Free Crazy For You by Sandra Edwards Page B

thesaurus nestled cozily amid the tissue paper,
tears pooled around her eyes.
    “Read what I wrote inside,” he encouraged her.
    Roxanne opened the book and began reading his
inscription…
    Dear Roxanne,
    I just want you to know how much you mean to me. And
if writing is your heart’s desire, then consider me standing beside
you all the way. I love you with all my heart!
    Forever, Frank
    Roxanne struggled with the urge to cry. She swiped
at the one teardrop that did manage to escape. “You’ll never know
how much this means to me.” Clutching the book to her chest, her
tears fell freely.
    “Come here.” Frank pulled her into his arms. “Please
don’t cry.”
    “I love you.”
    “I love you too.”
    She wanted it to last forever, even though she was
well aware that time usually proves nothing does.
    ***

Chapter 8
    T he weeks turned into
months and April brought an end to Garrett-Hollander’s bar tour.
Returning home forced Roxanne to come to grips with the fact that
she’d nearly run out of money.
    She’d have to get a job soon, which meant that when
Frank ventured back out on the road again, she’d have to stay
behind, leaving Frank to his own devices. The one thing she didn’t
want to have to worry about was what Frank might be doing out on
the road without her.
    But Roxanne refused to worry about that right now.
Instead, she tucked that little problem safely away, deep down
inside her psyche. For now.
    She hoped that was a bridge she’d never get to. Not
so soon, anyway. When it did happen, she wasn’t prepared to deal
with it. She did the only thing she thought would help. She headed
for Sunset Beach.
    As the sun slipped behind the horizon, the
beach-goers headed home. All but Roxanne. She sat there quietly
with her arms draped across her knees. A cool ocean breeze blew in,
and she observed the surf, listening for something. Anything.
Anything that could let her know everything would be okay. She
needed something, or someone, to come along and cleanse her soul.
Free her of all her anxieties.
    After a while, something from within appeased
her.
    Just don’t lose control . She couldn’t let all
the jumbled up thinking get in the way. Then the confusion set in.
She didn’t know if she should run and hide—or run to Frank and beg
him not to go.
    What am I supposed to do when he’s gone ?
    “I thought I’d find you here,” Frank’s voice wrapped
her in comfort, albeit temporary, but comfort nonetheless.
    She tried to smile, but continued to stare straight
ahead.
    “What are you doing here?” he asked, sitting on the
ground beside her.
    “Thinking,” she said, still staring into the
darkness.
    “I guess you know…I have to go back out on the road
again.”
    “Yes, I do.”
    “And we both know that you can’t afford to go with
me this time.” He cleared his throat, as if that’d drive out the
nerves. “I wish I could afford to take you with me.”
    “But you can’t.”
    “No. I can’t,” his voice hardened, in a
self-condemning way. “And I wish I didn’t have to leave you behind
either.”
    She tangled her fingers around his. “When I met
you…” She looked at him and tried to smile, failing pitifully. “You
were already a musician. This was already your world.” She looked
back out at the ocean. “I didn’t have a complaint coming.”
    “So why’d you stay?” he asked, feeling her squeeze
his hand gently. “There was just something about me?” He laughed
nervously.
    “Yeah…there’s something about you all right.”
Helplessness spilled out in her voice. “And it haunts me every
minute of every day.”
    “At least it won’t be easy for you to forget about
me.”
    Roxanne laughed helplessly. “I don’t think you’re
going to have to worry about that.”
    Frank touched her cheek, guiding her face to meet
his gaze. “Roxie…I love you more than anything in this world.”
    More than music? She looked into his hypnotic
blue eyes. “Me too.”
    “You will be in