Stunned, he could only stare at her. “And you didn’t tell me?”
“To protect a dear friend,” she confirmed.
Ethan thought about the way he’d bulldozed his way into Tia’s office, making demands, then threats. She had every right to remain loyal to his grandmother.
Still, a question remained. “The kiss we shared back at your condo, that nearly led to us making love—was it real or all part of the plan?”
“Ethan, you know as well as I do, every touch, every intimacy between us has been absolutely real,” she said. “A kiss like that can’t be faked.”
Tia reached out and stroked his cheek with her hand. “I can’t apologize for helping Carol, but I am sorry for not coming clean with you earlier. It’s just everything happened between us...”
Ethan removed her hand from his face, turned it over and kissed her palm. “So quickly,” he finished.
“Can you forgive me?” she asked.
He nodded. Ethan knew he was partly, even mostly, to blame and in no position to judge or hold a grudge against her.
“No more ultimatums,” he said.
“And no more lies.” Tia brought his hand to her lips and kissed it.
He pulled her into his embrace. “It doesn’t matter why you came on this trip with me,” he said. “I’m just glad you did.”
“Me, too.” Tia wrapped her arms around his waist, and Ethan knew this was the woman he wanted to hold on to for life.
Chapter 13
The faint sound of a ringing phone roused Tia from a sexed-up, loved-up sleep.
She lifted her head off Ethan’s chest. “I don’t care whose it is, just turn it off,” she muttered, eyes still closed.
“It’s mine,” Ethan said sleepily. It had stopped ringing, but he eased her off him and got out of bed.
Tia cracked open one eye for a glimpse at his bare butt as he crossed the bedroom to the other room. Instead of turning the phone off, he returned with it. She glanced at the clock on the bedside table and yawned; ten o’clock in the morning felt more like the crack of dawn.
“It was my aunt Kay,” Ethan said. He stared at the small screen before swiping it with his thumb.
Tia pushed herself up on her elbows as he listened to the message and worry lines creased his handsome features. “Grandma and Glenn have been in a traffic accident,” he said. “My aunt’s on her way to the hospital.”
“Oh, my God.” Tia’s hand went to her mouth. “What else did she say? Are they all right?”
“Aunt Kay doesn’t know,” he said. “Fortunately, the hospital isn’t far from her house, and she still drives.”
Tia could see Ethan’s hand tremble as he touched the screen to return the call. He waited before finally shaking his head and giving up. “Damn, no answer. She’s already left for the hospital.”
“Try her mobile,” Tia suggested.
Ethan shook his head again. “My aunt doesn’t have one. We tried to convince her, but she said at eighty years old her home phone was good enough,” he said. “In her message, she promised to call as soon as she found out anything, but I can’t wait.”
He shrugged on his robe. “I’m going to start making some calls to the cops and the hospital.”
Tia leaped from the bed. “I’ll take a quick shower and pack our things.”
Their gazes connected across the bed. “Thank you,” he said.
Tia shrugged as guilt pricked her conscience. If she hadn’t persuaded Ethan to walk away and let Carol ride off with Glenn, this wouldn’t have happened.
“It’s the least I can do,” she said.
Ethan grabbed her hand as she walked past him. “Don’t go there,” he said. “This isn’t your fault. I know how much you care about my grandmother, and you’d never do anything to intentionally hurt her.”
When Tia emerged from the bathroom, she could hear the low murmur of Ethan’s deep voice in the other room still talking on the phone. She hurriedly dressed and packed their things, leaving out his toiletry kit and fresh clothes.
Carol and Glenn had to be all right, she silently prayed, trying desperately to keep fear from trumping her faith.
Ethan walked into the room, and she stared up at him expectantly. “The cops are still at the accident scene because there was a fatality,” he said.
Tia gasped. Ethan crossed the room and took her into his arms. “Both Grandma and Glenn are alive. They’re still both in the emergency room,” he said.
She sagged against him in relief.
“Aunt Kay called me from the hospital. She’s waiting to talk to the doctors.”
Tia nodded. “You get dressed,” she said. “I’ll check on flights to Oklahoma City.”
“We’re already booked on the first one I could get. There aren’t any nonstops. We leave here this afternoon and arrive there tomorrow morning at nine.”
Tia silently calculated the time difference. “We’re five hours behind them, right?”
He nodded. “We should know more by the time we leave,” he said. “Still, even if it turns out not to be serious...”
Instinctively, Tia began to finish his thought. “If it’s just a scratch, we both want to be there.”
* * *
Once they boarded their first flight, it took fifteen hours of worry-fraught travel time, including two airlines and stops in Seattle and Dallas, to get them to Oklahoma City. By the time their plane landed, they’d already received several updates on the couple’s condition.
Carol had been treated and released from the hospital yesterday but was there with Glenn, whom doctors wanted to keep an eye on a few days after he’d fractured his ribs.
Tia drove the rental car into the circular driveway in front of the community hospital.
“Ethan, I know you’ve talked to Carol twice already, but I’m sure you’re desperate to see for yourself she’s okay,” she said. “I’ll go park and meet you inside shortly.”
Ethan leaned across the armrest of the sedan and briefly kissed her mouth. “Thanks again,” he said. “I don’t know how I would have gotten through the long trip here without you.”
She squeezed his hand. “Go check on your grandmother.”
Ethan bounded out of the car and practically sprinted through the door. Tia parked and pulled her phone from her purse. She’d already been in touch with Max, who was back in Nashville manning the office. The spas were fine.
Her father, on the other hand, was irate.
Victor Gray had left several blistering voice messages since she’d informed accounting she would no longer authorize the transfer of spa profits to bolster the cosmetics division—or finance a pricey anniversary celebration. She’d decided not to return the calls while she was in Hawaii. She wanted to enjoy the brief time with Ethan before reality intruded.
Now there was no reason to put it off any longer. Or not to handle it by phone. After all, pleading with her father in person hadn’t done any good.
Sucking in a deep breath for fortification, she called his office.
“Hi, Loretta.”
She barely got the words out before the longtime secretary issued a report on her father’s current mood. “He’s snapping everyone’s head off,” she said. “Including mine.”
Tia sighed. “Put me through to him.”
“I certainly hope you’re going to tell him something that will improve his disposition,” Loretta said.
I wouldn’t bet on it, Tia thought.
Seconds later, her father’s voice roared through her phone’s tiny speaker and she pulled it away from her ear.
“Where in the hell have you been? And what’s this business about you not authorizing spa funds to be used for the anniversary celebration?”
“I’ve been on vacation,” Tia said
. “And we’ve already had a discussion about finances.”
Her father launched into a tirade. The upshot—he wanted her to transfuse the cosmetics division’s anemic accounts with more of the spa’s profits.
“If you don’t help straighten out this mess, Espresso’s going to have a bunch of pissed-off creditors and bad press,” he ranted. “Is that what you want for the company your mother poured her lifeblood into?”
A week ago, Tia would have caved after being on the receiving end of his anger and emotional blackmail. She nearly did now, but something stopped her.
Ethan’s words: If they faced the consequences of their actions, without your coming to their rescue, they’d make better decisions.
“Not another penny, Dad,” Tia said firmly, summoning strength she didn’t know she possessed. “Not until the four of us—you, me, Lola and Cole—sit down in the same room and figure out together what’s best for the company.”
Her father hung up the phone without bothering to say goodbye. Tia resisted the automatic urge to call him back. What good would it do anyway? The ball was in her father’s court now. All she could do was wait.
Tia closed her eyes briefly and leaned her head against the steering wheel. She didn’t want her mood to carry over to her visit with Carol and Glenn. Although they were fine for the most part, they’d still been in a major accident. They didn’t need any sour mood or drama from her.
Having sufficiently pulled herself together, she got out of the car and crossed the hospital parking lot. It was only ten, but the morning sun was already beating mercilessly on the concrete. It was a relief to feel the blast of cool air once she stepped indoors.
She was approaching the reception desk for Glenn’s room number when two animated figures down the hallway caught her eye. Ethan and Carol. They weren’t loud, but she could tell by their body language they were having a heated conversation.
“What’s going...?” Tia began, but forgot her question once she got a good look at Carol.
An assortment of cuts and angry red bruises were scattered across her friend’s face, and she wore large gaze dressings on both her right shoulder and leg.
“Oh, my God,” Tia said.
Carol enveloped her in a hug, which Tia was afraid to return because her friend looked painful to the touch.
“Just a bit of road rash. It looks a lot worse than it is,” she said.
Ethan snorted. “It looks like you were nearly killed.”
Carol spun on him, hand fisted on her hip. “But I wasn’t, because Glenn saw that pickup truck coming toward us head on and swerved out of the way. His quick thinking is the reason we didn’t die along with that drunk driver,” she said. “And what do you do? You treat Glenn like some kind of criminal after he saved our lives.”
“Your life wouldn’t have been in jeopardy if you hadn’t been on the back of his bike in the first place,” Ethan countered.
“I was there because I wanted to be,” she hissed.
Ethan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Grandma, you’re too damn old for this nonsense.”
Carol’s eyes widened. “How dare you?”
“Enough.” Tia looked from Carol to Ethan. “Both of you.”
To think she’d been worried about ruining their morning with a sour mood. Tia grunted at the irony. “Outside.” She jerked her head toward the front entrance. “Now.”
Tia strode toward the front entrance without a backward glance. The footsteps sounding behind her indicated they were following her. She continued walking until they were outside at the arbor and wooden bench she’d spotted when she’d walked in.
She turned around to see two mulish faces looking back at her. “I don’t believe what I just walked in on back there,” she said.
“Neither do I,” Ethan said. “Or what she thinks she’s going to do.” He scowled at his grandmother.
“Jeez, I wish Kay hadn’t called you,” Carol shot back.
“Stop it, the both of you.” Tia held up her hands. “Let’s just all take a few moments to breathe. You two can calm down and then reconnect with each other.”
Ethan shook his head. “Don’t start that up again.”
“The only thing I’m breathing is fire,” Carol chimed in.
Tia closed her eyes briefly and breathed. She opened them and turned to Carol. “Is this the way you talk to the grandson who’s been worried sick about you? This man has spent over fifteen grueling hours traveling here from Hawaii to be by your side. He hasn’t slept since the night before last.”
Carol looked sheepish, but only for a moment. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced from Tia to her grandson and then back to Tia again.
“Oh, I get it. You two are a couple now.” Carol’s eyes brightened for a second before the frown returned to her face. “So you’re on his side.”
Ethan wrapped an arm around Tia’s waist. “That’s right.”
Tia skirted out of Ethan’s hold. “Yes, we’re together, but it has nothing to do with this, and I’m not taking sides.”
Carol snorted. “I’ll bet.”
“I’m not,” Tia insisted.
“You can’t talk to her,” Ethan said. “Her head’s like a concrete block.”
Tia rounded on him. “Your behavior is just as bad as hers,” she said. “Is that the way you talk to the grandmother you couldn’t wait to get back here to see?”
Tia shook her head. “I’m ashamed of you both,” she said. “I was only in the parking lot a few minutes. What happened to get the both of you so angry?”
Ethan exhaled. “She was nearly killed the other day, but is she ready to come to her senses? No. All she cares about is that bucket list,” he said. “Instead of packing her bags and coming home where she belongs, she wants to stay here to zip-line across a river and compete in a stupid poker tournament.”
“But we were on our way to zip-line when the accident happened, and I was a top finisher at the other night’s tournament,” she said. “It qualified me to play for the twenty-five-thousand-dollar jackpot.”
“I’ll write you a check,” Ethan said.
“It’s not just the tournament.” Carol pulled a folded paper from her pocket. “I still have things to do on my list.”
“Again with that ridiculous list,” he said.
“It’s not ridiculous. I’m grateful to Tia for convincing me to write it, because it’s changed my entire life,” Carol said. “Tell him, Tia. Tell him I’m doing the right thing.”
Ethan turned to her. Tia saw the expectation, the pleading in his eyes, and her stomach plummeted as if they were taking another ride on the Outlaw Run.
Don’t, Tia silently pleaded. Don’t ask me.
“Talk to her, babe,” Ethan said. “Explain that you were wrong and this list was a bad idea. Tell her it’s in her best interests to come back to Nashville with us now, where she belongs.”
Two pairs of identical brown eyes stared up at her, both wanting to hear a different answer. She exhaled. “Don’t put me in the middle of this,” she said.
“You already involved yourself when you put this idea in my grandmother’s head.” Ethan folded his arms over his broad chest. “Now tell her you made a mistake.”
Tia gnawed at her bottom lip. She knew the implications of what she was about to say. If she didn’t help Ethan, there was a good chance she’d lose him, and she didn’t think she could bear it. She closed her eyes briefly, and silently hoped she could say the right thing for all of them.
“Life is short, and you only have so many breaths. Even then, our minds and physical abilities remain sharp for only so long,” Tia said. “I think Carol should do whatever makes her happy.”
Carol looked up at Ethan. “And I am happy. Can’t you see that, son?”
Ethan stood mute.
Carol brushed away a tear from her cheek before turning to Tia. “Well said.”
She pulled her into a hug, and Tia looked over the older woman’s bandaged-wrapped shoulder at Ethan. She knew him. They finished each other’s sentences, and his crestfallen expression said it all.
“Please stay for the tournament tomorrow night,” Carol said. “Glenn might not be released by then, and I could use a cheering section.”
Tia nodded, even as Ethan glared daggers at her. Ironically, the first favor Carol had ever asked of her, to accompany Ethan on his hunt for her, Tia thought, had brought she and him together. Now Carol’s second favor would be the thing that tore them apart.
“What about you, Ethan?” Carol asked. “Will you come?”
Ethan shook his head. “No, Grandma.” He leaned down and bussed her cheek. “I’m going by Aunt Kay’s house to visit with her a bit, and then I’m headed home to Nashville.”
“All right, then.” Carol nodded and looked from him to Tia. She opened her mouth as if she were about to say something, but apparently changed her mind. “Well, I’d better get back to Glenn,” she said.
She turned to go inside the hospital and then paused to look back. “For what it’s worth, I couldn’t be happier you two are together.” She zeroed in on Ethan. “This one is no Stepford wife. Tia’s exactly what you need.”
* * *
Ethan wasn’t hearing it.
His grandmother’s words evaporated in the morning heat along with what he thought he’d had with Tia.
He stared at her for several long moments after his grandmother left, his throat too clogged by hurt and betrayal to speak.
“She would have come back with us, you know. One word from you, and she would have abandoned that damned list and come home—not getting into motorcycle crashes or having sore losers with baseball bats coming after her.”
“And then what? Spend the rest of her days baking pies and puttering around in her garden bored out of her skull?” Tia countered.
“At least she would have been safe,” Ethan spat back.
Every Road to You Page 17