by Susan Crosby
Garrett didn’t want to miss out on anything, either. He didn’t know why they hadn’t danced before, except it hadn’t entered his mind. He would make sure they did from time to time at home, now that he remembered how it could feel.
If she came home with him.
He was beginning to have some doubts about that. He’d taken one step into her condo and realized they were going to face some issues he didn’t think had occurred to her. There was lot for her to leave behind.
She was right about her brother. He slid into the booth next to her as soon as they settled in.
“Welcome home, Vick.” He held out a hand to Garrett. “Shane Fortune.”
“Garrett Stone.” He decided to let them lead the conversation. Victoria didn’t look at all uncomfortable. In fact, she was grinning at her brother as if challenging him to ask whatever questions were on his mind. Apparently she wasn’t going to volunteer information, either.
“So you’re home,” Shane said.
“A couple hours ago.” She took a long swig of water, and her eyes sparkled over the rim.
“You must be her cowboy,” Shane said to Garrett. “The reason my workload doubled the past few weeks.”
“Mine halved. Sorry,” Garrett said with a shrug.
Victoria laughed. “He’s my hero, Shane. Be nice.”
“We all do appreciate what you did, Garrett. I know I’d sure miss doing this.” Shane grabbed her in a headlock and knuckled her scalp until she hollered for him to stop.
“Fortunately, he doesn’t do that at the office,” she said. “I really am sorry I left you with all the work, but the time away did me a world of good.”
“I can see that. You look rested again. Happy. It’s been months since I’ve seen that.” He glanced at Garrett. “I guess that’s your doing.”
“With help from some puppies named Dee and Dum,” Victoria answered. “And a dog named Abel, among others. I’ve found that mucking stalls is good for the soul, too.”
“Mucking stalls? You?” Shane said to Victoria. “The original I-can’t-stand-dirt-under-my-fingernails girl?”
Which confirmed Garrett’s city-girl suspicion about her. “She got herself covered in mud in a storm to save the puppy named Dum. Head-to-toe mud.”
Shane eyed her more seriously. “You did?”
She shrugged. “I couldn’t let him die, could I?”
“No.” He caught a server’s attention and asked for a beer, then ordered another one for Garrett.
“Are you here alone?” Victoria asked.
“Nope. Marnie’s in the restroom, but she’s always there a good fifteen minutes. Why do women take so long?”
“Is she with a girlfriend?”
“Yes. Oh. Right. They’ve got to analyze the evening so far.”
“We enjoy it.”
“I take it you haven’t seen Mom and Dad yet.”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“You’ll be joining us for brunch?” Shane asked Garrett.
“That’s the plan.”
Garrett couldn’t interpret Shane’s expression, something between “Good luck” and “Is your estate in order?” Neither was good.
“There you are!” A curvy blonde came up beside Shane. “We didn’t know where you went, sugar.”
Shane introduced everyone as he stood. The server showed up at the same time with the beer order so that a bit of chaos ensued, then Garrett and Victoria were alone.
“See you tomorrow,” Victoria had said.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Shane had answered.
“That was interesting,” Garrett said. “Will he warn your parents that I came with you?”
“Oh, no. He loves drama. He’ll want to see it unfold. I figure we can show up fifteen minutes before the others usually arrive. That’ll get the initial introduction and Q and As over.”
The gap between her world and his continued to widen. There was only one place where their world didn’t matter, and he wanted to go there right now.
He reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “I have a hankerin’ to make love to you.”
“A hankerin’, hmm? Well, cowboy, I’m all yours.”
In her dark bedroom a while later he could imagine they were at his house, in his bed—except that the bed felt different, the room smelled different and it was completely quiet. No puppies whined from their box in the kitchen; no wind blew. He didn’t have to keep an ear open for anything unusual happening.
It should’ve been a vacation for him, but it only made him more anxious to get home.
Victoria made a sleepy sound next to him. He maneuvered her closer, wrapped her in his arms and tried to sleep. He had the terrifying feeling he’d seen his last sunset, eaten his last meal, made love for the last time… .
If the I’m-glad-I’m-not-you look in Shane’s eyes was any indicator, that is, and Garrett figured Shane knew his parents well. They were a tight-knit family. Shane didn’t even know Victoria planned to move to Red Rock, and he was worried for her. All her life she would’ve been expected to bring home someone suitable. Even her job at JMF was secondary to her job of finding a suitable husband.
Garrett had little hope that the Fortune family would find him suitable.
He turned toward Victoria, heard the steady rhythm of her breathing as she slept.
“I love you,” he whispered into her hair, the first-time-ever-spoken words freeing him of every question in his mind about the mixed emotions he’d been experiencing. He couldn’t tell her, however, couldn’t let that influence her choices. She had to decide what she could live with.
Or without.
* * *
Victoria didn’t ring the bell on her parents’ door. She opened it and went right inside.
“You don’t even knock?” Garrett asked. Forget the internet. In person it was even grander. It seemed like a place where one should knock, like a uniformed butler would come to the door.
“I never do, so if I did today they would know something was up.”
“I’m not invisible, princess.”
She smiled, although it was shaky. He wished he could hold her hand, not only to settle her but himself.
“I’m home!” Victoria called out.
“You’re early,” her mother said, coming up a long hallway. “I—” She slowed upon seeing Garrett. Victoria’s father came out of his den at the same time.
“Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Garrett Stone. Garrett, this is James and Clara Fortune.”
Because civility was rooted deeply, her parents welcomed him politely, this king and queen who reigned supreme in the family.
“Welcome to our home, Mr. Stone,” her father said.
“Garrett, please.”
James nodded, but didn’t offer the same in return.
“Coffee’s ready,” Clara said. “Shall we go into the living room?”
A coffee service was set up. At least there were mugs, not cups and saucers, Garrett thought, although the mugs were more dainty than he was comfortable with.
“I’ll get yours,” Victoria said to him, indicating he should sit on a love seat nearby.
“None for me, thanks.” He remained standing. He was a man of action, didn’t like putting off anything, even those things that might cause discomfort. He wanted to get it over with.
She gave him a curious look, poured for herself and her mother, then sat on the love seat. Clara settled in a delicate chair. James also refused coffee and didn’t sit. They looked like a snapshot out of an Agatha Christie play, intrigue abounding in an elegant drawing room.
“We should have thanked you long ago for saving our girl’s life,” James said. “We can’t thank you
enough.”
“Right time, right place,” he said, tired of all the gratitude. It’d been destiny, just as Emily said.
“So, why have you come here with my daughter?”
“I wanted you to meet him,” Victoria said before Garrett could answer. “I also wanted to let you know in person that I’m quitting my job at JMF and going to work for Garrett.”
“In Texas?” Clara asked, sounding surprised and resigned at the same time.
“In Red Rock, yes, ma’am.”
Garrett heard a tiny quaver in Victoria’s voice. Her eyes had gone wider, too, her back stiffer. In fact, her posture had been different from the moment they stepped inside the house. She set her mug aside. It rattled against the coaster for a second.
“I’ve never been as excited about working on a project as I have been these past few weeks. I need to be part of the completion.”
“And is Garrett part of being excited about it?” James asked, as if Garrett weren’t in the room.
“Of course. There wouldn’t be a project without him. Daddy, we’re going to build an animal sanctuary where—”
“Will you be living with him?” her father continued.
“Yes, sir.”
“Sharing a bedroom, as you have been for a while now?”
“How do you know that?” Victoria asked.
Garrett had eased over to where Victoria sat. “He hired a private investigator to look into me,” he said, keeping his voice steady and polite. “It’s all right, Victoria. I would’ve done the same thing in his position. Fathers protect daughters.”
“I had to be sure. Marry a Fortune and you marry the Fortune family.”
“We haven’t mentioned marriage,” Victoria said. “We’re entering into a business deal. That’s all. Please give Garrett a chance. Please get to know him. I know you’ll come to like and admire him as I do.”
James focused on Garrett then. “I’m all ears. What do you have to say, Mr. Stone?”
Garrett realized he’d been kidding himself. He couldn’t take her from this life, this world. It was just a fairy tale to her. He could see the future clearly, and she couldn’t. She didn’t have enough life experience. Once the excitement wore off, it would be tedium to her, and she might not be willing to tell him that she’d made a mistake. Not too many women would be happy living his kind of life.
More important, he couldn’t be party to creating a rift between her and her family, be the cause of their disapproval and disappointment. He’d lived with his mother’s disappointment his whole life. He knew what that was like.
He turned to Victoria and said what needed saying, not taking the chance of going somewhere private to have a discussion. He’d been losing discussions with her. He couldn’t lose this one.
“This isn’t going to work,” he said. “I’m sorry, Victoria. I can’t do this.” He gave a slight bow to her parents and took long strides across the room, then the foyer, then out the door. He didn’t look back, not even when she called his name.
He never should have stopped trusting his instincts.
* * *
Victoria rushed to the window and watched him walk away. They didn’t live on a bus line. He didn’t have a cell phone to call a cab. What was he going to do?
“He’s gone. Are you happy now?” she almost yelled.
“If it takes so little for him to give up,” her father said calmly, “then you’re better off without him. You need a real man.”
“A real man?” She flung her arms up. “What does that mean to you? Because to me a real man is one who fulfills his responsibilities, keeps his word, protects those who need protecting, doesn’t complain about working hard so that others can be more comfortable, whether they’re human or animal. A real man cares more about others than himself. He does an honest day’s work. He lives by a code he sticks to, come hell or high water.
“You know what he told me? He said he doesn’t need bigger and better, but that I do. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I came up with this plan because I wanted more. I fell in love with him because he’s a real man. And he didn’t fall in love with me because I’m not a real woman. I’m spoiled. I’m pampered. I’m not worthy of him.”
“Nonsense,” her mother said. “You’re worthy of anyone in the world. We were ready to accept him, sugar. We found nothing in the investigator’s report that would’ve stopped us from welcoming him.”
“If I hadn’t approved,” her father said, “you would’ve been home a week ago. He had youthful indiscretions. He paid for those long ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell him that?” Her heart was breaking. She didn’t know who or what to blame. She needed to blame something.
“He didn’t give me a chance, now did he?”
“What am I supposed to do now? He was all I wanted. I wanted to marry him.” Tears were flowing unchecked. Her mother tucked a tissue in her hand. One wasn’t nearly enough.
“Victoria, my dear,” her mother said. “The best thing we can do is to marry the man we need, not the one we want.”
“What? I don’t even know what that means, Mom. Please, I have to go home.” She grabbed her purse and raced toward the front door.
Her mother caught up to her as she fumbled with her car keys. “You can’t drive in this condition, Victoria. Stay here with us, sugar. Let me take care of you.”
“I need to be alone. Please don’t call me. I’ll get in touch when I’m ready.”
“Here come Shane and Wyatt. One of them can drive you home in your car, and the other can follow. You really shouldn’t be on the road.”
“I don’t want to explain what’s going on to anyone else.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Her mother walked up to her sons, said something, then Shane came over and took her keys out of her hand as he urged her toward the passenger seat. Her big brothers had always watched over her. It made her cry again.
“I’m quitting my job. I’ll work until you find a replacement.”
“We’ll talk about it. There’s no need to make a hasty decision.”
“It’s well thought out, Shane, believe me.” She didn’t know what she would do next, but it wasn’t going to be selling retirement plans. She needed to do work with a purpose, something satisfying. She needed to find a job on her own, not be given one.
She got her keys from Shane, thanked both brothers and made the long, lonely elevator ride up fifteen floors. Once she got inside her condo she stood and stared. His suit bag was draped over her couch. They’d planned to fly back tonight but were going to take a cab to the airport so they hadn’t loaded their things in her car.
Victoria went straight onto her balcony, flinging the slider open so hard it bounced back. She shoved it then, stepped out, tried to draw enough air to fill her shaky lungs. With the door closed she rarely heard a sound, but now she could hear sirens and a car horn. The air wasn’t pure enough, didn’t feel clean inside her chest. Abel hadn’t greeted her at her front door. She couldn’t bury her face in his fur and find comfort there.
She made her way back into her living room, kicking off the high heels that had been hurting all morning. Boots. She wanted her boots.
She unzipped his bag, pulled out his shirt and pressed her face into it, trying to find his scent. After a long while, she picked up the phone.
“Em? Is there any chance you could come over?”
“What’s wrong? You sound terrible.”
“Remember when you asked if I’d ever been rejected?”
“Yes.” The word came out slowly, asking a question at the same time.
“I told you yes, but I really didn’t have a clue.” Her head ached from so much crying. Her heart compressed into a hot ball of fire. “Now I do.”
Chapte
r Thirteen
“Um, you’ve recovered?” Emily asked Victoria a few days later. They were sitting on Victoria’s balcony enjoying margaritas and the view.
“I have,” Victoria said. Except for the nightmares.
“So, why haven’t I seen you smile once?”
“I’m not saying I’ve fully recovered, but I’m on my way. Something my mom said helped a lot. She said, ‘Marry the man you need, not the one you want.’”
“What does that mean?”
She squeezed Emily’s hand. “I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one not to understand. It took me a while, but I figured out that we are supposed to marry the man who’s good for us, who’ll take care of us, who’ll provide a good life. He’s what we need. But wanting is physical and ephemeral. It doesn’t last.”
Emily didn’t say anything for a while, then finally said, “What if that’s not what she means at all? What if she means we’re supposed to marry the man who sees us as we are and accepts us as is? Don’t we need a man like that more than one who just wants to sleep with us all the time? Of course, in an ideal world, the two combine and life is good.”
“Well, of course. Ideal would be good.” She had to give it more thought. She’d thought that Garrett did see her as she was, did accept her as is. The wanting was strong, too. But in the end, he hadn’t proposed, had even walked away without discussing it with her. He’d also taken away the opportunity to work together, the chance to let love grow.
“Here’s an easier question. What are you going to do for work?” Emily asked.
“I don’t know yet. I’m exploring my options.”
“What do you want to do?”
I want to create the Pete’s Retreat Foundation with Garrett. The words popped into her head without a moment’s thought. It was what she wanted more than anything.
She wanted to be with the man she needed and wanted.
“What are you thinking, Victoria?”
“That it’s time for a road trip.”
“Where?”
“To Red Rock. Wanna come along?”
“You’ve been after me to come home, which I finally did, and now you’re trying to get me to go back?”
