“Randall! Give me back that phone!” Ellen’s screech crossed state lines.
“Your mother wants to speak to you again. Have a nice time in Ohio, baby.”
Her mother was as breathless as though she’d chased her father across the room. “Aren’t there coyotes and bears in Ohio? And mountain lions?”
Audra’s heart stopped with her mother’s questions. She was a West Coast city woman in the wilds of the Midwest. Talk about being a fish out of water.
She swallowed to loosen the wad of fear lodged in her throat. “They don’t come near the cabins.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do,” she lied. “I’ll be fine.”
“I think you should come home, Audra. What does Benita know about writer’s block? She’s your business manager, not a writer. I’m your mother. I know what you need. You need rest.”
Her mother had a point. Audra hadn’t had a full night’s sleep since she’d taken the Grammy home.
She stood and paced past the front windows. “Benita may be right. Maybe I need to get completely out of my comfort zone to jump-start my songwriting.”
Ellen sniffed again. “Well, I disagree. And so does Wallace.”
Audra stilled at the mention of her treacherous ex-boyfriend. They’d
broken up more than a month ago. Her mother knew that. “Why are you talking with him? What does he have to do with anything?”
“He wants to apologize to you. He wants your forgiveness.”
That made up her mind. She was definitely staying at the Harmony Cabins for at least a month. “Please don’t tell Wallace where I am. Even if I forgive him, we’re never getting back together.”
“You should give him another chance, Audra. He knows he’s made a mistake.”
“Wallace used me. I’m not giving him or anyone else the chance to do that again.”