Chapter 32
REESE
TRACK: The Secret Sisters, “Hold You Dear”
We don’t end up heading home until six, which I know means we’re not going to be back in Quince Valley until close to midnight.
But it was worth it. Worth seeing Nora’s face spread with a grin as I gave her the play-by-play of what I said over pizza and worth riding on the high of telling Simon off after all those years.
I sent a message to Cass, telling her I was fairly confident Simon wouldn’t be pressing charges on Eli or the hotel.
CASS: I could kiss you! Please call me when you can.
After pizza, we went to the Documentary Center, a museum dedicated to documentary filmmaking, and I swear I’ve never seen Nora so alive, so outgoing with her words and effusive tugging me along to the different exhibits.
I laughed and listened, but half of me, I had to admit, wasn’t there.
It was home, in Quince Valley.
The tug I felt at my heart is stronger now, insistent, the way I’ve started feeling again when I’ve spent too long away from Lenny the guitar.
Only bigger, stronger, and more full-body than anything I’ve ever felt.
I tell myself it’s the need to be home, but inside my heart I know it’s more than that.
I know it’s the man with the floppy hair and gorgeous grin and fierce protectiveness of those he loves.
The one I’m still upset with for letting his temper get the better of him.
For hiding what he knew about Neil. But now, especially after meeting Simon again, I know, with my whole heart, that what Eli did was from a good place. Even if it was wrong.
Something Simon wouldn’t even have considered doing in a million years had their roles been reversed.
I drive the first leg of the trip, but after a couple of hours, my eyes start going bleary.
I’ve hardly slept at all these past few days.
Nora offers to drive the rest of the way, and I gladly accept.
We pull over at a rest stop to switch seats, and while Nora’s using the restroom, I glance at my phone for the first time all day.
I left it in the car for the museums, needing a full mini break from life and wanting to have the most fun I could with Nora before going back to reality.
The first thing I see is a handful of missed calls: one from a California number—Caroline, I think, though I don’t recognize the number.
Not unusual though, she sometimes calls from her realtor company’s satellite offices.
I messaged her this morning to tell her I’m passing on the condo.
I don’t know what my future holds just yet but running away is no longer part of it.
But after Caroline, there are three missed calls from Eli.
And several texts.
ELI: Hey, I know we’re not supposed to talk until next week, but Jude said he and Cap are looking after Rufus because you and Nora went away but you wouldn’t say where to.
After I finished throttling him for not making sure he knew where you guys were (NOT FOR REAL) I went for a run with Ruf, but I can’t stop worrying about you.
I’m trusting everything is fine but…put my mind at ease, please?
ELI: Oh and I’ve got Rufus still. He won’t let me leave and also…I kind of want to hang out with him while you’re gone. Hope that’s okay. I’ll bring him back to Jude’s when I hear from you.
ELI: I miss you. I hope to Christ you’re okay. If I don’t hear from you by tonight though, I’m enlisting Griff. Sorry not sorry.
My heart swells, my eyes burning with tears.
REESE: I’m okay. Back around 11 so if you want, keep Rufus at your place.
ELI hearts the text, and because I’m a damn fool, I run my finger over the little pink heart as if I can touch him there.
“You okay?” Nora asks.
“Yeah, I’m good.” I stuff my phone back in my pocket. “I’m trying not to think about Eli. I’m trying to get him out of my head, but it’s impossible.”
Nora nods. “Maybe it’s a good thing to think about him?”
I huff. “That’s the thing though, I don’t know what to think. I’m still so angry at him for letting his temper take precedence over my feelings. I told him to back down and he didn’t. He risked his own future, the reputation of his family’s hotel, the TV show…”
“But you talked to Cass about the hotel stuff right?”
“I did.”
Right after Eli stormed out of that office, Cass had come over and given me a huge hug. She’s my boss, but she’s also my friend.
“I’m sorry for my idiot brother,” she’d said. I was surprised to see tears in her eyes too. “He knows not what he does.”
Then she’d sat down with me on the couch and told me a story.
“When we were kids, I got teased for being tall. People used to call me a man. But they only did it when Eli wasn’t around.
One day though, he came across me right after it happened.
He saw I’d been crying and demanded to know what had happened.
So I told him. How could I not? The next day, he had me wear these boots I had with a heel at school.
Then he just stood next to me all day asking if people wanted to call him short.
And he’d smack his fist in his palm when he said it. ”
“That barely makes sense,” I laughed through my tears.
“But it worked,” she said, laughing too.
I told her about the Neil thing after that, how Eli had hidden that from me, and she’d pinched her lips before telling me she already knew.
“What?”
“Kelly told me,” she said. “And she didn’t want anyone else to know.
I’m sorry. She did say Eli set things as right as they could be.
For you. And that…if you wanted to talk to her she was open to it.
I’m sorry, Reese. I was going to wait until filming was over to tell you, but I see now that was wrong. You deserved to know.”
I was too busy trying to process that to understand what it meant. I remember Eli telling me to keep my distance from Neil. That was his way of protecting me too.
After a moment, Cass said, “I know you’re not long for this place, and I don’t know if you’re long for Eli, but I’ll only say this once.
I’ll support you in whatever decisions you make, Reese.
If that’s leaving us, I completely understand.
Your future is bigger and brighter than this restaurant, as fabulous as it is.
And if that’s leaving Eli…well, I’d understand, too.
My brother is something else. But he’s a goner for you, Reese, and I know once you both cool down he’ll do anything you ask to make this right.
Not that that’ll help if he gets us sued. ”
I’d wiped my tears and looked her in the eye. “No. I brought this on the restaurant and the show; I’ll fix it.”
Cass had looked worried, but forged on. “If you want to end it with him too, I completely understand. He’s not going to be working here anymore, but he’s still part owner, so I’ll ensure he has no say over the restaurant while you’re still here. And—”
“Cass, thank you. I think I just need some time.”
I sigh now. “I’m sorry, Nor. You’ve heard all this.”
“I don’t mind.”
I look at her in the darkness, the glow of the dash the only thing illuminating her straight red hair, reflecting off her elfin-like features and thick round glasses.
She must feel me staring because she says, “Hey, so since we’re here, I wanted to tell you something.”
I perk up. Is she finally going to admit to me how she feels about her best friend? “Shoot.”
“Well, it’s a couple things.”
“Okay,” I say, all my attention on Nora now.
“So, Jude and I found a lead on Eleanor.”
“The ghost?” I say, almost laughing. Though I can’t help the little wave of disappointment that her news isn’t what I was hoping she’d share.
“Yeah. We found the cache of letters that journal was talking about. Jude did—it was out by the golf course.”
“Wow.” I’ve only followed the ghost story peripherally, but I know how fun it’s been for Nora, so I always find her excitement on the topic contagious. “What’s the lead?”
“Apparently she and the journal-writer—her evil husband’s chauffeur—had their first tryst in Switzerland.”
Nora tells me about how she and Jude think there are more clues to be found in Switzerland. Ones that might help them prove her husband was guilty of ending her life. It’s fascinating, but I can’t help notice the way she grips the steering wheel like she’s holding onto a life preserver.
Just then my phone buzzes in my pocket.
Eli.
My heart leaps. But when I pull my phone out, it’s not his number on the screen. It’s that California number again.
I can’t keep avoiding Caroline’s calls.
“Sorry,” I say. “I think this is my realtor.”
“Think? Is it safe to answer?”
“My number’s private.”
“If you say so.”
I pick up the call.
“Is this Therese Franco?”
It’s not Caroline. It’s a man’s voice, one I don’t recognize. I look at Nora. She was right—someone slipped through.
But they used my real name. “Who is this?” I’m immediately suspicious.
“My name is Stu Jacklin. I’m so sorry for calling so late, but I’ve got your recording and I can’t stop listening to it on repeat. And when I’m sure about an artist, I need to tell them, immediately.”
“Recording?” I’m too confused to say anything else.
“Sounds suspicious!” Nora whispers.
I should hang up. But there’s something about this call that feels legitimate. I can’t say why. “What recording was that?” I ask instead.
“Oh, uh, sorry, I thought you knew about this. My apologies. I run a mid-sized record label out here in LA called Two Shot. I’m listening to a recording of you singing as we speak. I’d like to fly you out here to meet, if you’d be up for it. My dime, of course.”
Now my stomach bucks. I know Two Shot. They produce some of my favorite albums. My heart thumps. “I’m sorry, is this about the video?”
“Video?”
“You haven’t seen the video…”
“No, I got an email from Eli Dunham a couple weeks ago with a recording attached. He’s a friend of my old bandmate Ben? Do you know Ben?”
I swallow, my throat suddenly dry. “Yes,” I croak.
“Let me read you the email, how’s that?”
Before I can respond, the guy clears his throat and starts reading out loud.
“‘Hey, Stu, here’s the tape I talked to you about—I know you’re inundated, but I’m just over here trying to make this girl’s dreams come true. I’ve fucked up so many times with her just…please give her a listen. She’s the most incredible person I’ve ever known. She deserves this, even if I don’t.’”
Stu chuckles. “Damn, the kid’s hard on himself.”
But I can hardly breathe. My heart is fluttering like a bird in a cage. “He is,” I whisper.
“So, you didn’t know about this?”
“No, it was…it was before stuff kind of blew up over here.”
“Listen, why don’t you send me the video you’re talking about; I’ll take a look, but if it’s you singing, it’s just for my own enjoyment, because I’m ready to take you on. We’ll still do the meeting and all that because I want you to know how much I want you, but…”
The man carries on about contracts and money, and how he builds careers, but he looks for authenticity. He doesn’t want stadium performers because he hates big shows.
It’s like the man was made for me.
I hang up promising I’ll call him tomorrow.
“Okay,” Nora says, and it’s only then I realize she’s pulled over into a cutout on the side of the highway. I’d been so absorbed I hadn’t registered we’d stopped. “Tell me what exactly that was all about!”
I look at my friend. It’s only then I realize, between pounding heartbeats, that she never finished telling me her news.
“Nora, what about you, I—”
“Forget about me right now, Reese. Tell me, immediately, what that was about.”
“I’m in love with him.”
“What? Who? Reese! Who was that?”
I laugh, a real full laugh this time, with tears at the edges.
“Eli. I’m in love with Eli. I think I fell for him years ago, but I didn’t let myself go all the way—I was teetering on the edge.
But he was broken, and…” I press my fingers to my eyes.
“No. He wasn’t broken. He was hurting. But he was whole inside.
He’s never once strayed from who he is, and I think that’s exactly why I love him. ”
“Reese, I barely understood any of that, but I think I got the gist.”
I laugh again, and then I’m sobbing.
Nora hugs me, then starts up the car again. “Okay,” she says, a tear escaping from underneath her glasses. “Let’s go home.”