Reese couldn’t help it, at the mention of Quinn showing up, his pulse picked up. “I thought she was going to get some sleep.”
“She said she got four hours. For Quinn that’s a lot. I hope she’s okay, though; she sounded a little strange. It’s probably all those hours.” At least Kit hoped that was the reason and not because Cade had threatened Quinn again. She turned accusingly to Jake, reminding him, “I want all of us to have fun today, not sit around discussing them, okay?”
Jake shot Dylan a reproachful look. “We got it. We’ll get the grill going.”
As they made their way inside, Reese turned to Kit. “How’d Quinn manage to get the day off?”
“She got off work Sunday morning around seven but got called back in around six in the evening to work another twelve hours for some guy who had more seniority and had a family emergency. Due to the hours she put in over the past forty-eight, she had downtime coming.”
After stopping at the kitchen for a beer, the men collectively went outside to fire up the grill and do any talking away from the house.
But the festive mood had changed.
Thirty minutes later, Kit and Quinn stood on top of the well-worn path from the beach watching a relaxed Baylee walk side by side with Dylan. “I don’t think she’s looked this stress-free in all the months she’s been back in L.A. And have you noticed, she’s acting like her old self again.” It did Kit’s heart good to see Baylee enjoying herself.
“It must be the hair,” Quinn said, as she watched a blonde Baylee, dressed in a pair of low rise shorts and a cropped sleeveless top, head up the well-worn path from the beach back up to the house, deep in conversation with surfer dude, who was toting the baby. “Can you believe how incredible she looks? She sure doesn’t look like she’s ever had a baby. She looks like she weighs the same as she did when she was about fifteen.”
“I hope I look that good six months after childbirth.”
Quinn almost tripped on a rock. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
Kit laughed. “I’m not pregnant―yet. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want it to happen. I’ve got the nursery all picked out upstairs. When I give you guys the grand tour, I want you to tell me what you think.”
“Right away? Don’t you want to give it some time, see if this thing works out?”
“Oh, Quinn. I’ve been in love with Jake Boston my whole life. And he loves me. I’m so happy it’s—scary. I can’t ever remember being this happy before.”
“You deserve it.”
“Did you hear what he did?” Kit cocked her head in the direction of Dylan.
After the kind of shift she’d had that morning, Quinn was more than ready for some gossip, some down time, eager to spend time just hanging with her friends. “If you tell me the guy’s into kinky shit, then I’m going to have to run up this hill, bitch-slap him upside the head, and then find her another place to crash.”
Kit laughed. “Nothing kinky that I know of, Mom. No, he had Reese amend Sarah’s birth certificate so he’s listed as her father.”
“Aww, that’s sweet. Okay, so he isn’t the pervert I thought he was. But that doesn’t change his major player status. Who knew the guy would be such a boy scout with a heart of gold when it came to Sarah. All I know is he better not hurt Baylee. She has enough to deal with without having another guy take advantage of her.”
At Quinn’s tone, Kit turned to give her friend a long look. “Cade scared the shit out of you, didn’t he?” She saw Quinn swallow hard and recognized the second the veneer dropped away. After all, they’d been friends since third grade, not as long as Kit had known Baylee, but long enough to know each other’s moods and familiar with each other’s temperament.
“Yeah. He got to me. He always does. But there’s something I need to tell you, something I didn’t mention to Baylee or Dylan.”
Kit’s radar went off. “What?”
“I got the impression—and maybe it’s just that—but I got a sense that Connor’s sort of hung up on Baylee, kind of like the same sick way Collin is hung up on you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“The way Cade said Connor was looking for her, the way he said that Connor would eventually find her. The way he reminded me that Connor always gets what he wants. It was just—creepy. It reminded me of the weird way Collin always acted when he was around you, like that time he cornered you in the cabana house at the Enclave.”
Kit remembered all right. If she hadn’t screamed the house down, Quinn and Baylee would never have known where she was and come to her rescue. “I caught Connor once trying to get Baylee to leave with him. We were about fifteen at the time. It was during Collin’s birthday party. He’d spent a considerable amount of time trying to get her to dance with him. He’d been drinking. He had to be in his twenties when it happened.” She paused before adding, “And you know as well as I do that Cade hasn’t gotten over you, not by a long shot.”
“It’s been four damn years.”
“Yeah, but Collin and I were never together. You guys were actually a couple, you…”
“Go ahead, say it, we slept together. What can I say? It lasted for six weeks and I’ve regretted it so many times since. How was I supposed to know he’d beat the crap out of me?”
Kit cocked her head and gave her a disbelieving look.
“Okay, okay. You and Baylee tried to warn me. I was young and stupid. I admit it. But why can’t he just leave me the hell alone?”
As they followed Baylee and Dylan from a distance back up to the house, Kit wondered that too. Why couldn’t the Boyds somehow drop off the planet?
“You don’t have to hold her, you know. You can put her down as soon as we get back to the house. That’s why we brought the Pack ’N Play,” Baylee pointed out as they made their way up the steep hill back to the house.
He knew that. Hadn’t he been the one to load the thing into the car? But for now Dylan was content to hold Sarah as she slept and give her mother a little break from doing everything she usually did. He noted she looked so much more relaxed today than she had over the last forty-eight hours. And Dylan realized then and there that keeping Baylee happy was something he very much wanted to do, one way or another.
As soon as they reached the grassy area where Kit and Jake had set up tables and chairs next to the grill on the lawn, he plopped down in a deck chair, adjusting Sarah to his shoulder. He watched Baylee drop in beside him for all of two seconds before she was bouncing up again asking, “How about a beer?”
“Do you ever just sit down and relax for five damn minutes?”
“Sorry.” She grinned. “It’s a habit.” Then she charged off toward the coolers lined up on the deck. The coolers held an assortment of cold drinks, everything from mini bottles of wine to beer to soda. Watching her walk away, it dawned on him that all three women had the same boundless energy, some unnamed strength that seemed to originate from deep within and radiate outward.
Quinn, like any first-year resident, worked long shifts at the hospital. Kit owned her own business, and put in long hours, six days a week. As for Baylee, he’d seen her endless energy firsthand every day with Sarah. All three women were like energizer bunnies.
And whenever the three of them were around each other that same energy force seemed to get stronger, almost as if they fed off each other. Whatever had happened to them in the past, Dylan surmised, must have affected all three of them in such a way that whenever one was down the other two picked up the slack.
And then it came to him.
Their difficult childhoods had to have played a role in shaping that never-ending force field that seemed to drive them at high-speed. What little Baylee had said was enough to tell him that Kit’s early years had been far worse than hers. And yet, he knew that after all these years, Baylee’s early pain still haunted her dreams. He’d seen that for himself last night.
Admittedly, he didn’t know much about Quinn’s childhood, only that she was the dau
ghter of the rock star Nick Tyler and a globe-trotting, free-spirited artist named Ella Canyon. Quinn’s parents never married, never lived together. But as he sat there holding Sarah, watching her sleep, he couldn’t help but wonder what secrets Quinn held close to the vest. And she had to have a few.
He looked down at the bundle in his arms and then stared at her mother, who’d finally decided to have a seat next to him. Here was a life he held that could be his responsibility. One he could personally see would turn out for the good if he did this right. It was something weighty to consider.
Kit shoved an elbow in Jake’s ribs as he stood at the grill, beer in hand, flipping a burger. “Would you look at that? Doesn’t she look happier than you’ve ever seen her? Dylan wouldn’t hurt her, would he?”
Jake reached around Kit’s waist, drew her in to him before glancing over at the man in question, who was in an animated conversation with Baylee. Jake nuzzled Kit’s neck, telling her, “He’s a good guy, Kit. Dylan’s been acting kinda funny ever since that night at the hospital, ever since he met her.”
“But he has women crawling out of the woodwork,” Kit pointed out.
Jake cocked a brow. What could he do, deny it? Willing to take up for his best bud, he said simply, “He takes care not to hurt anyone. Always has. Dylan’s able to walk that fine line that says, ‘We’ll have some fun, but let’s keep it light’ and then somehow manages to stay friends with all of them.”
“All I know is that Baylee seems at ease around him.” As Kit continued to watch the woman and Dylan deep in conversation, she reminded herself it was simply a platonic arrangement designed to keep Baylee from leaving town. They had to get to know each other in order to share a house, didn’t they? And Sarah’s amended birth certificate thing was just a tactic to keep Connor from suspecting anything. “Do you think it’ll work?”
“What? Them sharing a house.”
“No. Amending Sarah’s birth certificate.”
“It should. After all, Boyd has no reason to go looking at Sarah’s parentage.”
About that time, Quinn meandered over, no longer wearing the wetsuit she’d worn to go surfing. She’d changed into white shorts and a red tank top, and held out an empty paper plate. “What’s taking so long with the food? You’ve got hungry people here.”
Without letting go of Kit’s waist, with his free hand, Jake switched from a long spatula to a set of tongs, pinching a hot dog off the warmer and waving it in front of Quinn. Like a kid, she grabbed a bun and held it open while he dropped the meat inside. “This’ll tide you over until the steaks and burgers are done, which should be in about five minutes.”
“Finally,” she said, as she took a generous bite and groaned. “Where were you hiding these? Are we roasting marshmallows later? Kit promised roasted marshmallows on top of melted chocolate and graham crackers.”
“Where I come from we call those s’mores,” Reese said tactfully, as he walked up behind them to the cooler sitting on the deck and pulled out a beer. Twisting off the cap, he watched out of the corner of his eye while Quinn devoured her hot dog in four bites.
“Yeah, well, whatever. Are we making those later over the fire the way we used to at the beach?”
Jake one-handedly flipped another burger as he rubbed Kit’s back and wished he could get her alone, away from all these people. But that wasn’t going to happen for hours yet. Not until this picnic had run its course. He patted Kit’s rear end before turning to Quinn.
“Kit decided the s’mores were a tad on the messy side. But you get your pick of assorted cookies and brownies, and if you’re really good, chocolate fudge cake.”
Kit tacked on, “Slathered with lots of dark chocolate frosting the way you like it. You won’t miss the s’mores, I promise. And you won’t starve. Gloria made four different kinds of side salads.”
Kit pointed to the table and Quinn followed her hand like a hound with a scent. She spooned out a generous helping of each kind of salad until she had potato salad, pea salad, pasta salad, and plain old leaf salad piled high on the double-duty paper plate.
Reese took a pull on his beer. “Now there’s a woman with an appetite.” Taking in her trim five-foot-seven athletic body, he added, “Where do you put all that?”
With a gleam in her eye, Quinn shot back, “So I’ve got a healthy appetite, sue me. You guys bitch about women who won’t eat, then when we do, you make snide comments about it. Either way, we can’t win.”
Reese arched a brow and wondered why he was so intrigued with this woman who acted as if she couldn’t stand to get near him for five damn minutes. Determined to get on the woman’s good side if she had one, he conceded, “You’re right. It’s just that some women who work out in a gym for hours would kill to have your body.” And energy, he thought.
That had her bobbling her plate. “Well, now I’m disappointed. I’d hoped the big-time lawyer might be attracted to my quick wit and brilliant mind instead of the way I look. How silly of me to think you could be that deep?”
When it came to this woman, he didn’t seem to be able to win today, or any other day for that matter, so he took the path of least resistance. “That was a compliment.”
“Was it?” She sighed. “Sorry, but I’m a little cranky.” When she saw the skeptical look on his face, she chuckled and said, “Okay, a lot. But I had to work a straight thirty-hour shift and then got called back in for twelve more on top of that, didn’t knock off until…” She glanced at her watch. “A couple of hours ago.”
“I’ve heard horror stories from first-year residents about the brutal hours. You must be ready to drop.”
What she could tell him about her brutal hours wasn’t for the faint-hearted. But she smiled and said, “I didn’t want to miss the party.”
She didn’t tell him she’d needed to be around her friends, around people, after working on a four-year-old kid this morning for the longest twenty-five minutes of her life. Pulled from the family swimming pool, not breathing and without a pulse, the little girl had arrived at the ER for someone to save her life. It had fallen to Quinn. But she hadn’t been able to save her.
After telling the family, seeing the sorrow in their eyes, the last thing she had wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep. Her colleagues assured her she’d get used to that kind of thing. But she had a soft spot for kids. Where kids were concerned, she didn’t think she’d ever get used to seeing children suffer or hurt. Or in this case die, drown. She could still see the kid’s eyes.
She suddenly felt sick from all the food she’d just eaten. When she spotted Gloria setting the plates out on the picnic table, Quinn pulled herself back to the moment and headed off to see if she could help without a backward glance at Reese.
Kit saw the frustration on Reese’s face and ambled over where he stood. “It isn’t you she doesn’t like.”
“Could have fooled me,” Reese retorted.
Kit shook her head. “She doesn’t like lawyers in general.”
“Mind clueing me in as to why?”
“Spending a lifetime communicating with your father through his lawyers makes a kid a little mistrustful when it comes to that particular profession. She doesn’t mean anything by it, Reese. It’s innate, a self-preservation tactic. Don’t give up on her. She’s a terrific person.”
“A lifetime? But she’s Nick Tyler’s daughter.” Nick Tyler, Ireland’s proverbial rock legend, lead singer for Shatter, and the rock star he and every other kid his age had listened to and worshiped from afar, the guy Rolling Stone had once touted as the best lyricist of his time. “Growing up in Beverly Hills had to be a walk in the park.”
Kit’s eyes fixed Reese with a cold stare. “You’d think so. wouldn’t you? But her father lived in Ireland.” If she said more, would she betray Quinn’s trust? Eyeing Reese’s confusion, she decided she needed to set him straight. “Let’s see if I remember my geography. Beverly Hills is way over here.” She used her hands to illustrate her point. “While Dublin, Ireland is w
ay over here.” She had both arms extended out as far as they would reach in an exaggerated pose.
“Get it? She’s never had a real relationship with Nick Tyler. Just lots of letters, notes, checks from his team of high-powered lawyers. Same goes for her mother.” But Kit didn’t intend to get into the Ella thing now while trying to explain Quinn’s slippery relationship with her father.
“Tyler’s string of lawyers handled what few birthday and Christmas cards she received over the years. Any money for school, for clothes, came through them as well. When she was a kid, any request for money had to be put in writing, no matter what it was for. When her mother wasn’t around, the request fell to either Quinn or her stepfather. Being a product of a rock star and a free-spirited artist who didn’t stay in one place for more than a couple of years had its own challenges, Reese. Sounds glamorous on the surface, but the lawyers take care of Tyler’s financial responsibilities. That’s all Quinn ever was to him, a financial matter.”
Feeling small for what he’d been thinking, Reese wanted to know, “What about now, now that she’s an adult? She’s successful, smart. Doesn’t she have a relationship with the guy now? I read somewhere on the Internet where the guy just divorced his third wife. You’d think he would’ve reached out to his daughter at some point.”
“You’d think, but no. No reaching out for Nick Tyler. She tried when she was younger of course. All those times, she called and couldn’t get past his personal assistants or wrote letters to him that went unanswered. He was just too busy touring or recording or living that rock star life, a world that didn’t include his daughter. There are times when a kid just needs to talk to a parent about things that are happening at home, or at school, times when a kid just needs to hear from someone who cares, someone who thinks about them enough to ask how it’s going at school, interested enough to see they get birthday presents. But then once you reach a certain age, around fifteen or sixteen when that rebellious streak kicks in, it’s a little too late to have a relationship with someone who ignored you for the first fifteen years of your life.”
Evil Secrets Trilogy Boxed Set Page 57