When Lightning Strikes (Whiskey Creek #1)(42)
Author: Brenda Novak

“You’re too good for him,” her father added when she came around to kiss his cheek. “But I’m willing to give him the opportunity to prove me wrong.”

She offered them both a watery smile. She’d known they’d come through for her. They always did. “Thanks.”

16

Gail stared at the ceiling in her old bedroom for three hours. She’d been waiting for Simon to return, but he hadn’t come. She couldn’t help fearing he’d driven to Sacramento, left her car in long-term parking and taken a plane to L.A. Or that he’d gone home with one of the cocktail waitresses at the casino. She’d asked her family to give him a chance, but even she wasn’t sure she could fully trust him. If making the changes he needed to make were easy, he would’ve been able to do it on his own.

But she’d doubted him once before, and he hadn’t been breaking his commitment to her. Not that the memory of finding him hurt made the passing time go by any faster. Surely, he hadn’t gotten into a car accident or a fight….

As it neared one-thirty, she was too anxious to stay in bed. Getting a sweatshirt, she pulled it over her tank top and pajama bottoms, then went downstairs, where she made a cup of hot cocoa and sat on the front porch.

The weather was clear but cool, somewhere in the low fifties. A gentle wind whispered through the trees in the yard, causing the red and gold leaves still clinging to the branches to fall and rustle against those on the ground. This wasn’t a traditional neighborhood. There was no curb or gutter. No square blocks, either. Just a narrow country road with two neighbors farther down, where it turned to dirt.

Her father had built the house shortly after he married her mother. She and Joe had both been born here.

It was good to be back. She just hoped she hadn’t made a mistake in bringing Simon with her.

Because she hadn’t expected it, hadn’t even glanced at the driveway, it took her a moment to realize her car was parked there. Blinking several times, she tried to see inside it.

Simon was behind the wheel, looking back at her. How long had he been sitting there? And why?

When she stood, he got out and came toward her. “You okay?” she asked.

“Not too bad. At least I’m sober.”

That answered one of her questions. Maybe. She wasn’t sure she could take his word for it. But he walked without weaving or stumbling.

Cradling her cup to keep her fingers warm, she waited for him to draw closer before speaking again. “Did you win any money?”

He stopped a couple of feet away. “I was up at first.”

“And at the end?”

“Lost about twenty grand.”

His speech wasn’t slurred, either, which relieved her for several reasons. A DUI would destroy what she was trying to accomplish with his image, not to mention all the worse things that could’ve happened if he’d been driving while intoxicated. “Gambling’s an expensive vice.”

“Maybe I should go back to drinking.”

“That could cost you even more.”

He motioned to the dark, shadowy porch behind her and the swinging chair she’d ignored. “What are you doing out here?”

“Just getting used to being home.”

His eyes narrowed in disbelief. “Really?”

“And wondering when you were coming back.” She figured she might as well admit it; he’d already guessed she’d been worried.

“You thought I might be breaking the terms of our agreement.”

She felt bad for doubting him, but she knew the first few days and weeks were going to be the hardest. And the way her brother had treated him… That could’ve acted as a trigger. “Yes.”

“I almost did,” he said, and circumvented her to go inside.

At least he was honest.

Gail waited another fifteen or twenty minutes. She wasn’t sure what to say to Simon. One part of her wanted to know which had been more of a temptation—alcohol or women. The other part was too afraid to hear his answer. As Josh had so aptly pointed out, she had no claim on him in an emotional sense. But it still wasn’t easy to acknowledge that the man she’d married, for whatever reason, might’ve been tempted to go home with someone else.

The next two years were going to be even more of a challenge than she’d realized.

When she thought he’d had enough time to go to bed and to sleep, she carried her empty cup into the house, rinsed it in the sink and crept up the stairs. The house was quiet and all the lights were off. She didn’t turn any on because she didn’t want to wake her father or brother—or Simon, for that matter.

Simon was in bed. She could see the shape of his body in the moonlight streaming through the window. Her room faced the yard, which wasn’t really a yard so much as raw land that backed up to the mountain. Without any neighbors around to worry about, she rarely bothered to lower the blinds.

Being as quiet as possible, she yanked off her sweatshirt and slipped under the covers.

But Simon wasn’t asleep. When he shifted, she got the impression it was to avoid contact with her, which gave her some idea of how he was feeling. “Something wrong?” she asked.

“I’m not sure I’m going to stay,” he said.

She’d been so afraid he’d give up, had felt the tension of that fear, the worry eating at her ever since she’d said, “I do.” “Why? What happened tonight?”

“I almost took off, drove to L.A.”

Was that what he’d been doing in the car? Thinking about leaving? “I’m sorry if it was my brother who—”

“It wasn’t his fault,” he broke in. “He has every right to be defensive of you. I’d be defensive, too, if you were my sister.”

She fussed nervously with the blanket. “Then what caused the…flight response?”

“I don’t see how my involvement in your life can be a good thing.”

Releasing the blanket, she curled her arms around her pillow. “Why not?”

“Because it’ll end. In two years, just like we planned.”

She lifted her head, trying to see his face in the dark. “What makes you think I expect anything else?”

“I’m afraid at some point saving your business won’t be enough to compensate for what you’ll sacrifice.”

“There’s more in it for me than that. There’s the money, of course. It might not seem like a large sum to you, but it’s a fortune to me. Don’t get me wrong. I’m earning every penny of it, so I won’t feel bad taking it, but…there’s that. And it’ll be gratifying to see you on your feet again and in control of your life. I feel as if I’m doing America a great service by helping you salvage your career. They want to see more of you in the movies, and so do I.”