He dialed her number and waited, dreading to hear Beth’s voice on the other end.
“Hey, sexy,” Beth hummed. “You ready for our ride today?”
Patrick stopped abruptly in the gravel drive and looked up into the bright summer sky. “About that…”
“Are you serious? You’re going to cancel on me again?”
“I’m not canceling on you, Beth. I just have to take a rain check.” Even as he spoke the words, he cringed at the pathetic sound of his excuse.
“Tell me you are not rearranging our date because of Lorraine. Tell me you just got a call for an emergency shoeing in Lexington. Please…”
Patrick stiffened. He was not about to start lying to his girlfriend, but blaming this on a high-dollar Thoroughbred sounded really good right about now. “I’m sorry, honey. Lorraine just pulled in like a bat outta hell and evidently Jack—”
“Why do you care so much?” she interrupted stiffly. “The best thing that could happen to Lorraine is if Jack would just dump her.”
“I know that.”
“Then let her stew for awhile. Let her be pissed off enough to dump his ass for once!”
“If I thought it would help, I would. But…” Patrick paced the gravel drive, kicking rocks from beneath his boots. He knew no matter what he said, Beth would not understand. He loved Beth dearly, but when it came to his relationship with Lorraine, he felt obligated to be there for her. He was all she had, especially after she’d lost most of her female friends because of Jack.
If he kept his horseback riding date with Beth, his mind wouldn’t be on his girlfriend, but on the fact he deserted Lorraine. It was best to just cancel his date with Beth and move on.
“Are you still here?”
He heard her sigh. “Yes, I’m still here. But I can’t guarantee it’ll be for long.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m getting tired of being second best, Patrick. And I feel like you and I can’t be together like a normal couple because Lorraine is always there. Coming between us. You need to get this sorted out and fast, ‘cause I’m not the type of girl to be patient. I shouldn’t have to wait at all. But I will. ‘Cause I love you.”
Patrick smiled and hung his head. Those little words made him happy, but he never had the heart to say them back. “How about dinner at my house this Friday? You and me. No one else. We’ll ride horses all day and I’ll cook for you when we get back.”
“You promise? Just me and you?” Beth asked skeptically.
“Yes…” he replied in a soft whisper.
“Should I wear something nice?”
Patrick’s body tightened at the thought of Beth wearing her kind of “nice.” If anything, her best lingerie was more naughty than nice, bordering on barely there. “If you’d like.”
“I’ll be there bright and early,” Beth stated, hanging up before he could say anything more.
He shoved his cell in his back pocket and rubbed the tension from his jaw with a stiff hand, mentally preparing himself for Lorraine.
****
Patrick stepped into the kitchen and slid the door closed behind him, the house eerily quiet and still. By now, his rowdy Chocolate Lab should have been clumsily traipsing down the hall, all tongue and legs, trying to get to him before he could take one step off the welcome mat. “Rain?” he called tentatively. “You in here?”
“I’m fine, Patrick. Leave me alone.” Lorraine’s voice emitted from the back room. He kicked off his dusty cowboy boots and hung his hat on the hook by the door before walking toward her bedroom. As he expected, her door was shut. And when he gripped the handle, it was locked.
He leaned against the frame. “Rain, open the door.”
“I said I’m fine.”
There was anger in her voice, but through the forced gruffness she tried to fake, Patrick heard it crack. His heart melted. “Rain…talk to me.”
“I don’t feel like talking. I just want to be left alone.”
Patrick rolled his eyes. No woman has ever meant it. In his experience, ‘leave me alone’ typically means ‘be more convincing so I’ll feel better about spilling my guts.’
“Fine,” he yielded. “I’ll just sit out here and wait ‘til you’re ready to talk. I’ve got all day.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be horseback riding with Beth this afternoon?”
“No, we changed plans.”
“She changed plans or you did?”
“What does it matter?” Patrick asked, impatient at talking through the door.
“Dammit, Patrick, you can’t keep doing that. You can’t continue to rearrange your life with her because of me. She already hates me as it is.”
Patrick tried the door handle again, to no avail. “Beth doesn’t hate you. She just doesn’t understand my relationship with you. Give her time…she’ll learn.”
“She’ll learn to hate you, Patrick. No woman wants to be second, and with me living here, you’ll always put me first.”
There was a slight stress on ‘with me living here’ and Patrick caught it. He heard the closet door slide across its tracks and the sound of her dragging something from inside.
He pressed his ear against the door, listening. A furious zipper opened and then a drawer from her dresser. “What are you doing in there? Are you packing?”
She ignored him.
“Rain,” he demanded, his voice taking on an urgent tone. “Open this door right now.”
Again, she didn’t oblige and the longer he waited, the madder he got. If he knew one thing about her, it was that she was a determined woman. If she got something in her head, no matter how idiotic it was, she was going to see it through. And if she decided to move out, then nothing would stop her.
He couldn’t let her. He cared too much to let her walk out of his life. The only place she could go was Jack’s house in Indian Hill—the Beverly Hills of Ohio—and that was the last place he’d want her to run to.
“All right, that’s it,” he warned. “I’m coming in.”
He didn’t know why he even gave a warning. It was his house and he had a right to open any damn door he wanted. Trying to cool his jets, he spun around and reached above the bedroom door and snatched the pin key. In haste, he drove it in the tiny hole and burst into the room, finding Lorraine with an armful of clothes, making her way to the edge of the bed where a heap of unfolded clothes already lay in her suitcase.
His dog, Captain, jumped off the bed and ran to greet him, paws and all. Correcting the dog, he pushed the animal aside and ran to Lorraine. “What are you doing?”
“Patrick, it’s bad enough that I’m ruining my relationship with Jack. I’m not going to ruin yours too.”
She tried to walk around him, but he stepped in front of her and clasped her face in his hands. “See? This is the shit I’m talking about. Jack has brainwashed you into thinking the reason your relationship is on the rocks is because of you. Do you know how absurd that is? Rain, it has never been your fault. Can’t you see that? He doesn’t deserve you.”
“But Beth deserves you and I’m not going to stand in your way anymore.”
He grabbed her shoulders. “You are not in my way. You’re my best friend and I’m not letting you leave.”
He watched as tears welled in her green eyes. Her bottom lip quivered and her jaw clenched. Unable to bear her sorrow, he pulled her in his arms and held her.
“What happened?” He felt her body tremble and the jerk of quiet sobs in her shoulders. He walked into her, leading her toward the bed so they could sit down. Captain followed and lay down at their feet, his head on his paws.
Patrick took her hands in his. He noticed that her left was absent the three-carat diamond solitaire, the only impressive thing Jack had ever offered her. But then again, Patrick never thought for one second that he forked out his own money for it. He’d bet his life that Jack’s parents paid for the engagement ring simply because they didn’t want their son to let a good thing slip thro
ugh his hands.
“Where’s your ring?”
Lorraine held her emotions in check. “I gave it back to him.”
Though her words were music to his ears, he restrained his joy. “Why?”
Lorraine looked up at the ceiling, blowing out a tremendous sigh. Anger laced her words now. “Because I walked in on him with another woman.”
Patrick’s heart nearly stopped. “With another woman…doing what?”
Lorraine glared at him for his naivety. “What do you think, Patrick? They were in bed together, our bed—”
Her tears ran like a faucet now. “Okay, okay...” he consoled, pulling her against him. “I get it. It’s okay. Shh…you don’t have to say another word. I’m here.”
He didn’t expect her to say anything more, but it was as if his words sparked a need to rant. “You know what Jack did when I ran out of the house?”
Patrick didn’t want to try to guess. He could only imagine what that scumbag did in the heat of Lorraine finding him screwing another woman.
“He chased me down the sidewalk with a sheet around his waist, saying he could explain. When I continued to run for my car, he actually grabbed me by the arm and said if I gave him just five minutes, he could be ready for our picnic.” Lorraine began to laugh hysterically. “Can you believe that? He said he just forgot about our picnic and double booked. Like I’m a flippant appointment he forgot to pencil in and scheduled a necessary fornication session in its place.”
Patrick was dumbfounded. “Rain, I am so sorry. I—I.”
Lorraine looked up at him from the pocket of his shoulder. “Oh, don’t act so surprised,” she snapped, standing up to pace the room. “You probably already made bets with Andy that this would happen.”
He felt the pang of that knife right away. “I’d never do that to you.”
Lorraine wilted. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I’m just mad. And hurt. And…”
Patrick jumped up to embrace her again. “I know you can’t begin to see it now, but it is better this way. You don’t have to waste anymore time on Jack. You’re free to find the man of your dreams, the right man of your dreams.”
“I don’t think he’s out there.”
“Sure he is,” Patrick contended, stroking her long dark hair. “He already visits you in your dreams every night.”
Lorraine drew back to look at him. “Did Mr. Pride kick you while you were shoeing him?”
“Of course not.”
“Then I think you’ve just fallen off the crazy train, Patrick.”
She tried to slip from his arms, but he held her in her place. “Aren’t you still dreaming about some tall blond, blue-eyed guy in medieval garb with a sword or something like that?”
Lorraine stared at him. “Yep, you’ve lost it.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I, Patrick. Listen to yourself. You’re talking about this guy, this ridiculous figment of my imagination, mind you, as if he’s real.”
“Your words, not mine. Think about it, Rain. How many times have you awakened, gasping in the night, telling me you could feel this man’s lips on yours as real as if he were right in bed with you? You’ve had this dream ever since I’ve known you, so how do you explain it?”
“It’s called a pathetic girl’s wish for her cliché knight in shining armor.”
At that, Lorraine’s cell phone rang. She froze. A blank look invaded her face. On the second ring, she scurried past him and frantically searched her purse on the bed. Pulling it out, she stared at the display.
She didn’t have to read the name to Patrick. By the look of her sad eyes, he already knew it was Jack. Infuriated, he grabbed the cell and threw it out of the room against the hall wall, the phone shattering in pieces. Before she could race out the door to salvage the pieces, Patrick taunted his dog. “You want it? Go get it. Go get it, boy.”
Captain jumped to his feet and ran to the plastic fragments lying haphazardly on the floor. Without even sniffing, he chose the biggest scrap and ran away with it in his mouth.
Patrick laughed. But when he turned around to face Lorraine, she wasn’t as pleased as he was with his dog’s obedience. “What?”
“That was my cell phone. You broke it.”
“I’ll buy you a new one. With a different number,” he added, pointing soundly at her. “Besides, you have nothing more to say to him.”
“Says who?”
“Says me. Now start packing.”
As Patrick walked out of her bedroom, he knew she had to be staring at him like he had three heads. He didn’t care. Suddenly, her idea of leaving was the best thing she had ever come up with. He was going to make damn sure Jack couldn’t find her.
“Pack you bags, Rain. You’re going on a trip.”
****
“A what?” Lorraine called after him.
She watched him disappear out the door, dumbfounded. What the hell was he talking about? A trip? Unable to stand there and be ignored, she jetted after him, catching up as he entered his office. He slid into his chair and his fingers worked like mad over the keys.
Lorraine hovered over his desk, her hands braced on the flat surface. “What’s gotten into you? One minute you’re begging me to stay and the next you’re giving me orders to leave.”
Patrick typed a few more words on his keyboard. “Ah, here we go.” He looked up at her. “So, tell me this…would you rather leave from Cincinnati to Chicago to Ireland with a five hour layover? Or fly into Philly with three hours to kill?”
“Patrick,” she said, closing her eyes.
He waved her off. “You’re right. Five hours is too long. Let’s go Philly.”
“Patrick! You’re not listening to me. I am not getting on a plane to go to Ireland.”
He looked up from his screen. “Why not? You’ve always wanted to go there. And you would’ve by now had it not been for Jack. He’s held you back all these years and now you finally have the opportunity to go whenever you want.”
Lorraine straightened herself from the desk. “I’m not going to Ireland. I can’t afford it.”
“I can,” Patrick contended firmly.
As he began to click around with his mouse, Lorraine grabbed his hand, jerking his cursor off the screen. “I’m not going, so don’t bother booking a flight.”
“Give me one good reason why?”
“It’s too soon. I’m not ready to be on my own. I’ve just spent four years with a man I thought I was going to marry, and figuring out how to be single again is not something I’m ready to tackle at this point. I don’t even like the sound of it. The word ‘single’ to me means being morbidly alone.”
“But you’re not alone. You have me.”
“It’s not the same and you know it.”
Patrick stood and approached her, his face as serious as she’d ever seen it. “No one, at this very moment, cares for you as much as I do. I’ve sat back and watched you bring home men that never lived up to their supposed good qualities. I had high hopes for Jack in the beginning, but even he disappointed me in the span of a couple dates. You’ve always known how I felt about him, but once you said ‘yes’ to his proposal, I figured there was nothing more I could do. You were a grown woman and quite capable of making your own decisions.
“However, now that you have seen the side of Jack that I’ve always suspected, you need someone who has a clear head, someone who can make decisions for you that are to your benefit. Believe me, darlin’, you need this. You need this trip more than you know—if not just to distance yourself from Jack, then for the sheer enjoyment of it. You can do this. I know you can.”
Lorraine stood there and listened to every word Patrick said. He was right about one thing. That she needed to distance herself from the man who broke her heart. Even though she’d like to go back over to his house and give him the piece of her mind, she knew she’d likely cave to his charming smile and take him back.
As grand and exciting as going to Ireland sounded, she sti
ll didn’t think she had the courage to go on her own. She could hardly stomach the thought of going to a restaurant by herself, much less journey to another country.
Patrick took her hands and folded them in his. “Would you rather I go with you?”
Lorraine rolled her eyes. “Beth would dump your ass for sure and I’d never forgive myself.”
“How about taking one of your girlfriends?”
She appreciated Patrick’s relentless effort in suggesting other companions, but he could at least recommend someone who would actually go with her. “You know you’re the only one who’s stuck by me.”
“Don’t act like it was a chore. You know I’d never desert you.”
Lorraine heaved a heavy sigh. She didn’t know how she got so lucky to have Patrick’s undying loyalty. His compassion was like a balm to her chaffed soul and, right now, the last thing she wanted to do was leave the only person who cared.
Why couldn’t her own fiancé—ex-fiancé, she reminded herself—be like Patrick?
“I don’t know,” she muttered indolently. “I’m not up for a vacation right now. Besides, I have to work all week—”
“You work at Molly Malone’s. I think they can find someone else to serve Guinness for a few weeks.”
Lorraine bit her lip.
“Come on, Rain,” he encouraged, leaning his head forward. His gaze caught hers. “What have you got to lose? There’s nothing here to hold you back. You’re free as a bird. Grab those daring wings I know you have tucked away somewhere and soar the skies of Ireland. You never know…you might get lucky there.”
“Let’s get one thing straight, Patrick Eoghan O’Rouæganrk. If I go anywhere this week, it will not be to get lucky.”
Patrick’s dimples deepened with his smile. “Never say never, Rain.” Before she could say more on the subject, he turned from her and landed in his chair, his fingers readying on the keys. “So, that’s a ‘yes’?”
Last minute jitters crept inside her. Her lips tightened against her teeth as she contemplated her final decision. The more she thought about it, the more it sounded like an opportunity she’d be stupid to pass up. “Only if you let me pay you back,” Lorraine bartered.
The Emerald Isle Trilogy Boxed Set Page 69
