Patricia Kay - The Girl He Left Behind

Adam nodded again. He’d heard this same lecture many times before. In fact, Lucy had gotten on the “good health, take care of yourself” boat every time she’d visited him over recent years.

“I do take care of myself, Ma.”

“Really? Do you exercise every day? Do you eat right? I never see you eat anything except pizza.”

“I eat all kinds of healthy stuff,” Adam protested. “And I work out all the time.” But he was mentally crossing his fingers, because he’d been slacking off lately. On both counts.

A few minutes later, Austin, followed by Aaron, entered the room, and Adam, after greeting his brothers and giving his mother a goodbye kiss, told them he was leaving for the day. “I promised Sally I’d drop into the homeless shelter tonight, maybe play some music for the guys there.” Sally was a favorite nurse of his mother’s and they’d struck up a friendship.

“Need me to come along?” Aaron asked. In addition to all the social media and publicity stuff Aaron did for Adam, he was also Adam’s right-hand man and main gofer, both at home and on the road. Adam had initially put him to work because Aaron needed something to keep him on the straight and narrow, but in the past few years Aaron had made himself invaluable, and Adam depended upon him for just about everything he couldn’t do himself.

“Nah. I’ll be fine. It’s only Crandall Lake.”

Aaron shrugged. “Okay. But give me a buzz if you need me.”

Adam said he would and left. He wasn’t worried about needing Aaron. So far the paparazzi had been pretty respectful of his mother’s illness and left Adam alone. Except for a few pictures on Instagram and Twitter, they’d found bigger fish to follow. Adam knew all that would change when he returned to his normal life, so he might as well enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasted.

He was looking forward to talking to and singing for the homeless people in the shelter. Except for a really lucky break at the end of his first month in Nashville, he might have ended up in a shelter himself. Down to his last few dollars—he’d even had to chuck his cell phone because he could no longer afford to pay for it—he’d finally gotten a producer to listen to his demo and give him a chance. That same producer had made a ton of money off him in the intervening years, and they’d remained good friends.

As Adam drove to the shelter, he thought about the songs he’d sing. And afterward, he’d have an early night at the hotel and a good night’s sleep. No drama, no groupies, no photographers chasing him.

And absolutely nothing to worry about.

Chapter Three

Eve couldn’t sit still. The kids should’ve come home tonight, but Bill had called early that morning and asked if he could keep them over the weekend because the Kelly family reunion was taking place in San Antonio and he wanted the twins to be there with him. Eve hadn’t wanted to agree, but how could she say no?

That was the biggest problem she had with Bill. He was always so reasonable she could never refuse him when he wanted something. Even if he hadn’t been reasonable, she owed him. Not that he ever said so, but the knowledge was always there, unspoken, between them.

I rescued you. You owe me.

She knew that was what he was thinking. And why shouldn’t he? She was thinking it, too. He had rescued her, and she did owe him. Even now, after nearly twelve years, she still felt grateful. In fact, she couldn’t imagine what her mother would say if she knew. Even thinking about the problem made Eve’s heart beat a little faster.

Her mother would never know. That secret was safe. Bill would certainly never tell anyone—it would be the last thing he’d ever want people to know—nor would she. They both had a huge stake in keeping their secret safe.

So she’d said yes to this weekend, even though he could have given her more warning. Surely he’d known about the reunion for weeks now. Why hadn’t he told her earlier? She would have insisted on keeping the twins last weekend in exchange.

That’s probably exactly why he didn’t tell you.

Eve knew this wasn’t a big deal. It was just that she hated weekends on her own. It would be different if she, too, had remarried and had other children, or at least a partner to go places with her. But she hadn’t. And the way things looked, she probably wouldn’t. After all, to get married meant you needed to be seeing someone, and she had no prospects on the horizon. Crandall Lake wasn’t exactly a dating mecca. And even though, at one time, she’d dreamed about moving to Austin or Houston or somewhere with a bigger newspaper, her dream had turned out to be only a fantasy. Bill’s business was here. So here she’d have to stay. She could not take the twins from their father.

Olivia had once suggested Eve might sign up for an online dating service.

“I don’t see you doing that,” Eve had said.

“I’m not ready” had been Olivia’s quiet answer.

Eve had been immediately sorry for her retort. At the time, her cousin had been still mourning her husband’s death.

“But it would be good for you, Eve.”

Eve knew Olivia had been right. Eve should be proactive if she didn’t want to remain single her entire life. She would be thirty in just a couple of months, and even though thirty wasn’t exactly old-maid territory, and lots of women today married later in life, mostly those women had interesting and successful careers. That wasn’t true of her. She worked for a small daily paper struggling to keep afloat with dwindling subscriptions and fewer advertisers. In fact, she’d been hearing rumors of layoffs.

Eve sighed, remembering that conversation. What was she going to do with herself this weekend? She was already bored and it was only six o’clock Saturday evening. There was nothing good on television, Olivia and Thea were in Dallas for the weekend and no one else that Eve knew was free. Her own mother was probably busy with a bridge tournament or something. Ironically, Anna seemed to have more of a social life than Eve ever had—or would have.

After another half hour of yawning and attempting to knit—she had learned this past year—Eve shoved the knitting back into the tote that housed her supplies and got up. “I’m going to the shelter,” she announced aloud. She’d begun volunteering at Crandall Lake’s homeless shelter six months earlier, and she’d found it very satisfying work. She’d even made friends of some of the women there. “Going to the shelter is better than sitting around feeling sorry for myself,” she muttered as she prepared to leave, “or thinking about Adam Crenshaw.”

She hadn’t heard otherwise, so she figured he was still in town. Given the level of interest in their town’s biggest celebrity, who had surpassed former pro quarterback Dillon Burke’s position as its most famous alumnus, she knew she would have heard if Adam had returned to Nashville.

Thirty minutes later, as she approached the shelter, her spirits had already improved. It always did her good to come here, made her count her blessings and remind her that despite her problems she was extremely fortunate. She shouldn’t ever complain, even to herself. Life could always be so much worse—and was for many. She and her children—in fact, her entire family, everyone she loved—was healthy and had a roof over their heads. What more could she ask for?

Vowing to do better, she walked into the building and saw that she had arrived too late to help serve dinner, but not too late to help clean up. Donning an apron, she joined the other volunteers and in short order they’d cleared all the dirty plates and cutlery.

“I guess you heard who’s coming tonight,” said Julianne, one of the teen volunteers.

Eve frowned. “Um, no. What do you mean?”