Crazy For You (21 page)

The doorbell rang.

“Are you expecting someone?” he asked.

“No.”

“I’ll get it.” He jumped up and disappeared around
the corner. Soon, he returned with a florist’s box. “Looks like
somebody sent you some flowers.” He presented the box to her with a
smile.

She was slow to take it, considering the
implication. Could these possibly be from Frank? Why would he send
her flowers? She looked at him, her attention drawn instantly to
his sunglasses. She wished she could see into his eyes.
Why
won’t you take those things off
?

Roxanne took the card off the box and read it
quietly to herself.

Dear Roxie:

The roses are an effort to assure you that we can
work this out if we try. And please believe me when I say that I’m
more than willing to try.

I’ll love you forever,

Frank.

Roxanne hesitated, waiting for the catch. Removing
the lid released the wonderful aroma of a dozen pale-orange roses;
in their midst lay a single yellow rose. She knew why it was there.
He wanted her to remember. She just wasn’t sure why.

Those words he’d written on the card…
I’ll love
you forever.
How could that possibly be after what she’d done
to him?

Roxanne’s gaze traveled back to Frank again. She
wanted to believe it. “Thank you,” she said with cynical hope.

Sometime later, after Frank had put Roxanne to bed,
he patted himself on the back, convinced that he could have her any
time he wanted. Hell, he could have her right now.

She may not be ready to admit it, but that’s what
she wanted. Still, you can’t always get what you want. This would
be no exception for Roxanne. Frank knew what she wanted, and he had
no intention of giving it to her. At least not right now. Good
things come to those who wait, or maybe it was deserved things.
Either way, she’d like what she got, when she finally did get it.
And she’d be quite deserving of it too.

Frank told himself he wouldn’t sleep with her
because it was part of his plan. Certainly not because he didn’t
want to take advantage of her in her vulnerable state. Well, that’s
what he tried to tell himself.

Once she’d fallen asleep, he took his briefcase and
headed downstairs. With the seeds of a new song dancing around his
mind, he headed for Roxanne’s piano. Working all through the night
and on into the next morning, he labored diligently.

Soon enough, time would come to record a new album
and Frank had to get busy. Maybe seeing Roxanne again after all
this time was actually a blessing. Because of his run-in with her,
new and different words were coming to him every day. After the
last album, he’d thought he’d exhausted that source within himself.
But now, he knew it wasn’t true. Much more music still lived inside
of him, aching for release.

Frank didn’t know any other way to express his
feelings. Music was the only way he’d ever been able to
constructively let it out. A few songs had done more damage than
good, but it could’ve been much worse.

I
n the early hours of the
morning, just after daybreak, Roxanne heard the piano as she made
her way downstairs. Frank’s voice filled the air with a tune she
couldn’t recall. She found it hypnotic, but couldn’t be sure if it
was his words or his singing.

Letting go was so hard you see

Life without you has been painful for me

Memories cloud my mind

Of the love we had

Do you ever think of us

Does it ever make you sad

Well I think about us everyday

I think about us all too much

And I know I need to find some other way

Cause I miss your sweet touch

I tried to find someone to take your place

But I never had any luck

Girl, I need you here by my side too

Cause no one else will ever do

All those lonely nights

Were so hard to face

And I tried so hard to find someone else

Someone to take your place

Well I think about us everyday

I think about us all too much

And I know I need to find some other way

Cause I miss your sweet touch

I tried to find someone to take your place

But I never had any luck

I need to know that you still care

That you still need the kind of love that we
share

I’m blinded by your charms

Is it really so bad to want to begin again

Because only in your arms

Can my broken heart mend

Well I think about us everyday

I think about us all too much

And I know I need to find some other way

Cause I miss your sweet touch

I tried to find someone to take your place

But I never had any luck

Roxanne stood silently behind Frank, who seemed to
be one with the piano as he brought the last few lines of the song
to life. His sunglasses sat on top of the musical instrument. At
first thought she wanted to grab them and toss them in the trash.
If she could see into Frank’s eyes when he talked to her, then
she’d also see what he was thinking. His eyes didn’t lie, no matter
how many half-truths and fallacies came out of his mouth.

Frank must have sensed her presence because he
stopped singing and playing abruptly. He glanced over his shoulder
and smiled. “What do you think?”

“It’s very pretty.” Roxanne moved closer and rested
her hand on the edge of the piano. “I don’t think anyone’s ever
played this piano until today,” she said, a little on the nervous
side.

Roxanne’s eyes glittered with a wild, trapped look.
That’s when Frank realized his sunglasses were off. He snatched up
the Vaurnets and covered the mirrors to his soul. No matter how
much he might want to, he couldn’t let his feelings get in the way.
Above all else, he had to protect himself from Roxanne. He wouldn’t
allow her another chance to hurt him. No matter what his songs
cried out for, he refused to give her the opportunity to harm him
again. This time it just might destroy him.

Frank couldn’t forget his main objective. Roxanne
had to pay for what she’d done to him. Nothing else mattered.

Sometimes, Frank nearly lost sight of his goals.
Luckily though, something always reminded him that he had but one
purpose in life. He might get a little carried away now and then,
and he might secretly wish for something totally unattainable. But
he always remained in control. That control kept him within the
bounds of reality now. Ultimately, only one thing mattered—Roxanne
Simon had to regret the day she met Frank Garrett.

He knew better than anybody about that old saying
regarding flies and honey. If he was sweet enough, he’d catch
Roxanne with little effort. Then Frank remembered what had brought
him to Roxanne’s house in the first place. Candy. He supposed he
should adhere to the matter at hand. After all, good things come to
those who wait. And he could wait until Candy came home. By then,
he’d have a plan. One that detailed his plot for revenge against
Roxanne.

He picked out a short, sweet tune on the piano and
then slapped his hands against his thighs. “You ready to go to the
hospital?”

“If it’s not an bother. You do seem rather
busy.”

“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he said, standing.
Taking the sheet music, he put it away neatly and protectively
inside his briefcase. “Some things are more important.” He closed
the lid. “This can wait,” he said, patting the top of the
briefcase.

Roxanne and Frank headed for the hospital, while
Frankie stayed home with Rose.

T
he doctor peeled the
bandages away from Candy’s face, and Roxanne clung to Frank.
Because of the implications, he couldn’t do anything but hold her
and try to offer her comfort.

“The lacerations are healing nicely.” The doctor’s
words were reassuring, but didn’t seem to be directed at anyone in
particular. “I don’t think there’ll be a need for reconstruction,
after all.”

“Does that mean my face isn’t mangled?” Candy asked
with a hint of absurdity.

“That’s right.” This time, the doctor’s words were
directed at Candy. “When we remove the pads you’ll experience some
fuzzy vision because your eyes have been covered for a few days.”
She peeled away the first pad. “It shouldn’t last too long.”

Candy opened her eyes, thinking she was mentally
prepared for the fuzzy vision. She could see brightness to the
left. The window must be over there. There were shadows here and
there, but she didn’t have any idea where the doctor, nurse, or
anybody else might be standing in the room. Somehow, Candy didn’t
think this was what the doc meant when she said
fuzzy
vision
, because she couldn’t see a damned thing.

Candy got scared.

T
he fact that Candy could
only see shadows and a bit of light wasn’t considered as having any
sight at all. She found herself being subjected to more and more
tests. At the conclusion of all those tests, the doctors found they
didn’t know anything more than they did when they’d started.
Technically, there wasn’t anything wrong with Candy. Medically
speaking, her vision should be close to perfect. She shouldn’t have
a need for glasses, much less a blind person’s cane.

Candy sat there in her hospital bed, trying
desperately to look around and see something. Anything. But it was
no use. She couldn’t see a damned thing.

Hearing the soft knock at the door, she could guess
her visitor’s identity.

“Rich,” she called out warmly.

“There’s no sneaking up on you, is there?” He gave
her a sweet kiss on the cheek.

“They’re going to let me out of here this
afternoon,” she said.

“Need a ride?”

“I guess I do. I don’t have a car anymore.” She
sighed heavily. “Even if I did…I can’t see to drive.”

“Candy, I have to tell you something.”

“No. No, you don’t.”

“Yes I do. And it won’t do any good for you to say
you don’t want to hear it.” He wanted her to understand his
intentions. “If I would’ve admitted this in the first place, then
we wouldn’t be here in this hospital room right now. If it wasn’t
for my stupid pride…” With each word, his voice powered up a notch.
“I would have just come right out and told you a long time ago…that
I do love you,” he said. “I always have and I always will.”

One thing Candy understood was pride. She had more
than her share of it, too. It’d always been of the utmost
importance to her. The way she saw it, if she lost her pride then
she was bound to fall.

“Rich, we don’t have to play this game anymore. I
know how you feel. You made that quite clear the other day,” she
said. “I’ve accepted the fact that we can never be anything more
than friends. So let it go.”

Candy underestimated Rich if she thought he’d back
off so easily. As far as he could see, he had all the time in the
world. If that’s how long it took, he’d wait patiently. He’d found
his calling, and it really didn’t matter if she liked it or
not.

R
oxanne stayed with Frank
in the hospital lobby and they waited for Rich to bring Candy down.
Her heart and her conscience were heavily burdened by Candy’s
prognosis.

“Since Rich is giving Candy a ride...do you want me
to take you home?” Frank searched her face as if he was on the
trail of some buried secret.

“You know where I’d really like to go?” Even as she
said it, she wasn’t sure why she had. Sure, she wanted to go there,
but with Frank?

Frank grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the
parking garage exit, as if he knew exactly where she was talking
about.

Why did that surprise her?

T
he drive to Sunset Beach
remained mostly quiet between Frank and Roxanne. “It looks like
rain,” his said, looking at the sky filled with unbroken gray
clouds. Rain was inevitable.

But it couldn’t stop the unavoidable. Win or lose,
it was now or never.

Coasting into a parking space in a mostly deserted
lot, Frank killed the engine and stepped outside into a light
drizzling rain.

“You still want to stay?” he asked, opening her car
door.

She nodded. A little rain wouldn’t scare her away.
She needed the comfort the sight of the ocean could bring. He
helped her from the car and held onto her hand as they walked along
the beach in silence.

Breathing in the damp sea-air, Roxanne looked out
over the water. There was something a little unsettling in the way
those tiny raindrops fell from the sky and created such a
disturbance over the bay.

The rain fell harder, darkening the sand in spots.
She didn’t care that she was getting wet, and he didn’t seem to
mind either. They kept strolling along the water’s edge, away from
the populated area, toward a cluster of trees and seclusion.

“I guess you won’t be needing me anymore,” he said
with a hint of anxiety twisting his voice.

“Frankie…” Roxanne knew how much she needed him, but
she didn’t know how to make him believe it—or care.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to push myself on you.”
His words were promising, but his tone was remorseful. “I know I’m
not what you want. I just want to be able to see our son.”

When life is uncertain

And the world is cold outside

“I won’t try to keep you and Frankie apart.” Roxanne
stopped and turned to Frank, wishing she could look into his eyes.
Even though she couldn’t see past his sunglasses, she tried to
imagine what those baby blues of his might be hiding. “I know you
don’t believe this—” She shook her head. “—but I love you!”

No. he didn’t believe it. But why couldn’t it be so.
He’d always loved her. He might not be willing to say it out loud,
but that didn’t mean it wasn’t so.

“I know I don’t have any right to be asking this of
you…but I need you. I need to be with you.” She paused with a small
catch of breath. “I know you don’t like me very much anymore…but I
have never, not once, ever stopped loving you.”