by Dana Mason
Anna and Stephen had only been married a year. Anna was only twenty-four—almost four years younger than Bailey. She and Bailey probably would have been close if Bailey’s family hadn’t moved away from Appleton.
“My father was devastated when Ernie died. For some reason, he carried a lot of guilt around his brother’s death, but I don’t understand why.”
Bailey looked up from the photos, her brows drawing together. “Why guilt?”
“I don’t know. I can only assume it had to do with his good health compared to Ernie’s poor health.” She leaned forward and pointed to the two boys, who looked to be in their early twenties. “I love this one. My dad said it was a few days before he left for California.”
“Patrick moved to California?” Ryan asked.
“Yes, he went to school there. UCLA.”
“I had no idea,” Bailey murmured.
“Apparently, your dad gave up going to school so my dad could go. The family didn’t have enough money to send both boys, so Ernie got a job to help save up for Dad’s education.”
“Wow…” Bailey looked down at the photo again. Her dad looked so much younger, but he also carried that working man’s stance, where Patrick looked like a carefree kid.
“What’s their age difference?” Ryan asked.
“Eight years,” Anna and Bailey said at the same time.
Bailey felt so distant from her family. She’d always wondered, but didn’t all kids wonder if they belonged? Didn’t all kids question why they didn’t fit in? While she questioned minor differences, it was never serious, even when her mother had tried so hard to teach her how to play the piano. She learned the technique, but she never had any style. Her mother told her that everyone had different gifts, and that, Bailey never questioned.
“Anna,” Ryan said. “Why did Patrick retire so early? Surely he could have worked for a few more years. Yesterday, you gave us the impression he wasn’t happy in retirement.”
“Oh, uh, honestly, I’m not really sure. He just sort of woke up one day with the big idea to sell his interests in the car dealerships to Stephen and me so he could retire. He said it was time to leave the work to the next generation. He’d been training us to take over for the last couple of years, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon.”
“We actually thought maybe he was sick and not telling us,” Stephen said.
“But then he gave us this weird talk about protecting his family and making sure the family business is safeguarded. It made no sense.” Anna’s eyes dropped to a photo of her father. “I’m still not sure why, but I guess he could be sick and trying to keep it from us.”
“I’m sorry, Anna. I hope that’s not the case,” Bailey said, her expression thoughtful.
“Thank you,” Anna said. “At least he’s out there enjoying life instead of kicking around this house with nothing to do.”
“Speaking of work,” Stephen stood, straightening his tie. “I really need to get going.”
Once he was gone, Bailey helped Anna clear the table. She’d made a huge breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, and some damn good blueberry pancakes.
Ryan laid a couple of plates on the counter and said, “Anna, you mentioned postcards on the phone.”
“Oh, right. I almost forgot. Let me go get them.” She quickly dried her hands and rushed from the room.
When she returned, she handed the stack to Bailey and slid onto one of the kitchen island barstools. Bailey and Ryan sat, too. Bailey counted five postcards: one from Vegas, three from California, and one from North Shore, Lake Tahoe. Bailey and Ryan both looked over the cards, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The most recent card was from Vegas and was dated only a few days before. Bailey read the back.
Don’t worry, love, I’m fine and having a good time on the road and loving life. I hope all is well at home.
Ryan took the card and examined the back. “You received this yesterday?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“You must miss him,” Bailey said.
“I do.” She frowned, but then her lips tipped back up as she reread the back of the card. “But he needs a little fun in his life after working so hard for so long.”
* * *
They had already decided to spend the rest of their last day touring the area and sightseeing before flying home in the morning. Bailey had gotten a list of spots from the internet, and they had a couple of suggestions from Anna and Stephen. They wanted to take a walk along the river, too. They’d been so stressed that Ryan insisted on relaxing for a few hours. They planned to have dinner downtown at a local brewpub and check out the Summer Nights concert. Appleton offered live shows featuring local groups in the downtown area every Thursday night during the summer.
Ryan followed North Catherine Street until it curved into North Green Bay Road, as Anna had described. As promised, it was a beautiful drive. Larger, older homes and tall trees lined the street. Before she knew it, the houses were gone, and the road opened up to a beautiful river. Walking partners trailed along the path, some picnicking. Bailey watched with a smile, feeling a little homesick.
“Whoa!” Ryan shouted, his eyes darting between the road and the rearview mirror.
Seconds later, Bailey felt the car lurch forward. “What the hell?” She turned to see the grille of a large, silver SUV getting closer to the back bumper. Within seconds, they lurched forward again, and the back window shattered, sending glass pebbles everywhere.
“Hold on, Bailey!” Ryan shouted, trying to swerve out of the way. He accelerated, his eyes darting again to the rearview mirror. Bailey watched in horror as pedestrians scattered to get out of their way. When the riverbank grew steeper, the road veered toward the left. Ryan tried to speed up, but the SUV rammed the rear of the car again, sending them into the guardrail and pushing them along the side of it. Bailey screamed when both passenger windows shattered and sparks from the metal-on-metal contact spewed out everywhere. She raised her hands to protect herself, but before she could do anything else, they were spinning. She felt an impact then jerked in the other direction before a large splash.
Dazed, Bailey and Ryan’s eyes met. Blood. Oh, God. Ryan was bleeding. “Ryan!”
He punched his seatbelt release, then immediately punched hers. Water soaked Bailey’s lower legs, then Ryan’s hands were on her waist, shoving her out of the passenger window.
“Go, go, go!” he shouted, pushing her.
The water rose quickly but thankfully didn’t submerge the car completely. When Bailey cleared the window, she dropped into breast-deep water. She turned in time to see Ryan dive out the window. When he had his feet under him, he grabbed her and hauled her to his chest.
“You okay?” he breathed, clutching her tightly.
She nodded on a shiver. “I think so. Are you?”
* * *
“This could’ve been much worse,” Chief Harper said. “It’s a miracle you both weren’t killed.”
Ryan rubbed a hand over the bandage he was now sporting over his left eye. “After getting a better look at the car, I have to agree.”
“So, who did this?” Bailey asked. “Who would do this?”
“We’re not sure.” Chief Harper looked from one to the other. “We’ve interviewed several witnesses, and nobody got a look at the guy’s face. The descriptions we got were all the same, white male, tall, thin, with all black clothes and a baseball cap.”
“And the car?” Ryan asked.
“Stolen. We found it abandoned a few miles away. We have him on street surveillance getting on a bus a block from where he left the car, but we can’t track him after that. It was enough to confirm the physical descriptions we got, but he never looked in the direction of the camera, so we didn’t get a shot of his face.”
Ryan looked from the Chief to Bailey. A few small cuts were evident on her face, and several more dotted her arms and legs. Thank God for tempered glass. Fortunately, those tiny cuts from the broken car windows were her only injuries. Ryan
had taken most of the impact from the car spinning and clipping a tree before hitting the river.
“Listen, Ryan, Bailey, there isn’t much else I can say. It’s a simple act of road rage, and I’m sorry it happened to you, but there isn’t more we can do until we find the other driver.”
“Road rage?” Bailey and Ryan said in unison. Ryan snorted and waved a dismissive hand at Chief Harper. “That’s ridiculous. I had zero interaction with this guy. He just rushed up my rear end and pushed us off the road. We didn’t provoke him in any way.”
“I’m not implying you provoked him, Ryan. It’s possible someone else pissed him off, and you just got in his way.”
“What about Patrick?” Ryan crossed his arms over his chest. “What about the break-ins at Helen’s house? Don’t you think this is all related?”
“Honestly, Ryan, I’m not sure how you’ve made a connection. How—no, why would they be related?” Harper steepled his hands in front of him, and Ryan recognized the attempt at being neutral and calming for their sakes.
“It just seems like an awful lot of bad things are happening now that we’re looking for Bailey’s birth parents.”
“Yes, well, that’s true, but this isn’t CSI Miami.”
Ryan straightened his shoulders and stretched his neck out toward Harper. “You don’t need to patronize me. I’m not an idiot.”
“Ryan,” Bailey murmured. “It’s—”
“Look, Ryan, Bailey, I understand how important this is to you, but look at it from an outside perspective.” He started ticking off facts on his fingers to make a point. “First, you have a distant uncle retiring and traveling the country in a motorcoach. That’s not a strange occurrence.” He ticked another finger. “And the break-ins…well…living in a lake district, I know houses closer to the lake or beaches are usually easier targets because they look like vacation homes.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk. “I’m not exactly sure what kind of answers you’re looking for, unless there’s more to this you’re not sharing with me.”
“There isn’t,” Bailey said. “We’ve told you everything.”
That was a lie. Ryan wanted so badly to tell him everything, but Bailey refused. She didn’t want him to know about the letters between her mother and Pat, but Ryan couldn’t shake the feeling that Patrick’s warnings weren’t unfounded. He’d clearly been worried about Bailey’s safety for a reason. But without mentioning that, they didn’t have anything else to talk about with the police. Ryan had no choice but to abide by Bailey’s wishes no matter how much his instincts told him she was wrong.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ryan loaded the suitcases into his trunk and closed it. Just as he placed his hand on the driver’s door handle, his cell phone rang.
“Hey, Lucas. What’s up?” he said when answering.
“Are you and Bailey still coming home today?”
“Already are. We just arrived. Don’t worry, I’m playing tonight. I wouldn’t leave you stranded without live music on a Friday night.”
“The thought never crossed my mind,” Lucas said. “How’s your head?”
“Fine. We’re both okay, just a little freaked out by everything.”
“I bet.” Ryan heard some background noise and Lucas’ muffled instructions to a server. “I actually wanted to warn you, and Bailey, too, I guess, about Dex,” he said, coming back on the line.
Ryan’s back straightened. “What about him?”
“He showed up here this morning looking for Bailey.”
“Oh…” Ryan walked away from the car, then turned and held up a finger to Bailey, who was staring at him from the passenger seat. She nodded and waved him off. “I can’t believe that fucker has the nerve to show his face after what he did.”
“He said he was sorry. He stopped by the shop and had a long talk with Mae. She thinks he’s ready to make some sort of commitment to Bailey. I’m not sure what that means, but I thought I should let you know.”
“Does Mae know about Bailey and me?”
“I don’t know. I’m sure she would’ve mentioned it if she knew.”
Ryan propped himself against a pillar in the airport parking garage and leaned over, fighting nausea. “There’s nothing I can do, Lucas.”
“Have you got your shit sorted out yet?”
“Yes and no.” He shook his head. “Bailey and I are just friends. Beyond that, I don’t have anything figured out. I’m just fighting to hold on to my sanity here.”
“You need to talk to her. If she doesn’t know there’s a possibility with you, then she might just hook up with Dex again.”
Ryan heard the car door open, and he looked up.
“Is everything okay?” Bailey asked, poking her head out of the car.
“I gotta go. Thanks, Lucas.” Ryan disconnected the call and straightened.
“Did something happen?”
He shook his head and said, “No. Lucas just wanted to make sure I was still playing tonight.”
Ryan tried not to let his nerves show on the drive to the house. He debated telling her about Dex, but he wasn’t sure what to say. Would she go back to him? It didn’t seem likely. Ryan didn’t think Bailey was really in love with the guy, but if she was and Dex offered some sort of commitment, like a proposal, would she accept?
When they got to the house, Ryan loaded her suitcase into her trunk and turned to face her. “I’ll see you later?”
“Yes. Do you mind if I come see you play tonight?”
“Of course not.”
“Okay.” She pulled her keys from her purse. “Ryan, thank you for everything. I’ll never be able to tell you how grateful I am that you hung in there with me and helped me get through the last couple of days.”
“What are you talking about? I was in that car, too.”
“No, I mean flying to Wisconsin and helping me with all the research and—”
“Bailey, I’d never let you go through that alone. You know that.”
She nodded and looked down at his feet. “I’m sorry about everything else. I feel like if we would’ve stayed home, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
“No, no, no. You don’t get to take the blame for that. Don’t go there, Bay.” He waited a beat then said, “But I wish you would let me tell Harper about the letters. He might be able to help us.”
“I don’t think implicating my uncle and my mother will help anything at this point. Those letters look bad, but it’s also not the whole story. I just want to know where I came from, and possibly exposing an affair between them won’t help. My mother couldn’t get pregnant, so the scenario of me being their child doesn’t fit.”
“All right, I’ll drop it for now, but if something else happens—”
“Nothing is going to happen. I think you’re just being paranoid about a connection. Harper was right. The pieces just don’t fit together.”
Ryan nodded. “Don’t use that as an excuse to let your guard down. Okay? Be extra careful…extra watchful for the next few days. Will you?”
“If it makes you feel better.”
“Thank you. Will you also let me know when you hear something about Patrick?” he asked.
“Yeah, I asked Anna to keep me informed.”
“I’ll see you tonight, then.”
She popped the door handle, and his heart jumped in his chest. “Bailey, wait.”
“What’s wrong?” She tossed her purse into the passenger seat.
“Before you go, I want to tell you something.”
Ryan shifted his weight from foot to foot. His freaking voice wouldn’t work, and he didn’t know what he would say if it did. This was his last chance to make a move or at least tell her how he felt.
“Ryan, I promise I’ll be careful. Please, stop worrying about me.”
His stomach churned at the faint sound of concern in her voice. “Bay, are we okay?” The words came out before he could edit them. “You and me.”
“Yeah, of course.”
“I j
ust… I don’t want you to feel weird with me or anything.”
She lifted to her tiptoes and hugged him. Ryan froze at first, then relaxed into the hug.
With a sigh, she said, “You’re my best friend. I love you. Don’t ever feel weird around me.”
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and buried his face in her hair. With a deep inhale, he took in the fragrance of lavender mixed with Bailey’s natural scent and tried to set it to memory. If he lost her to Dex today, this would likely be the last time he’d touch her. His breathing hitched at the thought, and he pulled her tighter.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
He nodded and loosened his grip. “I’m just glad you weren’t hurt in that accident. It would kill me to lose you.”
“You’re not going to lose me, Ryan. Ever. And I don’t want you to feel bad about not sharing the house. It’s okay that you don’t want to live with me. I won’t hold it against you.”
He chuckled. “Okay, good. I wouldn’t want a stupid house to come between us.”
They lingered in the hug for a few more seconds before letting go. A sense of dread crept up, and Ryan knew he hadn’t done what he should have. Or had he? Would she be safer with Dex? Was she better off without Ryan confusing her and screwing things up for her? He didn’t know, but after all that had happened over the last two weeks, he couldn’t find a good reason for her to choose to be with him. He’d done nothing but make things harder on her and put her in danger.
* * *
Ryan rested his head on the cool desk in the El Lago office, fighting nausea. His stomach burned at the thought that Bailey could, at that moment, be with Dex, doing God knows what. He wondered if it would’ve been better not to know. What if Lucas hadn’t told him? He didn’t think the surprise of seeing her with Dex would have made it easier. Now he could at least try to bury his feelings and stick to his promise. If she saw he was jealous, it would go against his pledge that nothing had changed.