The Solitude of Passion (22 page)

“So, where do you live?” I give a gentle smile to Lee and my insides bounce as if they were hungry for something only her flesh could offer.

Her eyes round out with surprise and I’m suddenly regretting going there so soon.

“Sorry”—I glance down at my food a moment—“I promised myself I wouldn’t pry, but if you’re an hour away or more, I wouldn’t want to put you out.” Truth is, I want to put them all out. Something about the conversation is strained, and it’s starting to feel like I have to dig for details. I’m not sure why, but I thought they’d spill the news of their world like an oil slick on the drive over.

“I’m still at the beach house.” Her features relax. Her lips curve at the edges. “I’d never leave. That’s all I had of you—other than Stella.”

My heart soars. Our house. She never left. Maybe she’s single? I glance down at her ring finger. It’s bejeweled and quite nicely. It’s not my ring though. This one is much bigger, and the diamonds are in the wrong configuration. My stomach lurches and suddenly just being near food makes me want to vomit.

“How’s the vineyard?” I shift in my seat, directing the question to my mother.

“It’s in great hands.” Her voice is calm, even-keeled. She looks serene when she says it, so I believe her.

I glance over at Colt. “Are they your hands?”

“Nope,” he shoots back. There’s an undertone of irritation when he says it so I take it Colt doesn’t approve of the hands it’s settled in.

“Then it must great,” I tease. “Tell me about your life, Colt.” I slide in tight next to Lee, wrap both my arms around her like she might float into the air if I don’t.

“Same old, same old. Still skin diving, enjoying life.”

“You took up diving?” I’m surprised by this. I tried to get Colt to surf for years. Colt swore he was allergic to water.

“Diving for women,” Lee corrects. “He’s become the predator we always knew he could be.” Lee gives me a squeeze while brushing a series of soft kisses along my neck.

“Excellent. And you?” I direct it to my mother. Her dark hair looks freshly died, her bright lipstick neatly applied. She looks beautiful in her own right. “How’s the world treating you?”

“Better now than ever before.” It comes from deep within her, soulful. I could see the years of hurt etched in her eyes, and I’m damn glad I lived long enough to help take it away.

“We need to marry her off”—Colt eases into a grin—“find her some old playboy that can keep up with her.” He nudges her gently, and she makes a face. I can’t imagine Mom with anyone but my dad. Too bad he didn’t feel the same.

“How about you, Lee?” The words come stilted from my lips. Something about asking Lee about her personal life scares the hell out of me. “What’s going on with you?”

A bird chirps in the background, a car pulls into the drive-thru—all the world fills in the void of this inescapable silence.

Colt plucks his drink from his mouth. “We better hit the road. Traffic’s going to be a real bitch.”

Lee and I bag our food. Neither of us took a bite.

She’s quiet on the ride home. Our bodies are intertwined, but there’s a notable decrease in the number of kisses she offers. Something tells me the number is about to plummet the closer we get to Mono.

My mother’s home erects itself like a relic from some bygone era, still wearing all the pride from my childhood. The palm trees out front stand like watchmen on either side of the entry, the bright red Impatients dot the border garden in the exact same pattern they had when I left.

We head in and I take in the familiar scent of refried oil, the slight hint of garlic permeates the air. Everything is exactly as it was the day I left—the furniture sits unrepentantly the same. I stride around the house of my youth and inhale the familiar scent held hostage in my memory for so long. It’s unbelievable on some level. I half-expect my father to come down the stairs and greet me.

Mom ushers us into the family room. There’s a breathtaking view of the vineyard with a tangerine sunset just cresting the hillside. It ignites the landscape with all its salmon-colored glory. The frame of the window makes it look like an oil painting. The bright green rows of precious vines still line the property.

“It’s still here,” I muse.

“It’s still here, Mitch,” Lee whispers warm into my ear and circles her arms around my waist. “Come on.” She coaxes me over to the couch and kicks off her shoes. Lee pulls me in and settles herself in my lap. Her head falls over my chest without hesitation and we hold each other just like we used to in high school.

“Colton, call for take-out,” Mom barks the order while hauling in a tray with a pitcher and glasses. “We need to get some meat on those bones, Mitch.” She sets down her load and pours both Lee and me a glass of lemonade.

A widescreen television sits hooked to the wall and demands my attention. The only new addition in five years, and I’m pretty sure Colton’s purchasing power was behind it.

“You okay with Chinese?” Colt asks, his eye twitches like there’s genuine concern behind the question. “You’re not gonna go post traumatic on us, are you?”

I’d be offended, but, the truth is, I’ve been craving Colt’s sarcasm. I’m behind five years’ worth, so I guess it’s a good start.

“Go ahead.” I’m not hungry. Not until Lee ends the mystery of the wedding ring or until I see Stella—my daughter. As much as I hate to admit it my entire body is flush with anxiety. That’s one reunion I never imagined.

Lee runs her hands up over my arms and snags on a wandering scar that jags up my skin like lightning.

“What’s this?” Her face clouds with concern as she tracks the deformity with her finger.

For a minute I think of telling her I got caught on a wire. I’d be in control of the scar that way, not hogtied and whipped like an animal the way it really went down.

“It’s nothing.” I meet her gaze, and she holds it strong as steel. I never could lie to Lee. “We don’t have to talk it about it right now,” it comes out almost inaudible, and I manage to bring the energy down in the room—all eyes on me. “I’m okay.” I hold up my hands. “The important thing is I’m sitting in the right place with all the right people.” I pull Lee in and melt a kiss over her cheek. She turns and kisses me square on the lips, airport style. She’s still hungry, chock full of passion, and I have a feeling it won’t be long until—

A brisk knock erupts at the door. Lee and Colt exchange stilted glances before bolting out of their seats.

“Is it Stella?” I’m hopeful as I follow them over to the entry.

Mom opens the door, and her face loses all color.

“Hey, Mom.” A tall dark-haired man strides in and kisses my mother on the cheek with a boldness that suggests he belongs here, calling her “Mom” of all things.

He turns to Lee, does the same without hesitating, and my stomach cycles because I have a feeling I’m about to meet the man that supplied my wife with the new rocks on her finger.

Shit. His frame, that shock of black hair, it all looks startlingly familiar. It’s not until he turns to the side that I make him out clearly—peg him for the bastard I was afraid he was.

The life drains from my body. The room fades to grey, and my head feels like it’s about to float off. I take in a series of shallow breaths and fight the urge to pass out—kill him, either or.

Max Shepherd.

“Let’s go,” he moans into Lee with his arms wrapped around her waist as if he’s done it a thousand times before. “My back is killing me.” He tucks a kiss over her temple. “Let’s jump in the hot tub. Start our night off right.” A greasy smile cinches up the side of cheek as he melts over her, not bothering to look in my direction once.

Max Shepherd. He so brazenly propositions my wife, right here in front of my mother, my brother, and nobody blinks.

“Actually…” Lee pulls his arm off her waist gently. Just when I think she’s going to push him away—out the door—she interlaces her fingers with his instead. “Look who’s here?” She glances over at me and apologizes for everything with one forlorn look. “It’s
Mitch
.”

He settles those blazing blue eyes over me, and his face bleaches out as he tries to make sense of what’s happening. He staggers a bit while leaning in to shake my hand and pulls me into a tight embrace instead.

“Mitch! What the hell happened?”

Lee strings out the story swift as a bee.

The air clots up with silence again. We just stand there, lost in this macabre reality—a real
what-in-the-hell-now
moment.

“You look great man.” Max has that fight or flight agitation happening.

“You, too.” I don’t put any emotion behind it just drag my eyes over to Lee as I say it. She could have warned me—hell, Colt should have said something—my mother.

Lee looks up at him, her eyes wide with a secret language all their own. “You want to get the kids?”

Kids
?

I lean up against the wall for support. For sure I need a seat now.

“Sure.” His eyes round out. “Can I talk to you outside?”

Lee gives a quick glance in my direction before following him out.

Colton shakes his head at me. “You didn’t want to know, dude. I didn’t want to tell you.”

“Any other piece of crap I should be made aware of?”

Colt bears into me—his face cold as stone. “Lee gave him Townsend.”

Incomprehensible fucking nightmare.

Max

“I didn’t know, I swear to God.” Lee renews the surprise on her face and her lips quiver.

“I believe you.” It stutters out of me stilted as shit. There’s no way she’d be able to keep something like this from me. She wouldn’t have been able to sleep last night—sleep with
me
the way she did. “I called you six times. Did you shut your phone off?”

“I didn’t want to tell you over the phone.” Her forehead erupts in a series of worry lines. “Besides, he didn’t know about you until just now.”

Lee didn’t tell him. I walked in, kissed Lee, and asked her to hop in a glorified bathtub with me. I went off like a bomb in his face and didn’t even know it.

There’s a slight satisfaction in that, although I know I shouldn’t feel that way. Guess old rivalries die hard even if it was mostly one-sided.

“He seemed to take it pretty well,” I say it for Lee’s sake. Poor bastard is probably dying in there right now. Me with Lee is like a lethal dose of arsenic right to the bloodstream. I’m sure he’s wringing his hatred for me, distilling it into a perfect brew of revenge.

“You
think
?” Lee shakes her head. “Go ahead and get the kids. I told Mitch he can meet Stella tonight.” She looks down at my chest. “We’ll talk to a child psychologist to figure out the best way to do this, but for now”—she shakes her head—“I think they should at least meet.” She looks off into the distance, fixing her gaze on nothing in particular. I’m thankful she used the phrase
we’ll,
hoping that idea of a
we
won’t evaporate before I get back from my mother’s.

The sting of fresh tears bites as I collapse my arms around her.

A band of sparrows bolts from a tree over by the car. That’s what it feels like. One moment you’re sitting comfortably in the nest, the next thing you know the owner comes back and blows your world to pieces.

“It’s going to be all right.” She presses into me and holds on tight.

I don’t think it’s going to be all right. I don’t think it’s even going to be mildly okay. I’m fairly certain it’s going to be a disaster. A violent struggle for Lee’s heart is about to ensue—it’s going to be nothing but an all out war.

Mitch Townsend is alive and well.

I drive to my mother’s stunted in a macabre, deafening silence that makes it feel as if a fog has settled in my brain. Lee shut her phone off, and I can’t stop ruminating over that fact. I think maybe it wasn’t so much her not wanting to scare the hell out of me—more that she didn’t want to ruin her moment with Mitch. Not that I blame her, but it doesn’t stop a wall of jealousy, wide as a mountain, to erect itself in my heart. Mitch coming back has shattered every delusion I ever had that Lee and I were solid. There’s only one thing in the universe that could ever cause her to entertain the thought of leaving me, and until thirty minutes ago, he was dead and buried, an entire continent away.