Free Heartbreak, Tennessee by Ruby Laska Page A

single-mindedness was coming
dangerously close to opening up a discussion Amber did not want to have.
    “When Gray gets here,
you know he’s going to want to hear how we’ve spent our time,” she tried again.
“I don’t have to tell you he doesn’t have time to waste.”
    “Don’t worry about
that big old pussycat,” Sheryn exclaimed, laughing. “Have you ever known that
man to be able to stay mad at me?”
    Amber just glared in
response.
    “Now let’s have the
truth about Mac.”
    “Dean’s on his way
here, you know,” Amber said, evading Sheryn’s queries, though she knew it was
pointless. Sheryn would keep after her, questioning and nagging and cajoling,
until she found out the truth. Once a weakness had been exposed, there was no
way to keep the woman out of her business.
    “What for, did he
discover there’s a few women left in Tennessee who haven’t bought his latest
release yet?”
    “Oh, for heaven’s
sake, he isn’t that bad,” Amber protested, though Dean’s endless appetite for
self-promotion was becoming well-known among country music’s inner circle. “He
just said he had something important to talk about.”
    “Really?” Sheryn said,
perking up a bit. “Important enough to come all the way here? How intriguing.”
    “Don’t get so excited,”
Amber grumbled. “Nothing juicy is going to happen.”
    “Oh? Why, are you
planning to be too busy working?”
    Amber shifted uncomfortably. “No, not exactly—”
    “Amber, some day I
swear I am going to lose my patience with you. Lately you seem determined to
throw yourself even further into your work. Sugar, Gray and I can’t possibly be
paying you what you’re worth. I know I demand a lot of you, but don’t you think
it’s time you found yourself a nice man to settle down with?”
    “Oh, Sheryn,” Amber
sighed. “I was determined not to talk about this.”
    “Honey, talking to me
doesn’t count. I’m your best friend, remember? And my lips are sealed.”
    “It’s just...I used to
think that Dean was the right man.”
    “You mean...you don’t
think so any more?” Sheryn’s voice was suddenly carefully neutral. As much as
Sheryn loved to tease her about Dean, Amber knew that Sheryn would accept him
if things got...serious. Whatever that meant. Which they weren’t going to. After
all, she’d just practically broken up with him, right? Although she wasn’t
quite ready to share that tidbit with Sheryn.
    “I don’t know.” Amber’s
headache was worsening by the minute. “He’s got everything I ever wanted. He’s
driven, and successful, and smart, and he cares about me.”
    “Well, you’re just
going to have to figure out if that’s enough, darling,” Sheryn said, reaching
to give her hand a squeeze. “You can plan and plan, and maybe even almost talk
yourself into loving the wrong man, but in the end what happens? The heart
knows. It knows.”
    Amber let herself be
comforted by the warmth of Sheryn’s hands. Sometimes Sheryn surprised her with
the depth of her caring. “Like...you and Gray? Did your heart know then?”
    “Yes,” Sheryn said
softly. “First time I laid eyes on that impossible man, I never imagined I’d
marry him six months later. But it was in the stars. I could no more have
prevented myself from falling in love with Gray than I could stop the sun from
rising tomorrow.”
    With a final squeeze,
Sheryn released her hand, and Amber stood and stretched, anxious to put Dean—and
Mac too, for that matter—out of her mind.
    “Oh well, love’s the
last thing I need right now, anyway. I really am too busy. Excuse me for just a
second, won’t you?”
    Ducking into the tiny
bathroom and shutting the door part way behind her, Amber poured tap water from
the bathroom sink into a plastic cup and swallowed the aspirin tablets. Then,
she splashed some cool water on her face and blotted it with a towel.
    She felt a little
better. Not much, but enough.
    Emerging from the
bathroom, she managed a small