The Right Thing

by McDonald, Donna

  He didn’t want his father to know the full scope of what he’d originally thought, much less what he’d said to Thea.

  “Thea is Delilah’s legal guardian,” Gerald said shortly. “The money goes into Delilah’s account, and Thea pays the bill for the medicine.”

  Then Morgan remembered the rest of the puzzle, including the reason Thea had first kissed him. She had said someone she loved was dying and she couldn’t stop it from happening. Now Morgan knew who it was.

  And the person she loved who had been hurting was his father.

  “Delilah Carmichael is never getting well, is she?” Morgan asked softly.

  “No. She’s not. Delilah’s heart is going. She only has a few more weeks to live,” Gerald answered, getting out of the vehicle and leaving Morgan staring after him.

  *** *** ***

  After getting a few needed hours of sleep to help clear his brain, Morgan took a shower, hoping it would wash away some of the disgust he felt about himself. Like every other human that walked, he had done some things in his life he regretted, but never anything he hadn’t clearly known how to make up for until now.

  His father’s disappointment in him was painful, but Morgan knew the man still loved him. If that hadn’t been the case, Morgan had no doubt he’d be heading back to Las Vegas by now.

  It was Thea’s disillusionment with him as a man that he didn’t know how to mend.

  The colorful bruising across his nose, combined with the still-spreading dark blue patches under both eyes, served as condemning evidence to Morgan that he’d crossed a serious line. The woman who had given him all her sexual passion in bed had also given him all her angry passion in her punch.

  Morgan stared at the haggard man in the bathroom mirror and shook his head dejectedly. It would be nice to look at his face there at least once before he left Sedona and see the man he thought he was.

  To achieve the lofty goal of liking himself again after all he’d done wrong, Morgan figured there were only two options for action open to him. Morgan could cut his losses about the mistakes he had made, let his father offer Thea sympathy about what a bastard he was, and never see her again.

  Or—Morgan could go back to see Thea himself, apologize for his mistakes, and try to convince her to let him back into her life.

  Morgan thought of making love to Thea the first time and how much it had been worth every second of the effort it took. He thought of the punch she’d thrown on behalf of his father that had shocked him at the time, but made him admire her now. The woman definitely knew how to love with her whole self and how to be loyal to people she loved. Althea Carmichael was probably the best woman he had ever known in his life.

  Maybe if Morgan had just listened to his original instincts about her, they wouldn’t be in this shitty situation.

  And maybe it didn’t reflect well on Morgan as a person that he’d only been able to admit the truth of his feelings for Thea after what he’d found out today. It was just the way his mind worked. Having blind faith wasn’t in his nature, especially not after two decades of conducting fraud investigations. He didn’t exactly see the best traits of most people in his line of work, but he did trust the truth when he found it.

  Sure, Morgan reasoned. He could have handled things better. Hindsight was always 20/20. He screwed up by accusing Thea of using the money for herself instead of just asking over and over about it until she caved and told him about her mother-in-law. His need to know had been too pressing for him to be as patient as he maybe should have been.

  And sure, on some level, Morgan had known he was mostly wrong about her last night. Okay, so he hadn’t beat down Thea’s door at three in the morning to tell her that, no matter how loudly his instincts were protesting her innocence.

  So why hadn’t he gone to her in the wee hours, taken it all back, and apologized?

  Morgan had asked himself that question many times during the long, sleepless night he’d spent without her for the first time in two weeks. Even now that he knew the whole truth, Morgan had no better answer for not going to her other than that it had taken proof he was wrong to convince him completely.

  He didn’t consider it a sin to be a skeptic when the evidence was piled so high, even if Thea thought she deserved better than that from him. Fine. Maybe she did. His father had certainly seemed to think so.

  But why, Morgan wondered, why hadn’t the woman just defended herself when he’d confronted her?

  While the brunt of the misunderstanding might be on him, Morgan still couldn’t help being hurt that Thea hadn’t cared enough about his opinion of her to even throw the truth in his face. Hell, any normal person would have done at least that much.

  He would have believed her.

  Or at least he would have really wanted to believe her.

  Okay—maybe his inclination to doubt and think the worst didn’t speak well of his character. He knew he had faults. Who didn’t? Thea’s stubbornness didn’t speak so well of her character either.

  Even if they got past this fight, Morgan knew there would probably be others just as big in their future. What rational man would want to sign on for a lifetime of that torture?

  That’s why it was crazy—no, it was absolutely nuts—to want Thea to forgive him and let him back into her life, especially when she currently hated him. Morgan had to admit that he had given Thea some damn good reasons to regret their involvement, not the least of which was him searching her house.

  He’d felt guilty about that even when he’d done it. That really was a line he shouldn’t have crossed while he was sleeping with her.

  So, sure. If he were in her shoes, he’d be pissed too. He understood how mad she was—that’s part of what made this so hard.

  Really, Morgan wondered, how could Thea ever forgive him? And how could he ever find the nerve to ask her to do so?

  Morgan dragged a razor over his face as he contemplated Thea’s potential reactions to every type of apology he could imagine offering. None of what he came up with seemed like it would work out well. The woman was just too stubborn. Look what it had taken to talk her into dating him? Their relationship had never been simple.

  Then Morgan thought about kissing Thea. He thought about making love to her. The woman was uninhibited and without question the best lover he’d ever had.

  Plus they laughed, teased, talked—and God, just debated everything. He felt so good when he was with her. The kind of genuine connection they had with each other in bed and out wasn’t the kind Morgan thought you could ever make yourself forget.

  With the exception of last night, Morgan figured he’d spent enough quality time with Thea over the last two weeks to know that was a definite truth for both of them.

  Besides, he was the man Thea had given up her ten year old wididity to, wasn’t he?

  If you added up all of the facts, Morgan reasoned, there was enough proof even for a skeptical man like him that Althea Carmichael was his woman. It also meant that what they had with each other was worth fighting to save.

  Which meant there really was only one option.

  The man looking back at Morgan from the mirror nodded as he agreed.

  *** *** ***

  At three that afternoon, Morgan was totally shocked when he walked into the restaurant to find over a third of the tables full of customers. Thea threw one venomous glare at him over her shoulder before going on about her business delivering several full plates of food.

  Morgan pointed to the bar when he caught her eye again and chose a stool, receiving only a curt nod in response.

  It was the lunch rush happening at three in the afternoon, Morgan thought, looking around the room as he waited. Maybe some Saturdays were like this, but last Saturday hadn’t been.

  Amy brought him a glass of iced tea when she saw him, but kept right on moving to serve other people. Since he owed them both an apology, he didn’t really blame either woman for not greeting him. He was grateful Amy had even brought him a drink.

  �
��We’ve been hopping busy since we opened at eleven,” Amy told him a few minutes later, pausing at the bar to catch her breath. “And we’ve been asked like a zillion times when we’re having another pasta dinner night.”

  Morgan sighed. Well at least he hadn’t screwed up everything.

  “The secret is in the pasta sauce,” he said sincerely, but it came out like teasing even when it was nothing more than the truth.

  “Yeah, well—you and Thea need to make things up and get to fixing this place. Look at how happy people are,” Amy said, smiling at the customers. “This is what I work for.”

  “I thought you wanted to be a teacher,” Morgan said, surprised at her statement.

  “I do,” Amy replied, wiping the bar absently. “It’s just—I like working here. I like people. And our regulars are wonderful. I feel like I’m taking care of family.”

  “So do this for a living instead,” Morgan suggested with a shrug. “You’re young. You can always be a teacher when you get tired of this.”

  Amy sighed. “My parents would never understand me wanting to do this full-time,” she said. “I’m in the second year of my master’s degree. Waiting tables was just supposed to help me with expenses.”

  “My father would tell you that life is too short to not do what makes you happy,” Morgan told her, sipping his tea.

  “Really? What would your advice be?” Amy asked, waiting to see what he would say. Thea wasn’t saying a word about last night or the fight, but Amy figured it had to be a good sign that Morgan Reed’s butt was back on a bar stool today.

  “My advice?” Morgan pondered. “My advice is to follow my father’s advice. Gerald Reed is very wise man.”

  Amy smiled at him, and Morgan had no idea how relieved it would make him feel until it happened. He felt a little bit forgiven. If Amy could set what happened aside, maybe he stood a chance with Thea.

  “I’m sorry about putting you in the middle last night. I made a serious mistake and Thea called me on it in big way. I’m glad she’s not mad at you too,” Morgan said quietly.

  “Oh Thea’s mad,” Amy informed him, nodding over his shoulder. She pulled two beers and poured a soda, put them on a tray, and headed through the break in the bar. She paused by Morgan to whisper fiercely. “It takes Thea a while to get over things, but she has to forgive me because she needs me.”

  “How long does it usually take?” he whispered back, making Amy laugh.

  “You flirting with customers or serving that beer before it goes flat?” Thea asked sharply.

  Amy smiled at Thea’s sharp tone. “You know how I feel about Doug, so stop being so jealous.”

  Thea snorted. Jealous. That was good one.

  “I’m just trying to keep you out of trouble, little girl. You don’t know the kind of man you’re dealing with in this one,” Thea said, glaring at Morgan while she was speaking to Amy.

  Morgan sighed at Thea’s angry words. Her tone was bad enough, but the hate dripping from everything she said was a tough one to get around. Best to spit out the apology he came to give her and just leave until she had calmed down some more.

  “Serve the beer, Amy,” Morgan told her. “I need a word with Thea.”

  “I don’t have time to talk to the authorities or let you go through the desk right now. You’ll have to come back when we close at five,” Thea said harshly, giving him a look that said she wished for his quick and nasty death.

  “You’re off the hook completely. My father told me everything. I owe you an apology—several of them,” Morgan said, taking a sip of tea to stall. He couldn’t quite make himself hold her gaze yet. “I met your mother-in-law this morning. I—she was able to talk to us both, and I get it now. Dad’s still pissed at me, but at least he hasn’t kicked me out yet. I was hoping you might find your way to tolerate me again as well.”

  “Gee. . .now I feel cheated of my retribution,” Thea told him sourly. “After my mealy two hours of sleep early this morning, I was actually looking forward to another fight. I guess to be fair, it’s really Gerald’s business more than mine if he wants to forgive you so easily. Now get lost.”

  “I’m sorry for what I thought, Thea. It was a serious error in judgment,” Morgan admitted. “Whether you believe or not, I swear I’ve never been so wrong about anything before this.”

  “Maybe that double shiner you’re going to have for a few days makes us even on serious errors in judgment,” Thea told him, completely unrepentant and wishing he’d give her reason to hit him again. She was still so mad at him she could barely talk without screaming. “You definitely look like you lost a fight, and I couldn’t be happier.”

  “I lost a hell of lot more than a fight last evening,” Morgan said, finally bringing his gaze to hers. “I lost your good opinion of me. What can I do to make this up to you, Thea?”

  “Make it up? Oh that’s some nerve you got there, Morgan Reed. Can you take back investigating me for fraud? Going through my financial records? Searching my house for evidence of crimes I’ve committed? No, you can’t take that back. So there’s nothing—not a damn thing you can do,” Thea told him.

  “I’m here for three more months,” Morgan told her. “I’m not giving up on us, Thea.”

  “Morgan, you gave up on any chance of their being an us the moment you let yourself believe I would ever take a single penny from your father without a good reason. If you’re done with your lame apology now, I’ve got to get back to my customers. Tea is on the house. The last thing I want to do today is take money from a Reed,” she said, turning away from him to walk through the tables again.

  Morgan watched her hips weaving through the tables as she talked to customers. Her body was saying the same things to him that it had been saying since he’d first set eyes on her. But he was hearing it differently this time and more clearly.

  He had gotten a view of himself today through his father’s eyes and hadn’t liked the man he saw. Then he’d gotten a life lesson from the man about what it was to love—really love—another person.

  By the time he’d delivered his father back home, Morgan had realized that he would feel compelled to offer that kind of support to Thea. Since he’d never felt that urge for any woman before, he hadn’t recognized the motivation for what it was at first.

  He was in love with Althea Carmichael.

  He’d been falling since the first time he saw her. If he didn’t get her back, memories of being with Thea were going to haunt him forever, just like the taste of ketchup on her fingers did now.

  Just yesterday morning, she had showered and climbed right back into bed to kiss him awake before leaving. He couldn’t insert any woman he’d ever known into the same scenario and get the least little bit aroused by the idea.

  All he wanted was Thea.

  Morgan wished he knew what Angus Carmichael had done to obtain her forgiveness. He had plenty of ideas about how to help her save the restaurant and that would maybe make up a little bit for the harm he had done. He had no idea how to make up for what he’d wrongly thought. Like Amy, the only hope Morgan could cling to at the moment was that he was pretty sure Thea needed him.

  When Thea clicked the door lock at a quarter to five on an empty restaurant, Morgan cleared his throat, hoping to find the courage to speak to her again. As she started passed him, Morgan turned on the bar stool and touched her arm briefly to stop her.

  “Time to leave,” Thea said sharply. “I’m falling off my feet and need to go home. When I get my purse, you can follow me out.”

  “I want to suggest something,” Morgan told her, sliding off the stool to stand. “For the next few months I’m here, let me be your dinner cook. You can think of it as community service for the trouble I’ve caused you.”

  “No,” Thea said firmly, not even giving it any thought. “I don’t want you near this place or me any more than necessary. I’ll feed you if you come by with your father, but that’s the limit of my tolerance.”

  The idea of working alongside th
e man who’d violated her trust seemed the height of stupidity to Thea, even if his pasta dinner had inspired last night’s customers to fill her seats again today.

  “You need me, Thea,” Morgan told her, holding her gaze even though it was hard with her still glaring over every breath he took.

  “I went without sex for a decade, Morgan. I think I can survive without it again,” Thea told him sarcastically.

  Morgan smiled even though he knew it would not help his situation. He couldn’t help being happy that sex with him was the first “need” for him that had crossed Thea’s mind. And it gave him more hope than he’d counted on finding today.

  “I was talking about being your cook for pasta night. You know it was a great moneymaker for the restaurant,” Morgan said, making sure he didn’t smile.

  “Pasta night was a one time deal. And I may be naïve, but I’m not stupid enough to trust you again—in anything,” Thea said coldly, just in case he decided to smirk about her sex remark.

  She was going to miss his lovemaking terribly, but she’d be damned if she let Morgan come watch her suffer on a regular basis.

  “Think about it before you refuse, Thea,” Morgan said, walking to the door with her. “You’re not the only one that cares about the restaurant. Dad and customers like him need a place like this. Hell, Amy wants to run it one day.”

  “Amy hasn’t said anything to me about that,” Thea said, frowning. “I find it hard to believe she’s confided in you.”

  “Amy wasn’t confiding. I figured it out by listening to what she’s not saying because of guilt over her education. She loves working here. It makes her happy. That’s more than most of us find in our jobs,” Morgan said, making himself turn and leave before he begged Thea to let him go home with her. “Give it some thought, okay? I’ll see you on Monday, Thea.”

  Thea didn’t answer, just watched the only man she’d wanted in years walk away from her. She was still hurting. Anger over his betrayal was no longer a raging fire in her, but it wouldn’t have taken much to poke the ashes and have it all flaring to life again.