While his vision narrowed to that solitary child, Adam’s mind filled with images of another boy. On another sunny day. Another lifetime ago.
“I want to stay with you, Daddy.” Jeremy’s big brown eyes were filled with tears and his lower lip trembled.
“I know you do,” Adam said, checking his wristwatch and inwardly wincing. He was already late for a meeting. There were offers to be made, documents to be signed, dreams to be crushed. Instead of that wince, he smiled to himself. Since taking over the family ranch, he’d already made a difference.
He’d found new buyers for their grain and cattle. New tenants for the farmland and he had plans to rebuild the King stables.
If that meant spending less time with his wife and son than he would have liked, that’s the price he would pay. He was doing this for their future.
“Please let me stay,” Jeremy said and a single tear rolled down his cheek. “I’ll be good.”
“Jeremy,” he said, going down on one knee long enough to look his son in the eye. “I know you’d be good. But I’ve got work. I can’t play now anyway. You’ll have more fun with Mommy.”
Adam lifted his gaze to the woman standing behind his son. Monica didn’t look any happier than Jeremy, but rather than tears in her eyes, there was fire. Anger. An expression Adam had become more and more used to seeing.
Jeremy’s chin hit his chest and his narrow shoulders slumped in dejection. He rubbed the toe of his bright red tennis shoe in the dirt, sniffed loudly and ran one hand under his nose. “‘Kay.”
As the boy turned and walked with slow, miserable steps toward the silver sedan parked in the driveway, Adam stood up to face his wife.
“That’s so typical of you, Adam,” she muttered, shooting a look over her shoulder at their son to make sure he was out of earshot.
“Let’s not do this right now, all right?” He checked his wristwatch again and Monica hissed in a breath.
“You never want to ‘do’ this, Adam. That’s the problem.”
“I don’t have time for it, all right?”
“Why don’t you schedule me in for a week from Tuesday, Adam? Will I get one minute? Or two?”
He blew out a breath, reached out one hand to her, but she skipped back to avoid his touch. Adam sighed. “You know as well as I do, I’ve got responsibilities.”
“Yes, you do.”
He was irritated, angry and just a little weary of this whole situation. Monica had less and less patience with what she saw as Adam’s “preoccupation” with the King ranch. And as she pulled further away from him, he did the same. The ranch was his family’s legacy. It took time. Dedication.
The car door closed behind Jeremy and he looked to see his son pull the seat belt across his chest and hook it securely.
Glancing back at his wife, Adam said, “Can we not do this now? I’ve got a meeting.”
“Right.” She shook her head, blond hair flying in a tight, short arc around her jawline. “Wouldn’t want you to miss a meeting just because of your family.”
“Damn it, Monica.”
“Damn you, Adam.” She turned and stalked to the car without another look at him. Just before she opened the car door, though, she allowed her gaze to lock with his. “Not that you’ll notice or anything, but I thought you should know—we’re not coming back. Jeremy and I are driving to my mother’s in San Francisco. I’ll let you know where to send our things once we’re settled.”
“Just a damn minute,” Adam said, starting for her.
But she hopped into the car, fired the engine and raced down the driveway before he could get to her. He watched dust and gravel fantail up behind the wheels of her car. The sun beat down on his head and shoulders and despite the heat, he felt cold. Right down to his bones.
The dust settled and still he stood there, watching after the car carrying his wife and son away from him. Then the alarm on his watch beeped and he idly reached to turn it off. He had to leave for the meeting. He’d give Monica a chance to cool off. Then they’d talk. Work this out.
He headed for his SUV.
First things first. He had just enough time to make that meeting.
Twenty minutes later, Jeremy and Monica were dead.
Adam came up out of the past with a jolt.
It had been years since he’d allowed himself to remember that day. But now, it had all rushed back at him because of the child, still laughing, in the corral.
Adam felt as though a steel clamp was on his chest and it was tightening with every strangled breath he took. His eyes narrowed until he was looking at Gina and the boy as if down a long, dark tunnel. He might as well have been miles away. Sunlight splashed down on the two of them, as if defining the difference between Adam in the shadows, and his wife, in the golden rush of light.
Then Gina caught sight of him, smiled and waved. He stiffened at the warmth in her gaze, the welcome in her smile. He hadn’t wanted this. Still didn’t want it.
He could admit that over the last couple of months, he’d become too accustomed to her presence. The scent of her in the house. The feel of her in his arms. He turned to her in the night and listened for her during the day. This was a temporary arrangement that was beginning to seem far too permanent.
When he didn’t answer her wave, only stared at her out of cold, empty eyes, Gina frowned slightly, then shifted her gaze back to the boy on the horse.
“She’s good with kids, isn’t she?”
Adam slowly turned his head to nod at Gina’s brother Tony, walking toward him. He hadn’t even known the man was on the ranch.
Tony pulled the brim of his hat down lower over his eyes to combat the glare of the sun. He stopped beside Adam and shot a look at his sister. “Mama sent me over with some of her homemade bread. Thought I’d watch Gina for a while before going back to the ranch.” He turned an interested look on Adam. “Looks like I’m not the only one watching her.”
Adam frowned at him. “Did you have a point?”
Tony grinned. “Only one. That look you were giving Gina just then makes me think that maybe this temporary arrangement might be coming to mean a little more to you.”
“You’re wrong.” Couldn’t have been more wrong. If anything, watching Gina with that child had just brought home to Adam the fact that he had to get her out of his life. The sooner the better. He wanted his old insular life back.
“See, I don’t think so.” Tony wandered to the barn, leaned back into a patch of shade and folded his arms over his chest. “I admit, I sided with Mom about this marriage. Seemed like a bad idea all the way around to me. But,” he said, pausing to briefly look at his sister again, “Gina’s happy here. And I think you’re happier with her here, too.”