Return To Rose Cottage: The Laws of Attraction

A part of him wanted to go back to Ashley’s and bat the whole idea around with her for a while. He had a hunch she would bring a unique perspective to the picture. Maybe it would even help her wrestle with her own dilemma. They could be sounding boards for each other, at least once she got over the shock of discovering that he was one of those lawyers she thought he held in such disdain.

He sighed and dismissed the idea. Ashley didn’t want a sounding board right now. She wanted to hibernate and lick her wounds. He honestly couldn’t blame her. He’d give her tonight to do that, but come morning, he was going to be back over there and was going to insist they talk her situation out some more, especially if she was still neck-deep in guilt.

“You look like a man with a lot on his mind.” Mike startled Josh out of his reverie when he found Josh still sitting behind the wheel of his car in his driveway after he’d driven home from Ashley’s.

“Just thinking about this and that,” Josh said, climbing out of the car and plastering a fake smile of welcome on his face. “What are you doing here?”

“Actually I was out for a walk and saw your car turn in. I decided I’d stop by and see if you wanted a little company. Melanie and Jessie went shopping for school supplies so I’m at loose ends.”

Josh grinned at the restless note in Mike’s voice. “Is that what marriage does to you, makes you incapable of being on your own for a few hours?”

Mike laughed. “Pretty much. I’m still shocked by that myself.” He gave Josh a speculative look. “You’re on your own pretty early, too. Did Ashley kick you out?”

“She had some things she needed to think through,” he said, careful not to allude to what those things were. If she didn’t want her family to know, it wasn’t up to him to spill the beans.

“About your relationship?” Mike prodded.

“No way. To hear her tell it, we don’t have a relationship.”

“I see. What’s your take on that?”

Josh gave the question some serious thought. He liked her, no question about that. He was attracted to her. Definitely no question about that, either. Did they have a future? How could he possibly answer that when neither of them had a clue what they really wanted for the rest of their lives, professionally speaking, anyway? He settled for giving a reply that was honest as far as it went.

“I think that depends on how determined she is to go back to Boston,” he told Mike. “There’s not much chance of having a relationship with someone whose life is hundreds of miles away.”

Mike didn’t seem convinced. “You hear about longdistance relationships working all the time. They’re tough, but it can be done if both people are committed to it.”

“I think it’s a little soon for either of us to be thinking about commitment. We barely know each other.”

“Sometimes the whole lightning-bolt thing happens,” Mike reminded him. “It happened that way for me and Melanie. Same thing with Rick and Maggie. Maybe it’s the way things go with the D’Angelo women.”

Josh thought of how connected he sometimes felt to Ashley, far more connected than he’d ever felt to Stephanie, despite having known Stephanie so much longer. Maybe Mike was right. Maybe time had nothing to do with love. Still, for a plodder like him, it seemed wrong to be thinking of jumping from thoughts of an eventual engagement to a certain woman one day, to a full-throttle relationship with another woman a few days later. A full-throttle affair, maybe, but he’d already vetoed that idea.

“Let’s not jump the gun,” he told Mike. “I don’t think Ashley’s in the best place to be worrying about a relationship with anyone right now.”

Mike regarded him with pity. “A word of advice, don’t wait for her to decide or to be in the right place. If you want her, let her know it. If you want her to stay here, then pull out the big guns and persuade her to stay. If she’s anything like her sisters, this area is in her blood just as much as Boston is, but it might take a little push to help her realize that.”

Josh nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. Now how about a beer?” he suggested, anxious to change the subject. “We can swap lies and gossip about everyone we know except the D’Angelo women.”

Mike laughed. “Total avoidance. It’s a great tactic. I used it a lot. In the end, it didn’t matter. You can get those women out of your head, but it’s impossible to get them out of your blood.”

Josh was beginning to get that. Oddly, it didn’t terrify him half as much as it should have.

It took a great deal of courage for Ashley to call Jo in Boston the minute Josh left. There were things she needed to know. If her life as she knew it was over, she needed to start making an adjustment right now. She’d have to scale down her lifestyle, find a whole new career, maybe even move to some other city.

“Slow down,” she scolded herself as she dialed her sister’s number. “This isn’t the time for making rash decisions. Get the facts first.”

Jo picked up on the fourth ring, her tone hesitant.

“Hey, it’s me,” Ashley said.

“Thank God. I almost didn’t pick up.”

“Why?”

“The media,” Jo said succinctly. “They’re trying to track you down. This latest beating—you have heard about it, right?”

“I’ve heard.”

“Well, as you can imagine, it’s stirred them up all over again. They want your reaction to it.”

“I’m so sorry. You need to get caller ID.”

“No, I don’t. This will pass. How are you? How did you find out, anyway? I was hoping it hadn’t made the news down there.”

“There was an item in the Richmond paper,” Ashley admitted. “So how bad is it? Are the papers screaming for my head?”

“Of course not,” Jo said.

Unfortunately, her baby sister was a terrible liar. Ashley heard the faint hesitation in her voice.

“Come on, Jo. What are they saying? Tell the truth. If you don’t, I’ll just have to call the office and ask them what’s going on. Something tells me they won’t sugarcoat anything. I’ll be lucky to have a job. They loved having me on board when I was saving the innocent and bringing in great PR for the firm, but now? I can’t imagine they’re happy about this.”

“Okay, it’s bad,” Jo admitted. “But that’s today. The beating just took place yesterday. Everyone’s bound to be in an uproar. Things will quiet down in a few days. One paper already put some perspective on the story by asking how the prosecution and cops screwed up the first trial so badly. They’ve stopped focusing on you completely.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m off the hook, even with that paper. It just means that the prosecutor and police are dangling on the hook with me,” Ashley said cynically. She bit back a sigh. “Maybe I should go back and face the music.”

“Absolutely not,” Jo said. “You stay right where you are. We’re all agreed about that.”

“Everyone in the family knows?”

“Mom and Dad do, of course. They’ve been getting the same calls I have.”

“Dammit,” Ashley muttered. “I’ll call them and tell them not to answer the phone.”

“No need. I think Dad’s actually enjoying giving the media an earful about irresponsible reporting. You know how he is when anyone picks on one of his baby girls.”

The reminder almost brought a smile to Ashley’s lips. Max D’Angelo was a stereotypical overly protective Italian father. Nobody hurt one of his daughters. Heck, it was a wonder any of them had ever had a date, given the way he loomed over every male to cross the threshold. As teenagers, they had all been driven crazy by it.

Now Ashley could only be grateful for her father’s innate protectiveness. He’d stand between her and an entire army of reporters and photographers, if need be.

“He’s something, isn’t he?” she said.

“He loves you to pieces,” Jo said. “Don’t worry about him and Mom, okay? They just want to be sure you’re all right. They think Rose Cottage is the perfect place for you till this mess settles down. They’re relieved that you’re not here in the thick of it.”

“Have you spoken to Maggie or Melanie?”

Jo hesitated. “Don’t be furious with me. I did try to call them to let them know what had happened, so they could decide the best way to break the news to you, but neither one was home. This wasn’t the kind of message I wanted to leave on a machine. I think you should tell them, though. You shouldn’t be alone.”