Instead of grabbing her with both hands, he’d pushed her away.
She’d said she loved him, and he wondered if he’d ruined everything. He might not deserve her love, but he wanted it. And if she no longer loved him? that nagging little voice asked. He’d made her love him once. He could do it again.
He dressed and headed out the door to take the biggest risk of his life. He drove to Delaney’s apartment, but she wasn’t home. It was Saturday, and her salon was closed, too. Not a good sign.
He drove to her mother’s, but Gwen wouldn’t talk to him. He looked in the garage to see if Delaney was hiding out and refusing to see him. Henry’s Cadillac sat inside. The little yellow Miata was gone.
He searched for her all over town, and the longer he looked, the more desperate he became to find her. He wanted to make her happy. He wanted to build her a house on the Angel Beach property or anywhere she wanted. If she wanted to live in Phoenix or Seattle or Chattanooga, Tennessee, he didn’t care, as long as he lived there with her. He wanted the dream. He wanted everything. Now all he had to do was find her.
He talked to Lisa, but she hadn’t heard from Delaney. When she didn’t show up to open her salon that Monday morning, Nick paid a visit to Max Harrison.
“Have you heard from Delaney?” he asked, walking into the lawyer’s office.
Max looked him over and took his time before answering. “She called me yesterday.”
“Where is she?”
Again he took his time. “I guess you’ll find out soon enough. She’s left town.”
The words hit him in the chest like a two-by-four. “Shit.” Nick sank into a chair and rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Where’d she go?”
“She didn’t say.”
“What do you mean, she didn’t say?” He dropped his hand to his thigh. “You said she called.”
“She did. She called to tell me she’d left town, and she was breaking the will. She didn’t say why or where she was going. I asked, but she wouldn’t tell me. I think she thought I’d tell her mother before she was ready for Gwen to know.” Max tilted his head to one side. “This means you get Delaney’s provision. Congratulations, come June, you’ll get everything.”
Nick shook his head and laughed without humor. Without Delaney there was nothing. He had nothing. He looked at Henry’s estate lawyer and said, “Delaney and I had a sexual relationship before she left town. Tell Frank Stuart and the two of you do whatever you have to do to make sure she gets that property at Silver Creek and Angel Beach.”
Max looked disgusted and tired of the whole mess. Nick knew the feeling.
Two weeks after his visit to Max, he still hadn’t heard a word. He’d haunted Gwen and Max Harrison, and he’d called the old salon Delaney had worked for in Scottsdale. They hadn’t heard from her since she’d quit the previous June. Nick was going crazy. He didn’t know where to look next. He never suspected that he should have looked within his own family.
“I hear Delaney Shaw is working down in Boise,” Louie mentioned as he casually took a swallow of his soup.
Everything within Nick stilled and he looked up at his brother. He and Louie and Sophie sat at his mother’s dining room table eating lunch. “Where did you hear that?”
“Lisa. She told me Delaney’s working in her cousin Ali’s salon.”
Slowly Nick lowered his spoon. “How long have you known?”
“A few days.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
Louie shrugged. “Didn’t think you’d want to know.”
Nick stood. He couldn’t decide if he should hug his brother or punch him in the head. “You knew I’d want to know.”
“Maybe I thought you needed to get yourself together before you see her again.”
“Why would Nick want to see that girl?” Benita asked. “The best thing she ever did was to leave town. The right thing is finally being done.”
“The right thing would have been for Henry to accept his responsibility a long time ago. But he had no interest in me until it was too late.”
“If it weren’t for that girl and her mother, he would have tried to provide for you years ago.”
“And monkeys might have flown out his butt,” Sophie said as she reached for the salt and pepper, “but I doubt it.”
Louie raised a stunned brow while Nick laughed.
“Sophia,” Benita gasped. “Where did you hear such foul language?”
There were any number of places, starting with her father and uncle and ending with the television. Her answer surprised Nick. “Delaney.”
“See!” Benita rose and moved toward Nick. “That girl is no good. Stay away from her.”
“That’s going to be a little difficult since I’m going to drive to Boise and find her. I love her, and I’m going to beg her to marry me.”
Benita stopped and raised a hand to her throat as if Nick were choking her.
“You’ve always said you wanted me to be happy. Delaney makes me happy, and I’m not going to live without her anymore. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get her back in my life.” He paused and looked into this mother’s stunned face. “If you can’t be happy for me, then stay away until you can at least fake it.”
Delaney hated to admit it, and certainly would never cop to it out loud, but she missed finger waves. Actually, she missed Wannetta. But it went deeper than missing one nosy old woman. She missed living in Truly. She missed living in a place where people knew her, and where she knew most everyone.
She removed the clips from the bib of her lederhosen and set them on her work station. On both sides of her, stylists cut and combed in the upscale salon in downtown Boise. Ali’s Salon was located in a renovated warehouse, and everything about it was trendy and new. The kind of salon she’d always loved working in before, but it was different now. It wasn’t hers.
She reached for a broom and swept up the hair of her last client. For the past ten years she’d lived in places where she had no past, no history, no girlfriends who’d lived through the agony of junior high with her. She’d lived in four different states, always looking for that elusive something, for the perfect place to grow some roots. Her life had come full circle, and it was ironic as hell that she’d found the perfect place exactly where she’d left it. She felt like Dorothy in
Boise was a nice city and had a lot to offer. But it didn’t have a cross-dressing Santa or parades every holiday. It didn’t have the same pulse and heartbeat as a small town.
It didn’t have Nick.
She finished sweeping the hair into a pile, then reached for a dustpan. Not having Nick in the same town should have made her feel better. It didn’t. She loved him, and she knew she always would. She wished she could move on and forget about Nick Allegrezza, but she couldn’t even force herself to leave the state. She loved him, but she couldn’t live near him. Not even for three million dollars. The decision to leave hadn’t been all that difficult. There was no way she could live through the next five months seeing Nick with other women. Not for all the money in the world.
The bell above the door rang as Delaney emptied the hair into a trash basket. She heard a collective intake of female breath from the other work stations and the thud of boots.
“Can I help you?”
“Thanks,” said an achingly familiar voice. “I found what I’m looking for.”
She turned and looked at Nick an arm’s length away. “What do you want?”
“I want to talk to you.”
He’d cut his hair short. One dark lock curled and touched his brow. He took her breath away. “I’m busy.”
“Give me five minutes.”
“Do I have a choice?” she asked, fully expecting him to say no, so she could then tell him to go to hell.
He shifted his weight to one foot and shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “Yes.”
His answer threw her and she turned to Ali, who worked at the next station. “I’ll be back in five minutes,” she said and walked toward the door. With Nick right behind her, she walked into the hall and stopped beside a pay
