Page 37 of California Dreaming

But no. It was definitely Tessa. Her incredible knowledge and appreciation of contemporary artists all made sense now, along with the dreamy yet satisfied look in her eyes when she returned to the house after her time alone.

Now that the mystery of her afternoons off was solved, he had even more questions. The main one being, why on earth did she keep her talent a secret? If he’d been able to paint, he’d want to show his work to as many people as possible. Not hide it away.

But maybe that was the difference between him and Tessa. While he had always loved an audience, even as a little kid putting on one-man shows for his family in the backyard, Tessa clearly kept her passions inside herself, nurturing them without an audience.

Though he had a zillion questions for her about her paintings—in particular why she was working as a caregiver instead of getting her work into galleries—he decided then and there to respect that painting was Tessa’s private work.

If she wanted him to know about it, she’d tell him. At the same time, a part of him couldn’t help but feel he was lying to her by omission. Which was why he really hoped that one day in the very near future, she would trust him enough to share her passion for making art with him.

Because he never wanted her to think that he would lie to her.

Chapter Sixteen

Tessa always felt revived after a couple of hours spent painting. Even better, she’d stopped in at a thrift store on her way back to Arch’s home and found a retro crochet dress in cream that fit perfectly and cost next to nothing. So, she arrived feeling utterly content. Lately, she’d taken to painting outdoors whenever she had time off, and she’d been working on a beach landscape that was going particularly well.

Flushed and, if she were truthful, excited to see Arch again after some time apart, she called hello, and then went straight upstairs to drop off her backpack, her easel, and her new dress, and freshen up.

It wasn’t until she’d splashed some cold water on her face that she realized she hadn’t heard Arch reply.

Surely he couldn’t have gone out alone? Maybe one of the Davenports had dropped by. But when that was the case, he usually left a note by the door.

She raced downstairs and into the living room.

To her relief, she found him sitting in his usual spot in the reclining chair. His laptop was open in front of him, and she frowned. He was supposed to be taking an afternoon nap while she was gone, not working.

She was about to give him a talking-to when she noticed the expression on his face. His usually sparkling eyes were full of anguish. Immediately, her heart pounded with worry. He was so stoic, but by now she knew when he was hurting. It broke her heart to see it. But this was something more than just his aching leg.

She rushed over and asked, “What is it, Arch? Something seems really wrong.”

After what seemed like forever, Arch looked away from the screen and up at Tessa. He swallowed hard. “The director sent me a video of the stunt from the buddy movie. The one that landed me in this.” He gestured to the cast on his leg.

She walked around behind him, and he tapped Play. A golden desert scene appeared before her, the dust in the air dancing in the sun’s rays. The camera panned across the impressive landscape, over a glistening river, and then in the distance, she saw Arch on the back of a horse in full Western cowboy gear.

He looked so handsome and strong up there, she almost gasped. This was the Archer Davenport, gorgeous and magnetic, she had swooned over as a younger woman. The man she still swooned over.

Then, with a speed that wowed her, the chestnut-colored horse took off at full speed, and she watched, riveted and horrified in equal measure, as the huge, powerful animal galloped across the screen toward the river. Arch rode well, his body in rhythm with the animal’s, but then—

A terrible explosion sounded. Even though she’d known from his description of the accident that it was coming, her body still jerked. The horse spooked just as it was about to jump over the river.

And then the fall.

Oh God… the fall.

Arch’s body tumbling in slow motion, down, down. And then a closeup of the horrific pain on Arch’s face as the horse rolled over his leg.

Tessa cried out.

She couldn’t help it.

The camera moved to the hat lying on the gravel.

Arch’s fall had been terrible, and before she knew what she was doing, she put her hand on his shoulder and heard her own voice tremble as she said, “I’ll never be able to unsee that in my head.” She looked at her hand. She was actually shaking. “You could have been killed.”

He put his hand over hers as if to give her comfort. “You’re not the first person who’s told me that.”

She pulled away and came around to sit opposite him. All of a sudden, she was furious.

Angry because Arch had misled her about the accident and downplayed the whole thing.

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