“I know.”
“So call him. Right away.”
“I will,” Riley promised.
But she didn’t call him.
Several times in the next couple of days, she brought up his number on her phone and stared at the photo she’dsnapped of him last Halloween. He’d dressed as a giant banana, and he looked ridiculous, and every time she saw that picture lately, she didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. She did a little of both.
But she never hit the call icon.
Thursday morning he reached out to her. At the time, she was sitting at her desk in her basement office at the Statesman Hotel. When her phone chimed, she turned it over and stared at his grinning face sticking out of that banana costume and felt like a complete jerk.
He’d texted,Call me when you get a minute.
She almost put off getting back to him until later. But then, groaning in self-disgust at her own reluctance to do what she’d vowed to do, she called him.
He answered immediately. “Lenore has Shane tonight.” His voice was low, private. For her ears alone. Warmth curled through her. It had only been a few days. Yet she couldn’t wait to see him—and not because of what he needed to know.
She was a real piece of work, completely reprehensible.
She had one job and that was to tell him there would be a baby. But she wasn’t thinking about what he had a right to know. Uh-uh. She was thinking about how his eyes turned golden just before he kissed her, about the feel of his rough-tender hands on her body…
“Rile? Did I lose you?”
Breathe, she reminded herself. “No, I’m right here.”
“Any possibility I can see you tonight?”
“Yes. Absolutely.” Annette would take Dillon—or if she couldn’t, Macy would.
He chuckled. “You sound pretty determined. I like it.”
We’ll see how you feel when you hear my news…“So. My house. Seven?”
“I’ll be there.”
* * *
It was a long day at Bravo Construction. Josh spent most of it driving from one worksite to the next, checking on the progress of various projects.
Ninety percent of the jobs he took were for Cash Enterprises, which was owned and run by his dad and his older brother. His dad, whose real first name was John, had been called Cash since long before Josh or his brother were born. Hence the name of the company.
The family story was that Cash Bravo had been making deals practically from the cradle. Tyler, Josh’s older brother, was much like their dad. So Cash and Ty wheeled and dealed. They invested in stocks, bonds, movies, mutual funds, commodities—you name it, Ty and Cash had put money in it.
Cash Enterprises bought real estate, too, and often those properties needed work. Josh and his crew handled repairs and renovations.
At a little before 6:00 p.m. Josh finally pulled in at the two double-wide trailers that served as his base of operations. His dependable, creative, well-organized and always cheerful office manager, Tia Fortier, was waiting to go over a number of issues. She brought him up to speed, and then he went home to grab a quick shower.
At seven on the nose, he was standing on Riley’s front porch. She pulled the door open before he could ring the bell.
That made him smile. “Glad to see me, huh?”
She grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.
He pushed the door shut and waited for her to say something. When all she did was stare up at him, he prompted, “What?”
Her answer was a slow shake of her head.
