“Never going to happen. Now, leave.” The stern expression she’s wearing could rival any hardball music mogul who is trying to negotiate a deal any day, and I love it.

But above all else, I feel there’s still hope that she’ll give me a second chance to prove that she can trust me. I want to be the one that she allows to help her.

CELEBRITY POP BUZZ NIGHTLY

The camera zooms in on the program’s top field reporter, Linda Bronson. Her golden hair flows in the delicate breeze as she stands in front of a skyscraper in downtown Columbus, Ohio. “Good evening, I’m Linda Bronson, reporting to you live from Columbus, Ace White’s hometown. As many of you already know, Mr. White has now been missing for well over a month. The reward for information leading to discovering where Mr. White may be has now been doubled by his tour manager, Jane Ann Rogers.”

The television show begins flashing several pictures of a bearded, long-haired Ace White and then flashes to a press conference being held by the chief of police at the LAPD.

“As Chief Wolfe stated in the conference he gave earlier this week, finding a missing person a month from their disappearance becomes a hard task. At this point everyone involved is fearing the worst. Many believe Ace White has met an untimely demise since there’s been absolutely no activity on his credit cards or cell phone. This has been called one of the most intriguing cases since Jimmy Hoffa went missing.

“I want you all to rest assured that I’m not going to give up. I’m going to keep turning stones until something pops up. For Celebrity Pop Buzz Nightly, I’m Linda Bronson.”

IRIS

I stand in the road, still steaming mad as I watch the pricy BMW pull out of the trailer park. I can’t believe Tanner Lawrence had the nerve to not only show his face here, but had the audacity to ask me out on a date after the way he screwed around on me right after high school.

Asshole.

“You handled that well, honey,” Adele calls from the rocker, her usual seat when the weather is nice. “Gee-Gee would’ve been proud of the way you stood up to him.”

I smile at her. Gran and Adele never liked Tanner. Oh, I suppose they tolerated him for my sake, but they certainly didn’t enjoy his company. Gran told me after I broke it off with him that she thought he was a dirty snake and was glad I discovered how he really was before I did something crazy like marry him or get knocked up by him one day.

I wonder what Gran would’ve thought about Ace? I bet she would’ve liked him.

My eyes flit to Ace, who appears to be overly chummy with Adele, which is odd, considering Adele really doesn’t like anyone and does her best to keep to herself. Gran was about the only person who ever visited Adele, with the exception of Birdie’s mother, who would stop by from time to time to bum money off her, and Birdie once she got her first job at sixteen.

I debate going over to hang out and chat with Adele to get some advice from her until I’ve cooled off, but with the way Ace has been ignoring me for the past week, I think I’d better not, since he’s sitting over there and I just might lay into him too.

I take a step backward and Ace frowns at me like he’s disappointed that I’m not coming over.

“I’ll see you later, Adele,” I say.

Ace leans forward in his chair, and for a moment it appears that he might be coming after me, but he stops the moment I shake my head slightly to discourage him.

I’m too worked up over this whole tax situation with Tanner, and I don’t need Ace around right now, reminding me of how he rejected me.

I need time alone—time to think.

The rest of the afternoon and into the evening I busy myself with sorting the last of Gran’s things. I tape the last cardboard box full of clothes shut just as there’s a knock on the door. I glance up at the clock on Gran’s nightstand. It’s time for Birdie to be getting off work, so I’m sure it’s just her coming to hang out as usual.

“Come in,” I call from the back bedroom. “I’m in Gran’s room!”

“Iris?” Ace calls.

I gasp and catch a glimpse of my sweaty face in the mirror on Gran’s dresser.

Shit!

I look like hell.

Quickly I work on smoothing down the unruly curls that have sprung out all around my face. “Be right out.”

Oh my God. What’s he doing here?

As my pulse quickens beneath my skin, I hurry out of the bedroom and down the hall, trying to figure out what he could possibly want.

The minute my eyes land on Ace, my heart does a double thump against my ribs.

He’s got on those expensive-looking jeans again that hug his sexy backside perfectly, and a tight T-shirt that shows off his toned chest. Could this man be any more stunning?

He holds up a pizza box and a six-pack of beer. “I brought the peace offering this time. It’s not cookies . . . but . . . I figured this could work, since I don’t bake for shit.”

His eyes meet mine and he chews on the corner of his lower lip like he’s worried I might tell him to take a hike. While I should be angry with him for the way he walked out on me and then ignored me, I can’t. I like him too much. Now that I know his secret, I understand why he’s fighting so hard to keep me at bay. He doesn’t want to be found out for some reason, so I can respect his decision to push me away, even though I wish I could tell him that he doesn’t have to—that he can trust me.

“Great. I’m starving.” I smile at him, and the worried expression morphs into a lopsided grin.