When Lightning Strikes (Whiskey Creek #1)(68)
Author: Brenda Novak

“Why haven’t you slept with anyone from Whiskey Creek?” he asked.

“I almost slept with Ted in high school.”

“Your friend? The author?”

“That would be him.”

“What happened?”

“His mother caught us getting naked and told her sister, who’s the biggest gossip in town. The rumors going around afterward were enough to keep me on the straight and narrow. I couldn’t bear the thought of news like that getting back to my father. My mother had already disappointed him. I didn’t want to be next.”

He ran his finger along her jawline. “What did your mother do?”

Oh, God, this, too? Gail almost said she didn’t want to talk about Linda, but she supposed she might as well get it out of the way. “She left us for an old boyfriend from high school.”

“Us?”

“There was no question that Joe and I might go with her. She packed up and disappeared while we were at school. We heard from her periodically that first year, but…she’s the type who shies away from conflict whenever she can, and I think she hated having to speak to my father, to be reminded of what she’d done. So, once she remarried, the calls became more and more infrequent. Soon, it was just too awkward to talk at all, even at Christmas. Especially at Christmas.”

“It must’ve been tough to lose your mother that way.”

Probably not as tough as it’d been for him to lose his mother. At least she’d had her father. Besides, the last thing she wanted from Simon O’Neal was sympathy. “I’ve always had the love I need. The hard part was feeling I had to make up for what she did, to prove to my father that not all women are the same.”

He rolled onto his back. “That’s a lot of pressure. Must’ve been a relief to go to college.” He paused. “You went to college, right?”

“I did. Stanford.”

He whistled. “I’m impressed.”

She adjusted the pillow so she could look into his face, but thanks to the setting sun and the fact that they hadn’t yet turned on any lights, it was harder and harder to see. “What about you?”

“I was too busy rebelling to go to college.”

That didn’t surprise her. “Did you attend acting school?”

“Who needs acting school when you have a father as famous as mine?”

She heard the bitter edge to his voice. “The connection must have provided a few key contacts, but…the way I’ve heard it, the two of you have never gotten along.” That was certainly how it had appeared when Tex showed up at the house. “I can’t imagine he bent over backward to lend you a hand.”

“We’ve always had a love-hate relationship. There were times when I was a kid that I desperately wanted to win his love. But too many other things stood in the way. He hated my mother with a passion, even though what happened was as much his fault.”

“Why would he blame her? That hardly seems fair.”

“He wanted her to terminate the pregnancy. When she refused, it made his marriage even more difficult than it already was. Then her family found out, and the rest of the world. He hates looking bad, wants everyone to admire him. But because of me he couldn’t escape the consequences of his actions. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’ve been times when he’s decided to be the father he never was, but…he can’t sustain it.”

“I remember seeing both of you from a distance at the premiere of Now or Never.”

“That was shortly after I married Bella.” It was also several years before he’d hired Gail. “He wanted to be part of Ty’s life, so he was busy trying to be a good grandfather.”

“What changed that?”

A muscle twitched in Simon’s jaw. “He couldn’t maintain that, either. If there’s anything consistent about Tex O’Neal, it’s inconsistency.”

That didn’t really answer her question. It certainly gave her no details, no specifics. But she didn’t push it. He was still talking but he’d gone back to the subject of his career and his father’s response to his getting into acting.

“I believe that at one point he tried to limit my options, but it was too late to do the kind of damage he could’ve inflicted earlier on. He hates growing old, being counted out. Feels like I’ve stolen everything he used to have. So he’s done what he can to take what’s mine.”

“What does that mean?”

He grew pensive. “Never mind. He’s just…not your typical father. Or grandfather.”

“You’ve climbed higher than he ever did. That probably bothers him. And Ty’s an extension of you.”

“Maybe, but…his name carried enough weight to open certain doors. I owe it to his career that mine ever got a start.”

“Those doors would’ve been slammed in your face if you didn’t have the looks and talent to become who you are,” she pointed out. “You should be proud of yourself.”

“Proud of myself,” he repeated with a self-deprecating chuckle. He didn’t say so, but she got the impression he didn’t hear that line very often.

“Yes, you’ve accomplished a great deal.”

“I got lucky. It worked out.”

In Gail’s opinion, he was a little too quick to dismiss his success. He certainly wasn’t as conceited as some people accused him of being. Even she’d accused him of that. But then…Simon had been accused of almost everything at one time or another. She’d come to believe there was a lot of misconception about him.

“I think most people in America would find that an understatement.” She bent her head to rub her lips against the soft skin of his chest. “If only it could work out so well for all the starving actors in L.A.”

He didn’t comment. He toyed with her hair, which fell down around him. “You must’ve had plenty of chances to experiment with boys in college.”

“We’re back to my sex life? Jeez, you have a one-track mind.” She touched his face, kissed him. She loved being so familiar with him.

“I’m just trying to understand what your life’s been like,” he said, easily rolling her beneath him.

She stared up into his eyes. “By your standards, it’s been boring, okay? You would’ve jiggled your knee all through it.”

“Jiggled my knee?”

“That’s what you do when you’re bored, or anxious. Anyway, I didn’t sleep around in college because I’d been trained to be cautious, and I was too busy with my schoolwork to socialize. I had to get straight A’s so I could feel good about sending my report cards home to Daddy.” She would’ve shrugged, except his weight pressing her into the mattress made that impossible. Her tone implied it instead. “Or maybe it was just that I didn’t meet the right guy. I was kind of shy, and I’ve always been self-conscious about my red hair.”