Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 81401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
VAN AND ZARA PHILLIPS SNEAK AWAY
THE PHILLIPS ARE BACK TOGETHER
WITH A BABY COMING VAN AND ZARA PHILLIPS REKINDLE ROMANCE
Each headline, worse than the previous, and I can’t look away from any of them despite the people that keep calling. I know that is why Lori’s face keeps lighting up my phone, and when I don’t answer, Buck calls. Every press of the decline button brings another wave of intrusion.
I’m tempted to answer just one call, to hear what my friends have to say. Are they going to tell me that I need to stay off the web? Are they going to console me or ask me if I knew? Will they bash her? I already know how they feel about her, so why put myself through the heartache of hearing my friends tell me that this is a good thing?
It’s not. There isn’t anything good about this. Not for my daughters, and definitely not for me. I’m in love with Zara, and the girls. . . They love her too. What makes this worse is that Stormy is the one who found the first image of Zara and Van together. As much as I can shelter Willow from the web, I can’t with Stormy. Teens are social media driven, and Zara knew this.
Thinking that Zara planned this sends my stomach into my throat because I know that didn’t happen. She wouldn’t have left here in a rush, lying to me about her friends being in an accident. No, something happened when she got to California, but what?
That is what I ask myself as I pace my room, racking my brain on what transpired from the time I dropped her off at the airport to the time she texted me that she had landed. Why would she text me if she had planned to see Van at all?
“She wouldn’t,” I mutter out loud. Zara is not evil, she’s far from malicious and wouldn’t hurt me the way Van hurt her.
The soft knock on my bedroom door catches me off guard. “Come in,” I say.
“Daddy?” The broken voice of my teenage daughter calls out from behind me. I’m afraid to turn around, to see her tears, but have no choice. Stormy stands in my doorway, looking much like she did the day I had to tell her that her mother died. I open my arms as an invite to come to me, and she does, clutching onto me for dear life. Tears that I have fought since I saw the first headline are now spilling over and wetting the top of her hair.
“Does Willow know?”
Stormy shakes her head against my chest. “I hid her iPad.”
“Thank you.”
My sweet daughter who has gone through so much in these past couple of months looks up at me with her own tear-stained eyes. “You need to go get her, Daddy. You need to go after Zara.”
As much as I try to prevent it, I can’t help but frown. Stormy steps out of my arms and stares me down. “Listen to me,” she says as if she’s suddenly become an adult. “Everything was fine yesterday. You don’t leave someone really happy to go back to someone that makes you really sad. He makes her sad, and when she’s with you, she’s happy.”
“People change, Stormy.”
“Not like this. I remember from the video shoot. The director kept telling Zara to look at Van when she was singing, and she refused. All their other videos show them together or her singing to him, except this new one. I’m telling you, Zara loves you. She loves us and wouldn’t do this.”
As if on cue, my phone rings. “It’s Barbara.” I show the phone to Stormy for some unknown reason, only to have her snatch it out of my hand.
“Aunt Barbara, Daddy needs a flight to wherever Zara is. He has to go after her.”
Unfortunately, neither of us hears Barbara’s reply because I’m pulling the phone away from Stormy. She glares at me, her eyes determined to burn holes into me.
“Hello?”
“I’m sure you know why I’m calling,” she says.
“I do.”
“With that said, I agree with Stormy. This. . . it all seems odd. I spent time with Zara. She asked me to represent her because she felt her current or former, depending on how you look at it, is biased toward her ex. I’ve also spoken with Zara’s lawyer about her divorce proceedings. The judge was waiting to sign off on the decree as soon as Van was released from rehab. Somehow I doubt he was able to con her into a romantic getaway considering he left rehab an hour before her plane landed.”
My mouth opens to reply, but no words come out. I’m at a loss, not sure what I’m supposed to say. All this time, I thought Barbara was against anything that I’ve been building with Zara, yet here she is, telling me to chase the girl.