right,” she said, smiling at last. “It won’t matter then, because you won’t matter. At all.” She rubbed her hands together, then tossed them in the air, as if she’d just washed away a bad stain. “I’ll be done with you by then.”
Stone felt sweat trickling down the center of his back. This deal had all of a sudden turned very, very sour.
Surprisingly, he wanted it to matter. He wanted to matter to her. And he certainly didn’t want her to be done with him just yet. Because he wasn’t done with her, not by a long shot. In fact, as the famous saying went, he’d only just begun to fight.
Stone watched her, saw the agitation on her pretty face, but decided he was willing to suffer her wrath just to keep her near. “We’re not finished here, Tara. Because I’ve just decided I’m not ready to sign that contract.”
Her rage went into double overdrive. Giving him an incredulous look, she asked, “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I want to reconsider this deal. We’ve waited this long, why not take it slow and think it through?”
“I told you, I want to get this over with.”
“Yes, I heard that loud and clear. And I’m asking you to wait. Just one week.”
She stomped and shifted, her taupe heels clicking softly against the carpet. “I’m agreeing to your offer on the land. You can’t intimidate me or play games with me anymore. What more can you possibly hope to gain by waiting, Stone?”
He came around the table, and unable to stop himself, he pushed at the fringe of bangs falling against her cheekbone. “Your respect,” he said. “I’ll be in touch.”
Then he turned and left the room.
Chapter Three
I t had been nearly a week.
Tara stood at the window of her bedroom, looking out over the swimming pool and trees in her lush backyard. It was beautiful, and Chad had been very proud of it, but Tara didn’t see the shimmering water of the pool or the tropical foliage that she’d paid a landscaper to plant in her yard.
She only saw red. Because of Stone Dempsey.
He’d said he’d be in touch, but in the four days since she’d met with him, she hadn’t heard a word from the man. Even his trusted associate, Griffin Smith, wouldn’t return her calls. And she’d called several times. If Stone really wanted to win her respect, he could at least return her phone calls.
But then, maybe he had decided she didn’t merit any respect after all. “I guess I blew it,” she said aloud, her hands going to her aching head.
“Blew what?” Laurel came sauntering into the room, the sullen look on her face indicating that her mother had messed up on several things.
Surprised by this unexpected visit, Tara smiled. “Nothing for you to worry about, honey.”
Laurel plopped down on a gold brocade chaise longue set before the sliding door leading out to the pool.
“What’s up with you?” Tara asked, cautious to not sound too eager.
“I want to go to a concert in Savannah tomorrow night. All my friends are going. Will you take me?”
“What kind of concert?” Tara asked, the price of the ticket already adding up in her brain. The ticket, a new outfit, food. The sum kept silently increasing.
Laurel twisted the strands of a tiny braid she’d worn on one side of her temple all summer, while the rest of her long hair hung down her back. “It’s a new alternative rock band. They’re awesome. Can I go, please?”
Tara ignored the pain pounding in her head. “What’s the name of this awesome new band?”
“The Grass Snakes,” Laurel said, hopping up, her hands in the air. “Their latest single—‘Out to Get You, Girl’—it’s number one this week. I’ll just die if I can’t go, Mom.”
Already, Tara didn’t like the tone of this conversation. “And what is the rating on their latest CD?”
Laurel rolled her eyes, her heavily ringed fingers still threading through her braid. “What’s that matter? I like them. C’mon, Mom, don’t be such a drag.”
“I’m not being a drag,” Tara replied, familiar with this conversation. “I’m being a responsible mother. And until I find out what kind of music this awesome new Snake band is playing and if it’s suitable for you, I can’t agree to let you go to this concert.”
Laurel’s oval face flushed with anger. “You are so lame! Since when did you start being responsible, anyway?”
Hurt by the rage spewing out of her daughter, Tara could only stare. When she finally found her voice, she asked, “What does that mean, Laurel? I’m your mother. I’m trying to do what I think is best.”
“Yeah, right,” Laurel shouted, her hands on her hip-hugger jeans. “Now, Mom. Now you’re trying to do the right thing. Now that Dad is gone and you’ve finally realized you have a family—”
At Tara’s shocked gasp, Laurel stopped, tears welling in her eyes. “Oh, never mind. It’s a dumb band, anyway. I’ll just sit at home and mope, the way you do!”
With that, Laurel marched to the door, only to run smack into Tara’s mother, Peggy.
“Whoa,” Peggy said, her hands reaching up to steady Laurel. “Where are you going?” Seeing the look on Tara’s face, she held Laurel with her hands on the girl’s slender arms. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s her!” Laurel said, jerking away to point at Tara. “She’s decided to be a real mom, only it’s too late for that now.”
Peggy watched as her granddaughter charged down the hall and up the stairs to her room on the second floor, then she turned to Tara as they both heard the door slamming shut. “I thought things were getting better between you two.”
“Me, too,” Tara said, slinking down on the bed. Her voice shaky, she said, “We had such a good talk a few weeks ago, you know, after she ran away with Cal Ashworth.”
Peggy sat down next to her. “Honey, they didn’t run away. They just fell asleep on the beach.”
“Yes, and caused Ana to worry and then hurt her ankle looking for them.”
“But…as you said, you worked through that.”
“I thought we worked through it,” Tara said, looking at her mother’s comforting face. Ana looked like their mother. They both had auburn hair and green eyes, whereas Tara took after their father, blonde and blue eyed. “At times, we can talk and laugh, at other times, she reverts back to a little she-monster.”
Her mother’s knowing green eyes were appraising her now, in the way only a mother’s could. “What’s wrong this time?”
“She wants to go to some rock concert in Savannah this weekend. I simply wanted to know
