All She Needs to Know Read online

  Such wasted effort for a has-been actor.

  ***

  Summer glanced at the clock on the newsroom wall. 5 p.m. Still plenty of time to write and edit the profile about Faith Sheridan. It wasn’t due to Drew until 9:30.

  She had written a similar profile for her health series every week for the past six months. And they were always a breeze, her favorite assignments each week.

  So why had she struggled with it for the past hour? She barely cobbled together two paragraphs.

  She knew the answer. Because Kyle Mills is back in Spring Valley.

  She forced herself to refocus. Faith’s story deserved her full attention.

  But images of Kyle in his worn jeans and motorcycle jacket continued to flash in her mind. She reached across her desk and grabbed the empty coffee mug, hoping a short break in the lunch room might clear her mind.

  As a loud thud landed at the other end of her desk, Summer snapped her head back.

  "Hey, Summer." Noelle picked up a paper clip and fiddled with it.

  Summer smiled. "You would not believe the day I had. Guess who I saw today?" Too excited to wait for Noelle to answer, she continued. "Kyle Mills walked into Faith Sheridan’s hospital room during my interview with her. I couldn’t believe my eyes."

  Noelle’s eyes widened. "I would have been surprised, too. I’ve been watching his films since high school. Even before high school. So what’s he doing here in Spring Valley?"

  "He lived here years ago. We dated for a few months back in high school—"

  "Wait!" Noelle sprang to her feet. "How did I not know Kyle Mills went to high school in Spring Valley? And all these months we’ve been friends, how did I not know you dated a celebrity?" She crossed her arms and sat back down on the edge of the desk, stretching her legs out in front of her as she leaned back. "If I ever dated a celebrity, it would be the first thing I would tell people."

  "He wasn’t a celebrity then." Summer laughed. "He moved to Spring Valley from Wyoming during our senior year in high school. We only dated a few months, and then he left for LA that winter to film Young Love."

  "Young Love! My favorite film as a teenager!" Noelle uncrossed her arms and grabbed the edge of the desk underneath her. "I must have watched that movie a dozen times the year it came out — and two dozen more since then. My poor husband still gets jealous when we come across one of Kyle’s films on TV. I have to stop and watch at least a little bit. It infuriates Tim!" She leaned forward. "So have you kept in touch with Kyle at all over the years?"

  Summer shook her head. "After he left that winter, I never saw him again. Until today. Anyway, things didn’t end well between us back in high school."

  "Oh, I’m sorry." Noelle scrunched her nose.

  "Nothing horrible happened." Summer reassured her.

  Noelle’s face relaxed. "Tell, tell."

  "The two weeks before he left for Los Angeles, he started to open up to me. Finally. He talked about wanting to become an actor." Summer recalled the future she imagined they would have together.

  Noelle tilted her head. "So what went wrong? Why didn’t you keep in touch with him?"

  "I thought we’d continue dating long-distance, after he moved to LA." Summer shrugged. "But he made it clear he didn’t want to continue the relationship. He said goodbye in the school parking lot the day he left for Los Angeles and didn’t even ask to see me later that night, before his private plane flight out of Wisconsin. I guess I hoped — expected, really — it would be harder for him to say goodbye."

  Noelle leaned back. "So, do you think he’s moved back to Spring Valley permanently?" She slid farther back onto the desk.

  "Not possible." Summer shook her head. "I think his mother and sister still live in town. He must be visiting family." That had to be the reason for his visit, Summer supposed. Although, she hadn’t run into Kyle’s mother or sister. Not in the year she’d been back to Spring Valley. Or had she? She only saw them a few times. And that was fifteen years ago. Would she even recognize them now, all these years later?

  But somehow she’d managed to avoid running into Kyle in the weeks he’d been in town performing in Streetcar, so maybe she hadn’t crossed paths with the rest of his family either?

  Summer felt a light tap on her shoulder.

  "Summer?"

  Summer cringed. How long have I been daydreaming?

  Noelle smiled, seemingly unfazed, and used to Summer’s absent-mindedness. "So, do you think you’ll see Kyle again while he’s in town?" Noelle’s eyebrows rose as she nodded.

  With Noelle still nodding, prodding her to say yes, Summer recalled the familiar way Kyle looked at her in the hospital room.

  No one else ever looked at her that way.

  But she promised herself years ago she’d never give him the chance to hurt her again. "I doubt I’ll see him again." Summer forced a smile. "Anyway, it’s probably for the best if I don’t. Kyle’s a Hollywood actor, or at least had been at one time, and I’m a community reporter. I can’t imagine we have anything in common anymore. We dated a lifetime ago. We were two different people then."

  "But, Summer..." Noelle leaned forward. "What if he is living in Spring Valley now? Would you consider staying here, instead of moving back to New York? If Kyle were here, for good, would you want to stay in Spring Valley, too?"

  "My dream is still to write for the New York Tribune," Summer declared. "A year ago, when my mother got sick, I didn’t hesitate to leave my job at the White Plains News and put all my career plans on hold to move back here. But now that my mother’s gone, there’s nothing keeping me here."

  "Nothing will deter you from the job at the Tribune?" Noelle’s eyebrow rose again.

  Summer shook her head. "When I left New York, I knew it would be a temporary move. And nothing’s changed. As soon as I sell my mother’s house, I’ll be able to get back to my life in New York."

  "How are things going with the sale of the house?" Noelle’s tone stiffened. "I just proofed the classified pages for tomorrow’s paper and noticed your real estate agent is advertising an open house there on Sunday."

  "Things have been slow so far," Summer confirmed. "Not too many showings. No offers yet. But I’m trying to be patient."

  Noelle stood. "I’m sure the house will sell soon." She patted Summer on the shoulder. "Well...I’d better let you get back to work on the article about Kyle."

  "You mean the article about Faith." Summer chewed on her lip. She hadn’t meant to admonish Noelle so harshly.

  "Right, yes, yes — that’s what I meant." Noelle spun around to leave. Then she raised her hands and twirled back toward Summer. "I almost forgot why I came by in the first place." She let out a laugh. "Some of us are getting together for drinks after work on Friday. Do you want to meet up with us?"

  "Text me the information where you’ll be." Summer gathered up the papers scattered on her desk. "I’ll have to see what my interview schedule is like that day, but I’ll try to stop by."

  Noelle’s high heels clicked across the floor as she headed toward the advertising department.

  Summer checked the wall clock again. 6:15. She could still make the deadline.

  If there were no other distractions.

  ***

  A little after 8 p.m., Summer finished the last paragraph of the article. She scrolled to the top of the computer screen and browsed the profile one last time.

  She only mentioned Kyle once, in the final paragraph. Would Drew want Kyle to be a more prominent part of the story? Summer suspected he would want to capitalize on Kyle’s celebrity status. Well, his former celebrity status, anyway.

  In a few of their earlier conversations, Drew had fretted about the dwindling circulation figures at the Observer. It was an issue that plagued all print newspapers in the past decade, with the emergence of online media.

  But Summer didn
’t change anything in the article and moved the file to the "Unedited" folder for Drew to read.

  She would never let an actor overshadow Faith’s story.

  Not even Kyle Mills.

  ***

  Kyle Mills lingered in the bar nursing a beer. Most of the cast from Streetcar had left hours ago. All except Tyler Oswald.

  "I saw Summer Madison today," Kyle blurted out. "You know, I haven’t seen her in over fifteen years, since I left Spring Valley for Los Angeles."

  Tyler lifted the glass mug and sipped the foam off the top of the amber ale. "You dated in high school, right?"

  "Yeah." Kyle crossed his arms and rested them on the bar as he marveled at how Summer hadn’t changed in fifteen years. She had the same hourglass figure. Same wavy blond hair that stopped at the top of her shoulders. "We were only dating a few months when I got offered the part in Young Love and I left for LA in the middle of the school year. But I always regretted how things ended with her. I regretted things ended at all."

  Tyler put his beer mug down on the bar with so much force it made a thud when the heavy glass hit the wood. "I didn’t know you felt that way about Summer. In high school I always thought you had a casual relationship with her. You seemed so casual about everything back then."

  Kyle shrugged as he stared into his beer. "When I got cast in Young Love and decided to move to Los Angeles, I wanted to continue the relationship with her long-distance."

  Tyler leaned closer to Kyle. "So why did you break up with her?"

  "Oh...uh..." Kyle worried he had already revealed too much. Unsure how much more he wanted to share, he searched for the right words. "Well...I knew my acting career had to be my priority. I didn’t want Summer to have to take a back seat to that." Kyle sipped his beer. "Plus, she dreamed of working for the New York Tribune. I couldn’t ask her to give that up for me. It wouldn’t have been fair."

  Tyler thwacked Kyle on the back. "That first year in LA had to be a crazy time for you. With all that media attention on you after Young Love came out...Even we lost touch then, too."

  Kyle shifted on the bar stool. "Yeah, I guess that’s why I thought it would be easier on Summer if I ended our relationship."

  Tyler took another sip of beer. "It must have been quite a shock to see her today, after all this time."

  Kyle lifted the mug to his lips. "I assumed I’d never see her again." He gulped the rest of the dark beer.

  Tyler’s eyes widened. "Do you think there’s any chance of picking things up where you left off?"

  Kyle had wondered the same thing all day. Would Summer give me a second chance? But he knew the answer. Of course not. Not after the way he left things with her all those years ago. He shook his head. "Too much time has passed. We’re both in different places now." He glanced at the clock behind the bar. Midnight already? "Hey, it’s getting late, Tyler." Kyle grabbed his coat from the stool next to him. "We should probably be going. We have the matinee tomorrow and should get some sleep before we have to be back at the theater tomorrow morning."

  They each left money on the bar and dashed out into the brisk air.

  As they continued across the parking lot in silence, Kyle wanted to confide in Tyler, admit that he couldn’t get too close to Summer because he needed to protect his secret, now more than ever, with his new action film, Wreckless, about to open nationwide in a few months.

  After twelve years, reviving his failed Hollywood film career finally seemed possible.

  So why did he have to run into Summer now?

  Kyle and Tyler reached their cars, parked next to each other in the almost empty lot. Kyle opened the car door and started to climb into his Porsche. "See you tomorrow, Tyler."

  Tyler waved from in front of his rusty Ford Focus. "See ya."

  As Kyle drove to the bed-and-breakfast he was staying at while in town, the image that haunted him all day remained etched in his mind.

  Summer’s eyes, the lightest shade of blue.

  So comforting and nurturing.

  CHAPTER 2

  Drew breezed past Summer’s desk. "Can I see you, Summer? My office." He pointed straight ahead.

  Summer stopped reviewing her emails and jumped up to follow Drew into his office.

  As she trailed behind him, a pit formed in her stomach. After working for Drew for a year, he still made her nervous at times.

  But by the time they crossed the newsroom and reached his office, she felt more at ease as she plopped onto the wooden chair in front of Drew’s wide mahogany desk.

  Drew settled into the oversized burgundy leather chair behind his desk. "Listen Summer, you wrote a great article about Faith Sheridan." He pushed away the newspapers strewn across his desk and cleared an empty space. "People are already emailing Letters to the Editor, saying how inspiring she is. And there are loads of comments on the website praising Kyle, too."

  Didn’t he see the negative comments calling Kyle’s visit a publicity stunt? Summer wondered.

  But she couldn’t bring it up.

  She would need a favorable reference from Drew when she applied to the New York Tribune in a few weeks. And Drew had shown a mean streak with other reporters at times.

  So she needed to stay on his good side.

  She smiled. "Readers can see how optimistic Faith is about her prognosis. And her decision to speak about her illness, to raise awareness about Hodgkin’s, has moved readers."

  Drew’s eyes widened. "And what a photo of Kyle, huh!"

  Summer nodded, pretending to agree. "Faith’s happy with the article, too. She left a message for me this morning."

  Drew leaned forward. "You know, whenever we have a high-profile story on the front page, it helps our newsstand sales. I just saw the figures from yesterday’s issue." He held up his hand. "They’re double the normal sales." He threw his head back.

  "When I saw Kyle at the hospital..." Summer hesitated. "...it took me by surprise."

  Drew peered out the window and leaned back in his chair. "Wish there had been time to call you, Summer." He folded his hands behind his head. "It happened so fast. Maxine called. I got in touch with the PR director at Grace Hospital. All in a matter of thirty minutes."

  "Well..." Summer smiled to mask her disappointment. "Faith loved meeting Kyle. But when I wrote the final draft of the article I wanted to keep the focus on Faith, not Kyle."

  Drew shot forward and leaned halfway across the desk. "Let’s not leave the story there, Summer. Kyle’s return to Spring Valley could be the best thing for the Observer. We can’t let this opportunity pass. Many of the comments on the website are from people who knew him when he lived here." He stretched farther across the desk. "There are even comments from people in Jackson, Wyoming, who knew him before he moved to Spring Valley. Everybody’s wondering where he’s been for twelve years. I want you to write a follow-up. Let’s do a where-is-he-now piece."

  Summer’s stomach churned. "Okay," she squeaked. But I shouldn’t be writing about Kyle. Not with our dating history. The assignment should go to another reporter. She had to tell Drew. She took a deep breath. Although, after fifteen years, Kyle’s practically a stranger, Summer reasoned. She dismissed her concerns and kept quiet.

  Drew gathered up the newspapers on his desk and Summer took it as her cue to leave. She stood. "I’ll call Maxine and arrange the interview with Kyle." Her chest tightened at the thought of having to talk to Maxine again.

  Drew unfolded one of the newspapers. "Set it up in the next few days. I want to run the story as soon as possible."

  She turned and started to walk out of the office.

  "Wait, Summer!"

  She spun around.

  "One more thing..." Drew dropped the newspaper in his hands and it fell into the large pile on his desk. "Maxine mentioned Kyle’s going to be starring in a big-budget action film. It will be released in a few months
." He paused as his eyes rose. "...In April." His eyes lowered again. "I think that’s when Maxine said the movie would be coming out... Anyway, let me know what you can find out about it, but don’t include anything in the article yet. Let’s save that angle. You can interview Kyle again when the movie is released."

  "Sure," Summer answered. "Will do." As she staggered out of Drew’s office, her stomach fluttered again.

  She trudged across the newsroom. Kyle’s going to be starring in a new film? With every step, the urge to march back into Drew’s office grew.

  When she reached her desk, she plunked down onto the chair.

  She should tell Drew about her previous relationship with Kyle.

  But then he’d surely reassign the story to another reporter.

  So she couldn’t tell Drew.

  Not yet.

  Not until she found out the real reason Kyle visited Faith.

  ***

  Summer opened the heavy glass door and stepped into Brew City Espresso. She walked up to the counter and ordered a chai latte.

  As she juggled the mug, a handful of change, and a small tote with her notebook, pens, and other supplies, she eyed an empty table in the corner of the cafe, next to a window overlooking the parking lot. Perfect. She’d be able to see Kyle when he arrived.

  She tottered over to the table and placed the cup and her tote bag on the table, managing not to spill anything. She sat and reached into her bag. As she searched for her notebook she scanned the cafe.

  Kyle waved from the doorway and headed for the counter. A few minutes later, he approached the table carrying a steaming mug.

  He placed the coffee next to Summer’s mug and tote bag, finding the last empty spot on the small square table. "Have you been here long?" He removed his brown leather jacket and sat across from Summer.

  "Just got here. Thanks for meeting me." Summer tried to sound formal. And professional.

  Kyle leaned back in the wooden chair. "I’m glad you wanted to write this article. And Maxine couldn’t be happier."

  Of course Maxine is happy, Summer thought.