her, but after the things she’d said, he would’ve abandoned the notion. Moved on.
He had bigger problems like the tabloids to worry about.
She hung up and stared at the phone.
What nonsense.
