Aiyana was so angry that she could barely keep her foot from pressing the gas pedal to the floor. That Seth would assault Ray Kouretas made no sense. He had a temper but would never get violent, not unless he was provoked. If Kouretas had swung first or threatened Tia, she could see how a fight might break out, but even then, Seth would never use a length of board or any other weapon on an unarmed man. Not only that, but she’d been with him for several hours this afternoon. He’d acted as though nothing had happened—because, she had no doubt, nothing had happened. The only witness was Lois Ivey, and after what Seth had told her when he called from the police station a few minutes ago, Aiyana knew Lois wasn’t reliable.
Had Graham been at the bar, too? If so, what was his story?
Aiyana was planning to find out. She couldn’t believe Lois would be there alone.
She parked in front of the Ivey home and marched to the front door.
At first, no one would answer. She guessed Lois or Graham had spotted her car from one of the windows and knew it was her. But she wasn’t going to give up that easily. If she had to, she’d bang and bang and keep banging until they had to deal with her.
It took fifteen long minutes, during which Aiyana used her purse to save her hands so she could keep pounding. Even then, it was only after she started yelling, “I know you’re in there. Open up!” that Graham finally answered.
“If someone doesn’t come to the door, it’s usually because they don’t want visitors,” he barked.
“And why wouldn’t you want to see me, Graham?” she snapped. “We’ve always been on good terms.”
“We’re—” he struggled to finish his sentence “—busy.”
Again, she came right back at him. “I don’t care whether you’re busy. I want to know what the heck is going on.”
“Your boy assaulted a man at The Blue Suede Shoe last night. That’s what’s going on.”
“You saw it, too?” she challenged.
He paused for only a millisecond, but that was enough to tell Aiyana he was lying. “Of course,” he said. “What would Lois be doing at a bar at midnight if I wasn’t with her?”
“That’s what I was thinking. Glad to hear you were there, too. Why don’t you tell me exactly what you saw?”
“I don’t have to tell you anything,” he said. “Lois has already gone over it with the police.”
“And they’ve arrested Seth. Did you know that? Is that what you wanted? To lie about your son-in-law and have him arrested for something he didn’t do—at Christmas, for crying out loud?”
A flicker of uncertainty flashed in his eyes, but he attempted to wave off her words. “It won’t be a big deal. He has the money to get out of it.”
Aiyana felt her jaw drop. “That’s all you have to say? If you really saw what you claimed to have seen, I think you would’ve given me a much different response.”
The grooves in his forehead deepened. “What do you mean?” he asked with less surety.
“You know he didn’t do it. You’re simply justifying your actions by telling yourself it won’t really hurt Seth.”
“I’m done talking to you,” he said and started to close the door.
Aiyana stopped it with the palm of her hand. “If you shut me out, I’ll stand out here and pound all day if I have to.”
He rolled his eyes. “Jesus Christ! What is it you want from us?”
“The truth!”
“With Seth’s reputation, how do you know he didn’t do it?”
“Because I know my son. I know the man he has become. I can’t believe you’d falsely accuse him. I thought you were better than that.”
The last part of her statement seemed to really bother him. “I’m getting Lois,” he said in a huff. “I didn’t want to get involved in the first place.”
After he disappeared, Aiyana heard raised voices coming from inside. You talk to her! You’re the one who wanted to go to the police.
Just tell her to leave.
She won’t!
When Lois cracked the door open, she was already on the defense. “Maybe you should be over at the station, bailing out your son,” she said, “instead of banging on our door, trying to cause trouble.”
Cal was over at the station, taking care of Seth’s bail and getting him released. Aiyana felt her time was better spent trying to get the Iveys to recant. “I’m trying to cause trouble?” she echoed. “I’m not the one who’s falsely accused an innocent man.”
“I saw what I saw,” she insisted.
“And what was that?” Aiyana challenged.
“It’s just like I told the police. When I got out of the car, I saw Seth arguing with Mr. Kouretas. He was mad that Mr. Kouretas wouldn’t leave town.”
“Even though Seth was there without Tia, so there was no risk of her being photographed?”
As she blinked, Aiyana could almost see her mind scrambling to come up with a credible response. “Sh-she may have been in the car.”
“Now Tia was there, too?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see her. But that part doesn’t matter.”
“The details do matter, Lois. And you and Graham were just arriving at the bar—at midnight?”
“What are you implying? A lot of people go out late at night.”
“Not at your age. Have you ever done it before? Has anyone ever seen you at The Blue Suede Shoe at midnight?”
“Just because we’ve never done it before doesn’t mean we didn’t do it last night.”
“Okay. So let’s say you did. You go there at midnight, for the very first time, and witness a fight. Did you try to stop it?”
“I—I was yelling for Seth to stop.”
“Yelling. Then, there must’ve been others who heard you. The Blue Suede Shoe is a very popular place. Who else was there?”
“No one. We were in the parking lot.”
“Did you run into the bar to get help?”
“N-no.”
“Why not?”
She had to think about her answer. “It happened too fast.”
“So what did you do after? Go in and have a drink? If so, there must be someone who can place you there. Who’d you see?”
“No one,” she said, her voice no longer so strident. “We didn’t end up going in.”
“Because...”
“I was too upset.”
“You weren’t even there,” Aiyana said with disgust. “And if you don’t think it’ll all come out in court, you’re wrong, because Seth won’t stand for what’s happening. He’ll fight this. I hope you know that.”
“You need to leave now,” Lois said in exasperation. “I don’t have to stand out here in the cold while you call me a liar. I’ve told the cops everything I know.”
“You told them when you called them last night?”
“No, not last night. Kouretas said he was okay. This morning, he must’ve decided to go to the police, because they called me a few hours ago to see what I witnessed.”
“What you witnessed? Or what you and Graham witnessed? Because sometimes it sounds like you were there alone.”
“We were there together,” she reiterated.
“Then, let me get this straight. Kouretas was hurt and angry, and yet he just...got in his car and drove away? And you did the same?”
She seemed stumped, so Aiyana kept pressing. If she could get Lois flustered enough, maybe she’d break down and admit the truth. “Did you tell anyone else what you saw?”
“Just leave us alone!” she snapped and slammed the door.
Aiyana didn’t expect either Lois or Graham to return, but she pounded on the door again, just to make sure they were listening. “Your daughter loved Seth more than anything in the world. And this is how you treat him after she’s gone? I bet she’s rolling over in her grave.” She started to leave but turned back for one last parting salvo. “Or maybe, since she knew you so well, that’s all she would ever expect of you.”
There was no response, so she returned to her car and called Cal. “Do you have him?”
“Not yet. I’m working on it, though. How’d it go with the Iveys?”
“I’m not overly optimistic they’ll recant like they should,” she replied. “But I left them with a few things to think about.”
Seth jiggled his knee in an attempt to relieve some of his agitation as Cal drove him home. Cal was an old cattle rancher, a true cowboy, who took excellent care of Aiyana. Seth would’ve liked him for that reason alone, but he was good to everyone else, too.
“Sorry about all of this,” he’d said as soon as Seth climbed in the truck with him. “It’s not fair to you.”
“It’ll be okay,” Seth had assured him. He was angry, of course, but he believed any good lawyer should be able to get him out of such a bogus battery charge. If nothing else, Maxi’s security system would prove he didn’t leave last night. He’d tried to tell the police that Maxi probably had a way to check it, but they wouldn’t listen. They couldn’t believe longtime residents like the Iveys would ever lie. Apparently, no one on the force had heard about Graham’s gambling problem. But there might even be cameras at The Blue Suede Shoe that could prove Seth hadn’t been there—if they covered the parking lot. Kouretas was just messing with him, trying to use a little leverage to get Tia to agree to let him take her picture.
But she wasn’t going to agree. At least, Seth hoped not. He hadn’t spoken to Tia since he’d left the house earlier. Crocker had been waiting for him at the gate when he returned home, had barely let him park his car in its usual place before hauling him over to the police station, where they’d taken away his personal possessions, including his cell phone, when they booked him. He’d tried to reach her numerous times since being released, but she wasn’t picking up.
Cal glanced over as they reached Maxi’s property. “Still nothing from Tia?”
Seth shoved his phone back in his pocket. “No.” He tried to spot her car as Cal punched in the code, but it wasn’t until they’d rolled through the gate and wound down the drive that he could see she was gone.
“Damn it!” Seth jumped out the moment Cal came to a stop and then rushed into the house. Tia’s things were still in her room, so she hadn’t left permanently. But he was afraid of where she might’ve gone. He hoped she hadn’t agreed to meet Kouretas in exchange for dropping the battery charge.
The security system announced activity at the front door, so he came to the banister to look down at Cal.
“She here?” Cal asked.
“No.”
“Where could she have gone?”
“I have no idea.” Seth jogged down the stairs so he could check the kitchen for a note or anything else that might provide more information.
Cal trailed after him. “Anything?”
“No.” He slammed one of the drawers that had been left open, suggesting Tia had left in a hurry. “I hope she didn’t walk right into Kouretas’s hands, thinking she was helping me by doing so.”
Cal began jingling the change in his pocket. “How can we find out if she did?”
Seth scrolled through the many attempts he’d made to reach her on his phone. Should he try calling her again? Was she even getting his voice-mail messages?
He’d left her plenty, telling her not to let Kouretas get anywhere near her. He’d wanted to speak to her, to hear her voice so he could talk her down and explain. But maybe she’d be more likely to respond to a text.
Although he planned to tell her pretty much what he’d said in his voice mails—to stay away from Kouretas because it was all a ploy, and there was no way he wanted the paparazzo and the Iveys to get away with it—his wild accusations suddenly seemed less important than simply hearing that she was okay. Can you answer my calls? he wrote instead. Please? I’m worried about you.
He waited, but when he didn’t get a response, even to that, he started to search for Kouretas’s business card.
“What is it?” Cal asked when he came around the corner to find Seth searching the counters.
“Kouretas’s card. I had it here. I know I did.”
“And now it’s gone?”
The second Cal said that, the obvious occurred to him, and he groaned as he straightened.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Cal said.
“Tia must’ve taken it,” he replied. “How else would she reach him?”
The studio where she’d been told to go looked like an upscale warehouse. Tia’s stomach did a few somersaults while she was still out in the street. She’d disguised herself with her scarf, beanie and sunglasses, but she still ducked her head when she saw a group coming toward her.
After they passed, she walked in.
Despite being raised in a religion that eschewed physical beauty, she’d taken great pride in her looks. Since coming to LA, she’d learned they were extremely important, at least to some people. Now the accident was forcing her to decide just how important they were to her. Was she going to let the loss of her pretty face ruin her life?
She told herself it wasn’t just her looks. It was her career, too. Her beauty had been her stock-in-trade. So getting in front of a camera to show the world what Tia Beckett looked like now wasn’t going to be easy. But she was going to do all she could to get Seth off the hook for trying to protect her. He didn’t deserve the blowback he was getting.
Besides, if she had to show her face at some point—and she did if she ever wanted to live a normal life—she figured she might as well do it now and get it over with. She could only imagine how much it must’ve stung for Seth to hear that Shiloh’s parents were involved with Kouretas’s false claim. Just the thought of him being arrested and taken to jail, for an assault that never occurred, enraged her.
She kept asking herself how the Iveys could do such a thing. Even if they were desperate, it wasn’t Seth’s responsibility to pay their gambling debts.
But they wouldn’t get away with what they were trying to do. Not if she could help it.
The woman who came to greet her as she waited in the lobby was a complete stranger. She introduced herself as Nina Miles, said she was the art director and smiled warmly as she invited Tia into an inner room that was already set up with props—a stand of leafless birch trees with fake snow on the branches, the corner of a stone building that looked sort of like a cottage and a wind machine.
“Looks...wintry,” Tia muttered.
“We’re going to give the shoot some wow factor—make it as glamorous as possible, and I think the white bark on the trees and the white of the snow will be gorgeous.”
Glamorous. Gorgeous. Such words stuck out, given the situation, and hung heavy in the air. “Something that gorgeous might be difficult to accomplish,” Tia told her. “You haven’t seen my face.”
“Then, why don’t we have a look?” she said without any apparent concern.
Tears sprang to Tia’s eyes, making her grateful she was still wearing sunglasses and could hide it, but she was able to blink them back when the woman’s gentle yet professional manner didn’t falter.
“Do you mind?” she asked, and Tia let her unwrap the scarf from around her neck, which she set aside as Tia removed her sunglasses and pulled off her beanie.
Nina Miles’s expression grew somber as she used Tia’s chin to tilt her face one way and then the other. “Give me a moment,” she said and left the room.
Tia wandered to the window and looked out on the bustling streets of downtown LA. Had Ms. Miles been so shocked by what she’d seen that she was calling someone to report how terrible it was? Or to ask her superior if they should cancel the shoot?
She winced at the possibility but reminded herself that was insecurity talking. Almost any magazine would be eager for the chance she’d just given People.
True to her word, Nina reappeared a few minutes later. “Why don’t we have you come over here and take a seat? Katherine Stewart’s on her way. She’s one of the best makeup artists in the industry.”
Tia doubted makeup could fix the problem. She’d tried that herself. But she’d resigned herself to the process, and, of course, any professional shoot would start with hair and makeup, so she allowed Nina to lead her to the mirrorless vanity.
“Would you like a cup of coffee or tea while you wait?”
The lump in Tia’s throat made it difficult to speak, so she shook her head. All she wanted was to get this over with as soon as possible.
“Okay. It shouldn’t be long,” Nina said and left again.
While she was alone, Tia pulled out her phone and stared down at the many calls she’d missed from Seth. She could’ve answered while driving to LA. She’d heard her phone ring. But she was afraid he’d talk her out of what she was about to do, and she didn’t want to give herself an excuse to procrastinate this any longer.
But his latest message, a text, was new.
Can you answer my calls? Please? I’m worried about you.
Worried suggested he cared, but she was careful not to let herself believe he cared too much. They were just friends. He’d made that clear.
She considered texting a response to let him know there was no reason to be concerned, but once she allowed him to engage her, she’d have no excuse for not picking up the phone. And she couldn’t start a conversation with him until this was over.
She was just sliding her phone back into her purse when Nina came in. “It’s official. You’ve made the cover!” she announced. “We had to make some adjustments and rearrange a few things, so now we’re under a strict deadline and can’t waste a second.”
Tia had always viewed the cover of People as the epitome of success. When she was a girl, she’d saved any money she was given to be able to get a subscription without her parents knowing and used a friend’s address instead of her own—someone whose mother sold the handmade quilts the Mennonite women created at her gift shop. Each month, she’d eagerly await the release of the next issue. Then, once she took possession of it, she’d hide the magazine in the hayloft, and whenever she could get her chores done early, she’d sneak away and pore over each page, examining with envy the stars who graced the cover.
Now she was going to be on the cover herself—but only after an accident had destroyed everything she’d built since leaving her family.
At least it would be People that would reveal her new face for the first time and not the gossip rags. Kouretas might be able to come up with a story—possibly about her seeing a famous artist—or get a second-rate picture he could put in The Lowdown, but the big prize would be gone. He wouldn’t break the story like he was hoping to, and he’d have no reason to continue to try to hurt Seth—except out of spite, of course, and once he realized he no longer had a strong hand and faced retribution by someone who could afford to defend himself and even countersue, if necessary, she was willing to bet he’d back off that, too. She was consoling herself with those thoughts when Katherine rushed in, apologized for being late and shoved her purse under the vanity before examining Tia’s face.
“What do you think?” Nina asked, standing behind her and looking on.
“It’ll be difficult to cover the scars entirely, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“I have every confidence in you.” Nina turned to Tia. “I have someone coming to do your hair, too, but first I want to go over what you’ll be wearing. With so little warning, we don’t have a lot to choose from, but fortunately, I have someone at Neiman Marcus who helps me out when I’m in a pinch. She sent over an elegant ecru knit dress I believe will be spectacular on you. Why don’t we have you try it on now so that I’ll know if it’s a go before we do makeup and hair?”
Tia was impressed by how quickly they’d been able to mobilize their resources since her call. “Of course.”
She stepped behind the screen that was there to allow her a modicum of privacy, but she shouldn’t have bothered, because Nina followed her behind it as if it was nothing.
The dress had fur around the wrists as well as the drop-shoulder décolletage, and a short train, and it fit a little snug, but Nina was ecstatic about it. “Oh, my god! When we add the boots, it’s going to be every bit as spectacular as I was hoping. You look curvy, sensuous.”
Curvy and sensuous were two words her family would find cringeworthy, but Tia didn’t say anything.
With that hurdle cleared, they moved directly on to hair and makeup.
Tia’s heart raced the entire time she sat in Katherine’s chair. Her makeup seemed to take much longer than it ever had before, so she couldn’t help wondering if Katherine was struggling with her scars. But there was no way to tell. The other woman was too intent on what she was doing to speak.
When Katherine finished, Tia couldn’t help feeling slightly hopeful. The makeup artist stepped back as though satisfied with her work, and Nina nodded appreciatively. But Tia couldn’t see what they were seeing. At her request, there wasn’t a single mirror in the room. She didn’t want to see herself, get scared and back out. They didn’t want that, either, so they were happy to oblige her.
“Do I look okay?” Tia asked Nina while they were getting ready for the photographer.
Nina nodded. “Definitely.”
The shoot wasn’t exactly excruciating, but it was long and tedious. The photographer, a man named Miguel, was extremely particular. He had her move this way and that and told her to angle her face just so and to hold her hands in a certain way. She almost said, “What does it matter? All anyone is going to be looking at is my face.” But he took his work seriously, and he had the right to capture something he was proud to take credit for.
Besides, she’d already signed the agreement they’d pushed in front of her before he started shooting. They were paying her handsomely. All she could do was grin and bear it.
“That’s a wrap,” Miguel finally said, checking his watch before rushing off to get them in before the deadline, and Tia sagged in relief.
As Nina helped remove the dress, Tia was glad to have the shoot behind her. She felt she’d done the right thing in making it happen and making it happen now. But she couldn’t help being anxious about the results, because she had no idea how it would play out with her fans, her peers or the media.
She had to speak with one of their journalists after that, which took another hour, but it was soon over, too. And once it was, she felt she could talk to Seth. But she waited until she was back in her car, safely disguised by her beanie, her sunglasses and her scarf, before taking out her phone.
Another text had come in from him. Where are you? Don’t make me file a missing person report. I’m not feeling very good toward the police right now.
With a sigh, she let herself respond. Sorry. It’s been crazy. I’ll explain when I get home. Just wanted to let you know I’m okay.
Can’t you call me? came his immediate response.
In a minute, she wrote back and pulled Ray Kouretas’s card from her purse.