Love Imagines (Sully Point, Book 6) (9 page)

"Ben! How wonderful to see you!" gushed Suzanne as she
walked up to the stage.

He turned to see her standing there and could tell
by the glitter in her eyes that she was not there about understudying anything.
She was in town because of him. He groaned inwardly, but pasted a half-smile on
his face.

"Hello, Suzanne. I heard you were understudying
Beth Carter. That should be a terrific experience."

Her face fell a bit. "Yes, it should."

"Let me introduce you to Lucretia Evans, Suzanne.
Lucretia, this is Suzanne Hardtman."

"Oh, hello," Suzanne said indifferently.

"Hello, Suzanne. Nice to meet you." Lucretia
raised an eyebrow as Suzanne turned immediately away and back to Ben.

"So Ben, you've got to take me to lunch. I don't
know where anything is in this hick town."

Ben felt Lucretia stiffen beside him.

He frowned at Suzanne. "This isn't a hick town.
And I'm busy with Lucretia. I won't be able to take you to lunch."

"Come along with me, Suzanne," William Christopher
said. He had clearly been waiting to see what happened. "I planned to take you
to lunch today. Beth will meet us there and we can discuss the play."

"Oh, okay," Suzanne said, with a pout.

Ben wondered how he had ever been attracted to
her. Working with her around was going to be very uncomfortable. He nodded when
she turned and waved at him, and then he turned back to Lucretia...who was
livid.

"Did that little strumpet call Sully Point a hick
town? Did I hear her correctly?"

Ben slowly nodded his head. "Yes, you did hear
correctly. She's a horrid person."

"We can't have her around the play," Lucretia
declared. "I'm going to talk to Mr. Christopher about it. Who does she think
she is, anyway?"

"She thinks she's the 'next big thing' soon to be
discovered in Hollywood."

"Then why is she here?"

"I think, because of me. She kind of stalked me
out in L.A. after I broke up with her."

"Well, I'm talking to Mr. Christopher this afternoon
if I can. I'm too angry to read lines now, Ben. Is it okay with you if I
leave?"

"Sure, sure. I have someone I need to go talk
with, too. See you later."

Lucretia marched off the stage, and Ben pulled out
his phone to discover that Rose had been the one calling him earlier. He
quickly dialed her number.

"Rose?"

"Hi, Ben. I tried calling earlier."

"Yeah, I saw that. I need to talk to you. Could I
meet you somewhere? Your apartment?"

"Uh...okay. I need to talk to you, too, so this
works. Do you want to eat lunch here?"

"How about I pick up sandwiches at the deli?"

"No, I'll run down and grab some rolls from the
Bakery. I have deli meats and cheeses here."

"Sounds good. I'll be there in about fifteen
minutes."

As he locked up the Playhouse with the key William
had given him, he tried to decide how much of the Suzanne story he should tell
Rose. After a few minutes of mulling, he gave a chuckle. He'd tell her
everything. There was no point in keeping any of it a secret from Rose. Whether
something developed between them or not, she deserved to know the truth from
the rumors that would surely start.

* * * *

Rose was nervous as she put the food out onto a
platter. She wasn't quite sure how to approach the topic of Ben and the
actress. Would it seem like prying to him if she brought it up?

Before she could think further on it, Ben was
knocking on her door. She opened it to find him standing there with two
lemonades from Deb's.

"My hands are frozen," he said with a grin.

"Come in. Let me take those." She carried the drinks
into the kitchen.

"Nice spread! I'm starved," Ben said, looking over the platter of meats and cheeses. "Is it okay
if I start building my sandwich?"

"Yes, go ahead."

Soon they both had sandwiches on the fresh Bakery
rolls to have with their lemonade. After a bite, Ben asked, "What did you need
to talk to me about?"

"The actress who is saying you're her secret
lover," Rose blurted out.

Ben choked on his bite of sandwich, and Rose was
about to do the Heimlich maneuver when he managed to breathe properly again.

"What did you say?" He waved a hand as she opened
her mouth to speak. "Never mind, I heard you the first time. Damn, is there a
rumor already going around town like that?"

"No, it's a rumor in L.A. that Beth heard after
talking to some people out there. She thought I should know, but told me she
didn't think it was true. I'm not sure what I believe, so I thought I should
let you have the chance to tell me about it."

Ben sighed heavily. "This is a nightmare. Okay,
first off, it's not true. But over nine months ago, I did date her. I broke up
with her after several dates. And she took it badly, to say the least. She
began stalking me. Then it all stopped and I thought it was over. Until now.
She and her agent are the reason she's here. She talked William into hiring her
for the understudy job. So I don't know what to think. William brought her by
the Playhouse and she immediately wanted me to take her to lunch. William
smoothed that over by taking her out with him and Beth."

Rose wasn't sure what he should do about the
actress, but she believed his version of things. "William can't keep her here,
knowing all this. Why did he hire her?"

"He didn't know all this until he called me this
morning. To get her out of the contract he's going to have to pay heavily, and
I hate for him to have to do that because of her obsession with me."

"But you have to let him, Ben. It's very unhealthy
for her to be around you, and it's probably not safe for you. I can't believe
she's telling people out there that she's your secret lover. That's
outrageous."

"It's why I stopped dating her. I realized after a
couple of dates that she was...off, strange. I wasn't comfortable with how
obsessive she was about being with me after even just one date. I honestly
don't know what she is capable of, Rose."

"You know, this reminds me of the situation my
brother Sam had when he and Anna first got together. His ex-girlfriend came
after him, burned down his house, shot at a building they were staying in, and
eventually shot Sam. When people go off the deep end about a relationship, they
can really lose it."

"I remember that, reading about it in the papers.
But, surely Suzanne wouldn't go that nuts...right?"

Rose shrugged. "I don't know. What you've
described is an unstable person, that's for sure."

Ben ran his hand through his hair again, pulling
it away from his face. Rose found herself wanting to reach out a hand to caress
that face, but she didn't make a move. It was crazy that she was so drawn to
him so quickly. And it reminded her of this crazy Suzanne.

She stood up and began clearing off the table.
"Well, I think the next step is for you to talk to William," she said rather
briskly.

Ben looked a bit startled at her tone and activity
as she put away the sandwich fixings. He held onto the last bit of his sandwich
when she reached for it.

"Not done yet," he said, and grabbed his drink as
well.

"Sorry. I just have some stuff to do today and I
thought I should get to it."

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break into your
day like this."

Ben finished off the sandwich, and then his drink.
Rose knew she was being a bit cold, but she needed to keep him at a distance
until she could figure out what was going on with them.

"Rose, I wanted to ask you to dinner for tonight.
Would you go out with me?"

She turned from wiping down the counter to face him.
"I don't know, Ben. Do you think it's safe with Suzanne in town? What if she
hears that you are seeing someone? It could set her off."

Ben tilted his head to one side and frowned. "I
don't want to let her control my life, but I see your point. She's so unpredictable,
and the last thing I want is for her to come after you."

Rose took in a quick breath. "I wasn't thinking
she'd come after me."

"I don't think it's such a far-fetched idea."

"Maybe you're right, but in any case, we shouldn't
be seen going out together, agreed?"

He nodded slowly. "Agreed. But I do want to see
you."

"How about we meet up at Sam and Anna's place for
dinner? We could ask them more about the situation they were in before."

"That might be very helpful. I do still want
to go out to dinner, just the two of us, but for now I think this probably is
the best thing to do. Meet you there around seven?"

Rose thought that time would be something Anna
could live with and nodded.

"Okay then, I'll be off so that you can get done
what you need to do today. Thanks for lunch, Rose."

"You're welcome. I'll see you tonight."

He walked to the front door, opened it, turned and
waved, and then was gone.

Rose wandered into the living room and plopped
down into the brocade chair. What had she just done? First she gave him signals
like she didn't want him around, then she turned right around and set up seeing
him again that very night! Sighing, she picked up her phone to call Anna.

* * * *

"Sam, we're having company tonight. Your sister.
And Ben Sterling."

Sam walked into the kitchen. Anna opened the
fridge to see what she had to cook for a dinner for company.

"What, did she just call and invite herself over,
with a date?" Sam asked his wife.

"Yes, she did. It was odd. She said they need to
ask the two of us some questions about a 'situation' but didn't spell out what
it was about."

"That's a bit strange. Do you think the two of
them are getting involved?"

Anna rolled her eyes at him. "Of course, they
are."

"Anna...do you want to tell me something?" Sam
asked eyes suddenly intense as he stared at her.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're eating a stalk of celery. You hate celery.
Except for when you were pregnant with Joshua, then you couldn't get enough of
it. Are you...?"

Anna's eyes went wide as she stared at the celery
in her hand. "Celery! Sam, you know..."

He could see her thinking rapidly.

"You know, I think maybe I am," she said in a
wondering voice.

Sam reached for her and they hugged each other
tightly.

"A baby," Sam said. "A brother or sister for Joshua."

"I get a brother or sister?" Joshua asked from the
doorway, with a big smile on his face. "When? Today?"

His parents laughed.

"Not today," Anna said. "It's going to take about
eight or nine more months. A long time."

"Oh."

"But tonight Aunt Rose is coming over for dinner,"
Sam said, picking up Joshua and whirling him around in a circle.

Joshua laughed. "More, Daddy, more!"

Sam and Anna laughed with their son. Then Anna
reached for another stick of celery.

* * * *

When Rose arrived at Sam's beach house, she saw
another car in the driveway and it wasn't Ben's. She knocked on the front door
right as it opened.

"Oh! Hi, Sam."

"Hey, Rose, come on in," Sam said.

Rose looked at him and shook her head. "What on
earth has put such a huge smile on your face?"

"We think Anna's pregnant!"

"What? That's great, but what do you mean, you
think?"

"Well, she's eating celery."

Sam walked down the hall to the living room and
Rose followed, bemused, only to find another surprise sitting on the couch.

"Mom...and Dad! What are you guys doing here?" she
asked, and then went over and hugged them both.

"Sam invited us to celebrate Anna's news, and he
thought we should also get to know Ben," Sophia said.

Rose sat down in one of the leather chairs and
shook her head. "Okay, everyone stop and explain things to me. First, don't you
know for sure if she's pregnant? What's the celery about?"

Anna walked in, beaming. "I hate celery, except
when I'm pregnant."

"Didn't you guys go get a test to see for sure?"

Sam stared at Anna and they burst out laughing.
"We didn't even think of that," he said, finally. "I'm going to go get one
right now."

Anna called after him, "You only have twenty
minutes."

Rose took a deep breath. "All right, moving on.
Why did Sam think you should get to know Ben?"

Her father gave her a look she recognized from
when she'd been thirteen and had stolen money from the change jar in the
kitchen.

"Don't even try to pull off the idea that you two
aren't dating. We heard you were out on Cody's boat yesterday. You've been seen
around town together. Maelynne is telling everyone that you'll be moving to
Hollywood to be with him."

"Ed! Why would you listen to Maelynne?" Sophia
asked, her eyes wide in disbelief.

Rose had heard enough around town already to know
that Maelynne was the worst Sully Point gossip.

"Yeah, Dad, don't listen to Maelynne. I have no
intention of moving to Hollywood. Yes, we've hung out a bit, and we did go
fishing yesterday. But that's it, there's no big thing going on."

She heard a knock on the front door.

"Now listen to me. No more talk of this stuff
tonight. No insinuations. Just a nice friendly dinner, okay?"

Everyone nodded, and Rose went to let Ben in the
house.

* * * *

Ben walked behind Rose down the hall and thought
she had gorgeous hair, among other things. She'd whispered to him that her
parents were going to be at dinner, and he wondered if that meant the problem
of Suzanne wouldn't be discussed.

Sophia and Ed Carter were a surprise to him. The
gruff, big man and the willowy, sophisticated woman seemed to be a mismatch. When he
heard that Ed had been a police detective and that Sophia was a fashion
designer, he was even more surprised by them. They had greeted him warmly,
however, and as he watched them, he saw in the looks and small touches that the
two were very much partners.