Page 170 of Under Her Skin

The door closes and a tall, willowy blonde walks past me. Her arm brushes against my back and I lean forward to get away from her. My body tenses as she turns back and smiles atme.

“Sorry.” She goes behind the bar and kisses her mother’s cheek. “I just got back from Dallas. The shoot took forever. Did you missme?”

“You bet,” Tanya says with a smile. “I missed not having to pick up things you left lying around. I missed going to bed at a reasonable hour without your music keeping me awake. Yeah, I’d say I missed you. When do you think this modeling thing will start making you enough money to get your own place,Tilly?”

The girl, who must be in her early twenties, looks at me and grins. “I think my mother is ready for me to leave thenest.”

I raise my eyebrows at her and take a drink. “My parents never wanted me to leave so I have noidea.”

Tanya laughed.“I don’t really want you to leave, Tilly. Just clean up after yourself now andthen.”

Tilly walked back around the bar and sat next to me. “So, what’s up with you, why you here drinking so early in theday?”

“He’s in love with a cuckoo bird with abandonment issues. Leave the man alone, Tilly. The broom and mop are in the back in thecloset.”

Tilly rolls her light blue eyes at me and gets up. “I’ll do the chores, Mom. But then you owe me a couple ofdrinks.”

I look back at Tanya behind the bar and think to myself that the fruit fell pretty far from that tree. Her daughter is gorgeous and Tanya doesn’t look a thing like her. “She must look like her father,” I say without realizing it’s come out of mymouth.

“I don’t know. I never met herfather.”

I choke on my beer and look up at her. “How in the hell isthat?”

She laughs. “She’s adopted, Blake. I got her when she was seven. She had some problems. Maybe talking to her can help you understand your girl a littlebetter.”

Maybe it could, but do I even want to understand? Maybe it’s better just to try my best to forget aboutRachelle.

Rachelle

I called and texted Blake again, hoping the light of day had him not quite so mad at me that he’d ignore me all together. No such luck though as the call went straight tovoicemail.

My brain is struggling with what I should do. I’m pretty sure he’s back home in Lubbock, but not one hundred percent as Max won’t help me find that out. One little phone call to his brother-in-law who lives next door to Blake and is now the guy Blake calls his right-hand man, whatever that means, could let me know for sure if he’shome.

It’s getting to be nearly noon, and I’d like to be on my way to wherever he is by now, but with no real clue I’m stuck here waiting and wondering and worrying abouthim.

Now that I know how he felt all those times I left without telling him a thing. I will never do that to another person as long as Ilive.

It’sexcruciating!

My phone ringsand I jump and grab it up off the table. It’s Lexi and I hurry to answer. “Hey,Lex.”

“I can’t talk long and I’m hiding that I’m calling you from Max, but I wanted you to know that I called my brother, and he said Blake made it home last night. So he’s alive. Max did try to call him this morning to be sure he was alright, but Blake didn’t accept his calleither.”

“I wonder why he’s cutting everyone out,” I say as I step into my shoes. “It’s not likehim.”

“Max thinks it’s because he’s really going to try to get over you. Are you going to just sit back and let that happen,Shelly?”

“What would you do?” I ask her, knowing full well that even though Max tore me a new one last night that Lexi, and he went through some bad shit before they finally got it allstraight.

“You don’t want to repeat any of my mistakes. Make your own, or better yet, don’t. Just find the guy and tell him you love him and marry hisass.”

“Find him, huh? Thanks for the advice, Lexi. And thanks for letting me know he’s okay, I really appreciateit.”

“Max is coming, bye and remember this is our little secret,Shell.”

The call ended, and I envisioned Max catching her in the act and her coming up with some crazy story that gave too many details, letting him know she was hiding something fromhim.

Okay, so now I know he’s in Lubbock, but how do I get to him in less than the two days it will take me to drive there? And I need to make a stop at my grandparent’s house too before I get tohim.