She shook out his jacket and folded it neatly, his quick sideways glance revealing the terse bunch of her jaw. “That’s not what I meant. I know it sounds callous, but Eric and Julia are going to have to stay in town for weeks—possibly a couple of months—before their daughter is strong enough to leave the hospital. We can’t go on pretending to be engaged for that long.”
The pool of warmth chilled.
He’d been under the fleeting impression she’d gone gooey with baby fever. That she’d been asking how they could help out the Wrights over the next few harrowing weeks. Continuing their pretend engagement hadn’t even crossed his mind, because fool that he was, he’d started to believe that maybe he and Vee weren’t faking it.
“It’d do irreparable damage if the Wrights found out we’d been lying to them now,” he said. Following Isaac’s truck ahead of them, Sam signaled and turned off the main highway on the country road that led to the farm. “We’ll have to renegotiate our agreement.”
“You seriously want Ruby and I to move in with you for the next two months?” Vee’s voice rose half an octave.
A frozen iron fist punched into his gut and the first stirrings of panic rose like a black tide from his stomach. Was that what he wanted? Weeks more of falling over a toddler’s toys, and tantrums renting his skull in two over a sandwich cut the wrong way? Weeks of forgoing a beer after work with the boys, of having to be accountable to Vee for every second of the day, and asking for permission to do whatever the hell he wanted? It was the same black tide that’d come over him at the jeweler’s.
They pulled in behind Isaac at the entrance to their parents’ farm, watching as Nat climbed from the SUV and unlocked the driveway gate.
“We don’t have to do anything as drastic as that.” Sam kept his voice as even as he could. “The Wrights’ll be so busy with their new baby they won’t even know where you’re living. We can just keep up the appearance of being in love until their baby is old enough to leave the NICU.”
“Keep up the appearance. Bloody hell,” she muttered.
He heard the soft thwack of the back of Vee’s head hitting the headrest and felt her gaze crawl coolly over him as he drove slowly after Isaac through the entrance. He lifted his hand in silent thanks to Nat who locked the gate after them and ran back to Isaac’s truck. Suddenly the interior of his ute felt way too small, and his brain way too big for his skull. He started, nearly slammed on the brakes, at a sudden harsh chuckle from the passenger side.
“Oh. My. God,” she said.
He slanted her a glance.
She was staring at him through slitted eyes, arms folded tightly under her breasts, her legs crossed and her flip-flop flicking against the sole of her foot. “You’re totally freaking out at the idea of us actually being in a real, committed relationship, aren’t you?”
“Bullshit.”
How the hell did she know that? Had they gotten to the point where they were reading each other’s minds and finishing each other’s sentences like his parents sometimes did?
“Riiiight. Because you’re at the pro level of commitment, one step away from authoring a how-to manual on sticking with one woman forever.”
He accelerated up the driveway, pulling in between Isaac’s SUV and the minivan that his dad must’ve rescued from the beach where Vee had left it. Yanking on the emergency brake, he turned to her with a calm the hell down smile on his face. “We’re both too tired to get into this now. Let’s just get Ruby, go home, and discuss it in the morning.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “You mean after we’ve had a few rounds of smoking hot sex to distract us?”
“Works for me,” he said.
Vee unclipped her seat belt and retrieved her purse from the footwell, holding it against her stomach like a shield.
“Counteroffer,” she said, ice dripping from her tongue. “I get Ruby, and she and I go home—our home—as we planned to back when I said yes to this ridiculous offer. You can tell the Wrights, or whoever else you want, whatever you want about the appearance of us being in love.”
She cracked open the door and climbed out, plastering a tight smile on her face as she greeted Nat and Isaac who were staring at the interior of his ute as if it were filled with a circus full of clowns.
Hell, he thought as Vee strode into his parents’ house. Maybe it was.
Vee gripped Ruby’s hand as they walked along the hospital corridor toward Julia’s ward. She carried a bouquet of flowers in her free hand and the paper constantly rustled, a testament to her shaky hands. Ruby, skipping happily beside her, seemed unaware of the adult drama continuing to play out around her.
She’d been asleep last night when Vee had scooped her off the Ngatas’ sofa, made half-assed excuses to everyone, and left. All without making eye contact with Sam. Ruby had slept through being carried into their musty-smelling apartment and settled into her bed, though on waking this morning she had asked over and over where Sam was. Vee had told her Sam was working, and this afternoon they would see Julia who’d had a baby girl, and wasn’t that exciting?
Vee hesitated outside the private room that a nurse had told her was Julia’s, taking a moment to reapply her game face. She knocked lightly on the door and opened it. Ruby let go of her hand and darted inside. The little girl ran to Julia, calling her name and rising on tiptoes, trying to see onto the bed.
Julia winced as she reached out to stroke Ruby’s head. “Hello, sugar.” She was still connected to a drip, and dark circles rimmed her eyes. She looked exhausted.
“Where’s the baby?” Ruby tugged on the edge of the blanket as if she were about to launch herself onto the bed.
“Ruby.” Vee’s gaze flicked sideways to Nat, who’d risen from a visitor’s chair and started toward them. She passed Nat the flowers—to join the other four bunches crowding the room—and picked up her daughter. “Remember how I told you Julia’s baby girl came too soon and needs all the doctors and nurses to look after her?”
Ruby nodded.
“And how we have to be very gentle with Julia because she isn’t feeling very good.”
Ruby leaned her head against Vee’s shoulder and stared at Julia, her nose scrunching. “Julia has sore tummy.”
Julia managed a wan smile. “That’s right. But I’m so happy you’ve come to see me, and next time you visit you might be able to see Moira Jayne.”
“You named her after your mum and Eric’s mum?” Vee smiled at her and sank down into the visitor’s chair next to the bed. Julia’s parents both died when she was in college, so she’d become especially close to her husband’s family.
“Two of the best women I know of,” Julia said. “And the strongest and most determined. Moira will need that iron will over the next few weeks.”
Which reminded Vee about her confrontation with Sam the night before. Julia must’ve seen an echo of it on her face, as her gaze sharpened.
“Eric said you weren’t at home when he and Sam collected our luggage and dropped it off at a hotel in town.”
“I had some errands to run.” Listen to her, lying as if a she made a living from it. “So Isaac managed to find rooms for Gregory and for you both once you’re well enough to be discharged?”
“He did,” Julia said. “Very close to the hospital actually, which is wonderful.”
The door opened and a man stepped inside with a takeout coffee in his hand. Stick Eric into an aging app and you’d get this salt-and-pepper dark-haired, gray-eyed man—this had to be Gregory Wright. His gaze landed on her, and Vee’s stomach did a little backflip, even though she’d known he’d probably be there.
Knowing, and being caught in the intense scrutiny of his steel-gray gaze, were two different things.
“Ah, you must be Vanessa, Sam’s better half.” He offered her his hand to shake. “I’m Gregory, Eric’s dad. I’ve sent Eric back to his hotel room to catch some shut-eye while he can.”
Vee shook his hand and released it again as if his palm were flaming hot. She felt lik
e a schoolgirl called into the principal’s office after being caught skipping school and lying about it. “Nice to meet you. I can see the family resemblance.”
He chuckled, carrying his coffee around the bed to the opposite visitor’s chair. “I was telling your friend Natalie that I hope Moira doesn’t end up with the Wright-shaped nose.”
Thankfully the conversation switched to the topic of baby Moira, allowing Vee a little bit of breathing room. Keeping up the façade of caring new friend was harder and harder as Vee witnessed the affectionate relationship between Julia and her father-in-law, and Gregory’s self-depreciating humor and general all-round niceness. He was a lovely man who’d dropped everything to fly around the world to be with his family and Vee felt like the biggest Fakey McFaker on the planet. It didn’t matter that she genuinely did care about Julia, because if their situations were reversed, Vee would feel furiously betrayed.
She hunkered down further into the seat, trying to unsuspiciously remain part of the conversation yet desperately searching for an excuse to beat it before she broke down and confessed the truth.
She was a liar, liar, pants—and every other article of clothing on her body—on fire. And so was Sam.
But the weight of that lie sealed her lips. If the Wrights found out they’d been lied to, everyone involved with Kauri Whare would be affected. And after this past week of being unwillingly drawn back into the folds of the Ngata family, she found herself more protective of them than she’d ever been. Whānau first. Always.
“Vee?”
It took Vee a moment to realize Julia was calling her name.
“Sorry,” she said. “What was that?”
“You seem a little distracted today.” Julia’s brow crumpled. “Did you and Sam have an argument?”
Vee’s jaw loosened and for a moment she couldn’t make a sound.
We can just keep up the appearance of being in love.
She’d been replaying those words over and over in her head and each time it hurt a little more. Served her right for thinking it could’ve been anything more than a charade.
“Lovers’ tiff,” she managed to squeak. “We were all a bit stressed and tired after yesterday. We’ll sort it out.”
The worry lines on Julia’s forehead smoothed. “Making up is half the fun, isn’t it?”
“Sure is.” Vee didn’t dare to glance at Nat to see her reaction.
“Always strive to be the first one to say sorry and mean it.” Gregory toasted her with his coffee cup. “That’s how Eric’s mom and I remained happily married for forty-one years until she passed away three years ago.”
So she should apologize to Sam for being stupid enough to fall in love with him when it was obviously not mutual? She fixed a polite smile on her face.
“Good advice.” She rose to her feet and settled Ruby on her hip. “And on that note, we should leave you to rest, Julia.”
She made her goodbyes to them both with promises to visit again soon. Nat also rose and said her goodbyes, telling Vee they could walk out together. Vee was under no illusion about the grilling she was in for, but she kept her game face on as she waved and slipped out of the hospital room.
Chapter 16
“You and Sam had a fight?” Nat asked as they walked down the corridor to the elevator bank. Ruby trotted along beside them, humming the Peppa Pig theme song.
“More of a difference of opinion.” Vee kept her voice as mild as she could, but her friend’s side-eye told her she wasn’t doing such a stellar job.
“Uh-huh.”
Vee tapped the down arrow button and folded her arms, studying the numbers above and the descending lights as the elevator crawled with ancient slowness down to their floor.
“A difference of opinion doesn’t explain why you look willing to gut the next male who eyeballs you the wrong way.”
“Men are the alternative name for a sphincter,” Vee muttered, aware that little ears could still pick up curse words even while making oinking sounds. “The one starting with A.” She punched the button again for good measure so the stupidly slow elevator got the message. “Though sphincter-head Sam has a certain ring to it.”
“Definitely a fight.” Nat chuckled, then sobered. “There’s less fake and more real between you two now, isn’t there? You’re falling for him.”
Falling, fallen. Either way, she was inches from a painful landing on the rocky ground of reality. As much as she’d shared with Natalie since they’d become friends—and okay, she’d been a little, teensy bit on Nat’s case when she was falling in love with Isaac—she couldn’t bring herself to admit she’d been weak. And foolish. Everyone, including Nat, knew that Sam was a helluva nice guy but not a good prospect for a committed relationship.
“I’m not falling for him,” Vee said.
“But you’re…” Nat raised her eyebrows twice in quick succession and tilted her head.
BFF code for: You’re sleeping with him. “Yeah. I am.”
Nat grinned. “And? On a scale of one to ten?”
Heat sizzled through Vee on the tail of Technicolor memories. “As much as I hate to admit it because the man already has an ego the size of a hot air balloon, definitely a ten.”
“Oh myyyy.” Nat hauled Ruby into her arms when she tugged on Nat’s hand.
Ruby stretched up and set her little palms either side of Nat’s face. “Hongi, Nat!”
Vee’s friend pressed her nose lightly to the tip of her daughter’s nose, once, twice. “Kia ora, sweetie,” she said.
The ache that gripped Vee’s ribs spread to constrict her heart like it was encased in concrete. Sam had taught Ruby the gesture and in the past week it’d become their thing. The thought of Sam slipping out of Ruby’s everyday life—out of her everyday life—was unbearable.
“What is wrong with this elevator today?” She stabbed the button again. The lit up floor numbers showed it was apparently having a smoko break on the floor above. “Come. On.”
Finally the doors slid open. Vee and Nat squeezed in next to an orderly with an elderly male patient in a wheelchair and two other passengers. They rode down in silence to the ground floor, where Gracie was waiting with a bunch of flowers.
“Oh,” Gracie said, beaming at them as they exited the elevator. “I was just going up to see Julia. How is she?” She slid her arm through Vee’s and towed her to the nearest wall, out of the way of hospital foot traffic.
“She’s doing well,” Vee said. “Though she looks a little tired. Her father-in-law’s with her now while Eric takes a break.”
An arrowed crease appeared on Gracie’s brow and she turned her head toward Nat. “What’s happened? What’d he do to her?”
Nat’s mouth pinched in. “Said something dumb and hurt her is my guess.”
“Catastrophically dumb? Or just a how did my foot get into my mouth dumb?” Gracie asked.
“Not sure. But they’re knocking boots now, and she’s well into the middle of phase one.”
“Hey.” Vee tapped both her friends’ arms at the same time. “I’m right here.”
Gracie gave her a pitying look. “I know, hon. But you’re still in phase one which means nothing you say can be trusted. I need to get the lowdown from someone more reliable.”
“What? Why?” Vee said. “And what is phase one anyway?”
“Denial,” Nat and Gracie said in chorus.
Gracie elbowed Vee. “Don’t you remember how Nat wore her denial like medieval armor before she’d admit to anyone, let alone herself, that she had it bad for Isaac?”
This was true. But it didn’t mean it was the same for Vee. Isaac had been into Nat for a long time before they hooked up, but everyone knew Sam was the biggest flirt in Bounty Bay and that Vee was just another woman he’d bedded.
She needed to find a way to be okay with that.
“It’s not denial if there really isn’t anything to deny,” Vee insisted. “This is business.”
When her friends both raised their eyebrows, she
added, “Okay. Business with benefits. But still, he and I had a deal and now that we’ve both filled the conditions of that deal…”
“You still want Bountiful to take the last Kauri Whare spot?” Gracie’s voice was full of doubt. “You’ll be okay seeing Sam every day?”
“We’re both adults.” Vee took Ruby from Nat when her daughter wriggled impatiently and twisted around trying to get down. “I’ll be fine.”
“Fine is so stage one,” Nat said.
“It completely is,” Gracie agreed. “To use a water analogy since Sam’s a lifeguard, I’m beginning to think she’s like a swimmer going down for the third and final time.”
“Oh, zip it, you two.” Vee settled Ruby more comfortably on her hip.
“Vee,” Nat said gently. “We can find another building to lease that’ll work just as well as Kauri Whare. That way you and Sam could start over on a more even footing.”
Start over what? A steamy affair that was due to run out of said steam in a few more weeks. Or months. Or however long it took him to lose interest and move on to greener pastures.
She shook her head, arms tightening around Ruby until her little girl grizzled and pushed her hands against Vee’s breastbone. “Kauri Whare is still the best decision, the right decision, for us and for Bountiful. We’re still moving because I earned that bloody space.”
Nat showed her palms and took a step back. Gracie just twisted her mouth into a resigned smile and hitched her handbag higher on her shoulder. “If you say so. I’d better go and drop these off to Julia before they start to wilt.”
They said goodbye to Gracie and continued out of the hospital into the parking lot. Nat helped her get Ruby into her car seat and waved goodbye, promising to text if she heard any updates on Julia and Eric’s baby. Vee turned on the stereo and let Ruby’s kids’ nursery rhyme CD play while she sat gripping the steering wheel.
Break Your Heart_A Small Town Romance Page 21
