by Amanda Renee
“You know what I think is romantic?” Abby ever-so-slightly chewed on her bottom lip.
“Do I dare ask?” Clay leaned closer.
“Go ahead,” Abby whispered.
“What do you find romantic?”
“I’ve always wanted to make out at a drive-in movie.”
“Then who am I to deny your desires?”
Clay drew Abby tight to his chest. There was no accidental brush of her breast against him. This time, she full-on flattened her upper body against his chest and Clay enjoyed every minute of it. Heaven have mercy.
Pushing whatever guilt he felt earlier to the back of his mind, Clay reveled in having Abby alone to himself...in his arms, where she belonged. After she discovered the truth, he may never have the chance again. Tonight might be all they would have, and Clay wasn’t about to let what may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity pass him by.
* * *
“FIRST, I SERVED CLAY alone yesterday and then you today.” Bridgett flipped over Abby’s coffee cup and filled it. “What’s up with you two?”
“I saw him last night,” Abby began, opting not to share the details of their drive-in excursion. They had missed the end of the movie, which was okay with her. She’d rather steam up the windows in the cab of a pickup truck than watch a stale old movie any day. “I have so much to tell you about my search. Alfred Anderson had a photo of Walter that was taken when I was about three. There was only one, but he was with the mayor.”
“Darren Fox?” Bridgett asked. “Maybe he’ll know something.”
“Clay said he’d talk to Darren when he returns from some fishing trip.”
“I don’t know what I would do if I were in your shoes. I guess I’d want to know, but I’d always wonder why it was a secret in the first place. Was it because of me or them?”
“Believe me, I’ve asked a million questions and received zero answers.” Abby sighed. “It’s heartbreaking. I’ve always wanted kids of my own, and I could never imagine keeping them from one another. My dad—stepdad—is wonderful, but Wyatt and my parents are the family unit. I’m the outsider looking in. That’s how I feel, anyway. To know I had a sister out there all these years and didn’t know it is almost inconceivable. We were both short-changed years that we can never get back.”
“Maybe there’s a good reason for all of this,” Bridgett reassured her.
“That’s what I keep telling myself. I’ve had my entire life mapped out since I was a little girl. Followed it to the letter, yet somehow it’s still empty. Now I feel my career may be veering down a parallel path, and I’m beginning to wonder if Dance of Hope is the brass ring. I tell my patients to live every day to the fullest. I think it’s time I started following my own advice. Even though I’ve attempted to attain my goals, maybe Charleston was the wrong place.”
“Order up,” Bert called from the kitchen pass-through window.
Bridgett glanced over her shoulder. “Give me a minute and I’ll be back.”
“No, go.” Abby shooed Bridgett away. “I’m good with coffee. You’re busy.”
Abby watched Bridgett hurry around the luncheonette. It definitely paid to have a mother who owned a salon. If Abby had half of Bridgett’s beauty, she’d be satisfied.
Since she had time to spare this morning, Abby decided to pop across the street and see if she could get her hair trimmed. She had a feeling things with Clay were close to progressing to the see-me-naked stage and she could stand some head-to-toe primping.
* * *
WHEN CLAY DROVE past the Curl Up & Dye salon, the last thing he expected to see was Abby sitting in the front window with Ruby.
He slapped the steering wheel before making a sharp impromptu turn in the middle of Main Street.
“Why can’t she stay out of the damn salon?”
Because Ruby’s her mother.
Jamming his truck into Park, Clay ran to the salon, almost tearing the door off the hinges as he stormed in.
“Clay!” Shock registered on Abby’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Ruby.” Clay crossed the room in four long strides. “I need to talk to you about that matter you asked me to look into the other day.”
Clay motioned toward the back office, but the woman didn’t take the hint.
“What matter?” she questioned. “I didn’t ask you to—”
“Yes, you did, Ruby.” Clay lightly gripped her arm and tugged her up from her chair. “I know you don’t want to discuss this in public.”
Still confused, she allowed Clay to lead her to the salon office.
“Clay!” Ruby shrugged out of his grip. “What is wrong with you?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know who that is,” Clay said.
Ruby tilted her head. “That’s Abby Winchester.”
“Care to expand on that?”
“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ruby turned away, her shoulders trembling.
“Ruby.” Clay gently touched her arm in an attempt to get her to face him. She shook her head, as if willing away what he was about to say. “I know the truth. You know she hired me to find her sister. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”
“Find out what?” Ruby began to sort through papers on her desk.
“Ruby, Abby is your biological daughter.” There was no candy-coating the words. He needed her attention.
The woman’s legs gave out and Clay caught her before she hit the floor. Guiding Ruby to a chair, he held her hand as she leaned forward and sobbed.
“When Abby first showed up, I didn’t think anything of it,” Ruby confessed, after she stopped hyperventilating. “It wasn’t until after Bridgett told me Abby was in town looking for her sister that I thought it was possible. The other day, when I saw them side by side, I knew...I just knew she was my daughter. And I was okay with it. I had covered my tracks. I figured she’d find nothing and leave town, but at least I finally knew what became of my daughter.”
“Ruby.” Clay crouched in front of her. “I’m giving you the chance to tell Bridgett and Abby yourself. Bridgett especially needs to hear this from you. If I tell Abby, she’s going to run straight to Bridgett and you don’t want that.”
“Please give me a few days,” Ruby pleaded, tears streaming down her face. “I need to figure out a way to tell them.”
Clay hated lying to Abby. He’d planned to give Ruby only a couple of hours to tell her daughters the truth, not days. After last night, he refused to keep this secret from Abby. He knew it wasn’t his place, but ethics be damned, he wasn’t going lie to Abby much longer. His heart couldn’t take it.
“I’ll give you forty-eight hours, Ruby, but that’s it.” Clay rose. “Don’t take advantage of my good nature on this one. A woman’s life is about to be drastically changed with this information. She deserves to know the truth. At least Bridgett knows you’re her mother, Abby doesn’t have a clue.”
“I—I understand,” Ruby stammered.
“In the meantime, I need to find a way to keep Abby away from you and Bridgett.”
“Why?” Ruby’s voice pitched high.
“Those girls are a hairsbreadth away from finding out they’re sisters. They have a birthday in a few weeks. That’s bound to come up in conversation. I’m actually surprised it hasn’t already. Why didn’t you ask Abby her birthday? That would’ve answered your question from the beginning.”
“Because I didn’t want to know. I liked the idea of knowing, but I hated the certainty. I always wondered how my daughter turned out. If she had a good life. I had a fantasy of what became of her. I know this doesn’t make any sense to you, but I told myself that if Abby was my daughter then I made the right decision by giving her away. Look at the life she’s had!”
“And look at the life she missed out on,” Clay
argued. “Ruby, I’m not judging you. I’m worried about Abby. No matter how you spin this, and regardless of how wonderful you think Abby’s life has been, the fact remains that her entire life has been a lie. The guilt she carries for not being there when Walter died is bad enough. Now she’ll learn her mother isn’t really her mother. She already feels like an outsider in her family because her mother and stepfather have a son of their own. Imagine how she’s going to feel now.”
“I never thought her parents would keep her adoption from her,” Ruby argued. “Don’t you dare lay that part on me. That’s on them.”
“No one could have predicted how this would turn out. If you want a relationship with Abby, the only way is to tell her the truth. Beau and Mable said you thought you were doing the honorable thing. I’m sure none of this was easy for you.”
“Beau and Mable?” Ruby’s lips thinned.
“Don’t be mad at them, Ruby.” Clay’s neck stiffened. How could Ruby be more concerned with whether or not her friends had betrayed her than what her daughters’ reactions to the truth might be. “They didn’t have any choice in the matter. I had figured it out. I just needed them to confirm the facts.”
Tears filled Ruby’s eyes. “Please don’t think any less of me for what I did.”
“I’ve no right judge you. But when you tell Abby, I want to be there. You’re going to have your hands full supporting Bridgett, and I’ll be there for Abby. This can’t drag out, though. I don’t want to give you a couple of days, but I will. I have to tell Abby she’s adopted. I don’t have to tell her that you’re her mother, but she’s going to ask, and this puts me in a terrible position.”
“Understood.” Ruby nodded and walked unsteadily toward the back door of the salon. Opening it, she poked her head out and looked in both directions. “I don’t want anyone to see me this way. Would you please tell everyone up front I had to leave?”
“Fine. What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know... Say I received a phone call while we were talking and someone’s having a hair emergency.”
“A hair emergency?” That was a new one.
“It happens more often than you realize. Especially when people attempt to color their own hair. Please do this for me.”
Clay bobbed his head in agreement and Ruby grabbed her purse, practically running out the back door. Rubbing his eyes with his palms, Clay didn’t know how he’d keep the truth from Abby. How the hell was he going to keep her away from the center of town? He had his work cut out for him, considering she stayed across the street at the Bed & Biscuit.
He inhaled deeply then emerged from the salon’s office.
“Is everything okay?” Abby asked. “Where’s Ruby?”
“Hair emergency, if you can believe that.” Clay rolled his eyes. “Someone called—something about coloring their own hair and they had problems. Ruby took off.”
“Oh, I can see how that would happen,” Abby said. “I remember the time I darkened my hair and it turned an eggplant color. That was definitely a hair emergency. I sympathize with whoever it was.”
Clay couldn’t imagine that what he had thought was a ridiculous cover story had actually happened. Why couldn’t women leave well enough alone and keep their natural hair color?
“In the meantime, I’m available this afternoon if you’d like another riding lesson.”
“I’d love to, but I was planning on going to Dance of Hope. I really need to spend as much time there as possible if I’m to give Kay’s job offer my full consideration.”
Hearing Abby reiterate her interest in Dance of Hope should have made him the happiest man on earth, but not when it was clouded in so many lies. “How about we meet for dinner tonight?”
Hard as it was being around Abby and not telling her the truth, he knew if he didn’t tie up her schedule, chances were she’d spend time with Bridgett. Their fast friendship made perfect sense now.
“Sure, dinner sounds wonderful. I’ll call you after I’m through at the ranch and we’ll set a time.”
“Let me walk you out.” Clay wasn’t taking any chances on Abby veering toward The Magpie for a gossip fest with Bridgett.
He held the door of the salon open for her.
Abby swatted his arm. “You don’t have to walk me home, Clay. I can manage to cross the street by myself.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you later.”
This simple gesture made him feel like a first-class ass. He’d managed to block her schedule for tonight, but, come tomorrow, he didn’t know how he’d continue to lie to her. This is exactly why he should never get involved with a client.
Especially one he was falling in love with.
Chapter Nine
“Are you sure you don’t want to go someplace else?” Clay asked Abby a few hours later as he opened the door to The Dog House.
“Not at all.” Abby slipped under his arm and inside. “I love street food. Every time I take Duffy to the Bark Park I can smell these hot dogs. I’ve been dying for one since I got here. And don’t try to pay for mine, because I’m treating you this time.”
Inside the brightly lit red-and-yellow take-out restaurant, they ordered a couple of fully loaded hot dogs, nachos and a pretzel the size of Abby’s head.
They carried their food outside then made the short five-minute walk around the corner to the large recreational park, which boasted picnic tables and an athletic track. They spread their meal on one of the tables.
“I can’t believe you’re going to eat all of that,” Clay said.
“I have a very healthy appetite, but if I don’t start working out again, I’m going to be in some serious trouble. I haven’t burned off a single thing I’ve eaten since I came here. Hey, you haven’t noticed my new boots.”
“No, you’re right, I haven’t. How very manly of me not to.” Clay attempted to talk his way out of his oversight. “What, no pink cowboy boots? Were they out of fringe?”
“I can be conservative when I need to be.” Abby lifted her chin. “Besides, the fringed ones didn’t come in my size and Bridgett told me they would probably get caught in the stirrups.”
“Bridgett would be correct.” Clay cringed at the mention of her name. Bridgett’s father had never been around. Her birth certificate stated unknown in the paternity section. What lie had Ruby told to cover Bridgett’s absent father?
“Hello, earth to Clay.” Abby waved her hand in front of him. “Where did you go just now?”
“Sorry, I was thinking about a case.” Clay wanted to direct the conversation away from Abby’s search. He hated lying to her. She deserved to know she was adopted, but he understood why Ruby needed some time to figure out how to break the news to Bridgett. Plus, in his heart, Clay knew once Abby found out, she’d leave town...and him.
“My case?” Abby sighed. “You found her, didn’t you? And you’re trying to convince her to meet with me.”
Something like that.
“Abby, let’s wait another day or two and see what happens.”
“I’m right, aren’t I? You do know who my sister is.” She rewrapped her hot dog and shoved it into the paper sack.
“Abby, there are a lot of things I’m not sure of.” That much wasn’t a lie. “I hope to learn more in a couple of days. Please grant me that much. I don’t have all the answers yet, but I’m working on it.”
“I’m sorry. It’s hard not to ask you a million questions right now. I guess this goes back to what you were saying about mixing business with pleasure.”
“It does,” Clay agreed. “But it’s too late for that now. I’m already involved, and hopefully that won’t change. Trust me, please.”
He feared there was the real possibility that once Abby found out who her sister and mother were she’d want no further part of Ramblewood. On the flipside, maybe s
he’d want to stay and get to know Bridgett and Ruby better.
“Fine.” Abby removed her hot dog from the sack and unwrapped it for the second time. “I had another long talk with Kay today. I’m not saying yes yet, but I’m leaning more toward moving to Ramblewood. Before I make my final decision, I would like to speak with the hospital board in Charleston again. I think I owe them that courtesy. My patients deserve the best care they can get, and if my head’s not a hundred percent in the game, then I need to be where it will be.”
“You’ve fit in very nicely here.” Clay cursed his silent prayer for her to stay. It no longer mattered what he wanted. Or what she wanted. In less than two days, her life would change dramatically, along with her priorities. His instinct was to protect her, but in reality, he couldn’t. Her happiness was all he cared about, and if they had only the next few days together, he’d make the best of them. “Heck, even I’ve taken a likin’ to ya.”
Abby playfully kicked at him under the table. A cool evening breeze rustled the wax paper beneath their dinner. A wisp of hair crossed her cheek and he was thankful she pushed it aside before he could—he would have been unable to resist kissing her.
“Tell me something I don’t know about you.” Clay needed to learn everything possible about the woman sitting across from him.
Abby laughed. “You ran the background check on me. Don’t you know already?”
“I made sure you weren’t a criminal.” He winked. “But I didn’t pull your whole life history. Tell me about your parents.”
“Mom and Dad live in Altoona, Pennsylvania. My father’s a stockbroker and my mother is a party planner. They’ve both done very well for themselves and travel extensively throughout the world whenever they can.”
“Why didn’t you fly to Texas instead of driving all that way by yourself?”
“I don’t fly or take trains,” Abby stated flatly.
“I’ve heard of a fear of flying, but a fear of trains?”
“You never know when a random cow is going to wander onto the tracks and cause a derailment. I’ve seen it on the news. No, thank you. Driving is my only option.”
