Kristi Gold - Hotel Marchand 04

by Damage Control

  In other words, his duties as Adam’s surrogate parent would end today, just as the guardianship had ended a year before when Adam had gone to live with his mother again. “I know, Trish. I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”

  Adam returned within a matter of moments, nothing left of the candy except a streak of chocolate across his chin. He looked at Pete, then looked at Trish. “Don’t be mad at Uncle Pete, Mama. He took care of me fine. I didn’t hurt much.”

  When Pete felt the tap on his shoulder, he turned to find Renee standing behind him. “Sorry I’m late,” she said. “The cab got stuck in traffic.”

  He’d never been so glad to see anyone in his life for several reasons, the least being that she could save him from Trish’s grilling. “Renee, this is my sister, Trish.”

  Renee held out her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Trish. You have a wonderful son.”

  Trish smiled as if she’d forgotten her anger, at least for the time being. “Hi, Renee. Are you Pete’s friend from California?”

  Pete recalled all the times he’d spoken of Renee to Trish while she’d been hospitalized, although he’d never known for sure if he’d been getting through to her back then. Obviously, he had. “Yes, this is that Renee.”

  Trish’s grin expanded. “Then it’s definitely good to meet you. I’m glad you two have finally gotten together again.”

  “We’re friends,” Renee added, making it quite clear to Trish, and to Pete, that nothing more existed between them.

  Pete took a quick check of his watch, pulled Adam’s passport from his jacket pocket and handed it to Trish. “Why don’t you take Adam through security and I’ll meet you at the gate in a few?”

  She sent him a knowing look. “Of course. Come on, Adam. Daddy Craig brought you a surprise.”

  “Can I have a goodbye hug, sweetie?” Renee asked Adam.

  After dropping the handle on his rolling backpack, Adam threw his arms around Renee’s waist. She bent and kissed him on the cheek. “You have fun in Japan, okay? And maybe one day you can bring your mom and new dad to New Orleans.”

  Adam looked up at Renee and grinned. “Can I play with Daisy Rose again?”

  “I’m sure she’d love that.”

  “I love you, Renee. You’re a good mommy, just like Uncle Pete’s a good daddy.”

  If Pete didn’t know better, he’d swear Renee was on the verge of crying. He felt a little misty himself. “I love you, too, sweetie. You have a good flight.” She regarded Trish. “Congratulations on your marriage, Trish. I wish you the very best of luck.”

  “And good luck to you, Renee.” She sent a quick glance at Pete. “I hope we’ll be seeing more of you in the future.”

  Pete hoped the same, but his hope was fading fast in light of the intangible wall that seemed to surround Renee at the moment. A wall he wanted to plow through, and soon.

  Adam took his mother’s hand and gave Renee a sad smile over his shoulder as they walked away, as if he didn’t like leaving her behind. Pete could relate.

  Once Trish and Adam had taken their place in the security line, Pete guided Renee into a small alcove away from the milling crowd waiting by the luggage carousel. “Thanks for coming. I thought for a minute—”

  “That I wasn’t going to come? I promised I would, and I don’t like to break promises.”

  That was a definite dig. “Neither do I, Renee. But sometimes that can’t be helped.”

  “I know that now.” She gave him a brief hug. “I need to go. Luc’s waiting for me.”

  “Not yet.” Not until he made one last stand. He took her hands into his, and when her gaze faltered, he said, “Look at me, Renee.” After she complied, he continued. “If you think I’m going to give up on us, then you’re sorely mistaken. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet to convince you that we could make this work, but I’ll come up with something. You can count on that.”

  He kissed her then, a long, thorough kiss, not caring who might find it inappropriate. Not even caring if some nosy reporter happened to recognize him and snapped a few photos. Renee didn’t seem to mind, either, and responded to him as she always had. As he knew she always would, as long as they were together. If they were together after today.

  When they finally parted, he studied her face, taking it to memory. Like he could ever forget even one tiny detail. He never had. He never would. “I’ll call you when I get in to L.A.”

  She took a step back. “That’s not necessary, Pete. Again, I think it’s best if we end it now.”

  If he didn’t think he’d alert security, he’d yell at her. Instead, he lowered his voice. “Well, right now, I don’t give a damn what you think is best. I’m going to call you anyway. And you’ll have a few hours to think about what I’ve said. A few hours to miss me.”

  She frowned. “There’s that ego again.”

  “It’s not ego, Renee. You’re going to miss me, and I’m going to miss you. In fact, I already do. And I know you still don’t trust me, but I’m going to give you one good reason why you should.”

  Time to spill it. Time to lay it out there and give her something to think about. He drew in a long breath and let it out slowly. “I love you, Renee. And since I don’t throw that word around often, you damn sure should realize I’m dead serious.”

  Without giving her a chance to respond, Pete grabbed up his bag and walked away, hoping that she might call him back. That she might call out to him that she loved him, too. But after he took his place in the security line, he turned to find she’d disappeared from his view.

  RENEE SATALONE in her office, mulling over what had transpired less than an hour ago. This wasn’t at all fair. How could Pete just toss that “love” statement at her without any warning? But Pete wasn’t known for playing fair, at least in her experiences with him. He’d rushed back into her life, throwing her emotionally off-kilter, causing her to question her sanity, and worse, her feelings. But then she’d been too big of a coward to tell him she felt the same.

  “Saying goodbye to someone you care about is rough.”

  She looked up at Luc, who was now standing at her open office door. “Goodbye is all a part of life, Luc. At times it’s inevitable.”

  “And so is regret.”

  She immediately noticed his expression matched his wistful tone. “You sound as if you’re speaking from experience.”

  “I’ve done a few things I regret. I’ve had to say goodbye to someone I cared about. Sad thing is, I didn’t really know him all that well before he died.”

  “Is this a friend?”

  “My father. I was a little older than Adam when he left me and my mom. We lost touch and he didn’t come back until I was grown. By then, he was sick, and I didn’t have the opportunity to spend much time with him. I regret that.”

  “You were only a child when he left, Luc. It sounds to me like he should have made more of an effort to see you.”

  Luc’s hands tightened into fists at his sides. “I’ve forgiven him for that. He wasn’t completely responsible for his actions.”

  Renee’s curiosity rose. “How do you mean?”

  He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry I brought it up. I’m just saying that sometimes people let their fear of rejection and mistrust guide them. And that leads to regret.”

  Oddly enough, Luc Carter had nailed it. Renee was afraid to trust Pete, afraid that ultimately he wouldn’t follow through. If he found a way to prove to her that he was committed to her, then she might be able to trust him, and more important, trust herself to take the ultimate leap of faith.

  Only time would tell.

  “YOU’RE IN LOVE with her, aren’t you?”

  Pete looked up from the magazine he’d been skimming to find Trish staring at him. “Is it that obvious?”

  She sent a quick look at Craig, who was seated in the waiting room chair across from them with Adam planted in his lap, while Craig read to him from a book about Japan. “Probably only to me, but then I know you
too well.”

  Pete tossed the magazine aside, stretched out his legs and stacked his hands behind his head. “Yeah, well, love’s a bitch.”

  “I beg to differ with you, Peter. It’s a blessing.”

  “I guess it can be, if both parties feel the same.”

  She patted his knee. “I have a sneaking suspicion that you didn’t give Renee a chance to tell you how she feels. And I doubt you’ve told her, either.”

  “Actually, I did tell her, right before she left.”

  Trish raised an eyebrow. “And?”

  “She didn’t say a word. I figured that’s my answer.”

  “Not necessarily. She could be afraid. I was at first, with Craig. I didn’t think I could love anyone the way I loved Sean, but then I realized I wasn’t letting myself feel it. Maybe that’s the way it is with Renee.”

  Pete hoped that was the case, but he might discover differently in the next few months.

  When the attendant announced the preboarding call for Trish’s flight, Pete realized the moment he’d been dreading had arrived. He straightened but didn’t stand, as if by remaining in the same spot, everyone would ignore the summons. And that was beyond illogical.

  “Well, this is it.” Trish leaned over the armrest and hugged him. “But I refuse to say goodbye.”

  Avoiding the actual word didn’t prevent the inevitable. He would be telling his sister goodbye, as well as his nephew. And even now, as he watched Adam with Craig, knowing that the man would treat him well, didn’t stop the overwhelming sadness.

  After Adam scooted out of Craig’s lap, Pete rose from the chair and crouched down. “Come here, kiddo.”

  When Adam moved quickly into his outstretched arms, Pete held him for a long time, probably too tightly, but he couldn’t find the strength to let him go. It took the attendant announcing the second preboarding call for Pete to loosen his grasp. “You be good, buddy.”

  Adam’s eyes filled with tears, and Pete’s heart took a dive. “I want you to go to Japan, too, Uncle Pete.”

  “I can’t, Adam. But maybe I can come visit you some day. I’ll definitely call you a couple of times a week. And if you ever want to talk, just ask your mom. She’ll find me, no matter where I am or what I’m doing.”

  A single teardrop slid down Adam’s cheek. “Okay. You can call me at night and pretend we’re playing airplane.”

  If Pete didn’t get away soon, Adam wasn’t going to be the only one crying.

  He straightened and shook Craig’s hand, then gave Trish another hug. “Take care of yourself and Adam. And don’t give Craig too much grief.”

  Trish playfully slapped at his arm before she laid a hand on his palm, her eyes misting with unshed tears. “I could never have made it through these past few years without you, Pete. You’ve been a wonderful father to Adam, but now it’s time for you to consider settling down and having a family of your own.”

  Pete had never even considered that possibility before he’d had to care for Adam. Before he’d met up with Renee again. “It’s probably too late for that.”

  “It’s never too late, Pete. But it will be, if you don’t take some action now.”

  “I hear you, Trish. Now get on the plane.”

  Following another round of embraces, Pete stood by as the family disappeared through the doors leading to the Jetway. Knowing his own flight would be boarding in a matter of minutes, he had to go to his own gate. Had to move forward with his life, without Adam, and possibly without Renee.

  After checking the departure screen to verify his gate and the on-time status, he elbowed his way past the travelers heading in different directions. Every little boy, every happy couple only served to remind him of what he didn’t have. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt so damn alone before. So damn lost.

  He could create a three-hour epic worthy of acclaim. He could direct a cast of hundreds, sometimes thousands, without missing a beat. He could pick a winning script and make it even better. But he couldn’t control his own life, or convince the woman he loved that he was in it for the long haul.

  Or maybe he could.

  He wasn’t prone to random acts of spontaneity, but it was high time that changed. With a few phone calls, and a few hours, he could come up with a way to prove to Renee he wasn’t going down without a fight. And she was definitely worth fighting for.

  RENEE LEFT THE RESTROOM where she’d spent several minutes trying to avoid a severe crying jag. Pete’s prediction had come true—she missed him terribly, and he’d only been gone for seven hours. And that was more than enough time for him to have arrived in California and picked up the phone to call her, which he hadn’t, the same as he hadn’t before when he’d left her. But she had to take part of the blame this time. Maybe if she’d told him she loved him, too, he might have decided to call.

  She wavered between worrying something had happened to him and suspecting he’d done exactly what she’d expected—decided on the plane ride that she wasn’t worth the trouble. Or maybe he’d been lying when he’d said he loved her. But why would he say it if he hadn’t meant it?

  If she didn’t snap out of this funk, she’d be headed down a path of total worthlessness, and that wouldn’t be fair to her family, who counted on her to maintain the hotel’s reputation. And if not careful, she could spend more wasted time wondering what might have been if she’d only told Pete how she felt.

  Right now she needed to return to the office, go over the Mardis Gras ad copy one more time, and then go home to the apartment to mourn her loss. Alone. As always.

  When she rounded the corner and walked into the office, she pulled up short from the shocking sight of her grandmother, who rarely visited the hotel. Dressed in an elegant lavender silk suit, not a silver hair out of place in her somewhat outdated French roll, Celeste sat in the chair that normally faced the desk but had been turned to face the door. She looked every bit the queen, from the haughty lift of her narrow chin to the severe gaze that she leveled on Renee.

  “I was beginning to wonder if you’d left the building,” she said, as always her tone hinting at disapproval.

  Renee did not want or need an altercation with her grandmother. Especially not tonight. She folded her arms tightly against her middle and remained close to the door, should she find the need to exit quickly. “To what do I owe this surprise visit, Grand-mére?”

  “Because you’ve been avoiding me since your return to New Orleans, I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands.” She gestured toward the desk. “Now sit.”

  “I prefer to stand. In fact, I was just on my way home.”

  “Stand if you wish, but you are not leaving until you hear me out.”

  Knee-jerk obedience, mixed with a certain amount of trepidation, sent Renee across the room like a reprimanded child.

  While Celeste stood and turned her chair around, Renee sat behind her desk and folded her hands into a white-knuckle grip. “All right, Grand-mére. You have my undivided attention.”

  Celeste’s thin frame remained rigid. “It’s my understanding that you allowed your young man to fly off into the sunset.”

  Oh, good grief. “First of all, I didn’t allow Pete to do anything. He didn’t ask my permission, nor did I expect him to. Secondly, as I’ve told Mother, he is not my young man. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m no longer a teenager. I’m an adult. And you can’t intimidate me the way you tried to do when I decided to attend college in California.”

  “I was not trying to intimidate you. I was simply trying to encourage you.”

  Of all the ridiculous things Renee had heard in her lifetime, that had to top the list. “Encourage me by telling me I’d never make it in L.A.?”

  “I told you that because I knew you would be determined to prove me wrong, and you did.”

  “Actually, I proved you right, Grand-mére. I did fail to make a go of it in Hollywood. Are you happy now?”

  “I will never be happy unless I know that you are happy.” Celes
te leaned forward and laid a careworn hand on Renee’s forearm. “Chère, my genes are far too superior to produce failures. For twenty years, you were quite the success in California, and I suspect in the end, the victim of circumstances beyond your control.”

  At times Renee had resented her grandmother, yet Celeste’s intuition had never failed to amaze her. “You’re right. A larger studio took over the one I worked for and I got the axe. But I didn’t pursue any other avenues when I had the opportunity. I didn’t try hard enough to succeed.”

  “Instead, you chose to come home to be with your mére, and that is admirable. However, you do have one significant fault.”

  And there it was, the criticism that always followed the compliment. “I have many faults, Grand-mère, in spite of your superior genes.”

  “But this one is easily corrected. You have always been one to hold a grudge. You’re reluctant to forgive and forget. I know this because we are much the same.”

  Renee had never considered that she was anything like her grandmother, but come to think of it, in many ways she was. She’d always been determined, stubborn to a fault, driven to succeed and yes, at times unforgiving. Except she had forgiven Pete, and she saw no reason not to forgive her grandmother. “All right, Grand-mére, I agree. I sometimes lack benevolence. And I’m willing to go the extra step and forgive you for being so hard on me twenty years ago.”

  “And I am willing to forgive you for being a fool and not being more tenacious in the pursuit of the director.”

  Renee’s mouth dropped open before she snapped it shut. “Have you considered that maybe he doesn’t want to be pursued?”

  “That is not the case, according to your mother. She is convinced that Mr. Traynor is very interested in having a future with you.”

  “Mother is engaging in wishful thinking.”

  Celeste smiled as if she knew a secret, one she didn’t intend to reveal. “I suppose things will work out as they should, without our interference.”