by Robin Bayne
He liked the way her lips curved and bent his head, brushing his over hers. Lightly. Just once. Well, twice.
“What was the question?” she asked, mumbling, sounding sleepy now.
Colt’s gut clenched. He still wanted her. Still needed her. Still loved her.
“Colt? You look as if you’re a million miles away.”
“Oh, no, babe, I’m right here. Trust me.” He pushed the hair off her forehead with one finger, lingering by her temple. Her pulse beat strongly there. “Now tell me, are you reconsidering?”
An engine’s noise caught their attention, and even from a distance Colt saw someone had arrived at the house.
Tia turned to go, but he held her steady. “Tia.”
“We have company. It’s probably Liz.”
“I know. What I don’t know is if I have a chance at winning you back, and it’s driving me crazy. We also can’t go back yet, I have something to show you.”
“OK,” Tia said, and slipped from his grasp. “Show me.”
Colt sighed and pointed behind the building, where he’d hidden his project. “C’mon.” She started to move and he followed, stopping short when she whirled on him.
“Colt,” she said, smiling, meeting his gaze. “I am reconsidering.”
The dew had totally burned off the grass, Colt noticed as he led the way, his hopes buoyed by her comment. Behind the building, he smelled smoke and asked her if she could still smell the fire.
“There is something in the air,” she said, “something smoldering. Really hot.”
He glanced at her, and was almost relieved that she was teasing him. Grabbing the handrail for the outdoor stairs, he gave it a shake. A fire escape was definitely crucial to this particular structure.
“I could do that,” Tia said, gazing up at the loft’s back window.
“What?”
“I could fix up the living area.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Really?
“Yes.” She tossed her hair as she moved around the building, still looking up, her enthusiasm growing. “It might be fun. Would you mind carpet this time, something indoor-outdoor style? Maybe a sofa, a table and chairs? It was bare before with just that cot and lawn chairs. What do you think?”
What did he think? Colt considered her offer, stunned that she’d make the effort for an out building. “Well,” he began, stroking his chin. “This might qualify as helping out with the rest of the buildings, you know, like on a ranch.”
“Oh.” Tia jabbed his upper arm with her elbow, in a playful manner. “Go ahead, give me grief. I deserve it. But unless you have some big, mean horses hiding in there, I’ll consider this my project.”
Pleased, but not willing to show how much, Colt nodded and began walking again.
Tia followed, chatting about paint and curtains.
The honeysuckle smell almost overwhelmed him, and he rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. As Tia moved closer, he smelled her suntan lotion, and chlorine in her hair. Summer should smell like Tia’s hair. And home. It stirred more memories. He led her behind the gardening shed.
She sucked in her breath. “What’s this?” She touched the wood platform, running her hands all over it.
“Glad the paint’s dry,” he said, “but watch out for splinters since you’re caressing the thing.”
She continued touching it, almost lovingly, tossing Colt a sharp look at his comment. “This is very cool.” She backed up to get the full view. “What is it for?”
It felt so good to see Tia happy, like a kid on Christmas morning. “It’s for your party. A place for the first dance and to take photographs. Or throw the bouquet from. Whatever you want.”
“Oh, Colt.” Tia turned on the brightest smile he’d ever seen. “It’s beautiful. I love...it.”
He caught the hesitation. “I ordered extra flowers, too, to string on the arch.”
She clapped her hands and then paused with them folded together under her chin. “Thank you, Colt. I can’t believe you did this.”
With an unspoken response on his lips, Colt merely nodded, waiting.
She didn’t disappoint, but came to him on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his. “You’re something else, Colton Reece.” She whispered the words, tilting her head and brushing her lips past his ears before returning to his mouth.
Whoa. He shuddered, then held still, held back. Every muscle tensed like a lion waiting to pounce, like a crane, watching to see if the kiss offered was a simple thank you, or something more, something better. Something he needed. With Tia’s forehead resting against his, Colt sighed with relief. Oh, man.
“Colt?”
“Yes, honey?”
“I didn’t really want to use the telescope last night.”
Colt groaned and pulled her even closer. It was the best thank-you he could have heard.
They walked slower to return, the house looming on the horizon like some kind of postcard.
Colt never got used to the beauty of the place, and when he had Tia by his side, it just couldn’t get any better. When pieces of his memory had started to return, he’d had glimpses of a house at sunset. It had been this one. His gut clenched now at the sight. Pride of ownership or something. The only thing that would make this trek better was to be able to take Tia’s hand in his, to have that right. Especially if he could have that right blessed by God.
Tia’s pace slowed even more. Colt matched it, enjoying the sun’s heat on his skin. How had he earned that right before? He couldn’t remember having to work to earn her trust, and love, all those years ago. And this wasn’t his memory’s fault; the first time around, it had just seemed to develop, this chemistry between them. They’d been in love until he’d messed up.
Colt shook his head, determined to put the guilt behind him. There was nothing he could do to change what happened after the accident; he could only move forward.
Tia was sneaking looks his way, but seemed reserved. Her lips curled into a sexy little smile, almost shy, before she looked away. Had she really liked the arch that much? The results were big brownie points for him.
“Look! Liz’s car.” Tia pointed, grinning now.
Colt tamped down a flash of irritation. He needed Liz here, but he had hoped for a few more minutes of one-on-one with Tia.
Liz’s sporty car, painted a metallic flake red, was the only car in the drive as they approached. It was exactly the kind of car Colt expected her to drive.
“Tia!” Liz came from the front entrance and bounced across the cement drive. The friends hugged, and Colt was amused, as usual, at the “girl thing.”
“I answered the front desk phone. Did you forget to put the machine on? It just rang and rang,” Liz said, suddenly solemn. She pulled back and clasped her hands in front of her.
“Thank you. Was it something about the reception? A nervous parent?”
Liz shook her head, making her huge hoop earrings flop. “No. It was Cami.”
Colt exchanged glances with Tia.
Liz hurried on. “I told her you and Colt were busy, but I didn’t tell her you were out together. Heck, I didn’t know what to say. But I did tell her you two had a function this weekend and would be too busy to call her back for a while.” She looked from Tia to him, waiting for approval. “How’d I do?”
Colt rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, I think we’ll get another call from her real soon.”
“No,” Liz insisted, “I told her−”
“Liz,” Tia said, her voice soft, “you told her Colt was here. And working with me.”
Liz gasped, but it came out sounding more like a burp. “She didn’t know that?”
Tia shrugged.
“Oops.” Liz’s face crumpled. ‘I am so sorry.”
“Well, I don’t have time to think about her right now. I’ve wasted too much of my life doing that, anyway.” Tia forced a smile. “Liz, come on in and let’s talk about the food.”
Colt watched them go, his chest tight. The relaxed Tia who had bee
n so pleased with him a few minutes ago was gone−morphed into a frazzled businesswoman, retreating inside the walls of their past. Would there ever be a time when her sister’s name didn’t send Tia reeling backward in time?
~*~
Though it would be another two hours before the sun started to set, the atmosphere on the back deck felt romantic to Tia. With just the four of them preparing a meal, the only sounds were their muted talking and the critters in the woods. She felt peaceful and would have been downright happy if not for the fact that her sister had called again.
Colt and Jake stood by the grill, flipping steaks, agitating the flame and experimenting with seasonings.
Tia could only imagine how the meat would taste with the concoction of spices and sauces the guys were using. Looking over to Liz, Tia tilted her head toward the grill and rolled her eyes.
Liz grinned in return.
After grabbing a pitcher of iced tea from the kitchen counter, Tia sat beside Liz at the frosted glass picnic table. “Thanks for making the potato salad.”
“Thanks for not hammering me about talking to Cami.” Liz stared at her hands resting in her lap.
“Not that big a deal. She would have found out sooner or later.”
“You were just hoping for later?”
“Something like that.” Tia poured more tea into both their glasses, which were actually plastic tumblers shaped like goblets. “Tonight I just want to relax, so that tomorrow I can be ‘on’ all day.”
Liz nodded. “Yeah.”
A hiss of fire caught their attention, and Tia smiled at Jake’s attempt to settle the flames while Colt moved the steaks clear.
“Do you need me to go to the stable for the extinguisher?” she called, and was rewarded with an I’m-not-amused expression from Colt.
Jake served the steaks. “Speaking of fire, where is your father these days, Colt?” He sat and scootched his chair closer to Liz.
Colt’s face remained expressionless as he finished what he was chewing.
Tia took some of both the potato and green salad and then passed the bowls to Liz, who was passing her a basket of rolls.
“Actually, I saw him yesterday, with his doctor.”
“Doctor?” Tia set down the fork she’d picked up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I can’t expect you to be concerned for him after the way he’s treated you.” Colt took two rolls and reached for the margarine tub. Carefully cutting them, he went on, looking only at his hands. “I have more to tell you, but I was waiting until after the reception to bring it up.”
“Is it really personal?” Liz asked, cutting her steak.
Colt shrugged, his wide shoulders seeming to make the table shake. “For him, I guess. He doesn’t have Alzheimer’s. At least not yet.”
“That’s good,” Tia said, attacking a baby carrot with her fork. “So it’s just me he doesn’t like.”
“That’s not it at all. In fact, it’s just the opposite.”
Tia looked up, and around the table, saw Jake and Liz’s attention as caught as her own. “Explain?”
Colt put down his plastic ware and rested his elbows on the plastic checked tablecloth. “Well, seems his doctor had him talk to a shrink. The problem’s just partly physical after all.”
An owl hooted nearby.
“He agreed to do that?” Tia asked, remembering George being vocally anti-psychology.
“Well, Dr. Govans sent him to see a Dr. Leigh Grayson, a very attractive therapist in her early fifties. John Berger’s already taken him for several visits.”
“So he bribed your father to go,” Jake said, grinning.
“Exactly.” Colt drank from his tea glass. “Although she can’t date him, because he’s seeing her as a patient. The point is, my father had confused his own memories because he loved Tia and Cami like his own children when they were little.”
Tia choked. Yeah, right. And yet, a little part of her knew that was true, even as she scoffed.
“Please, let me finish.” Colt held up one hand. “He did. You both loved him too. And we all know how he felt about Tia’s mother.”
“Liz said they had the hots for each other.” Jake spoke through a mouthful of salad.
“Yes, they loved each other even before Colt’s mother passed away, but they never acted on it,” Tia said, the memories coming to her in vivid color. “Growing up, Cami and I thought of George as a father figure. Even after Colt’s mother died, my mother, who respected their friendship so much, would never see George out of respect for her deceased friend.”
“The code,” Liz said, whispering.
The only sounds on the deck were from Mother Nature as the four absorbed what they were hearing.
Colt nodded. “The code.”
“And if they had gotten together, Tia and Colt would be stepbrother and sister,” Jake said, grinning over his conclusion.
“But they didn’t, so what does that have to do with George not wanting me around now?”
“This might sound strange, but in his mind, he really was yours and Cami’s father. His fantasy and reality worlds entwined. If you and I got together, it would be incest. He didn’t want Cami with me either.”
Tia scoffed again. “But even if we had become step-siblings, there would have been no blood relation.” Something pinged the back of her mind. “Unless−”
“Unless George and your mother had−”
“What if George had slept with−”
Tia looked at Colt in horror, feeling the skin on her face pull tight, her eyes widen. “Please tell me that’s not what happened.” Her mother would never have violated the code or someone else’s marital vows! And she could not have once been dating her own brother! It was too much. Tia felt dizzy.
Colt reached for her hand. “It’s not what happened. But George couldn’t tell the difference anymore between his fantasy world and what really happened, until he talked to Dr. Grayson.”
“Did he need medication?” Liz asked, resuming her meal.
“Yes. It’s all tied to his thyroid and would keep getting worse with age, without treatment. It’s listed as a form of dementia, but we don’t use that term. With medicine, as long as he can tell what actually happened and stays in therapy, he should be OK. He wants to apologize to Tia, but I asked him to wait until next week when things calm down.” He turned to Tia. “Are you OK?”
She blinked several times before answering. If what she’d just heard was true, George had tried to warn her away, really thought of her as a daughter, and had been trying to deal with what he believed was his own infidelity all those years ago.
Another thought pinged her. “What if he’s wrong? What if he just can’t remember? What if he did sleep with my mother?” Tiny needles pricked her tummy. “What if you are my brother?”
“Not a question I’d ever expected to hear her say,” Liz mumbled.
But Colt was on top of the situation. “I’m not your brother, nor Cami’s.”
“How do you know?” Jake asked. He reached for the catsup bottle and brushed against Liz in the process, unfazed by the unfolding drama.
“I checked with the hospital. The doctor who treated me after the accident had records of my blood type, and it was easy enough to find out Tia’s. I fibbed and said Tia was my wife so they would tell me. Remember we both received blood after all those lacerations we got. We’re not related.”
“So how can you be certain about Cami?” Tia asked, not moving, except for the tap of her nails muted on the cloth. What he said rang true; they both had been cut up, and she still bore some of the scars to prove it.
Colt ran a hand through his hair, as if still expecting it to be long. “She had her own tests done when she asked me about having kids. Her blood type, same as Tia’s, can’t be the child of someone with George’s blood type. He’s O. You are AB. Trust me, after something like that you never forget your type.”
“Maybe they should tattoo them on people when they’re born,” Jake sugges
ted.
Colt’s glance slid to Tia’s hip area and away again.
No one spoke, sending the deck into silence again. The sun had started to set, its rays peeking now over Liz’s shoulder.
“More information than you wanted, huh?” Liz said, softly touching Tia’s arm.
Jake stood and went to the grill. “I’m shutting the gas off,” he said. “Looks like everyone’s done eating.”
Tia looked down at her plate, the food cold and forgotten.
An hour later, after the four of them had stared into the woods and alternately chatted, Tia shaded her eyes against the sinking sun, trying to see Liz and Jake as they pushed off from the pier, gliding quietly into the glassy lake. She faced west, her field of vision blurring, casting a fuzzy, impressionistic look over the scene, almost as if she wasn’t supposed to watch.
Colt just plain refused to watch.
He wouldn’t let her near the water, either; instead, he spread their plaid blanket on the short grass midway between the house and the lake, laid down and slung one arm over his eyes.
Tia sat beside him, knees tucked under her, thinking she hadn’t seen him this relaxed in years−eight or nine of them.
“You probably wanted to go with them, huh?” He didn’t move.
“Not really. I’ve not been out on a boat since.” No need to articulate further. She knew he understood.
“You either?”
Tia rested on her elbows, stretched out her legs and leaned back toward Colt. Now she could see the couple on the lake, sitting in the boat Jake had brought over, seeming content to talk.
She felt content, too. The sun slipped lower every few minutes, casting golden shadows on the water. It was beautiful, especially the way the rays kept changing, allowing her eyes to take in more as it lowered. The way Colt had lowered his defenses around her, slowly letting Tia see more of him, understand more about him.
She hadn’t revealed much of herself in return, she knew. But then, he’d just assumed stuff; like she must surely be a prima donna caterer from some hoity-toity restaurant. Which she wasn’t. At all. “Colt?”
“Hmm?”
“Were you really upset when Matt first mentioned Derek? Before you knew he was a dog?”
He didn’t answer immediately, but looked up at the sky. “I guess I was jealous, though I had no right to be. I have to remember that you have a past, and a lot of it didn’t include me.” He sighed, and sat up. “I, of all people, would never want to rob you of your memories. Cherish them, Tia, the good ones and the bad. It’s what your life is made of, and they can be gone in an instant. I’m just thankful the good Lord saw fit to restoring most of mine.”
