Page 97 of The Last Dance You Saved
“She’ll never be better off with me than with her parents,” I said softly.
Lauren searched my face, as if unsure if I really meant my words, before saying, “You really believe that. It’s one of the things I like about you. Your dogged positivity. You’ll need it if you want to keep Rafe. He’s going to try to push you away. Don’t let him.”
“He’s already tried,” I told her the truth.
“I sensed that this morning when he said goodbye to Fallon but refused to stick around to see you off. He thinks he’s doing it for your own good. He thought leaving Fallon with Spence and me was for our own good too, and we let him. None of us tried to stop him. Not me or Spencer, and especially not their dad. We didn’t show Rafe how much we loved and needed him because we were too caught up in our own baggage. By the time we realized our mistake, it was too late. He rebuffed any attempts Spence made over the years to bring him back in. He spent holidays alone rather than coming home. Don’t let him do that again. I’m begging you.”
The ache I’d felt for the entirety of this week for each of them returned at full wattage. But the sorrow I felt for the man I loved exceeded anything I’d ever known. All I could do from here was promise he’d never spend a single holiday alone ever again.
? ? ?
I’d never flown on a private plane, but I’d always imagined them draped in luxury, with soft leather couches, private bedrooms, and expensive linens. Rafe’s plane seemed overly simple, lacking any of the flourishes that had been present in his suite at The Fortress. It had eight seats in two groups of four that faced each other over shared tables, a plain bathroom, and no bedroom in sight.
When I’d asked about it, Fallon said Rafe had wanted a plane that was small and fuel-efficient so the carbon footprint he left behind was as minimal as possible. And those words exposed another piece of Rafe I hadn’t known—the man concerned about the environment.
As soon as we took off, Fallon put in her earbuds and lost herself in a show, and Parker pulled out a laptop, saying he had a paper to write. Before he could dive in, I leaned in and said as quietly as I could so I didn’t disturb Fallon, “I didn’t realize you were coming with us.”
“It’s just a precaution. No one thinks either of you will be in danger now that you’ve left the ranch.”
“My brother is the county sheriff, my sister-in-law is ex-NSA and works for him now, and my eldest brother has had a whole host of security added to the ranch after some incidents over the last few years. Fallon will be safe with us.” I wanted to believe that. I had to. Especially when Lauren’s faith in me this morning had only raised the stakes.
Parker nodded. “Dad gave me the rundown on your situation.”
I bit back my irritation at knowing they’d talked about me and my family behind my back, because I understood why they’d done it. Rafe’s life had spun wildly out of hand, and he was looking for every way possible to reel it back in. If it made him feel better to send his friend’s son with us, it was fine. Hell, if he wanted to send an entire Navy SEAL team, I’d take it.
“Have they heard anything more about Adam’s and Theresa’s whereabouts?” I asked.
“Dad finally uncovered one of Adam’s bank accounts in Mexico early this morning. Someone pulled money from it at an ATM in Puerto Vallarta yesterday. They believe it was Adam, but there were no cameras to validate it. If Theresa is smart, she’ll join him, and they’ll head for a non-extradition country.”
Something was eating at the back of my brain. Something that didn’t fit with what he’d told me or what I’d learned. If Adam had so much money, why had he wanted Carolyn’s jewelry? Had he simply wanted to keep it out of the ranch’s coffer so it couldn’t stop it from going belly up? Was that the real reason he hadn’t wanted me to tell Lauren about it? He’d wanted his share of the ranch, according to Fallon, but had it been simply to sell it off to Lorenzo for much less than it was worth when it went bankrupt? Even failing, thousands of acres of land in California would have added a cushy number to his bottom line.
But it still bugged me that I didn’t know the answers. It had me pulling at all the loose threads, trying to find which one would unravel it all. But we might never find it unless Adam was found, arrested, and tried.
Parker turned back to his laptop. In the silence that took over, I had nothing to do but ponder my life, Rafe’s last words, and the uneasy feeling inside me that increased with each mile that grew between him and me. I wanted to be back with him. I wanted to start soothing the wounds Rafe hid better than I’d ever hidden the scars on my leg.
When the jet landed at a private airport an hour and a half from Willow Creek, I expected to find Mama waiting after I’d called her, but instead Ryder was in the arrivals lounge. My brother’s dark-brown hair was ruffled from the cowboy hat he was spinning in his hand. The beard he’d kept since Gia had come into his life was neat, carefully sculpted, and his blue eyes that matched mine pierced me from across the small waiting room.
In his T-shirt with the Hatley Family Ranch logo, worn jeans, and scuffed boots, he looked exactly the rancher he was. His skin was tanned from years spent more outdoors than in, and his smile was large and real when he saw me.
“Sassypants,” he said, pulling me into him for a hug that felt much more intense than it should have been for the handful of days I’d been gone.
When he let me go, I introduced him to Fallon and Parker. He shook both their hands. “Nice to meet you.” Then he looked at me with a raised brow. “Is he coming too?”
“For a few days at least,” I said.
As the four of us made our way to the exit, Ryder kept shooting me and Parker glances, and I suddenly realized my brother thought Parker was there for me. I almost snorted. I hadn’t once thought of Parker as anything but a kid, but in truth, he and I were probably a lot closer in age than Rafe and me. Add in his muscled, good looks, and I could see why Ryder would think it. But all it did was make the nauseated feeling in my stomach grow.
There was only one man I wanted, and he’d done his best to temporarily push me away.
In the parking lot, Ryder led us to Gia’s SUV, and I was glad he’d had the foresight to bring it instead of his work truck. When Fallon opened the back door, he stopped her. “Sorry, let me get the baby’s car seat out of there. I didn’t know there’d be three of you.”
“You’ve got a car seat for the baby already?” The shocked disbelief in my voice had Ryder smiling.
“Planning ahead, Sads.”
“You’re having a baby?” Fallon asked, and Ryder’s face morphed into a smile so large it could swallow the entire state.
“In November,” he said as if it was tomorrow.
