The Road Home

Chapter 2

The weekend had been a blur. Harper barely remembered the photo shoot or the flashing lights. She felt weak and detached and wished she hadn't given in to Mel's method to help her forget. It hadn't. All it had done was added guilt and shame to the myriad of emotions she was struggling through. She crashed hard Saturday night only to wake up late Sunday. Thankfully, Mel and her assistants had her mostly packed for the trip. She looked out the window of the limousine and attempted once again to control her hounding emotions.

She had been to South Dakota before, but only while touring and had never taken the time to see the land. As they rode silently to their destination, she tried unsuccessfully not to think of her mother. There had been good times. She quickly pushed them from her mind. It was too painful to think of them now.

Wiping a tear away, she noticed a sprawling meadow and watched as three horses galloped across a grassy field behind a white fence. The scene was reminiscent of her life as a child in Tennessee. The horses, fence and green grass against the pale blue sky took her back to a slower paced life; hectic in its own right but nothing like today. She smiled when she saw a Palomino that reminded her of the one her father had given her when she was a child. It was her twelfth birthday. She remembered that one, due to the fact that he was actually there. No words could describe the way she felt when she watched the horse walk off the trailer; her father standing at her side. She remembered how special she felt when he had gone riding with her. No girlfriends, groupies, or even his bodyguards were with them, just the two of them together for an entire afternoon.

An abrupt stop brought her back to the present. She steadied herself with the nearest armrest as the driver whipped onto a dirt road and stopped in front of a gate. As the car came to another halt next to a security building, she reached for her brush and struggled to fix her hair.

"This is private property," the guard stated, leaning out of the booth. Harper listened, but couldn't understand her driver's muffled reply.

"Harper Wills, really?" she heard the guard say. She ignored him as he tried to see through the dark tinted window.

The gate closed behind them as the stretched limousine crept up the long dirt road toward a gravel parking lot. Trailers and buildings of every size filled the massive set. Harper's attention was drawn to the large fort in the background. She smiled momentarily at the thought of how proud Brett must be and wanted to be happy for him, but as her head pounded with every bump in the road all she wanted to do was sleep.

"There's a crowd up there." Mel grabbed her purse from beside her. "Get ready to be cordial."

"I'm exhausted," Harper whispered. Her fatigue, mixed with nausea and a penetrating emptiness, overwhelmed her.

The driver pulled into one of the parking spots next to the largest building. Harper quickly put on her black Dolce & Gabbana shades and hoped to hide her burning eyes.

Once the car came to a stop, Mel stepped out first. Harper wasn't completely out of the car before she heard Brett's voice.

"Well, if it isn't the princess of Hollywood! Hey, baby!" Brett quickly walked up to her. He grabbed her in a bear hug then spun her around.

"Put me down," Harper demanded, irately. As if her head didn't hurt enough.

Brett lowered her to the ground laughing.

"Well, what do you think?" Brett turned towards the fort.

"It's western all right." Harper tried to sound more interested than she was at the moment and hoped that her trailer had a comfortable bed. She straightened her now ruffled clothes, no thanks to Brett.