Almost Perfect (18 page)

“I was asleep,” Ethan protested.

“With Pia in your bed.”

“Still.”

Josh grabbed a towel and wiped his face. “Sorry to tell you this, but Liz pretty much gets a pass. She left town because you threw her under the bus and then you were in bed with another woman when she came back to tell you about the baby. There's no way you're the good guy.”

“She kept my kid from me. Nothing excuses that.” No matter what, Ethan had lost something unrecoverable.

“I'm not saying it's an excuse. I'm saying you're not blameless.”

“Maybe.” He didn't want to think about that. “Everything would have been different if she'd stuck around. Woken me up. Hit me with something.”

“That's not her way.”

“You know this how?” Ethan asked.

“She left. She was hurt and she went quietly. You might not want to admit it, but from what I can see, she did a hell of a job with her kid.”

“I know.” He had no complaints about Liz as a mother to his son.

“Maybe she's not the one you're mad at,” Josh guessed.

Ethan's legs ached, his muscles shook slightly with the effort of his workout. He pushed harder, not wanting to hear his friend's words, let alone think about them. Then the machine beeped, indicating his thirty-minute program had ended. He slowed reluctantly.

“Sure Liz didn't tell you when she first found out,” Josh continued. “But the real tough one is that she came back.”

Ethan stepped off the machine and grabbed his towel. “Thanks for the update.”

Josh ignored that. “Rayanne kept the truth from you. She was your wife. You should have been able to trust her more than anyone. You
did
trust her.”

Ethan started to turn on his friend only to remember that Josh had also been betrayed by a woman. Big time. Maybe he knew what he was talking about.

“She felt threatened,” Ethan admitted, reaching for his water. “She was pregnant when we got married.”

“I figured,” Josh told him.

Ethan raised his eyebrows.

“Come on,” Josh said, spraying down the handles of the machine and wiping them off, then handing the disinfectant to Ethan. “She was never your type. I couldn't figure out how you two got together at all.”

“I came up for air and she was there,” Ethan detailed.
“I'd been working hard, learning the business, starting with the windmills. I hadn't had much time to date. One day Rayanne walked into the office and I was interested.”

He didn't bother saying it wouldn't have lasted. Bad enough to admit that to Liz. For reasons he couldn't explain, he'd wanted her to know the truth. But no one else needed the information. Despite the circumstances, Rayanne had been his wife. She deserved his loyalty.

“She was only a few months along when Liz showed up,” he recounted. “I was out of town. I'm sure the news frightened her. I'd talked about Liz some, so she had a clue about how serious things had been. Or maybe she would have imagined the worst regardless. Plus knowing I already had a son might have scared her into thinking I wouldn't care as much about our baby.”

At least that was his assumption. He'd only been able to look at things from his perspective. Rayanne wasn't around to ask.

He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Wanted to believe the best of her, but the bottom line was, she'd kept her secret until the very end. Even when they'd both known she was dying, she hadn't told him about Tyler. That was a tough thing to forgive.

“You're still pissed,” Josh pointed out.

“Sometimes.”

“Does it ever occur to you that because you can't get
things right with Rayanne that you're taking out all of it on Liz?”

Ethan stared at his friend. “What are you talking about?”

Josh shrugged. “I'm just saying that sure, Liz has some blame in all this, but so do you and so does Rayanne. Only Rayanne's not here. Being mad at the dead never plays well, even to ourselves. So what are you left with? Liz.”

Ethan finished his bottle of water and tossed the empty container into the recycling bin, then dropped his towel across his shoulder and headed for the locker room. Josh fell into step beside him.

They walked downstairs and pushed through the swinging door. His friend's words made sense, which fried his ass.

“When did you get all insightful?” he asked.

“I have no idea,” Josh admitted.

“I don't like it.”

“Me, either. Makes me feel like a girl. Don't tell anyone.”

 

S
ATURDAY DAWNED AS HOT AS THE
rest of the week had been. By ten, it was close to eighty-five degrees. The air conditioning in the old house was questionable at best, which meant it was on the repair list. But so far, the subcontractor hadn't shown up. Something Liz would discuss with Ethan the next time she saw him. In the meantime, she had three kids to deal with.

Melissa and Abby were arguing about who got to use
the phone next, with Abby pointing out Melissa could just as easily use her cell phone, while Tyler resented the limit on his computer game time.

“Dad would let me play longer,” he whined as she reached for the controller.

“You don't know that.”

“Uh-huh. He let's me do lots of stuff you don't.” Tyler's lower lip jutted out.

She didn't doubt that Ethan wasn't into things like limits right now. He was getting to know his son.

She told herself to be patient and understanding. That everything would even out eventually.

“I'm glad you're getting along with your dad, but right now your computer game time is up.” She took the controller from him. “We're heading out, so please put on your swimsuit.”

“I want to go see Dad instead.”

She ignored that and walked to the stairs. “Fifteen minutes,” she yelled over the girls' bickering. “Be ready or be left behind.”

Abby ran to the landing. “Where are we going?”

“The pool. We'll spend the whole day there.”

“Can we have hotdogs for lunch?” Abby asked.

“Yes.”

Melissa joined her. “I'm too old for the pool.”

Liz was less sure about leaving the teenager home alone. Not that she was afraid Melissa would get into trouble, but more because she would brood. Better for her to be out with people.

“Call one of your friends and invite her along,” Liz offered. “Be ready in fifteen minutes. I mean it.”

The two of them turned and ran down the hall. Liz went upstairs to put on her own bathing suit. She didn't have big plans to get in the water, but the odds of being splashed were huge. Better to be prepared.

Tyler slowly climbed the stairs, muttering something about preferring his father.

It took nearly a half hour to get out the door, but it was worth it. Although there were several families at the pool already, there were still plenty of spots in the shade.

“How about over there?” Liz asked, pointing.

“I see Jason,” Tyler said, already moving away. “I'm going to see if he wants to go on the slide.”

“Brittany's with her mom,” Abby stated. “May I sit with them?”

“Madison's waiting for me by the snack bar.” Melissa was already inching away.

Liz gave permission for Abby to visit with her friend and found herself carrying everything over to the bit of grass she'd selected and laying out towels. She put on sunscreen, plopped a hat on her head and opened the romance novel she'd brought with her. Less than a minute later, her cell phone rang.

“Hello?”

“It's Pia. I'm at your house. Where are you?”

“At the pool.” She hadn't talked to Pia since Crystal's wake. “What's going on?”

“I have printouts of the posters,” Pia explained. “I wanted to make sure they're okay with you. After all, you're our star.”

Liz frowned. While she appreciated the concern, the posters weren't her business. Pia's job was to promote the entire signing and the town. Besides, Liz had seen the posters at the meeting.

Then she realized that maybe it wasn't about the posters at all, but about missing Crystal.

“I'd love to see them,” Liz told her. “But I've got all three kids here. Why don't you put on a sassy bikini and join us?”

Pia sighed. “No, thanks. I'll just go home. I'm not feeling very well.”

“All the more reason to slather on sunscreen and pretend to tan. Come on. I desperately need an adult to talk to.”

Pia hesitated. “Maybe,” she said. “Okay. I'll be there. Want me to bring anything?”

“Wine?”

Pia chuckled. “I don't think they'll let me open a bottle by the pool.”

“Probably not. Then just bring yourself. See you soon.”

Liz was concerned that Pia would change her mind, but in less than a half hour, the other woman had shown up with her towel and a cooler full of cold water.

As Pia peeled out of her shorts and tank top, Liz tried not to be envious of the other woman's long, lean legs.
Height was required to look that good, she decided. While she wasn't exactly vertically challenged, Pia topped her by a good three inches.

“This is nice,” Pia said, settling on the towel next to her and looking around. “It's been years since I've hung out at the pool.”

“I've been here on and off since school was out,” Liz told her. “The hotdogs are good.” She glanced at Pia. “How are you doing?”

“Okay. I miss Crystal a lot, but work is keeping me busy, so that's good. I bought a collar for Jake. Sort of as a way to let him know we're committed to each other, now that Crystal is gone.”

Liz blinked at her, not sure what to say.

“I know he's a cat,” Pia added with a smile. “We don't actually have those conversations.”

“Good. Because I would have worried about you.”

“I was all set to put the collar on him when Dakota scared me off.” Pia paused. “She's one of Ethan's sisters.”

“I've met her a couple of times.”

“She said a friend of hers put a collar on a cat who'd never worn one and he about ripped his head off, scratching to remove it. He nicked a vein or something and there was blood everywhere. The last thing I need is to come home from work one day to a scene in a horror movie.”

Liz winced. “Are you sure Dakota wasn't trying to be funny?”

“I don't think so. Anyway, Jake won't be getting his collar anytime soon.”

“Probably a good plan.” Liz thought about Ethan's sister. “Doesn't Dakota work at the camp?”

“She's the head counselor, which doesn't sound as important as it is. She has a PhD in childhood development. Raoul Moreno owns the camp. While it's just a summer place now, he wants to expand it into a year-round facility. Dakota is helping him with that.”

Liz frowned. “Raoul Moreno. Why is that name familiar?”

Pia grinned. “Oh, honey, you haven't seen him? He and I haven't actually had a conversation, but I've spotted him around. Talk about yummy. Tall, dark and very pretty. In a macho, Latin kind of way. He played football for the Dallas Cowboys. Quarterback. Smart and athletic. Does it get better than that?”

“Sounds like someone has a bit of a crush.”

“Only from afar. I'm not interested in having a relationship right now.”

“Why not?”

Pia hesitated. “I'm not very good at them. I want to be. I want to be nurturing and know fifteen different ways to stylishly cut a sandwich. But it's not my thing. I like kids, in theory. I don't know much about them. But getting serious and having one of my own? I don't really think I'm the right person for that.”

There was something about the way she said the words. As if there was more, but she wasn't comfort
able telling the story. Liz didn't want to press. Her friendship with Pia was still new. But she couldn't help wondering what secrets her friend was keeping to herself.

“I don't think skilled sandwich cutting guarantees great nurturing,” she said instead. “I only know two ways.”

“That's one more than me. Besides, you're a natural parent. I've seen you with Tyler. You two have a great relationship.”

“I'm a parent because I got pregnant,” Liz told her. “I was eighteen. Instinct or not, I was a kid and I know I made a bunch of mistakes. I spent the first year terrified I was going to drop him or something. I think loving is a whole lot more important than anything. Children need to know they're wanted.”

“That's true,” Pia said. “Not being wanted sucks.”

“I know.”

“It's a nonissue,” Pia said flatly. “I'm between men and I intend to keep it that way. I have Jake the cat and that's enough.”

“At least he won't leave the toilet seat up.”

“Exactly. I heard from Crystal's lawyer. She wants me to come in and talk in the next few weeks. She said there was no rush so I'm assuming there's something in Crystal's will about a formal transfer of ownership.”

“Be sure to tell the city,” Liz teased. “There's paperwork with pet transfers.”

Pia lowered her sunglasses and glanced over them. “You're not all that. You know that, right?”

Liz laughed.

Pia smiled at her. “I'm glad you came back.”

Liz groaned. “Don't say that.”

“Still being harassed by the elderly?”

“They're not all old.” Thinking about Fool's Gold left her feeling confused. “There are some things about being here that I really like and some that make me insane.”

“Where does Ethan fall on the list?”

“He's on both sides.”

“See? Men are a complication.”

“Tell me about it,” Liz grumbled. “I know he wants a relationship with Tyler and I encourage that. But then he goes and does something stupid like the injunction and I want to bitch slap him.”