Chapter 20
“Guess what,” Memphis came from the other end of the line.
Ty grinned from the excitement in his voice alone. Once a week, Memphis and his siblings held a roundtable meeting during lunch, which meant Ty was on her own those days. Today, she’d grabbed a salad to go from the kitchen and ate it while reading at the small pavilion behind the spa. “What?” she replied.
“The derby racetrack is a go!”
“That’s so awesome,” she cheered. “Wow!” Ty set the plastic fork in the near-empty salad container as he elaborated. It was just about time for her next client to come.
“You should have seen me,” Memphis continued. “It felt just like the old days when I was standing in front of a room full of investors, showing them why they should put their funds into the next commercial real estate investment.”
“That’s so cool,” she said.
Memphis sighed. “Yeah. Oh, and they especially loved your idea to let the guests customize their own car before each race with the vinyl printouts. I mean, they went crazy for that. Man, I can’t wait to tell Lucas. He’s going to be stoked.”
“Definitely,” she agreed, enjoying the enthusiasm in his tone.
“How about we celebrate tonight? I’ll take you out to dinner.”
“That sounds great!”
“Maybe you could see if Holly and Margo can watch Lucas.”
She was about to agree, but then something occurred to her. “Well, don’t we want Lucas to come so we can tell him too?”
“Oh, yeah, of course. I just figured…well, there’s something I was...” He died off there and changed direction. “Why don’t the three of us go out, then we can come back to your place and have a little alone time after Lucas goes to bed?”
“My place is kind of all boxed up right now,” she reminded.
“Oh, yeah. What am I thinking? Let’s just doustonight. Then after we get you and Lucas moved in over the weekend, we can celebrate withhim, and tonight we just keep it the two of us, if that’s okay with you.”
“Sure,” she managed. While Ty understood that it was nice to have an evening out alone, she hoped Memphis wasn’t losing sight of the fact that she and Lucas were a package deal.
“Alright,” he said, voice still packed with triumph. “I’ll see you tonight. Emmitt, Maverick and I are jetting over to the site where the racetrack is going. After that, then we’re heading over to your new suite to put the race car bed together. That’s another surprise Lucas has coming to him.”
“Nice,” Ty said, hating that she lacked the enthusiasm he deserved to hear from her. “Thank you. And have fun checking out the lot with your brothers.”
“I will.” And with that, the line went dead. Not even anI love youorgoodbye.
Ty tucked her phone into her pocket, tossed her to-go box in the trash, and paced behind the spa for a bit. A chilly breeze picked up as she replayed the conversation back from the start.
She’d first felt off when Memphis compared talking to his siblings to the old days of addressing a room full of investors. The very idea made her consider something she never had before. Memphis could take off and go back to his old life at any moment.
A shock of fear bolted through her at the idea. He could leave, the way Eric had. It was a good thing she had a few minutes before her next client came in, because she needed it. An inner part of herself said she was being irrational, but she couldn’t get that part to speak up. The voices of fear were too loud.
She thought of Memphis’s odd dismissal of Lucas tonight. If they were celebrating something that was, in some degree, inspired by Lucas, why not have him there too? Especially since he’d framed the evening around celebrating the track to begin with.
Was Memphis reallyall in,or was he taking baby steps back? He might be doing so without even knowing it. Longing for the life he hadbeforehe started entertaining a future with a single mom and her child. What had he called them, the good old days? And was he also wishing they could have more nights away from this added responsibility of a child he hadn’t even fathered?
Her muscles went tight with worry. Her heart was pumping in double time, racing frantically to keep up with the anxious, new thoughts in her head. She’d never even considered the fact that Memphis could be just as half-hearted in his devotion as her ex.
Breathe, Ty. Breathe.
This was bad. Ty had wandered into dangerous territory, and she hadn’t even known it. Somehow, she’d let her happiness, her wellbeing even, get wrapped into the condition of Memphis’s feelings for her. Of his presence in her and Lucas’s life. Sure, he liked being around Lucas. Heck, he was adding a racetrack to The Homestead’s amenities even. But that didn’t mean he was committed long term.
Stop, Ty. You’re overreacting.
But Ty wasn’t so sure that she was. If she sensed things correctly, Memphis had connected with an old piece of himself, which might mean that, whether he knew it or not, he was longing for a life that wasn’t the one laid out before him now—a potential life with her and Lucas if this route continued.
