Between You and Me

“No, of course not.” She rose slowly and stretched again. “Besides, I’m starving. Not working most of the morning has apparently made me famished.”

“Are you carrying a baby, or an alien life form?” he joked. “Sucking the life force out of you, seeking nourishment. . .”

“You’re a dork.” She laughed as she crossed her office to her desk. “Let me just check the emails I haven’t looked at to make sure there are no emergencies, and we’ll get out of here. Give me five minutes?”

“No problem.” He crossed one long leg over the other as he pulled his phone from his inside jacket pocket. “I’ll tell Julia you say hi. She wants to see you soon, by the way. Dinner next week, maybe? Monday or Tuesday?”

“I’d love that,” Tess said as she clicked into her inbox. “Tuesday works for me.”

She scanned her work emails quickly; nothing there that couldn’t wait. Then she checked her personal email, and there was one from Logan. Her breath caught. Since she’d returned to New York, he’d cut way down on contact, texting her every three or four days instead of daily, and no phone calls. She was hurt by the lessening contact, but supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. Logan Carter went it alone. He’d made that clear from the start.

So what if she thought things had changed? So what if she thought she’d maybe seen his eyes get a little glassy during their emotional goodbye, or that he’d kissed her as fervently as she’d kissed him? He wasn’t letting her stay close; that became more clear with each passing week. And it hurt. Truth was, thinking about him only made her miserable. She missed him like hell. Apparently, that wasn’t mutual.

But he’d never sent her an email before. Usually, they talked via texts. So with curiosity building, she clicked on it. But when she opened it, she realized it wasn’t just to her, but to her and her two older brothers. It had to be something about the house, then, since Pierce wasn’t addressed; Tess owned the ski house with only Dane and Charles, since Pierce had been living in England when they bought it.

Hello Charles, Dane, and Tess,

This is an official notice to inform you all that I’m cutting back on my work. My mother’s health has started to seriously decline and I’m needed there. Effective today, I’ll be turning over regular care of your Red Mountain house to Richie Wood, one of my most reliable colleagues. I’ve worked with him for years, and I can personally vouch for his trustworthiness, his dependability, and his just being a great guy. His cell number is . . .

Tess felt her blood pressure start to rise. Annmarie was worse? Why hadn’t he said so? Why hadn’t he told her anything? She could feel her blood race through her veins, leaving vague nausea in its wake.

Then another thought hit, like a kick to the chest. Was this really solely about his mother, or did he just want to quit dealing with the Harrisons because of Tess? He’d been slipping away slowly. Was she being paranoid, or was this a real possibility? What the hell was going on? A million questions rushed through her on another wave of anxious adrenaline, leaving her breathless.

“Um . . . Tess?” Dane looked up from his phone, catching her eye from across the room. He looked ambivalent as he said, “I just saw an email from Logan.”

“I’m just reading it now,” she said tightly as her stomach roiled.

“You didn’t know about this before now?”

“I’m as shocked as you are,” she muttered.

“Huh.” He peered harder. “Actually, you seem more so. Your face is all flushed.”

She huffed out a hard breath. “I’m a little pissed off. I had no idea he was doing this.”

“I thought you two were close.”

“So did I,” she bit out. Maybe it was the hormones, but she wanted to throw something. Instead she turned off her computer and shot to her feet. “I need lunch.”

“Maybe you need to talk,” Dane suggested in a soft voice, a tone one would use to talk to a child or wounded animal. “Are you okay? You look really upset.”

“I am upset!” she cried. “I had no idea that . . . that he . . .” Her eyes filled with tears.