Page 53 of After All The Wreckage
So, screw him. Screw all the men like my dad, Bradshaw, and Muloney who looked at my five-foot-five frame and thought I was just some little girl playing Charlie’s Angels.
All my life, my parents had pounded into me that emotions were an investigator’s downfall. And yet I’d let myself get caught up in Gage’s fear and grief. I’d been sucked right in, putting my heart into it, clinging to memories of a boy I’d once thought I’d loved in that fierce and devoted way of a teenager. Or maybe I’d done it because of the wild attraction simmering between us now. Attraction that still pulsated through the air even with him pulling away from me.
Regardless, I’d broken another cardinal rule of investigators and gotten too involved.
Gage was right. We needed to say goodbye. I was truly happy Monte had been released and seemed to be somewhat okay. But now I needed to focus onmyfamily. I needed to figure out how to pay for Mom’s facility. I needed to find out the truth about her accident. Those were my priorities. I’d put the Palmers behind me, just like Gage wanted me to.
So why did the idea of walking away from them feel so wrong?
The quiet remained loaded as we made our way to the Cherry Bay hospital. Gage parked outside the emergency room doors, and when I looked across the street to the rehabilitation center, I easily spotted Nan’s green Beetle in the lot.
For a few moments today, in the thick of it with Gage, even though everything we’d been doing had been for dark and terrifying reasons, I’d been able to forget about my burdens. I’d been able to concentrate on something besides what waited forme at the end of the day. But now, the heavy weight of my life slammed down on top of me.
Tears pricked my eyes, but I wouldn’t cry.
Gage helped Monte out of the back of the Pathfinder, and his brother leaned heavily against him. Gage’s strong arms held him up easily. A piece of me yearned for the same thing. Even though I had Nan and Shay who I could count on to always be there, my body craved Gage. Ached for it to be his arms keeping me from falling, shoring me up as the worst came at me.
I pushed aside those ridiculous thoughts. They were just leftover dreams of a disillusioned teen who’d tried to replace a father figure with a new hero.
As they stepped toward the hospital, I called out softly, “I’m sorry this happened to you, Monte. I’m truly glad they let you go, and I hope you’ll be okay.”
Then I looked at Gage whose eyes still held all those new doubts about me. “I’m going to see my mom. Nan is there”—I pointed across the street—“so I’ll catch a ride with her. I wish you both good luck.”
I turned and strode away, hating the tiny piece of my heart that waited for him to call me back. To apologize. To say thank you again. Anything that meant there was still something between us besides suspicion.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Rory
HAUNTED
Performed by The Guess Who
As I pushedthrough the doors of the rehabilitation center without Gage’s deep voice ever stopping me, my heart sank further into the pit of despair that was now my gut. Tears filled my eyes, but I forced them back.
I raised my chin and stiffened my shoulders. I’d spent a lifetime trying to shake my father’s lack of faith in me. I wouldn’t spend one more minute on another man who didn’t believe in me.
Nan was knitting in Mom’s room when I walked in. She did a double take when she saw my face.
“What’s wrong?”
I swallowed hard, tucking away my feelings in the way I’d gotten good at, and shook my head. “Nothing. Just working a case.”
“You work too hard.” Her voice sounded sad.
I squeezed her shoulder before going around to the other side of Mom’s bed. I kissed her cheek and picked up her hand, massaging the palm and the fingers. Wishing with all my heart that she’d feel my touch—my love—and wake up. My throat clogged, and those tears that had threatened moments ago swarmed again like a sledgehammer to an already cracking wall I fought to shore up.
“Miss you, Mom,” I finally said. “Worked a missing kid case today. Those are the worst. And the best if it ends up good, right? This one ended well. The family got him back.”
“Oh, Rory. No wonder you look like hell,” Nan said quietly.
She didn’t tell me she hated me working dangerous cases, even though I knew she wasn’t overjoyed with the work Mom and I did. I couldn’t imagine any parent really wanted to see their kid put themselves in harm’s way on purpose. But Nan had never told us we weren’t strong enough to do it. Never told me I was too impulsive, too emotional, or made too many mistakes.
She trusted me.
More proof that walking away from the man across the street who’d wheedled back into my heart had been the right thing to do.
Normally, I didn’t like to have anger and frustration in me when I visited Mom, and yet I had a hard time shaking both of those emotions. So, when Nan said she was ready to leave after I’d only been there a couple of hours, I walked out with her. Unfortunately, the tension that had begun my day and never really let go stayed with us as Nan drove in silence to The Prince Darian, where I’d left my bike.
