Page 73 of Obsession

“Em, years ago I reconciled myself to the probability that Ryan isn’t with us any longer, but your mom refused to consider it until now.”

Maybe Sam was right that her dad needed to know what they’d discovered. But not before Sam arrived. “Sam thinks you should read the report, and he wants to ask you what you remember from that time, but I discouraged it. Guess he was right, but could we not talk about it before dinner?”

“Do you think Sam will be here soon?” he asked just as the doorbell rang.

“That should be him now.”

39

He sat up as something caught his ear. What was this report they were talking about? Hopefully not something else to worry about. He hadn’t planned on coming back to Emma’s tonight, until he’d heard that Ryker was returning. After that, he’d wanted to be where he could watch what went on.

He’d parked a block away on the street that ended in front of Emma’s apartment, far enough away that Ryker wouldn’t notice him. Using binoculars, he trained them on the apartment front door as Emma’s friend came out on the porch with a phone glued to her ear. She glanced down the street. His stomach dipped when Ryker pulled in front of the apartment.

His grasp tightened on the binoculars as the two talked, then Ryker embraced Emma’s friend, taking her in his arms as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He clenched his jaw so hard it sent pain through his head. Suddenly he was spiraling back to the day he and his mother interrupted his father’s little tryst withherbest friend. His mother’s face as she realized what they’d stumbled on was imprinted on his brain. If only he hadn’t gotten sick that day at school and his mother hadn’t had to bring him home early...

The memories tumbled through his mind one after another. How he’d frozen every time his parents fought. How his father’s ridicule and caustic words belittled his mother and pierced herto the core. Words that sent her straight to the happy pills she’d tried again and again to wean herself from. But that wasn’t what killed her. His father had. And then he’d had the nerve to cry at her funeral. He’d wanted to kill him. Still did.

Pressure built in his chest until he thought it would explode. He narrowed his eyes. Sam Ryker was just like his dad, handsome and smooth-talking. Neither of them seemed to be able to keep their hands away from women.

It was obvious Ryker wanted Emma for himself. But she wouldn’t fall for his looks and charm. She was his, not Ryker’s, and he’d do whatever it took to keep her.

He would not let Emma be hurt like his mother.

40

Sam set the box of litter and cat pan on the floor. It’d been a struggle to get the cat items and a white bakery box filled with brownies up the stairs without dropping anything. He raised his hand to ring the bell again when Emma opened the door.

“Thank you,” she said and took the bakery box he handed her.

“You sound surprised. I told you I would bring dessert.” He responded to Jack Winters’s greeting by waving. “I borrowed a carrier from Jenny to make it easier to take your cat to the vet tomorrow. I’ll get it later.”

“Tell me how much all of this is, and I’ll get your money,” she said as Sam set the box of litter inside the door.

“Consider this my gift to your new pet,” he said. “I didn’t know how much cat food you had at your apartment, so I picked up a few cans—it’s in the white bag. And a couple of bowls for food and water.” He looked around. “Where do you want the litter pan?”

“The laundry room,” she said and put the brownies on the island. “But I’ll take care of it.”

“I don’t think so.” She was so independent, he ought to let her, except he was afraid she might hurt her hand when she tried to fill the litter box. “You’ll need help, so why not let me do it in the first place?”

“While you two argue,” her dad said, “I’ll put on the steaks. I know how Emma likes hers, how about you, Sam?”

“Medium, a little pink showing.”

While Jack stepped outside, Sam followed her to the laundry room and set up the cat’s litter station.

Emma sighed. “I keep forgetting what I can’t do—that would have taken both hands,” she said. “I was wrong and you were right.”

“That wasn’t too hard to admit, was it?” he teased.

“What do you think?”

They both laughed, and once they’d introduced the cat to her bathroom, they returned to the living room. “By the way, you just missed Brooke,” she said.

“I caught her before she drove off,” he said.

“It’s so exciting,” Emma said with a sigh.

He grinned. “When she came out of the house, she was on the phone with Luke, and he’d just told her he’s being assigned to the Jackson area for the next year. She was pretty ecstatic,” he said, remembering how his field ranger had thrown her arms around him.

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