Page 31 of Silent Deception
He wanted to ask how she could have married the guy. What it had been like all this time for her and Cody. But he’d lost the right to ask such personal questions long ago. Instead, he lifted a shoulder in a noncommittal shrug. “I feel sort of responsible. I told you to invite him.”
“He knew about it. I’d already planned to remind him because heshouldcome more often. Maybe he would learn more about his son and loosen up a little. It hurts Cody terribly that he has so little interaction with his dad.”
“Kids grow up fast, and you sure can’t go back later.” Clint had never sought father-son time with his three boys, either. “That’s a mistake a man should never make.”
Kristin seemed to read Ryan’s mind because her expression grew sympathetic. “You’d be a good father, Ryan.” She glanced across the field to where Trevor was exchanging high-fives with his son. “Trevor sure is.”
Not like your father.He knew what she was thinking. She’d met Clint only once, when Ryan brought her home to meet the family, and Clint hadn’t been at the ranch long that weekend. Surly and impatient, wrapped up in some sort of political project, he’d been the antithesis of a congenial host...and nowhere close to anyone’s image of a loving parent.
“That won’t happen for me.” The thought of fatherhood was too foreign to even contemplate. “I look forward to time with my niece and nephew while I’m still here, though.”
“You haven’t found a pretty lieutenant in the service?” Kristin teased.
“I’m not looking.” Uncomfortable, he tipped the brim of his Western hat and started to turn, but she reached out to stop him.
“Before you leave...I’ve left several phone messages for your dad, and he hasn’t answered. Does he ever check?”
“All the time.” Concerned, Ryan searched her face. “What’s wrong?”
“I just need to talk to him. He needs to come back to the clinic. Soon.”
“Were his tests okay? The blood work and the EKG?
“I need to talk to him directly, and then he can decide what to share. I’m sorry, it’s the law.”
Ryan sighed. The first two visits had been a test of wills. Though Trevor had agreed to make the second trip with Clint, he’d had to deal with a client. Ryan had been able to finally coerce the old man into action, but they’d been a good fifteen minutes late.
“I’ll do what I can to get him there, but no guarantees. He wasn’t all that pleased the last time.”
Watching her as she walked away reminded him of his college days at the Texas A&M, and the hot, early-September afternoon he’d been sitting on a low stone wall outside the Science and Technology building waiting for a buddy.
The prettiest girl he’d ever seen had walked by, her long blond hair cascading down her slender back, oversize sunglasses partially obscuring her delicate face. She’d stopped a few yards away to hunt through her unwieldy backpack for something, and when a breeze scattered some of her papers onto the grass, he’d considered it an act of God.
He’d vaulted over the wall after them, and they’d ended up talking for an hour. She’d been several years behind him in high school and he hadn’t recognized her at first. But the fact that they’d both been born in the same small town had given them some common ground. She was sweet and funny and smart, and for the next six months they’d been inseparable, so sure their love would last forever that he’d impetuously proposed to her on Valentine’s Day and taken her to meet his family the following weekend.
She’d walked out on him the next day, catapulting him from joy to misery in an instant.
How would their lives have been different if they’d stayed together? Would they have had children Cody’s age? Would they have been happy? Or would they have ended up as just one more divorce statistic, like their parents?
Every time he saw her, he found himself increasingly drawn to her. But he’d been a fool once and it wouldn’t happen again.
* * * *
RYAN PUSHED AWAY FROMthe desk and massaged his left shoulder, trying to work out the pain and stiffness. He glanced at the clock. Onlyeleveno’clock?
He’d awakened early and gone out to work Jazz, the young black gelding he’d been riding every day, then he’d helped Trevor with chores. That time had flown. But the past two hours in the office had felt like ten.
After talking to Leland last Saturday, he’d started working on the books, sorting through overdue notes, misfiled papers, and a bookkeeping system that seemed to have no system whatsoever. He was ready to pitch the antiquated computer out the window and shovel the contents of the file cabinets into a roaring bonfire.
If complete records had ever existed, they sure weren’t in this office now. And if Clint walked in one more time and questioned his every move, he was going to pack his duffle bag and catch the next flight back to...
Ryan turned at the sound of shuffling footsteps at the door and found his youngest brother with one hand braced against the frame, his face sallow.
“Howdy.” Garrett’s voice was filled with morning-after gravel, his words slurred. The undercurrent of resentment in his tone was loud and clear. “Ah, see you’re in here saving us all from ruin.”
Ryan gave him a contemptuous once-over and raised his voice. “And I see you’re awake.”
Garrett flinched. “I’m not deaf.” He moved into the room with the cautious balance of someone trying to avoid jarring a killer headache.
