Page 24 of Two Hearts' Subterfuge

“Of course, it would. Since you’ve seemed to have bonded with her, any advice is welcome,” Danielle agreed. “I couldn’t stand going back to the way things were.”

“You shouldn’t give her any reason to doubt her talent. What she really wants is your attention. I know it’s none of my business, but I read somewhere that you mentored Eve, and another musician—I think it was Zane Giordano. If you don’t take her equally seriously, you’re probably going to crush her.”

Danielle nodded firmly. “I’ll make the time. I never meant to make her feel like she’s any less important or special to me than Eve, just because she’s become an established artist. Anything else?”

“It would probably be better to insist on things rather than to ask. And make sure that any advice you give her when mentoring won’t bring back her self-doubt.”

Danielle cocked her head. “I’m not sure if I understand.”

“Performing is so new to her. Don’t give her any reason to say no when an opportunity comes up.”

“Okay. So, if I want her to perform with me at a charity event, I don’t ask her if she wants to do it. I just tell her to make sure that she’s available and ready to perform.”

“Exactly,” Aylin said, giving Danielle an impish grin. “How do you think we got her onstage last night? Desiree, Marc and I wouldn’t let her get a word in edgewise after we told her she was performing with them. She didn’t get a chance to be scared to death.”

Danielle barked out a laugh. “I had wondered. She’s always been so skittish.”

“Truthfully, Desiree and Marc were worried that she wouldn’t still be waiting after they performed their regular act. I think that seeing Joanie and all the volunteers from the dressing rooms stop what they were doing to watch her might have had something to do with Lara not chickening out.”

Danielle laughed harder, finally checking her watch.

“Well, I suppose I’d better let you go eat lunch with your family. Aylin—you’re an amazing girl,” Danielle said, standing. “I’m hoping we’ll get a chance to see more of you once all of the Broussard family issues are resolved. Celine’s become a good friend too, you know. My husband Jake was the one who helped her rediscover Alex.”

Aylin smiled as she reached for her purse, heading to the door with Danielle. “I hope I’ll get a chance to come back to Crystal Rock again someday too. I really feel comfortable here. More than I do at home, actually. I’d love to see how this place runs behind the scenes.”

“You know, Aylin. Maybe you can convince your father to send you to design school if you offer to take some business classes online while you’re doing it. Being a designer isn’t all about the designing. Maybe you can have your own line of clothing someday or even run your own shop.”

Aylin pursed her lips, locking the door behind them as they stepped into the walkway from the boutique. “That’s a great idea. Dad might actually go for something like that too. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Danielle answered, hesitating. “I hope you don’t mind if I hug you?”

“Of course not,” Aylin said as Danielle quickly tugged her into her arms, patting her lightly on the back before breaking away. “You guys seem to do a lot more of that here than we do at home.”

Danielle barked out another laugh as they headed toward the restaurant.

Chapter Thirteen

As the family made their usual rounds on Christmas Eve, visiting friends and making appearances at some of the events taking place in town and back at the Inn, Ben couldn’t help thinking that the situation felt kind of strange. Everywhere they went, Lara was the center of attention.

And the crazy thing about it?

She didn’t seem to mind.

Ben had to fend off more than one guy who was asking if she was seeing anyone, and for some reason, he was ready to punch each one of them in the nose, including one of his friends. His sister was fragile. She didn’t need guys putting the moves on her right now.

What she did need to do was adjust to her new persona.

No more black spiked hair, or dog collars or even black clothes. Mom had gone to her friend Rene who owned the boutique and had asked for a few recommended items. Apparently, Aylin, the girl that Lara had bonded with had beenworking there this morning, so she’d gathered a selection of clothes that she thought would look good on Lara.

And Ben had wondered…

Nah. That would be too much of a coincidence. It couldn’t beher. Ben had already drilled Rene about her employees the previous night, and the girl that he’d seen through the window hadn’t been one of them.

“Ben?” Dad’s look was quizzical.

“Hey, Dad. What’s up?”

“I thought I’d let you know that we haven’t been able to get a name for the person that was driving that car you saw the other day. The car wasn’t actually a rental, but was owned by a southern-based company, so we’re trying to uncover the company’s owner.”

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