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CHAPTER FOUR
Over the next week, thousands of fans clogged the roadblock. The additional crowds made it even more difficult for Roberta to get to and from work. The heightened fiasco at the barricade set her jaw to clenching. At least the police recognized her by sight now and waved her through without stopping. It was a small measure of normalcy amid the chaos Taylor Reyd caused.
Playing fetch with the dogs when she got home each evening helped revive her spirits. After spending all day cooped up in a laboratory without windows, Roberta stayed outside as much as possible, evidenced by her tan. In the early evening, sitting out on the deck soothed her nerves, though Roberta kept finding her eyes sliding next door.
Taylor was either not home or silent. Roberta glimpsed him leaving in his chauffeur-driven Escalade a few times as she took the dogs out in the morning. The Corvette had disappeared entirely. This didn’t fit her expectations of a movie star like Taylor. Unless he was going out carousing at local bars and nightclubs after she went to bed.Who knows what he is really like beyond the eyes of the press?Roberta prayed it stayed quiet. What did she care so long as the peacefulness of the neighborhood remained unspoiled? But it unsettled her that Taylor didn’t acknowledge her presence with as much as a nod or a glance.
Late Saturday afternoon, Mr. Eagan arrived to service the hot water heater. She listened to music on her phone, ironing her clean hospital scrubs. When he finished his maintenance chore, he came into the kitchen to wash his hands.
“How’s the new neighbor?” he asked as he lathered and scrubbed at his dirty hands.
“Okay, I guess.” Roberta shrugged her shoulders. “I see him leaving at times, but he hasn’t even said hello. Not a single word or wave.”
Mr. Eagan rinsed the suds off. The sudsy, dirty water swirled in the sink before circling the drain and disappearing. He rubbed his hands dry on her clean kitchen dish towel. “He says he’s seen you with the dogs out in the yard.” He stuffed his clean hands into his dirt-smeared pants pockets.
She placed the iron aside to hang the freshly pressed top. “Really? Well, I can’t imagine how he could not see me. I’m out there more than inside these days.” Roberta sniffed sharply. So, she was being spied upon but not spoken to. She picked up the iron and smacked it down on the next scrub top, rattling the ironing board so hard she quickly grabbed it in case it collapsed.
Mr. Eagan gathered his toolbox and a cardboard box of unidentifiable parts. “He wanted to know if the dogs are friendly. Seems he had a dog growing up. He sounded like he misses ’em.” Arms full, he walked toward the door.
Roberta hurried over to open the door for him. “He could come over and play with them. Lately, I’m too tired to spend much time playing with them. Course, he would have to talk to me if he did.” She followed Mr. Eagan out the door.
“I’ll tell him.” He turned and walked down the deck stairs, heading over to Taylor’s house instead of his car as Roberta had anticipated.
Panic fired through her veins like ice water. Her hand shot to her forehead before cupping her mouth to yell, “You don’t have to do that!” Her voice cracked at the higher registers. “Tell him, I mean.” Mr. Eagan continued plodding over with no sign of having heard her. “I thought you were going home,” she called out louder.
He didn’t even turn around, just spoke over his shoulder, “Nope, got to do the same to his hot water heater like I did to yours. Have a nice day now.” He climbed the back stairs to his house and disappeared inside when the door opened for him.
Clasping a hand over her mouth, Roberta fled inside the house and stayed there as long as the dogs’ bladders would allow.
Later that same night, Roberta was climbing into bed when she heard a firm knock at the kitchen door. The staccato strikes gave an authoritative urgency. Visions of uniformed police officers on the back doorstep filled her mind while she reached for her robe. She stumbled to the door, leaving the dogs shut up in the bedroom.
Her fingers fumbled with the deadbolt lock. The bolt scraped as it slid free, followed by the door’s crash as it flew in and hit the wall. The thrust of the door threw her against the kitchen table, knocking her to the floor.
Brilliant flashes blinded her, and she screamed. Spread eagle on the floor, she could do nothing but vocalize her indignant fury at the man with a camera. Roberta spewed colorful epithets when the door flew open again. It hit the wall with such force, she feared it would separate from its hinges. Taylor Reyd’s chauffeur, a bodyguard, and two police officers charged in, grabbing the photographer by any appendage they could get their hands on. They slammed him against the kitchen wall so hard that Mrs. Eagan’s plate collection crashed to the floor, exploding porcelain shards across the room.
Roberta cautiously scampered to her feet. Before she could seize her breath, the policemen dragged the cuffed photographer from the house. Taylor’s bodyguard picked up the camera, removed the media card, and smashed it against the damaged door before carrying it out to the police officers. Strobe lights from two cruisers kept reflecting alternating blue and red streaks of light against the darkness. Outside on the deck, Roberta spotted Taylor Reyd speaking to an officer before he turned, saw her, and headed her way.
Heart thumping, body shaking, Roberta stood riveted to the floor as much by his approach as she did by the attack. He gingerly walked in through the doorway, his eyes surveying the chunks of shattered porcelain scattered around her bare feet, making it too dangerous for her to move in any direction.
“Are you all right?” Taylor’s eyes searched hers carefully.
Mouth hanging open, Roberta tried to speak, but no sound came out. Those eyes, those beautiful teal eyes were staring directly at her, and she couldn’t think of anything else.
Taylor stepped closer, glass crunching under his sneakers. He gripped her forearm and leaned in. “Are you all right?”
The physical contact broke the spell. She blinked, refocusing on the scene around her. What in God’s sweet name had happened? Trembling started as she looked at the broken door and the shattered dishes.First the intruders, now an invader!Wrenching her arm away from Taylor’s grip, she reached for the wall to help shore up her rubbery knees. A boil of anger rolled up, spewing out of her mouth faster than she could stop it. “Look what you’ve done! Look what you’ve brought to my home! My life was peaceful and quiet before you got here, and now I can’t even stay in my own house without fans camping out or photographers busting down the door! So no, I’m not okay. I’m pissed off!” She stood rooted to the spot; her hands fisted on straight arms against her sides.
Taylor’s eyes grew wider at Roberta’s sudden tirade. He ran a hand through his hair, “Look, I’m sorry. I’m sure I’m making life difficult for you. I can’t control everyone. It was a tabloid photographer— paparazzi. He mistook your house for mine. My guys saw him outside your back door and called the police. I’m sorry they didn’t spot him sooner and stop him.” He gnarled his hands together before stuffing them deep in his pockets.
A few moments of silence ensued as they stared at each other, eyes blazing and nostrils flaring. Taylor broke eye contact first, glancing down. Suddenly his expression changed, and she became aware of what she must look like. His eyes traveled her length, from her pedicured toes, up her naked legs, taking in the oversized, white T-shirt skimming over taut nipples and barely covering her red polka dot panties.
In her tirade, her robe sash had come undone and splayed open. Anger forgotten, her entire body flushed under his brazen scrutiny. She fumbled with the robe, trying to wrench the edges closed.
His jaw muscles softened. Rocking on his heels, he bent his head down to get eye-to-eye. “Are you hurt?”
Roberta looked at the floor around her. There wasn’t a safe spot among porcelain shards for her to walk. There was no place to move. “I’m okay, I think.” She reached out for the wall again.
“Let me help you.” He stepped forward and scooped her up in his arms. Suddenly, she was staring straight into those soulful eyes with their long black lashes.
