by Tawny Weber
Changing jobs?
Heading back?
Cade was leaving?
Eden’s head buzzed, tears filling her eyes.
Why hadn’t he told her?
She opened her mouth to ask when Cade was going. The closed it again.
What the hell did Robert mean by ten grand?
“I don’t understand.” Baffled, Eden shook her head again. But before she could ask what he meant, the waiter exchanged Robert’s empty glass with a full one.
Without looking at it, the older man tossed back his drink. All of a sudden, his face turned red, his eyes bulged and he started coughing like crazy. He glared at the glass, then at the waiter. The man, looking terrified, pointed at Eden.
“Are you okay?” she asked, hurrying around the table. Before she got halfway, Robert’s personal physician cut her off.
“It was just water,” she protested, horrified that she might have sent Cade’s father into a relapse.
Dr. Shaw shook his head and gave her a reassuring look.
“He should have been drinking water all along. It was just the shock of putting something healthy in his system. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine,” he said. “He just needs to rest for a bit. C’mon, Sullivan. Let’s visit the clubroom. You need some downtime.”
Eden watched them totter away, her head spinning as a feeling of loss and pain wrapped around her like a tight shroud. The glow of her magical evening gone, she wanted to leave. To go home and cuddle with her animals until she came to grips with the pain that Cade was leaving.
Pressing one hand against the nausea churning in her belly, Eden tried to process the fact that the impression everyone had of the two of them being something special was a total lie. Clearly, Cade didn’t think what they had was important. If he did, he’d have told her that goodbye was looming.
Not sure if she should go find Cade, or dive face-first into the chocolate fountain, Eden slowly made her way toward the garden.
She didn’t make it halfway across the room before she was surrounded by a giggling gaggle of women. Even though she wanted nothing more than to talk to Cade, she knew that wasn’t how the game was played here at the country club. So she forced herself to smile at the five faces circling her and greeted each by name.
“What happened to your date?” Janie asked, her tone mirroring the green of her eye-watering dress. “Cade got bored already?”
“Don’t be silly. There was nothing boring about that dance. Whew, girl, you and Cade were heating up the dance floor,” Crystal said, her tone teasing. Eden had to smile. Ever since the blonde had adopted those kittens, she’d been super friendly.
“Right. Not boring at all,” Janie repeated with a subtle eye roll for the other women. When only one of them giggled, she quickly added, “So where is your hot date?”
“Cade’s visiting with his uncle.” Eden cast a quick glance at the patio, but couldn’t see anything. Were they talking about the job? Was he really thinking about leaving the SEALs? Eden had a million questions. Which made standing here all the more frustrating.
“So the rumors are true?” Janie asked, crossing her arms over her chest and giving Eden a narrow look.
What rumors? Who had time for rumors and gossip and games at a time like this? Eden was about to brush Janie off, to push through the crowd so she could continue her search for Cade. Then one of the women shouldered in front of Janie and held out her hand.
“Hi, I’m Mia. I don’t think we’ve met. Crystal and I are cousins.”
“Um, hi.” Eden gave her a quick smile, but before she could offer her excuses, the woman continued.
“I know this is a lousy place to talk business, but I was hoping you had a second?”
“I hear more business is done at these social events than in an office,” Eden murmured, forcing her feet to stay still. But she didn’t care about the business of rumors, or the latest gossip about her and Cade. She cared about reality. And finding out just exactly what that reality would be.
“Oh, I won’t go into a big spiel,” Mia said with a laugh, tucking a long strand of jet black hair behind her ear. “I just wanted to make an appointment to come into your clinic.”
Eden’s feet stopped twitching. “The clinic? Sure, did you want to bring in your pet? I don’t have my book with me but you could call tomorrow morning and I’ll let you know what openings I have for Monday.”
“You take calls on Sunday?” Mia exchanged a look with Crystal, who shot back a triumphant look. “Actually, I have a proposition for you. I’m a veterinarian, too. I operate a mobile unit out of Fort Bragg and would love to expand my territory. I wanted to discuss the possibility of us working together.”
Wow, Robert really knew what he was talking about. Eden blinked a couple of times, trying to process the proposal. A partner? A mobile clinic? Thoughts chased ideas in an excited circle through her brain. She was going to need a little time and space to sort through them all. Ready to offer a gracious social sidestep, she gave Mia a warm smile.
“Why?” She winced. Apparently her mouth hadn’t got with the program yet. Clearly, there was a reason she didn’t do these social things very often. “What I mean is, I have a lot of questions. Why don’t we meet tomorrow morning? My clinic, around eight?”
Mia’s eyes danced as she nodded. “That’s perfect. And you can thank Crystal for the why. She’s been raving about her kittens for a week now. I’ve heard good things about your work before, of course, but there’s nothing like a personal recommendation.”
“A personal recommendation?” Eden gave Crystal a grateful smile. “Thank you.”
Before Crystal could respond, Janie rolled her eyes and elbowed her way in front of Mia.
“Fine, fine. Pets will get care and all that great stuff.” She gave both women her patented fake smile, then arched a look at Eden. “What’s really important now, though, are the rumors about you and Cade Sullivan. Everyone’s talking about how the two of you are a thing. But I figure that’s probably as likely as The Rolling Stones showing up here to play tonight.”
Eden had known she’d face curiosity.
She’d known there would be questions. Innuendo. Speculation, gossip, prying.
What she hadn’t expected was hatred.
But that’s what was gleaming from the pretty brunette’s eyes.
“Rumors about Cade and me, hmm?” Eden said slowly, casting a quick glance around the group. Crystal looked uncomfortable, like she’d be happy to follow a topic change and Mia walked away with a show of checking her cellphone. The other surrounding women, however, looked like bulldogs. But Eden wasn’t about to throw them a bone.
“Well, there are the rumors about us running off to Tahiti together to live in a grass hut and drink umbrella drinks from coconuts. Mrs. Carmichael told me that one. Then there’s the one about Cade using my veterinary clinic as a base for a secret SEAL operation. Did you hear about that? I wonder if he’s going to let Jojo the goat help out?”
A few lips twitched. But Janie just glared.
Eden’s stomach clenched.
Nerves danced, making her ears buzz a little with stage fright.
This was it. Her chance to cement her spot in the popular hall of fame. To claim Cade-ette status and revel in adulation for the rest of her single days. This would wipe out talk of Kenny’s broken foot and at least three other clumsy debacles people brought up when they talked about her.
She opened her mouth to stake her claim, but no words came out.
“Oh, please,” Janie dismissed, dropping the society facade altogether in her irritation. “I knew there wasn’t any truth to the rumors. This whole dating thing is just another one of Cade Sullivan’s rescue missions. If you had anything real going on, you’d have applied to join the Cade-ettes.”
“Is that like applying for a job? Is there an interview? Do you think they need my social security number?” Eden asked, suddenly pissed.
And not, as she should rightfully be, at Janie. But at her
self. What the hell had she been thinking? She suddenly felt like a total idiot. First, for letting herself fall so hard for Cade. Second, for caring so much what these women thought that she’d let herself get into this situation, with her heart at risk.
She couldn’t do it.
The words, ones she’d been wanting to say for years, stuck in her throat. She bit her lip, trying not to cry. Not because she couldn’t seem to admit having achieved her dream goal.
But because of why she couldn’t admit it.
What she had with Cade was special. It wasn’t a goal or a rescue or a game. It was magic. And even if it was only magic on one side and friendship on the other, or if it lasted a couple of weeks before fading into a glowing memory, it was still hers. It was still special.
She pressed a shaky palm against her churning stomach and tried to take a deep breath through the lump in her throat.
Well, this was a sucky time to realize she was in love with him.
13
“YOU’RE QUIET.” CADE’S words were mellow over the gentle hum of the car engine. She could feel his gaze on her but wasn’t ready to face her Spring Fling epiphany. “Did I miss something while I was talking to my uncle outside?”
Other than her realizing she was madly in love with him?
“Not much,” Eden murmured, finally pulling her gaze from the passing road to look his way. Even in profile, with those gorgeous eyes fixed on the night-blackened road, he was the sexiest man alive.
“You seem a little upset.”
Sexiest, and most perceptive.
“I’m just...” Confused, terrified, worried, freaked out. “Overwhelmed.”
“By the party? Were the gossips and gawkers a pain?”
For the first time that Eden could remember, the gossips and mean girls had been the least of her woes. Heck, after that scene with Robert, they’d practically been anticlimactic.
Oh, hell. Cade’s father.
“Um, something did happen with your father.” Eden winced. “He sort of had an incident while we were talking.”
“What kind of an incident?” He shot her a quick look. “Why would you talk to my father? What did he say?”
His father was fresh out of the hospital. So why did he sound more angry than worried? Eden frowned, twisting a little to get a better look at Cade. Wait a second. What was it Robert had said? Between trying to con her into manipulating Cade’s career decisions and choking on water?
Something about a check?
“Your father’s okay,” she assured him, despite the lack of concern. “But there was a little incident. Doctor Shaw was right there and took him off to rest.”
Brow furrowed, Cade slowed the car to pull into Eden’s driveway. He parked in front of the house, but didn’t get out. “So that’s all? He had an incident? Nothing else?”
“Yep. That’s all.”
She waited until the tension poured out of him, his fist unclenching from the steering wheel, then added, “Oh, and he mentioned something about you writing a check for me. Something about ten grand?”
Cade cussed under his breath.
“I told him it was taken care of,” he muttered. “What the hell, he thinks a country club dance is the place to bring up your mother’s debt to him? The man is unreal.”
It was like someone sucked all the air out of the car. Eden’s chest throbbed and she couldn’t catch her breath.
“Seriously?” she asked, her voice a faint whisper. Her mom had taken out another loan? How many more were there?
Fury and hurt tangled, making her head throb from the pressure of not screaming.
“Does nobody tell me anything?” she wondered aloud. “Is there some sign over the top of my head claiming I’m incapable of handling the truth? Some notice that was sent around suggesting I be treated like an idiot?”
“You know how Eleanor is,” Cade excused, his words rushed, like he was trying to convince her that everything was going to be okay. “She’s a little undependable, but I’m sure she intended to take care of everything. Nobody thinks you’re an idiot.”
“No? Then why didn’t you tell me about this added debt?”
Eden didn’t wait for Cade’s excuse. She was suddenly so mad, she threw open the door and jumped out of the car. Pacing in front of the little porch didn’t shake off her fury, so she headed for the wide side yard where she could stomp around freely.
“Wait a second,” Cade said as he caught up to her. That he had to shorten his step to keep pace with hers only irritated her more. Eden wanted him panting, struggling to chase her down. Instead it was darned near a leisurely stroll for him. Which pretty much typified everything about their relationship, she realized.
“You aren’t blaming me for this?”
“Blaming you for having vital information about my financial situation, and not telling me? Blaming you for knowing that my mother made yet another horrible judgment call that could affect my business and home, but not give me a heads up so I could make sure it’s the last one she does? Blaming you for writing a ten-thousand-dollar check...” She was so mad now, she couldn’t even walk. Eden stopped and poked her finger at Cade like she was drilling the words home. “To bail me out instead of trusting me to handle the situation myself?”
“Look, you had enough going on, trying to pay off your mom’s first loan, keeping up with all the new business. Nosy busybodies. Stuff like that.” For just a second, he looked defensive. Like an argument was right there on the tip of his tongue. But then he lifted both palms as if to say he gave up. “I was just trying to help.”
Eden’s heart, still reeling from the shock of facing her love for him, wept a little.
He was so sweet. So special.
Unable to stop herself, she reached up with both hands and cupped his cheeks, then stood on her tiptoes to brush a kiss over his lips.
“You’re just about the sweetest guy in the world,” she declared, loving him even more. “But you always do this, Cade. You treat me like I can’t take care of myself. I’m not a rescue mission. I’m not the perpetual victim, just here to help you earn your hero badge.”
“I’m not using you to get a hero badge,” he muttered. “And you’re not a victim.”
“Oh, let’s see. There were three tree rescues, a flat tire, an invitation to the Spring Fling, the two times you got me out of lousy dates and then there is the infamous naked Kenny rescue,” Eden said, ticking the items off. “Shall I keep going?”
Cade stood there, moonlight glinting off his navy whites, looking like she’d just bitched him out for rescuing her kittens from a burning building.
“I think you’re overreacting just a little bit here. I’ve never seen you as a victim.”
What had he seen her as, then? The girl next door, always there waiting whenever he came home? Did he see her as a temporary fling, the same as she’d tried to convince herself she saw him? Of course, she’d thought that temporary was at least a month. Not two weeks.
“You didn’t even tell me you were leaving,” she blurted out. Then, slapping both hands over her mouth, Eden groaned, turned on her heel and spun away. Oh, hell. Why had she said that? She had a good reason to be mad. Why was she throwing sad in there, too?
“How’d you find out?”
The anger and defensiveness were gone from Cade’s tone now. Instead, he sounded sorry. Tired, even.
“Does it matter?” she asked, turning back to face him. Outing his father for the second time wasn’t going to do anybody any good. “Why couldn’t you tell me yourself?”
He shrugged, grimacing. “I didn’t want to upset you.”
“Another rescue?” she whispered, wanting to cry. Again, he was trying to save her. Even from herself. Did he see her as that needy? That pathetic? How could she think they had a chance of being more than just a fantasy if he didn’t see her as an equal?
Maybe that was the real fantasy, Eden realized, trying not to cry. Believing that she and Cade actually had a chance.
“Come to San Diego,” he said all of a sudden.
Still wallowing in the heartache, Eden frowned, then shook her head. “What? To visit? Shouldn’t you wait until you’re back, see where you’re assigned?”
In the time they’d been together, he’d never talked about his missions, hadn’t mentioned any locales or places he’d been. Other than describing the physical training he did on a regular basis, he hadn’t referenced his job at all. But she knew from his grandmother that Cade was often outside of the U.S. for months at a time.
“Sure. I’m thinking about a transfer. Out of SEALs, into the training program. I’d be one of those hard-ass drill sergeant types, molding the next wave of SEALs. It’d mean no more travel.” He hesitated, his face a study of doubt. Then he gave a shrug. “Maybe I could get an apartment instead of living on base. You could come, stay with me.”
Joy and shock tangled with a dozen other emotions, all rushing through Eden like a hurricane.
“Why would you do that? Why would you leave the SEALs?”
“I’m not happy,” he said simply. “Something’s missing. Something vital.”
“But to leave the SEALs? Are you sure you want to take that big of a step? Maybe you’re just suffering from burnout. We all hit it once in a while. I’ll bet you just need a little more time off,” she suggested. Maybe a month or so, right here in Ocean Point.
“Lives depend on me, Eden. On me being one-hundred percent. If I can’t give that, I shouldn’t be leading. Shouldn’t be on the team.” He walked over to the paddock, staring across the land toward his father’s house. “I figure I’ll give training a try, see how that goes. See if I still have a career with the navy.”
He sounded so sad.
But when he turned to face her, he wore his usual charming smile. “And, hey, now we have a chance. The odds of things working out if I’m a SEAL are slim to none. But this way, we can see where things go. You can visit me in San Diego. I can come up here. What do you think?”
What did she think?
Eden pressed her hand against her churning stomach.
She thought it was an incredible idea.
