Amy sat up. “Oh, yeah. I know who he is now.” She laughed without humor. “Small world.”
“Yeah. So. What do I tell them?”
Panic returned to her face. “Please, you can’t tell them you found me!”
There was more to this than just being afraid to tell her parents she was pregnant. “If you tell me the whole story, maybe I won’t. What are you really afraid of?” Legally, there wasn’t anything he could do to get her to confess the full story. Just being there talking to her violated several department regulations because of how he’d obtained the info. She wasn’t a person of interest in a crime, and she wasn’t in danger.
Finally, she sniffled and looked at him. That’s when she revealed why she couldn’t tell her family.
After leaving her, Jack drove back to work and sat in his car outside the station for a few minutes, still processing the information she’d revealed. On the one hand, he should tell Gwen and Liam. On the other, it wasn’t technically any of his business. There was no crime involved.
Then there was the matter of him falling in love with Gwen.
I’m a stupid asshole. Even knowing how much it would hurt to lose her, he’d let himself do it. Gwen and Liam would return to Ohio, and he’d never see her again. Tim would have his heart broken, too.
There was also the matter of not wanting to hurt Gwen with the information he now held. From what Amy admitted, the revelation would devastate Gwen and Liam, not to mention probably drive a permanent wedge between Amy and her siblings. Amy planned to stay out here a few extra days to give her lover time to get his affairs in order before she came home, saving her the guaranteed drama of living with her parents.
If the guy wasn’t bullshitting Amy and even planned on leaving his wife in the first place. She wouldn’t be the first person screwed over, literally and figuratively, by someone they trusted.
How well he knew that pain.
Pregnant…well, there were worse things to be. Like dead.
With a heavy sigh, he called in that he was taking lunch. Then he shifted the car into reverse and pointed it toward home.
Better to get this over with sooner rather than later.
* * * *
Liam had set himself up to work on the back deck, tapping away on his laptop with his iPod cranked. Gwen knew she should be working, too, but she also wanted to be out looking for Amy. Her life was on hold because her freaking older sister decided to bug out and leave the two of them holding the bag.
Oh, she’s damn well getting a piece of my mind when she gets home.
Then again, she couldn’t complain too much about the fact that coming out here to look for Amy in the first place was the reason she met Jack and Tim. That brought a smile to her face. Okay, so that wasn’t too bad.
Hell, that was fantastic. A dream come true.
She missed Tim. Part of her wished she’d taken up his offer to fly to Laguna with him so she could see California and the Pacific Ocean for the first time. For him she’d fly.
Might puke her guts up, but she’d fly. Then again, she had Jack all to herself for a few nights, and that was definitely not something to complain about.
She couldn’t help but smile over that fact.
Okay, enough daydreaming. Time to get to work. She was about to go get her laptop when Jack walked in.
“What are you doing home? I thought you were grabbing lunch out?” She leaned in for a kiss and didn’t miss how tense he seemed. “Okay, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” he muttered. “I just stopped by for a few minutes.”
Her intuition screamed at her. “For a man with nothing wrong, you sure do seem off your feed, so to speak.”
“What if Amy has a good reason for not coming home right now?”
Her intuition screamed even louder. “What? What the hell are you talking about?” She gasped. “You found her?”
“But what if?”
“I don’t give a shit what her reason is. She’s my sister. I’d hope she’d love me enough to care about me and hunt my ass down if I ever went AWOL. Now tell me what you found out.”
He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “She doesn’t want to come home right now, and she has a pretty good reason.”
Gwen grabbed his arm. “Would you please just tell me?”
“I promised her I wouldn’t.”
Gwen stared, in shock. “You actually talked to her? When?”
“Before I came home.”
“Where the fuck is she? Dammit, you have to tell me!”
“Only if you promise me you won’t go off half cocked.”
Gwen felt like slapping him. How could she have gone from madly in love with this man just a few hours ago to wanting to murder his ass where he stood? “Where the hell is my sister?”
He handed her a slip of paper. “Room 126.”
She snatched it out of his hand. “Why didn’t you call me as soon as you found out?”
“Because I needed to talk to her first.” He pushed away from the counter and gave her a wide berth on his way to the fridge. “The universe doesn’t revolve around you and your priorities, Gwen.”
* * * *
Oh, fuck. He knew that was the wrong thing to say—and not what he’d meant to say in the first place—as soon as he said it. Her face turned red. “Wait, hon—”
“Fuck you,” she softly said. “I can’t believe you. I trusted you. You know how damn worried we are about her and you say that to me? Nice to know where I stand.” As she started across the kitchen he snagged her arm.
“Gwen, please. Just wait.”
She jerked her arm away. “How long have you known where she was? Were you just keeping me hanging around so you could have me to fuck while Tim was gone?” He spotted the tears in her eyes.
He wanted to put his arms around her, but something inside him snapped. “Oh, that’s rich. Not like you were ever planning a return trip to Rapid City once you got back to Ohio.” He didn’t want it to end, especially not like this, but maybe it was for the best. Get the truth out on the table. Tim wouldn’t have to go through this, the good-byes with empty promises that she’d return. He could do the dirty work for them both, get the inevitable over with, and make it easier on Tim.
She looked shocked. “What are you talking about?”
“You were just using us, weren’t you? Research, right?” He used finger quotes around it. “A roll in the hay with two gay guys for one of your books? Or were we just a personal ego trophy, to see if you were hot enough to make us want a woman again?”
She stepped backward, away from him. “No!” She shook her head as tears rolled down her face. “If you’ll recall, you two made the first move.”
He did remember that, specifically that it was Tim who’d desperately wanted to make the first move, and he went along with him because she looked so much like Mel.
Yet another reason he never should have gotten involved with her. “Yeah, well, that was a mistake I shouldn’t have let happen. I knew it would have to end, and Tim especially would get his heart broken.”
This was for the best, even though he wanted to take it back, apologize and grovel, and pull her to him and hold her. If she left now, before he fell any more in love with her, he would be able to get over her. He could simply tell Tim she’d left, not that he ran her off.
“Tim would get his heart broken, but not you.” She shook her head. “I fucking knew it,” she whispered. “I’m a goddamned moron. I never should have let myself fall in love with the two of you.” She angrily wiped at her face. “I knew this was a bad fucking idea. There’s never a happily-ever-after for a situation like this in real life, is there?”
“Not in my personal experience,” he said. “Someone always gets hurt.” How well he knew that.
She turned away from him, grabbed a paper towel from over the sink, and blew her nose. She didn’t turn to face him. “And here I’d actually been practicing in my head how to break it
to my parents I’d be moving out here.” She laughed, but it sounded pained, harsh. “One of these days I’ll learn that fairy tales are only for my books,” she softly said. “If I want one, I’ll have to write it. We’ll be gone when you get home tonight.”
“I’m sorry. I really am. But it’s for the best for everyone.” He tried not to react to her revelation about how she felt or that she wanted to move, because frankly, he wasn’t sure he believed it. It could simply be an act to gain his sympathy. In truth, he didn’t know her that well. She could be a freaking manipulative bitch, for all he knew.
Except that’s not what his heart or instincts told him. Those told him to grab her, apologize, take it all back, and beg for forgiveness with a whole lot of groveling on his knees, if necessary. He loved her.
But she looked like Mel.
He couldn’t force himself to move.
She nodded but didn’t turn to face him.
“Look, your sister and Liam need you anyway. You don’t have to tell me stories about you wanting to move out here to make me feel better. You don’t need to lie to me. I know how it would have happened. You’d go home, plan to come back for a visit, then something would happen. Delays. More delays. Until a year or more passed with more excuses, and eventually we never hear from you again. I love Tim too much to let that happen. Isn’t it better we just end it now? Remember it as fun and just let it go?”
She made that sound again, a laugh that sounded like a snort, but she didn’t reply.
Part of him desperately needed her to agree with him, to ease the ache in his own heart. So he didn’t feel like such an asshole. “You’re a nice woman, you’ll find—”
“Please, don’t. Okay? Have enough respect for me not to give me that bullshit line. That’s almost as bad as the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ line.” She still wouldn’t turn from the sink.
“But I’m right, right? Tell me I’m wrong.” He felt his own anger creeping in. “Tell me I’m fucking wrong that we’d never see you again.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, because you are obviously pretty sure of yourself. Thank you for your hospitality. And please tell Tim thank you for us.”
This isn’t how he wanted things to end. But they had to end.
Things always ended.
He just wanted them ended on his own terms, with as little pain to Tim as possible. “Gwen, would you please look at me?”
“Just go. You made your position perfectly clear. I’m sorry you feel the way you do. Obviously, you’ve made up your mind. Nothing I say will change it.”
This felt wrong. His old pain warred within him. Wasn’t that part of the problem, that she looked like Mel? If she hadn’t looked like her, he never would have fallen for her, right?
But why did it hurt so much to think about her walking out of their lives?
He walked over and touched her arm, but she sidestepped away from him, still not turning. “I’m a big girl, Jack. You don’t need to comfort me to make yourself feel better.”
“Gwen—”
“Goddammit, you spoke your piece, now get the hell out of here!”
He turned and walked out, somehow resisting the urge to slam the door behind him. He was halfway back to the station when he pulled into a park and sat, thinking. What right did she have to act hurt? If he was wrong, why didn’t she beg him to change his mind? Challenge him?
Why couldn’t he get her words out of his head? I never should have let myself fall in love with the two of you.
* * * *
She held it together until she heard the door shut and his car pull out. She locked herself in the master bathroom, turned the sink on for noise, and slid down the wall to the floor where she cried for half an hour.
Moron! she screamed at herself. Fucking moron! You should have known better than to fall in love with someone you’d just met.
Someones.
She washed her face, blew her nose, and turned off the water. Then she went and packed her stuff. Not that she had much to pack, fortunately. She washed her face again then decided she looked reasonably normal enough so she could face Liam.
He still sat on the back deck, working on his laptop. He looked up when she stepped out the sliders. He immediately slid his sunglasses on top of his head as he frowned. He yanked one of his earbuds out. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
She’d rehearsed this in her head. “Jack found Amy.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. He talked to her. Do you want me to pack your stuff for you, or can you manage?”
He sat back in his chair and studied her. “Gee, what’s going on? What happened?”
She shook her head and held up a hand as she struggled to maintain her composure, finally winning that battle. “He and I just had a talk,” she softly said. “Apparently he was convinced I wasn’t serious about him and Tim.”
“Did you tell him you loved them?”
“It doesn’t matter, Li. He spoke his piece. He made it perfectly clear to me that it’s best if I leave.”
“What about Tim?”
“He said he doesn’t want Tim to get his heart broken.”
“Well what the fuck about your heart getting bro—”
“Please,” she softly begged, holding on to her composure by a rapidly fraying thread. “Please, let’s just go. I told him we’d be gone when he gets home.” She handed him the piece of paper. “This is where she is.”
Liam looked at it before returning his gaze to her. He frowned briefly then a look she recognized well took him over. Protective big brother, upset for her.
She sank to her knees in front of his chair and cried as he enveloped her in his strong, comforting embrace.
* * * *
In an hour, they were on their way to the hotel. Gwen didn’t know what she was going to say to her sister when they got there. All she knew was that she didn’t want to lose her temper.
Unfortunately, under the circumstances, she knew that it probably would happen anyway. Hopefully Liam would be able to keep her in line.
But she was dying to give Amy a piece of her mind. Amy better have a damn good excuse as to why she left.
“Don’t lose your temper, Gee,” Liam said.
“I make no promises, bro,” she replied.
“I know you’ve had a shitty day, but just try for me. Please?”
She didn’t reply, just nodded.
Liam didn’t need her help getting out of the car at the hotel. Gwen took a deep breath before they stepped up to the room door. She reached out and knocked.
At first, they received no response. Gwen was about to knock again when they heard the chain rattling. Amy opened the door looking ragged and drawn, like she’d spent the morning crying.
Her sister never looked like this. Gwen felt some of her anger dissolve. “Can we come in?” Liam gently asked.
Amy nodded and stepped aside letting them walk in. She closed the door behind them and stood there, not looking at them.
Gwen had run through several scenarios in her head over the past few days. The one that usually floated to the top of the barrel was her screaming her head off at Amy—if she was alive and well and voluntarily missing—until she lost her voice.
Amy looked like Gwen felt.
“What’s going on,” Liam asked as he settled himself on the bed closest to the door.
It looked like Amy was going to answer when they heard a cell phone go off with a ring tone Gwen had never heard before. Amy snatched a cell phone off the dresser and silenced it. That’s when Gwen realized it wasn’t Amy’s regular cell phone, which was also sitting on the dresser.
Amy sat at the table, refusing to meet their gazes. “I’m sorry I ran off like this. I didn’t mean for you to come out here looking for me.” She stroked her fingers over the phone, like she wanted to dial a number.
“Who is he?” Gwen asked, not even sure if she was right.
But Amy’s head snapped up, shock and fear in her eyes. “
Who?”
“The guy you were out here with. I’m guessing that’s what’s going on, right?” Amy stared at them. Gwen hated the cliché of someone having a deer-in-the-headlights look, but if any description applied to their sister at that exact moment, it would be that.
When Amy didn’t answer, Gwen prodded more. “Did you suddenly forget to speak? Don’t piss on our legs and try to tell us it’s raining. Who is he?”
Amy shook her head. She stared at the phone in her hand. “I…I just needed some time—”
“Bullshit! Amy, who the hell is he? What’s the guy’s name?”
If Amy didn’t start coughing up some answers soon, Gwen was going to lose what little hold she had on her temper. Amy wasn’t the only one with personal problems.
Amy’s face went red, a sure sign she was lying. “What guy are—”
“Amy, knock it off!” Liam barked. Gwen and Amy both jumped. Gwen couldn’t remember ever hearing her brother sound so angry. “We were born at night but it wasn’t last night. Quit bullshitting us. Just tell us what the fuck is going on. You owe us answers, dammit!”
Amy burst into tears. Before she realized what she was doing, Gwen stepped over to her and hugged her.
Amy threw her arms around Gwen, squeezing tightly, holding on with a desperation Gwen could never remember her sister expressing.
That frightened her. Amy was always the picture of the utmost composure. Whatever this was, it was bad.
Amy cried for several minutes while Gwen held her. Finally, without lifting her face from where she had it pressed against Gwen’s shoulder, she mumbled, “I’m pregnant.”
Gwen froze and stared at Liam, who looked shocked.
“What did you say?” Liam asked.
Amy lifted her head and, with tears still streaming down her face, wailed, “I’m pregnant!”
Gwen closed her eyes. Part of her wanted to burst out laughing. Her Goody Two-shoes sister had gotten herself knocked up?
Part of her wanted to cry. Her sister would never hear the end of this from their parents.