reckless hearts: vegas nights (10 page)

“It was tragic. I wish I could have done something.” It felt nice for Luanne saying it out loud.

“What Tommy McIntire must have also went through.” Those words confused her, Luanne had no idea what or who she was talking about.

“I’m sorry who?” Luanne asked curiously.

“Her boyfriend, Tommy. They had been dating for a year and a half before her death. He had broken off their relationship a month before her death. He was seeing another woman.” Mrs. Norwood replied.

It was all starting to make sense, why she had been so depressed. Where the pain had come from. She cared for Tommy deeply and he broke her heart.

“Do you know where I could find him?” Luanne had hoped he was still around in Meadowbrook.

“He bought the old Lawson farm over on the hill.” She graciously answered, she didn’t need to bother ask why she needed to know.

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              It was important for her to see him.

He wasn’t what she had expected him to be, she had never thought her sister would have ever fallen for a cowboy. When he had answered the door, he knew exactly who she was, he saw the resemblance in her eyes.

“I figured I’d be seeing you.” He said as he let her inside.

“You were dating my sister before she died?” She hoped he would have been straight with her.

“Yeah I did until I told her about Tiffany.” He answered.

He still wasn’t sure why he had told her when he was happy with her, he never meant to hurt.

“We met on Valentine’s Day at a friend’s party, she was wearing the most beautiful red dress I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. I remember the feeling I had when I first saw her. I never expected it to last as long as it did or that I would fall for her.” He thought of her constantly since the party, it was impossible for him to think of anything else.

“And she fell for you, hard. What she had been like before you broke up with her were there any changes?” She sat with him in the den.

“No, and I should have paid more attention, I had been so busy I hadn’t had so much time for her.” He said feeling the guilt, “I had also been introduced to Tiffany by mother.”

His mother lived in high society, everything had to be perfect and when his mother met Avery it wasn’t to her liking. She was more than just disappointed and Tommy knew she wouldn’t have been satisfied until she had things her way.

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“I didn’t want to marry Tiffany, it was my mother’s doing. I loved Avery.” Luanne didn’t understand why he didn’t just stand up to his mother. If he loved her, he should have fought harder. “I would have done anything for her.”

Perhaps he would have, she thought. She didn’t know him to judge him. There was something that Avery saw in him that made him special. She knew when her sister gave her heart, she gave her all. It wasn’t easy, being in the same room as the man who had broken her heart but knowing he still loved her meant something. She knew he was kind and gentle to her, it was what Luanne had always wanted for her sister.

“I know she must have been so happy with you, the way you talk about her.” She said wishing he had a portrait of them hanging on a wall. She wanted to see what they were like together.

“I do have great memories of her, I’m glad those are something I could keep.” When he bought Lawson’s farm he wanted it to be a home he could share with Avery, but he knew his mother would have never approved. Perhaps if he had grown some backbone, maybe she might still be alive. Life without her is incomplete. He could never love Tiffany as much as he loved Avery. She was his world.

Luanne had expected to go into the farm house hating the man for hurting her sister, but instead her feelings were quite the opposite.

She could feel her heart beating wildly just sitting with him, she didn’t want it to happen. She wasn’t ready to start caring for someone new.

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                                                                            Chapter Twelve

              Knowing of his mere existence made her head spin of sheer happiness. They had talked for hours and simply hearing his voice she knew what was coming. It had happened before with Brock, but this time it was different, Tommy was married. She couldn’t let her emotions get the best of her. Tomorrow was the grand opening, she sat quietly surprised at how her life was going, she hadn’t imagined it to go so well. She had invited Tommy and his wife, hoping to not let on how she was starting to feel. Instantly when she walked into the farm she felt a connection she was suddenly afraid of.

What did she expect out of a relationship with a married man? What would become of it? Those questions played over and over again in her thoughts.

Focus on the studio, focus on anything but him, she told herself. Nothing good could come of this. You have a big day tomorrow.

She worried how it would turn out, if anyone would show. She tried  to not let herself worry about that.

As she waited for time to go y quickly, she lost sleep. She knew she was going to be exhausted for the opening but still couldn’t shut her eyes. She was going crazy over nothing, he was still in love with her sister, she was still in love with Brock.

She shouldn’t have been thinking of anyone else, she thought as she walked around with an old friend at the studios grand opening.

“You’ve done good Luanne, you’ve done real good.” Melanie Drake said proudly.

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              Luanne hadn’t expected such a wonderful turnout. Seeing faces of everyone she used to know before she left Meadowbrook, smiling happy faces and her sister artwork being sold. Her sister’s paintings inside homes brightening up rooms. If only Avery had been alive to see it, she wished.

She thought of how happy Avery would have been and there he was… Tommy with his wife. Tiffany was more stunning than she had imagined, she was the reason why her sister died of a broken heart; she loathed the woman.

Tommy walked over to introduce them, Luanne quietly slipped away out of sight. She wasn’t ready to meet her never mind the fact that she was crushing on her husband; she didn’t know what she would have said to her.

What was she getting herself into? She wondered as she stood before one of her sister’s paintings. She couldn’t possibly have an affair. How could she even let that thought cross her mind?

“A beautiful place you have here.” Jenna Hanover said from behind.

“Thank you I’m glad you enjoy it.”

“The paintings are wonderful.”

Yes, they were.  It was as though she was looking into her sister’s soul.

“It was the last paintings she made before her death.”

“You must miss her dearly.”

“Every day.”

It was hard being without her, waking up knowing she would not get a phone call from her.

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              She knew her sister would be proud, she knew she was looking down on her from the heavens and smiling. Feeling the baby inside her, she wished the baby would have had a chance to know it’s aunt that was taken from her child. She knew she was making a mistake not letting Brock be in her baby’s life, but it was for the best. He had Bella in his life now; she wasn’t going to disrupt that; Bella who had become the woman in his heart.

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                                                                          Chapter thirteen

He had been there from beginning; she knew he would always be there. She looked into her son’s face and saw what their lives had become; everything she ever wanted. She hadn’t expected it of him. Her album was finally finished, now she had time for herself and enjoy the pleasures that come her way.

“I told you, you had nothing to worry about.” Yes, he had always been right.

“Still can’t believe after all of this time, it’s done. It’s really going to happen for me, for us.”

She had her family again. Brock took the baby from her and put him on the changing table. “You’re dreams are just getting started.”

He had it happen to him. He saw what his future could be; he saw the lights and smiles of his fans waiting to greet him.

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He still thought of her, Luanne always crossed his mind. He knew he was testing the waters when Bella Rose was the mother of his child, but the passion between them he could never forget. He wanted to see her, but he had no idea how to find her. She skipped town without warning No note, no phone call; no goodbye It would have made it easier.

“You’re thinking about her aren’t you.” He couldn’t lie to his friend Hank who knew when something was wrong.

“I can’t help it, she just left me out of nowhere.”

“She must have had a reason.” If she had it would have been nice to know what that reason was. After all that they had gone through, how could she have burned him that way.

“She was something special, I cared about this one. A lot.”

“No need to tell me, you forget I know you more than anyone.”

“I don’t know what I was thinking, she didn’t seem like that kind of person, she had a good heart.”

“You’re the one with a good heart; you actually gave someone a chance that’s got to mean something.”

“At what cost?”

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              “Missed you at the gallery opening.” Luanne didn’t expect to run into him so quickly.

“It was a very busy night, sold six paintings.”

“That’s a bargain.”
“Yes, yes it is. I didn’t think it would go so well.”