Only thing he couldn’t get away from, though, was his own conscience. A good man, the one everyone around here believed to be a hero, should have been in Samantha’s corner from the start of this debacle.
* * *
Samantha had been spending a lot of time with her father and Sophia, finalizing the design for the playhouse. He’d taken on the assignment of getting the plans approved at City Hall.
“I have a secret weapon,” he told her, gesturing to Sophia. “She’s charmed every single person in the place. It’s astounding to watch her in action.”
“Lots of practice,” Sophia said modestly, but pleasure sparkled in her eyes.
They’d been getting together every afternoon at Castle’s, spending an hour or so going over everything from budgets to promotional plans. Gabi sat in on those sessions, eager to help with the launch when the time came.
They were just winding up today, when Cass Gray came in looking for Samantha. Judging from her sullen expression, she wasn’t happy.
“Are we finished here?” Samantha asked her father. “I need to spend some time with Cass.”
“Go ahead,” he said. “We’re all set. We’re coming over for dinner, so we’ll see you later.”
When they’d left, Samantha gestured to the seat they’d vacated. “Join me.”
Cass tossed her book bag into the booth, then slid in after it.
“No rehearsal today?” Samantha asked her.
“I skipped it,” Cass said.
Uh-oh, Samantha thought. That was definitely a bad sign. “Why would you do that?”
“Because Mrs. Gentry said some stuff. I came to see if it’s true.”
Samantha’s heart sank. “What stuff?”
“That you were probably leaving town.”
It wasn’t the response Samantha had been expecting. “Did she say why she believed that?”
“She said there was some scandal, and you’d never live it down.” She stared at Samantha miserably. “It’s because of that stupid picture in the paper, isn’t it?”
“There was a bit of a fuss over that,” Samantha admitted. “You do know it’s not true, right? I’ve never been a stripper.”
“Oh, who cares if you were!” Cass said impatiently. “You’ve done all this other cool stuff. That’s what counts. I’ll bet Dr. Cole told you the same thing. How can you leave him? He was starting to have a life, you know what I mean? I saw him yesterday, and he was acting like a grumpy bear. That’s because you’re leaving, I’ll bet.”
Samantha thought the dynamics of her relationship with Ethan should remain between the two of them. “Let’s leave Ethan out of this. The bottom line is that I’m not going anywhere.”
Cass’s eyes lit up. “You’re not? Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Samantha confirmed.
“But you haven’t called about classes.”
“I had some things to take care of before I could think about those,” Samantha told her.
“Like what?”
“Like drawing up plans for a playhouse and getting the work started,” she said.
“Holy cow!” Cass said, clearly astonished. “You’re going to produce plays here? In a real playhouse?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Can I be in one?”
Samantha laughed at her eagerness. “If you can handle any of the parts, you definitely can be. And before you ask, I have no idea what the first production is likely to be. I’m sure it won’t be before next summer, though. There’s a lot that needs to happen before we get to that point.”
“But you’re not leaving, for sure?”
“For sure,” she promised.
Cass beamed at her. “That is the best news ever!”
Samantha could only pray that everyone would see it that way. She smiled at Cass. “Now tell me how the rehearsals are going.”
“Well, to everyone’s shock, Sue Ellen’s gotten her act together. She’s not half bad.”
“Glowing praise, coming from you. I guess that means you’re not likely to get onstage. How are you feeling about that?”
Cass shrugged. “What can I say? I hate it, but things like this are going to happen. I have to learn to deal with it, right?”
“Then maybe this lesson wasn’t such a bad thing, after all,” Samantha suggested. “Because you’re right. There will be rejections, Cass, and disappointments. It’s the nature of the business.”
“Have you been rejected?”
“More times than I can count,” Samantha admitted.
“What do you do?”
“Eat a lot of ice cream,” Samantha said ruefully. “And then I go out on another audition, and then another, till something clicks.”
Even as she spoke, she realized it was a practice she’d almost forgotten. She’d let the situation with Ethan throw her so badly she’d been ready to leave town rather than dealing with it. Hadn’t she learned anything from all those times she’d had to bolster her spirits and face another casting director or producer?
Thankfully her father, Sophia and Cora Jane had kept her from making a terrible mistake, but she needed to remember her own philosophy and the fighting spirit that had kept her working when others might have given up.
“Thank you, Cass.”
The teen blinked. “For what?”
“Reminding me how important it is to keep trying when something matters enough.”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me all along?” Cass asked, her expression puzzled.
“Yes, but apparently I hadn’t been listening to my own advice.”
“Am I supposed to know what you’re talking about?”
Samantha laughed. “No, not really.”
“But I helped?”
“You did.”
Cass beamed. “Cool.”
“We’ll talk soon,” Samantha promised her. “I hope to announce those classes in the next week or so.”
“Great. And don’t worry about Mrs. Gentry. I’ll spread the word. I know Sue Ellen wants to come. She thinks you’re some kind of goddess because you cured her of stage fright and got me out of her hair. Some of the other kids are really interested, too. And when they hear about this theater thing, they’re going to go crazy. Can I tell them?”
“Of course,” Samantha said.
Maybe if word got around town that Samantha was here to stay, a certain gun-shy physician would have second thoughts about walking away from what they had. And if not, well, she intended to take one last stab at showing him how wrong it would be to throw their future away.
* * *
Once Greg had planted that seed about Boone’s former in-laws being behind that photo in the
