The Promise of Lightning

by Linda Seed

For a minute, he’d forgotten about his cover story. “Uh … Yeah. A couple of Tylenol cleared it right up. I’m good.”

  “The thing about headaches,” Mike said, “is they can really screw you. They screw you hard. They just pound you until you’re moaning, ‘Oh, God,’ am I right? Then when they finally let go, it’s sweet relief.”

  “Are we still talking about headaches?” Matt asked.

  Drew made eye contact with Mike in the rearview mirror, and the guy smirked at him. The asshole actually smirked. Clearly, Julia had told him what had happened.

  Man of Honor, my ass.

  “It wasn’t that kind of headache,” Drew remarked.

  “What was it, honey? A migraine?” Isabelle wanted to know.

  “No, it was—”

  “Probably the throbbing kind,” Mike put in, clearly pleased with himself.

  “I think it’s coming back,” Drew said dryly.

  Megan was sober enough at the end of the evening, so she went back to Cambria in her own car. The drive gave her plenty of time to think about what had happened that evening, and what it all meant.

  Had she really had sex in a hotel closet at her almost sister-in-law’s wedding? Oh, she did that, all right. Not only that, but it had been the most intense erotic experience of her life.

  If it weren’t for the guilt, she’d be giddy with the afterglow. Oh, screw it. Guilty or not, she was giddy as hell.

  She had to tell Liam about her relationship with Drew sooner than later, though. If she didn’t, and he found out from someone else, he’d be devastated by the betrayal.

  On the other hand, she wondered if she would really have to tell him at all. Drew lived out of state—out of the country, in fact—and he’d be returning there now that the wedding was over. She and he could carry on a long-distance relationship—she could go there instead of him coming here—and because of the vast stretch of miles between them, there was no reason Liam had to know.

  Except that of course he had to know, because he was Drew’s cousin. Eventually, it would come up, especially if she and Drew were together long-term.

  Not that she was even thinking about something long-term with a man she’d known for a week. Except she was thinking about it, which obviously meant that she’d been driven completely out of her rational mind by the great sex.

  Which, really, could happen to anyone.

  I’m a coward, that’s what I am. A closet-sex-having, insane coward.

  Megan had always been a sensible girl, and after that, she’d been a sensible woman. She didn’t have tattoos, she didn’t have a colorful history of drinking or recreational drug use, she’d never gone skydiving, and she didn’t have one-night stands. She wasn’t impulsive, and she usually led with her brain rather than her heart. She was a doctor, for God’s sake.

  But right now, she seemed to be doing foolish, impulsive things left and right. What would be next? A tongue piercing? A sudden career change to exotic dancer or alpaca farmer?

  It was as though she didn’t even know herself anymore.

  But the thing was, this version of Megan had just had better sex than the old Megan had ever imagined was possible.

  Maybe it was worth considering just going with the change.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The next day, with the wedding wrapped up, the Delaney hospitality machine was slowly being dismantled. Out-of-town friends and relatives were packing up their cars and heading either to their homes or to the closest airport; Colin and Julia were sorting through the wedding gifts and preparing to ship them to their home in Montana; and Liam was continuing his recovery at home on the ranch. Megan was seeing furry patients whose health needs had been put off during her vacation.

  Drew knew he should say goodbye to Megan and then drive to San Luis Obispo to catch his return flight, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. There were plenty of reasons to go: He had a boat to finish. He could make a clean getaway without having to have a meaningful talk with his mother. And if he went now, he could get out of Cambria before getting pummeled by Liam—who might be able to take him, even on crutches.

  But there was one very compelling reason to stay: Megan. How could he leave when he’d just found her? How could he go back to a small island in Canada when Megan wasn’t on it?

  He was sitting in his hotel room mulling things over when he heard a knock on the door.

  Megan.

  His heart started beating faster just thinking about her being here, just imagining that she’d come here to see him.

  But when he opened the door, the woman standing there was not the one he’d wanted to see.

  “Oh. Hi, Mom.”

  Isabelle, who’d had too much to drink the night before, looked tired and a little bit pale. But she also had a look of determination that Drew was certain didn’t bode well for him.

  “Drew, may I come in?”

  He stood back to allow her to enter.

  Even tired and hungover, Isabelle was presenting herself with care, as she always did. Her clothes were neat and freshly pressed; her hair was blow-dried and sprayed; her makeup was carefully applied. Drew sometimes wondered if the makeup and the hair were a form of armor protecting Isabelle from the many and varied dangers of the world.

  “Oh, goodness. This place is a mess, isn’t it?” She made a tutting noise with her tongue as she perused the unmade bed, the clothes on the floor. “I suppose boys will be boys. And you’re planning to check out anyway. Might as well leave it for the maid!”

  Drew recognized the chatter for what it was: a delaying tactic meant to smooth the way for the real subject she’d come to talk about.

  “What can I do for you, Mom?” He kept his tone polite but formal.

  She pulled out the desk chair and sat down, her purse held before her body like a shield.

  “I wanted to ask you a question,” she said.

  “Okay, shoot.”

  She took a deep, shaky breath, then came out with it.

  “What I want to know is, if the Delaneys can forgive me, why can’t you?”

  Apparently, he hadn’t made his decision to leave fast enough.

  “Mom …” He rubbed his forehead with his fingers. “We don’t have to talk about this.”

  “Yes, we do.” Her lips pressed together in determination, making tiny lines feather the skin around her mouth. “You’ve barely said two words to me all week, and when you did, it was polite chitchat. I was hoping that this week, we’d be able to talk, to clear the air. But you—”

  “You don’t want to do this.” Anger simmered in his voice. “Believe me. You don’t want to go there.”

  “But why? Honey, it’s been years since you found out about Redmond. I know you were hurt, and you had a right to be. You had a right. But when are you going to move on? When are you going to put it behind you and let me back into your life?”

  Until today, he’d managed to maintain a level of cool detachment toward Isabelle. It had been important for him to keep his anger in check, simmering below the surface, for Julia’s sake. But she was talking to him now as though he were being somehow petty and immature by taking issue with her. How dare she minimize what she’d done to him? And how dare she suggest that he was the one with the problem?

  “I found the letters,” he said, his voice hot.

  “What letters? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “The letters Redmond sent to you, that you returned to him unopened. He saved them, did you know that? He was asking to see me. Asking to be a part of my life. Which you’d know if you’d even bothered to read them.” Talking to her about it, finally saying the words that he’d been thinking, was like breaking a dam. All of the anger, all of the hurt, was rushing through him so fast and so hard that he didn’t think he could stop it.

  Isabelle opened her mouth and then closed it again, like a beached fish gasping for air. “Drew, I—”

  “You let me think he didn’t want me. That he didn’t love me. How coul
d you do that? Do you know how worthless I felt? That’s why I didn’t get in touch with him; I thought he’d rejected me. And then it was too late.”

  “Oh, honey.” Isabelle’s eyes were brimming with tears. The sadness and hurt on her face almost made him feel sorry for her. Almost. “I didn’t want to hurt your father. I—”

  “That was before. I get that part. I get why you didn’t tell me any of it while Dad was alive. But after? Once I knew about Redmond, you still didn’t tell me that he’d wanted me.” He turned his face away from her so he wouldn’t have to watch her cry.

  “It just … it seemed easier,” Isabelle said in a small voice.

  “Easier for you,” he amended.

  “Yes. And easier for you. I thought if I opened that door, then you’d always wonder …”

  “So you made the decision for me. You took the choice away from me. And don’t tell me you didn’t know what was in the letters.”

  She made a low sniffling noise. “I knew. At least, I was pretty sure what the letters said.” She looked up at him with watery eyes. “And I didn’t want to risk losing you. He had so much money, the ranch, the land, and I … I was afraid you’d choose him over me.”

  It was maybe the most honest thing she’d said to him since any of this had started, and he felt his anger begin to ebb. He didn’t even know if he wanted to give up the anger; it had been his companion, hovering in the background of his life, for so long.

  “I wish you’d had more faith in me,” he said. “I wish you’d trusted me enough to let me make that choice myself.”

  “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.” She rooted around in her purse and came out with a wad of tissues that she used to dab at her eyes and her reddened nose. “Can you forgive me? Please?”

  Could he? Did he have that in him to give to her?

  “I don’t know, Mom,” he said. “I really don’t know.”

  At the veterinary clinic, Megan tried to focus on work, but her heart wasn’t in it. Drew was supposed to go home today, and she couldn’t stop tormenting herself with the question of whether he was going to get on that plane, and whether she would see him before he did.

  She could have just called him, of course, but that didn’t seem like the right thing to do. Maybe it was her pride, and maybe it was years of indoctrination in the idea that a woman who calls a man post-sex is desperate and clingy. In any case, she decided to wait to see what he would do.

  Deciding to wait was easy enough; the actual waiting was much more difficult.

  Megan wasn’t the only one anxious to know what Drew’s next step would be. At about ten a.m., after Megan had just finished examining a stray cat for the local shelter, Breanna called to see if there had been any news.

  “So? Did he call?” The way Breanna was hissing out the question told Megan that she was afraid someone else might hear her. Like maybe Liam.

  Megan, her white coat on and her hair back in a sensible ponytail, sighed and leaned her butt back against the examining table. “No. Not yet.”

  “Well, crap.”

  “What if he left already? What if he went home without even talking to me?”

  “Oh, I doubt that,” Breanna stage-whispered. “I’m not sure when his flight’s scheduled, but he hasn’t said goodbye to my mom yet. Those two seem to get along pretty well, so I’m sure he would have.”

  “Okay.” The reassurance made her feel a little better. “Okay, you’re right.” She changed the subject. “How’s Liam?”

  In her normal voice, Breanna said, “A little loopy from the pain meds, and grumpy that he didn’t even get to drink last night. He and Mom got into it because he keeps getting up and trying to do things, and she says he needs to take it easy and rest.”

  Megan rolled her eyes. “I’ll bet that’s going over well.”

  “Yeah. ‘Fuck rest,’ he says.” Breanna said the words in an uncanny imitation of her brother’s voice. In the background, Megan heard Liam yelling something to Breanna. “He wants to know if you’re going to do a follow-up on that heifer—the one who had the C-section,” Breanna told her.

  “Tell him it’s on my schedule for this afternoon.” From what the Delaneys were telling her, the heifer was recovering fine, but she still wanted to do a standard post-op exam to see for herself.

  “All right. Just give Ryan a call before you come out; he can meet you at the barn.”

  After they hung up, Megan realized she was looking forward to checking in on the heifer. Work gave her something to think about besides Drew. It gave her something to do that mattered.

  Something other than mooning over a man and wondering whether he had skipped town without so much as a goodbye.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Drew needed to get going for the airport, but he was stalling. Of course he wasn’t planning to leave without seeing Megan. But he was beginning to think he didn’t want to leave at all.

  How could he leave her? She’d revived him, when he’d felt half dead for so long.

  But staying was tricky. What if she didn’t want him to stay?

  Liam had made the decision to move to Cambria to be with her without even consulting her. Drew didn’t want to make that same mistake. But he also didn’t want to leave in the middle of something life-changing.

  The thing to do, he decided, was not to make any sweeping decisions right now. The thing to do was to stall.

  Colin and Julia hadn’t left yet, and Colin had been pushing him for some time to have a serious talk about his money and what he should do with it.

  That talk seemed like as good an excuse as any to stay in town a little longer. And anyway, it was something he really did need to do.

  He called the front desk at his hotel, arranged to stay a couple more nights, and headed over to the ranch.

  Colin seemed both surprised and pleased that Drew wanted to have the talk. They settled in upstairs in Orin’s study, a dark, manly room with wood paneling on the walls and a sofa in the center that had seen better days.

  Colin, who’d been eagerly awaiting the day when Drew would get his head out of his ass and take some responsibility for his money, had his laptop set up on the coffee table next to a yellow legal pad.

  Drew sat across from him in a battered leather chair, fidgeting. What had started as a means to delay his return home was beginning to feel serious, and he wasn’t sure what he thought about that.

  “It’s about time we got into this,” Colin said, tapping on the keys of his laptop. “I don’t mind telling you, it’s been hard for me not to badger you about it.”

  “You have badgered me about it,” Drew reminded him.

  “Yeah, but not nearly as much as I wanted to. Now”—he rubbed his hands together—“what investments have you made so far?”

  The part where Drew was embarrassed by his ineptitude was coming sooner than he’d hoped.

  “Uh … well … it’s in the bank.”

  “Right. But in what kind of fund?”

  Drew looked at him blankly.

  Colin’s shoulders slumped. “Don’t tell me it’s in your checking account.”

  “Well … no. I do have a savings account.…”

  “Oh, for God’s sake …”

  Drew, feeling defensive, ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I’m coming to you for help. Don’t make me feel like a dumbass.”

  “You are a dumbass.” But Colin said it with such good humor that Drew could hardly be mad at him.

  “Okay. Then help me stop being one.”

  “I thought you’d never ask. Literally—I thought you would never ask.”

  With the ribbing out of the way, they got down to business. The two of them went over Drew’s assets, including cash, property, and his shares in the Delaney corporation. Because the subject was vast—as were Drew’s assets—it was impossible to cover everything in one sitting.

  Instead, they ended the session with a preliminary to-do list for Drew. Number one on the list was hiring a financial adviser. Colin pro
vided him with a list of names to consider.

  “Can’t I just hire you?” Drew asked.

  Colin shook his head. “That’s not a good idea. I represent the corporation, and what’s best for the corporation isn’t always going to be what’s best for you. A lot of the time it will be, but … I can’t foresee every circumstance. You need somebody whose main obligation is to you.” He gestured toward a piece of paper in Drew’s hand. “Everybody on that list is good, and they’re all trustworthy. If you want to look at somebody who’s not on the list, run it by me, and I’ll check them out first. A lot of ‘financial advisers’ out there are just scam artists, so you want to be aware.”

  “Yeah. I’ve managed to figure out that much on my own.” Drew fielded about two calls per week from so-called financial advisers with ideas about what he should do with his fortune—mainly, put it into their pockets. It was probably time to get some legitimate help.

  Colin started to close his laptop and gather up his things. “This is just the beginning, you know. Just the first step. You need to educate yourself about what’s in your portfolio. And you need to keep learning about the ranch. You got a start the other day. You need to build on that.”

  Drew nodded. “I know you’re right. It’s just been overwhelming.”

  “I’m sure it has been. But it’s time to stop being overwhelmed and start being proactive.” He picked up his things, stood up, and clapped Drew on the back. “You’re my brother-in-law now, I want to see you do well.”

  “Yeah.” Somehow, the statement made Drew feel a little bit embarrassed. “Thanks.”

  “You know, if you’re not in a hurry, you could spend some more time on the ranch today,” Colin suggested.

  Colin was offering him an excellent excuse for delaying his departure—which was exactly what he’d been hoping for.

  “Okay. What did you have in mind?”

  What he had in mind was for Drew to shadow Ryan for the afternoon, the way he’d done with Colin before.