At First Touch Read online

  “Do you ever talk?” she abruptly demanded, angry at him for being so damn quiet and angry at herself for caring.

  Silence followed. Quinn sighed again and raked a hand through her hair, then quickly moved her hair back in place to cover her too large ears. Only one other person brought out this visceral reaction in her. Her oldest sister, Kendra.

  There was a long silence before he said evenly, “How are Graham and Charlie?”

  “It took you a long time to come up with that one, didn’t it?” she said, with a short laugh. When more silence followed, she added, “They’re fine. Still in domestic wedded bliss. In other words, as sickening as always.”

  “So, tell me about this movie. Why is it so important to you?”

  “Who said it was important to me?” she shot back.

  “The fact that you would willingly talk to me tells me how important it is to you.”

  She rolled her eyes, but felt a small stab of guilt. She acted like a shrew around this man. And he was nothing but nice and polite to her. Sure, he watched her with those unsettling eyes, but when she thought about the type of fan mail she had received from men in prison—and a few women—when she had been at the height of her popularity on the daytime drama Diamond Valley, then Wyatt really wasn’t so bad.

  She reluctantly answered, “I haven’t worked since I left Diamond Valley.”

  “Diamond Valley?” he repeated, curious.

  “The soap opera I reigned over as the character Sephora Burston for the last ten years before I was carelessly tossed aside like a bag of outdated wigs,” she snapped, more annoyed than she wanted to admit that Wyatt had no idea about the name of her show. She had been on the cover of Us Weekly magazine six times. She didn’t count the Us Weekly cover that came out when she had been kicked off the show.

  “Oh, yes, I remember now. Graham mentioned that you had been fired.”

  “I wasn’t fired. My contract was not renewed,” she corrected through clenched teeth. “Anyway, it’s been one year and…. this movie is my only shot.”

  “Shot for what?”

  Quinn hesitated. She hadn’t even told her sisters about her fears of never working again, of being ordinary. But she had the sudden urge to tell Wyatt. It was something about how quiet both he and of the SUV were. She almost felt as if she could tell him anything, and he would just nod. No judgment.

  “I haven’t worked in a year. That’s a lifetime in the entertainment business. I’m 28 years old, in another couple of years, it’ll be too late for me to even make it. On top of the age and the forced semiretirement, I’m trying to switch from television, daytime television, to movies. Do you know how difficult that is?”

  “Why do you want to switch from television to movies?”

  “I can’t stay a soap actress all of my life, Wyatt,” she said, attempting to sound patient. “The next logical step is movies. Movie stars are the cream of the A-List crop. All of the tabloid covers, the covers of magazines, the features. When you’re a movie star, you can pick your own projects. And possibly start a perfume line or a clothing line.”

  He didn’t respond but continued to stare down the dark road as he carefully drove the SUV within the speed limit.

  “Helmut was the first director to even consider me for a part that did not involve my breasts as the second and third characters on screen. But I had to sweeten the pot.”

  He actually took his eyes off the road to shoot her a look. He asked, carefully, “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t sleep with men for roles,” she snapped, annoyed, and then added with a shrug, “Not anymore.”

  “So how exactly are you planning to sweeten the pot?”

  “Helmut is a brilliant director, but, as you probably noticed, he’s not a…a people person. He’s difficult. And so insistent on having total creative control of his projects that he can rarely get in the door at the big studios. So he has to make this film, On Livermore Road, on the lower end of the average Hollywood film budget.”

  “How much on the lower end?”

  “Enough where Helmut is considering filming in this town.”

  Wyatt stared at her for a moment and then asked with a sigh, “So this guy is a jerk, no one in Hollywood likes him and he has no money to make his movie. Why do you want to be in this movie again?”

  “Helmut is also a star-maker. If you survive a movie with him, any director or agent in town will take your calls because everyone knows that Helmut does not work with talentless hacks. And this film has a great role for me. Do you know how hard it is to find a dramatic role as a black actress in this town? But, this role has my name written all over it. Every black actress in Hollywood wanted it, but I got it. Or, I will have it. I needed to get Helmut’s attention. And great locations that cost next to nothing are all you need to grab any independent director’s attention. Your house, this town. It’s perfect.”

  “Use your house,” Wyatt suggested.

  Quinn rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Helmut said my house looked like…what were his exact words…Oh, yes, a ‘gingerbread house on crack.’ Your house is bigger, more creepy…er, I mean, it has more character.”

  “Have you talked to Boyd?”

  Quinn inwardly shivered at the mention of the mayor’s name. The man was ex-military, mean and old. He also didn’t crack a smile for anyone but his wife, Alma. In other words, she had no idea how to deal with him.

  At her answering silence, Wyatt said, “You can’t have a film crew traipsing through town without getting approval from the mayor or the city council.”

  Quinn narrowed her eyes at him. “My grandfather was the only man I ever allowed to lecture me, and he’s dead.”

  “It wasn’t a lecture, Quinn,” he said evenly. “Just an observation.”

  She thought she saw the flash of a smile, but if there was a smile, it faded as quickly as it appeared. “I don’t need your observations, either.”

  Through the darkness of the highway, Quinn spotted the porch lights she had left on at the Sibley house and sighed in relief. The house had not been much when she and her two sisters had first moved in, but with the work and love that Charlie and Graham had put into the house over the last few months, it now felt like a home. Or as much as a place without a fitness center, valet service and a sauna could feel like home. In fact, Quinn was somewhat surprised by her sense of attachment to the little house because regardless of what it looked like, it was hers. She owned it. Or, at least, she owned one third of it.

  Wyatt parked the SUV in front of the house and turned off the engine. The sudden quiet surprised her. The house, set back from the road, was surrounded by dirt and grass-covered hills rolling like waves behind it. Their closest neighbor was miles away. If she closed her eyes, it would almost seem as if she were alone in the world, which was either good or bad, depending on how many agents had rejected her that day.

  Wyatt turned to her and asked in a deep, too-calm voice, “Why do you dislike me so much?”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” she lied. His gaze was unwavering, and Quinn had a sinking sensation that she could not lie to this man. She averted her gaze and muttered, “I don’t know. I guess…I don’t like how you stare at me.”

  “A lot of men stare at you, Quinn,” he reminded her in an almost gentle tone.

  “Not like you.”

  He didn’t just look at her. He studied her. Watched her. Made her think of all the things he wanted to do to her, with her, inside her. And sometimes when she wasn’t careful, she found herself wanting the same things, which was very wrong. Wyatt Granger was not her type. He was only three years older than her, he didn’t have a private plan and, most important, he was a mortician. Definitely not her type.

  “I am attracted to you,” he said softly, staring at her. Drinking her in. “I’d be blind not to be. But I’ll never act on it.”

  “Why?” she blurted out, before she could remind herself to feel relieved.

  “Does it matter?” he s
aid with a small shrug.

  “Not really, but I want to know. I mean, if it’s because I’m an actress and you’re a nobody…I totally understand that. It’s an insurmountable hurdle that few men can get past. But for the sake of argument, I should note that a lot of nobodies marry women like me. Look at Julia Roberts and her husband, what’s-his-name. And then there’s…”

  He stared at her again, and Quinn’s voice trailed off as his gaze dropped to her mouth. She had to clear her suddenly dry throat as one corner of his mouth lifted in a mysterious smile that she hadn’t thought a boring man like Wyatt capable of.

  Wow. She had finally seen his smile, and she had to admit that she wanted to see it again.

  “That’s not it, Quinn,” he finally said, leaning back in the leather seat and looking entirely too comfortable for a spurned suitor.

  His scent began to wrap around her. Fresh soap that smelled like the ocean or the grass-covered hills behind the house after a hard rain. Quinn once more cleared her throat. “Then what is it?”

  Wyatt studied the house for a moment and then admitted, “My biological clock is ticking.”

  Quinn had been expecting many things—maybe he was gay, or celibate, or asexual—but that his biological clock was ticking?

  “I don’t understand.”

  He smiled. A small, awkward one, but it was there. Dimples on both cheeks flashed. Quinn gripped the armrests as something akin to all-out lust spread in her body and caused her thighs to clench. Where had he been hiding that smile?

  “I want a family. I want kids. I’m ready for that,” he explained.

  “But, you’re a man.”

  “I’m glad you finally noticed.” Before she could retort, he quickly said, “I don’t know how it started or why it started, but over the last three years, all I think about is having children. I see other men with their children and I feel resentful. When my friends complain about their wives, in ways that you know it’s not really a complaint, but a small prayer that they have a wife to complain about, I get jealous. I want a daughter to spoil and a son to play football with. I want the whole package—diapers, a dog, temper tantrums. The warmth of waking up at night and knowing that no matter what else is going on in the world, for that one moment, it’s okay because my family is safe and warm. I know it’s strange, but…. At some point, most men feel this way, they just don’t tell beautiful women.”

  “And what does any of that have to do with your attraction to me?”

  Wyatt smiled again then shook his head. “You’re a walking contradiction, Quinn. You can’t decide if you want me to want you or not.”

  “Trust me, Wyatt, I don’t want you to want me,” she said quickly. “But, I find it odd that you don’t, especially since a man like you is in my core audience. Thirties, heterosexual. So I want to know why.”

  “My wife will never have to worry about me running around her. I don’t even want her to think about worrying about it. It’ll be just her and me for the rest of our lives. In Sibleyville. With our children. Running the family mortuary because that’s what Grangers have done for the last three generations. I need a woman who will fit into that life, be a mortician’s wife without cringing or running away in disgust. Someone who will fit into Sibleyville.”

  “And you don’t think I could be that woman,” Quinn said, understanding dawning.

  “I know you can’t be that woman,” Wyatt responded simply. “And since you have no desire to be that woman, I guess it works out for everyone.”

  She tried to conceal the bitterness in her voice as she asked dryly, “And where exactly do you plan to meet this paragon of virtue who will be Mrs. Wyatt Granger, town heroine, bearer of the fruit of your loins and Ms. Congeniality?”

  He laughed and then said, “I know she won’t be perfect, but I’m not looking for perfect. I’m just looking for someone who will be happy to see me at the end of the day and who will be happy with what I can offer her. Maybe bake an apple pie once in a while, even if it’s awful. Sing to our children after their nightmares. Someone who can make a home anywhere, even in a drafty funeral home.”

  “You’re a romantic,” she accused, smiling.

  “I don’t know about that,” he said, shaking his head, amused. “But, I know what I want. And I may have found her.”

  “Who?”

  He sent her another smile and shook his head. Quinn forced a smile and playfully jabbed his arm. “Come on, Wyatt. We’re being honest here.”

  “Her name is Dorrie Diamond.”

  Quinn couldn’t stop the note of sarcasm that entered her voice as she said, “She sounds like a comic book superhero.”

  “She’s an accountant. She moved here last year from Danville and opened an office on Main Street.”

  “Does Miss Diamond know that she’s the future womb for your children?”

  “Not yet,” he said, grinning, taking no offense at her anger. “We’ve gone on a couple of dates. Well, not dates, actually, but we’ve met for coffee. Dorrie is very shy, but my mother likes her. She’s a sweet person and I’m happy with my decision.”

  “Well, that’s that,” Quinn drawled, imitating a Sibleyville slow accent. “So, tell me more about the amazing Dorrie.”

  “There’s not much to tell.”

  “Where did you meet?”

  Wyatt studied her suspiciously. “Why?”

  “Curiosity,” she said, with a shrug. “What are her hobbies? What are her likes, dislikes?”

  He hesitated, then said, “She likes church.”

  Quinn paused. “Church? All you know about the love of your life is that she likes church?”

  “That’s important. My faith is important to me and I want it to be important to the mother of my children.”

  “Hmm…Katherine also is very pious. It’s probably her biggest downfall.”

  “Katherine?”

  Quinn pursed her lips in irritation. “My character in On Livermore Road.”

  He glanced at her uncertainly, then asked, “What type of character are you playing exactly?”

  “You say that as if you expect me to be playing a hooker or something.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with hookers.”

  She laughed at his suddenly careful expression. “Wyatt Granger, what exactly do you know about hookers? You’re pleading the Fifth on that one,” she noted with a grin. When he still stared straight ahead, she answered, “If you must know, I am playing a housewife.”

  “A housewife?” he repeated, in disbelief.

  “I know that you think I could never be anything as wholesome as a housewife, but that’s why it’s called acting,” she muttered. She squared her shoulders and continued in a calmer tone, “The night of her honeymoon, where Katherine is set to lose her virginity—don’t laugh—with her husband, a man bursts into their hotel room, beats Katherine’s husband unconscious and rapes her. She becomes pregnant. They live in a small town and no one suspects that the child is not the husband’s, but Katherine and Clint know and it is slowly driving a wedge in their marriage. Five years later, Clint is driving the child home from school and there is a car accident. Their son dies. The movie follows Clint’s spiral into relief, guilt, an affair with a kindly, older waitress and ultimately salvation in his love for Katherine.”

  “So it’s a comedy?”

  Quinn smiled at his attempt at humor, then said, “Comedies don’t win Oscars.”

  “That’s what you want? An Oscar?”

  “Of course. It’s what every actor wants. It’s why you become an actor.”

  “I thought you became an actor to…I don’t know, act.”

  “I’m a serious actor, Wyatt,” she snapped.

  “I never said you weren’t.”

  “Just because I want an Oscar doesn’t mean that I’m not serious about my craft. It’s just when you’ve been…when you’ve been through what I’ve been through…it’s not enough to work again. I have to prove to everyone that they were wrong about me.” Embarra
ssed by her admission, she glared at him and said, “It’s a great script and it’s going to be a great movie.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” he said, not sounding the least bit sarcastic. When she had no response, he reached for the key in the ignition, which was her not-so-subtle clue to get out of the car. “At any rate, I’ll stop staring at you. In fact, you won’t have to worry about me at all. I don’t have any more trips planned to L.A. for another year, and I’m assuming you’ll be leaving Sibleyville as soon as you get an answer about the house, which I’ll let you know by tomorrow when I talk to my mother. And, if things go according to plan with Dorrie, the next time you see me, I’ll be too busy changing diapers to stare at you.”

  Quinn racked her brain for something to say, besides a protest that Wyatt didn’t need to marry an accountant who’s name sounded like a comic book character.

  She settled on an awkward, “Good luck.”

  She quickly moved from the car and slammed the door, uncertain why she had to force herself to walk to the house. Wyatt didn’t drive away until she had closed the door to the house. She leaned against the door and closed her eyes. She couldn’t wait to leave Sibleyville. This town always made her forget the important things in life. Like being on the cover of People again.

  Chapter 3

  Quinn was having a pleasant dream about eating a tub of rocky road ice cream without worrying about gaining weight, when an annoying shrill ring intruded. She groaned as she recognized the sound of her cell phone in her dream. She opened her eyes and squinted at the bright sunlight streaming through the windows of her designated bedroom in the Sibley house.

  Graham and Charlie had barely touched her room in their home improvement stage. Everything was exactly where Quinn remembered it from her last visit during their wedding. There was a queen-sized lumpy mattress on an old-fashioned wood bedframe that squeaked and creaked when she breathed, that had been in the room on the first day she and her sisters had walked into the house, along with the matching antique dresser and chest of drawers that squeaked in dramatic protest every time Quinn tried to grab a pair of clothes. At least the windows had been replaced and the hardwood floor had been buffed and polished until it sparkled. No one had gotten around to putting curtains or blinds over the new windows, which meant Quinn was now squinting against the sunlight and her lack of sleep.