Her former life. She blinked. He was right. All of this was her former life—not who she was now. “You’re right. All this is behind me now. Come on. My parents are waiting.”
In the kitchen, her father was digging ingredients out of the refrigerator. “I thought I’d make some pasta. Will that work for everyone?”
“Yep,” Traci said. “As long as you let me help.”
“Nonsense. You’re our guest.”
“I’m not real good at sitting around, Charlie.”
“Fine. Grab a knife and help me chop.” Her dad looked her way. “Kimber?”
“Yes?”
“You just got out of the hospital. Go sit down with Gunnar and rest.”
“Come on,” Gunnar said. “We can sit in front of your shrine, Kimber.”
Going back into the living room, they sat down on the couch. Curling up beside him, she winced.
“I saw that. Are you in a lot of pain?”
“Kind of. But it’s not time for a pain reliever. I guess Dad was right. I do need to sit for a while.”
Next thing she knew, he was shifting her so her feet were on his lap. He pulled off her boots. Traci had gone to her hotel room, packed her bags, and brought them to the hospital. “Gunnar, what are you doing?”
“Uh, taking off your boots and helping you get comfortable?”
“My mom will be coming downstairs any moment.”
“I think she’ll survive if she sees her girl getting a foot rub. Settle, ’kay?”
“Okay.”
His strong fingers seemed to know exactly where to knead. After a couple of minutes, she stopped complaining, and a couple of minutes after that, she was fighting to keep her eyes open.
“Don’t fight it, Kimber. If you want to take a nap, then do that.”
“I just want to rest them. It’s been a terrible couple of days.”
“I know. They’ll find out who attacked you. Then it will be better.”
“I don’t know about that,” she said, with her eyes still closed. “It was dark and I didn’t really see anyone.”
“Try to keep positive.”
Finding comfort in her closed-eye world, she said, “Gunnar, the attack wasn’t the only hard thing. The shoot was tough. Being around Brett, with his questions and constant chatter was exhausting. Being back and being expected to just pick right up a life that I hadn’t been a part of for months was hard too.”
“But you did it, right?”
“Yeah.” Gunnar was still rubbing her feet. The massage was making her the most relaxed she’d been in a week. “Tomorrow, we’ll be on our way back.”
“Yep. This isn’t going to come out right, but I’m glad I got to come here and see all your pictures.”
“They’re just pictures. I’m not even sure why my parents put them up.”
“Why would you say that, Kim?” her mother asked.
Her eyes popped back open. “Mom, I didn’t know you were here.”
Looking hurt, she said, “I just walked in. Just in time to hear you say that bit about the pictures. I can’t believe you wouldn’t think we would display them.”
“But you weren’t proud of me being a model.”
Her mother sat down. “Of course we are.”
“But you wanted me to go to college and get a job that used my brain.”
Her mother looked over at the pictures. “You’re right. You’re a smart girl and we thought all this modeling business was just a little hobby. But we were proven wrong, weren’t we?” She gestured to Kimber’s one-time pride and joy, the cover of Vogue. “We learned that things like that aren’t just about looks. It’s about a woman working really hard and becoming a success in a difficult business.” Her voice softened. “I’m sorry you thought we weren’t proud. We’re very, very proud of you. But of course, from the moment I held you for the first time, I knew you were special. We love you, Kimber.”
And just like that, Kimber started crying. “I love you too.”
Her mother got up and kissed her brow. “I’m going to get you a cup of tea. Gunnar, do you want anything?”
“No, ma’am. I’ll just sit here with Kimber.”
“I think that’s a good idea.”
After her mother joined her dad and Traci in the kitchen, Gunnar pulled Kimber into his arms. “You okay?”
“I think so.”
“I think I’ll hold you until you’re sure, yeah?”
Nodding into his chest, Kimber closed her eyes again and let cleansing tears trickle down her cheeks and stain his shirt.
Even though she realized she was going to be just fine, she decided to lean against Gunnar anyway.
It didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest.
CHAPTER 31
“Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.”
—Edna Ferber
Four days later
Kimber was pretty sure that Shannon had paid a small fortune for the use of the Bridgeport Community Theater. She’d also put in countless hours designing art for the stage, decorating the auditorium, and cleaning the space.
Dylan had shared that Shannon had also spent more time than he wanted to think about on the phone with all of the children’s parents discussing costumes, payment plans, and rehearsal schedules. All this didn’t include the many hours she’d spent on tryouts, classes, and run-throughs.
Gwen, who’d joined their little ragtag family a few months ago when their sister Traci had rescued her from an abusive boyfriend, had probably put in as much work as Shannon. Even though Gwen had recently given birth to the baby Traci had adopted, she didn’t seem to mind the stress of it all, though. Actually, Kimber thought the nineteen-year-old part-time college student rather relished the opportunity to boss the girls and their parents around.
Kimber had helped as much as she could, but it hadn’t been a lot. Shannon and her sisters were still babying her and cautioning her to not risk hurting her head.
Traci, Jennifer, their boyfriends and husbands, and even Shannon’s parents had put in time to make the “First Annual Dance With Me Nutcracker Gala” a success.
In short, they were all invested now. But at the same time, Kimber reckoned that one of them was going to stuff a sock into Shannon’s mouth if she didn’t settle down.