Suzanne stilled with the bottle to her lips, then pulled it away, her eyes wide. “And? Come on, this is becoming painful. Just tell me everything, please.” She leaned forward and glanced over her shoulder to the house, where everyone was inside. “Look, I heard Marcus and Luke talking, and some of the things they said had me thinking maybe it would be better if you said goodbye to this guy. I’m just not liking the kind of intrigue that seems to follow him or the problems that could find you because of him. You showed up here alone. Tell me, is this you walking away from this guy? Even if he is gorgeous, personally, I think that’s…”
A Lincoln pulled up and parked behind her Honda. At the sight of Jack behind the wheel, Suzanne stopped talking.
“No, Jack and I aren’t over,” Karen said. “Let’s just say that he settled things with his family in a way that I didn’t see coming. It wasn’t just family, either. It seems the Curtises mix business with pleasure. They’re the kind of people who are connected in ways that further their own agendas, companies, power. It seemed very much a game. I felt so out of my league.”
She recalled the one-sided conversation she’d had with one uncle, who, as the CEO of a major corporation with a product he hadn’t been able to get past the FDA, had made one call and was then appointed the new head of the FDA. Once there, he had quickly approved his product, then resigned and went back to his company. Had she been horrified to hear it? Yes, but she’d promised Jack she’d hold her tongue.
She knew she couldn’t share that with Suzanne.
“He had to settle things,” Karen said. “I didn’t really understand that when we went in there. He introduced me to his mom, this stern older woman who I was terrified of. I was positive she hated me. All he said was, ‘Mom, this is Karen. You’ll love her. She’s like you in a way. She’s smart, she’s making a difference, and I love her.’ I realized then that everyone was listening. Any talk of business or of having Jack join a company or run for governor or senator or whatever they wanted him to do seemed to hinge on his mom. Then he said we’re starting a family and settling in Livingston, and he was selling his law practice, so politics would have to wait.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of her sister’s face. She heard the squeak of the screen door and spotted Owen coming out onto the porch just as Jack stepped out of his Lincoln. His suit coat and tie were long gone, his white dress shirt sleeves rolled up.
“So that’s him,” was all Owen said. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”
She took in her big brother. “For the first time, Owen, I think I do. Jack is going to join me in my law practice.”
She was still reeling from what he’d said to everyone that day as she stood beside him in his father’s house, surrounded by the kind of people she’d never associated with before. He’d said that Karen was going to make a difference, that she knew how to make change happen for the better, that she knew how to get on with things even when faced with adversity or egos or people trying to bend her to their will. She was a fighter, and she was his wife, and they were going places together in small-town Livingston, in her practice.
Jack stopped at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes going right to her glass of wine. Then he stepped up and took in Owen and Suzanne.
“Jack,” Karen said, “this is my sister, Suzanne, and my brother Owen.”
Owen stepped forward and shook his hand.
Suzanne just gestured with her beer and said, “Nice to finally meet you, Jack.”
Karen lifted her hand, and Jack took it and pulled her up until she was standing right beside him. He leaned in and kissed her, then reached for her glass of wine and took a swallow before shaking his head. She realized Owen and Suzanne had slipped into the house to give them some privacy.
“So you’re ready to meet my family?” she said.
He just took her in, saying nothing for a second, then glanced to the house and back to her. “I am—and thanks for trusting me today.”
For a second, she was at a loss for words. “I didn’t expect that,” she finally said. “Do you think your family will leave us be?” She didn’t know what to think of the way he was looking at her.
He leaned in and pressed another kiss to her lips. “I do, for now.” He shook his head. “Don’t overthink it or worry. Look, it will be fine. One day at a time. Now how about introducing me to the rest of your family?”
Right, her family.
She heard the door and saw Alison and Eva inside, and she knew it was now or never. “Okay, you asked for it,” she said, and she dragged him in, relieved. This was the family she’d taken for granted, but she was grateful to have them.
Chapter Seventeen
“So you’re really packing up, closing shop, and moving here to be with my sister?” Luke said.
Jack could hear the voices from out back, the laughter from Karen’s family. The O’Connells were the kind of family he wasn’t familiar with. They lingered in the living room, Jack taking in the photos on the wall of people he didn’t know.
“I am,” Jack said. “So Karen said you’re with the special forces.”
He took in Luke, all buff and casual, his dark shoulder-length hair tied back in a ponytail. There was just something about him that reminded Jack of some of his family’s friends and business associates. Luke was the kind of person who would know how to fit into his world.
“Yup, I’m a team man,” Luke said. “I can’t figure out how you’re just walking away as you say. Karen said you’re selling your practice. She seems under the impression that your mother was behind you two getting the freedom to do your thing, for you to move here and for your family to drop their interest in you.”
Jack found himself turning and really taking in Luke, who took another step closer. He could hear Karen’s laughter. He knew he loved her, but it was so much more now. He could still remember picking up the phone and calling her because he was terrified she’d be killed, and he had known he wouldn’t survive that. He’d do anything for her, considering he’d kept tabs on her all these years.
“It wasn’t my mother, but I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that,” Jack said. “You obviously know the kind of people I come from, the kind who run things behind the scenes.”
Luke just nodded and moved closer again. “And what did you promise them? Because while I was listening to you and my sister and your news about how you’re going to hang your shingle with her and become Curtis and O’Connell, represent the downtrodden, I was like…yeah, no, it doesn’t work that way. What did you sell—your soul, your future, what? There was something.”
Jack crossed his arms, thinking of his mother, who’d been forced to swallow her anger every time she was told she was too defensive. He’d often seen men cut a woman down while some laughed and others looked away.
“You know,” he said, “I remember hearing my dad and even my uncle tell my mom not to worry her pretty little head, that men lead, not women, because women are too emotional and make decisions based on emotion. She encountered so much sexism, every time she was complimented or criticized for something she wore, for her hair, her mannerisms, her voice… I knew she often came across as cold and secretive, but she was anything but. One of the things she told me is to be smart, to play the game better than your enemies.
“I won’t be a puppet. I see how the men who come across as charismatic and charming, the ones who have what everyone says are true leadership qualities, are invariably predators. They end up behind the scenes, pushing agendas. I won’t ever be that. I’m not made for that. At the same time, I’m very well aware that me being so vocal about it has put a target on me and ultimately on Karen. She has the ability to compartmentalize and push on. Theater and drama are not something she thrives on, yet that’s what makes up the world of the men my father associate with.
“I mean, how many times have you watched the news and heard about an investigation that destroys someone’s credibility with a few perfectly placed words? You know, you hear som
eone is criminal, corrupt, and then months, maybe years, down the road, the same story gets a small byline that no one will ever see, a small mention that the person in question was cleared of any wrongdoing. The wording is always obscure enough to plant the seed in your mind: There must have been something there. They must have done something. Well, those kinds of stories are planted by the people my father associates with. They are the people behind the scenes, manipulating and pulling the strings, carefully selecting candidates in positions of power to be their puppets.”
Luke glanced over his shoulder, his arms crossed. “You still haven’t answered me, and you’re going to need to, because that’s my sister you’re married to, and you’ve dragged her into this unwittingly. She has no idea. So what did you agree to? Are you going to run for DA, attorney general, senator, or something else?”
There it was, the question he never wanted his wife to know the answer to. “I’m going to take over the company in five years,” he said. His family’s public front was in textiles manufacturing, but they did anything but.
“So you’ve bought yourself five years, and then what?” Luke said.
Jack just took in his brother-in-law, knowing he was the one who had to carry out the agendas of the kinds of men who hid behind the scenes, directing and ordering. Luke went on the kinds of missions no one in civilized society had any idea about, in countries and places no one knew existed, all for men like his father’s associates. Did he ask questions? Of course not. That would be above his paygrade. He was trained not to ask.
“Well, let’s have this conversation again in five years,” Jack said. “I know times are changing, and it takes just one change after another in the background until suddenly, we begin to see real authentic leaders and executives instead of puppets.”
Luke just grunted.
Jack heard voices and spotted Karen coming his way.
“Let’s hope for my sister’s sake that you’re right,” Luke said, then patted Jack’s shoulder. “Because if you’re not, you had better come up with plan B.”
“What’s this about?” Karen asked, her expression questioning. She was beautiful, gorgeous, brilliant, the kind of woman a man could never manipulate.
“Just getting to know each other,” Jack said. “So are you ready to go home?” He slid his arms around her, pulling her closer, feeling her softness and heat.
“Yeah, I am,” she said, then rose on her tiptoes and offered a kiss, which he took, pulling her closer and hugging her. When he looked up over her head, he spotted Luke watching, a brother who had her back and who understood clearly the tightrope Jack walked.
His world was bigger. The people his father knew were watching him, and nothing was as simple as everyone thought.
It wasn’t black and white. It was, in fact, a mosaic of different shades of gray.
What’s coming next in The O’Connells? The Quiet Day available from all retailers, click here to purchase and download.
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The O’Connells Books 1 - 3
The O’Connells Books 4 - 6
The O’Connells Books 7 - 9
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I hope you enjoyed reading the first three books of The O’Connells, The Neighbor, The Third Call and The Secret Husband.
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Lorhainne Eckhart
What’s coming next in The O’Connells
Now Available everywhere!
As a female firefighter in a small town, Suzanne O’Connell knows that every day will go one of two ways: Either nothing happens, or she suddenly finds herself in over her head. Firefighters never, ever say the words “It’s a quiet day!”—because that’s when all hell breaks loose, and their peaceful, easy day suddenly turns into their worst nightmare. This is exactly what happens to Suzanne when she finds herself trapped with Harold Waters, local law enforcement officer and her old flame, and fellow fireman Toby Chandler, who, according to everyone, is the kind of guy you want watching your back.
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In an unusual turn of events, the stakes turn deadly, and Suzanne discovers that trusting the wrong man could leave her life hanging in the balance.
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Click here to download your copy or scroll to the next section and read the first chapter!
The Quiet Day
Chapter 1
“You going to eat that entire tub of ice cream, or do the rest of us get to have some?” Marcus said as he strode into his kitchen, where Suzanne was sitting alone after rummaging through his freezer for the ice cream she’d brought over. She just stared at him as she jabbed a large tablespoon into the big tub of strawberry swirl again and lifted out a big hunk.
“Help yourself,” she said around the mouthful, feeling the brain freeze the minute she swallowed.
Marcus shook his head, taking the tub of ice cream from her and moving it near the sink, away from her. He reached for three bowls from the cupboard, and Suzanne leaned against the nicked-up blue and white counter. Marcus and Charlotte’s house was small, dated. The kitchen was closed off from the rest of the house, and the old wood floor squeaked in places, but it had a big yard and was close to their mom’s place, and Eva had her own bedroom.
Suzanne could hear the voices of her family coming from the small living room as she took another bite from the hunk of ice cream still on her spoon.
“So why are you hiding out in here?” Marcus said with only a glance over his shoulder. He was in a faded army green T-shirt and blue jeans, sock-footed, and his dark wavy hair appeared freshly cut. He also seemed very much at home, the family man with an instant family, a role she hadn’t expected for him. Six-year-old Eva came running into the kitchen in a red and white flowered T-shirt and pajama pants and wrapped her arms around his leg, standing on his foot.
“Can I have ice cream, please…?” she said. She was so damn sweet and tiny.
Marcus smiled down at her and rustled her shoulder-length brown hair, also freshly cut. Suzanne recalled that her mom had booked a “granddaughters hair day” for Eva and Alison only the day before at Delilah’s Hair, a friend’s salon.
“Just dishing yours up now, sweet pea,” Marcus said as he lifted her and sat her on the counter. Suzanne loved the nickname he had given her. “Here, you can help,” he continued and gave Eva the scoop, his hand over hers.
Suzanne finished off the ice cream on her spoon, holding it up. Her cell phone was silent, its screen still black, and she double checked to see if the thing was powered on.
“You didn’t answer me, Suzanne. What’s going on?” Marcus asked as he helped Eva down and handed her a bowl. She walked with it back into the living room, all smiles.
“You sure are good with her,” Suzanne said, then gestured toward him with her spoon. “You given any thought to what will happen when her mom is released from
prison?”
Marcus was still dishing ice cream into three other bowls, and he let out a sigh before shaking his head. “You’re changing the subject—and that’s a long ways off, not something I’m worrying about right now or putting on the table for discussion. So what’s up with you? Because you’re off tonight. How come, problems?” He gestured with the empty scoop to her and the cell phone she was holding, and she forced herself to put it down on the counter.
She shook her head. “No, everything’s fine,” she said, not sure what to make of his face and the way he was looking at her.
“Bullshit, Suzanne. You’re usually way better at hiding your off-ness, so what’s got you so glued to that phone? You’ve been texting someone, and all I can figure is whoever it is has you kind of distracted. You’ve barely said anything to anyone, just glanced at your phone every thirty seconds. This isn’t like you. Then you slipped off alone to the kitchen, eating away your stress, as Charlotte says.”
She hadn’t realized he’d been watching. She had to fight the urge to pick up her phone, to look again at the texts that had gone unanswered.
“The silent treatment?” Marcus let out a sarcastic laugh.
“It’s nothing, really,” Suzanne said. “And I wasn’t stress eating,” she added for effect.
He turned around, tossed the scoop in the sink, and wiped his hands on a dishtowel before gesturing to the ice cream lid, which was still beside her on the counter. “Whatever you say, Suzanne.”
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