Return to You (21 page)

She recoiled. A slap in the face would have been
less painful.

"Idiot," she heard Rick mutter.

Drawing herself up, she replied with as much cold
dignity as she could muster. "Yours. Good thing she died so she
wouldn't have to know what an asshole her father is." She shoved
him aside and walked out the door.

Wait a minute. She stopped. She wasn't finished, and
damn if she was going to let him get away again without speaking
her piece.

She whirled around and strode back
to him. "I should have told you about the baby. I can't change that
now. But I didn't want you to make some sort of martyred sacrifice
on our behalf. I wanted you to stay because you wanted
me
, not because you felt
trapped into staying. But you needed to go and you didn't want me
to go along. I may have been wrong in not telling you, but you
didn't want to hear it either."

He leaned casually in the doorway, his hand fumbling
in his pocket. She wanted to rail at him for his nonchalance but
then she saw the strain lining his mouth and relented.

She squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them,
she gazed straight into his. "I'm sorry, Michael. Take care of
yourself."

She walked away this time. She could feel his gaze
following her up the stairs.

She heard Rick say, "Good going, Einstein."

"Shut up," Michael snarled.

And then she was out of hearing range. Taking the
back entrance to avoid running into anyone, she skirted around the
building to her car. As she slammed the door, it started to
rain.

Chapter Thirty-one

"That didn't go swimmingly, did it?"

Lainie glanced at Rick. She agreed but she couldn't
bring herself to say anything. She supposed shock did that to a
person.

He'd been spying on her for who knows how long. She
ought to feel angry at him for the invasion of privacy, but he was
only doing his job. Anyone could see he'd acted out of concern for
Olivia. Besides, Everett was the one who hired him.

How had Rick accessed her emails? She shook her
head. She didn't want to know.

She could feel Everett studying her carefully. What
did he think she was going to do? Go into hysterics? Or maybe he
thought she'd just overlook this little gaffe and continue to see
him.

As if, Olivia would say.

Rick folded his arms and stared coolly at Michael.
"I knew you were an idiot but I didn't quite grok the extent of
your idiocy."

"Fuck you, Clancy."

Lainie winced at Michael's tone. She'd never heard
him sound so raw. She looked at him pityingly, wondering why he
wasn't going after Olivia.

Apparently, Rick was too. He shook his head
incredulously. "I can't believe you aren't going after her. Olivia
is one of the most amazing women I've ever known. She's beautiful,
smart, fun, sexy as hell—"

Michael growled. "Stay the fuck away from her."

"That's what makes you such an idiot. You'd think
you'd notice that she doesn't want me. She wants you." With a
disgusted shake of his head, he stalked off.

Michael stared after him for a second and then left
too.

Leaving her alone with Everett.

She took a deep breath and faced him. He'd composed
himself. The emotion that had for once leaked into his eyes was
hidden again. He watched her with the cool gaze of a predator.

And it really made her mad. She jumped up to her
feet. "I hope you're happy."

"Happy isn't the word that comes to mind."

"You are so infuriating." She didn't realize how
hard her hands were clenched until her nails bit into her palms.
"What were you thinking?"

She had to give him credit for not slinking away
with his tail between his legs. He stood facing her, his gaze never
wavering from hers. But then again, Everett wasn't that kind of
man.

He rubbed his chin. "I only had Olivia's best
interests in mind."

Her heart melted at the fatigue etched on his face.
She'd never seen him so tired, not even after several all-nighters
when they were buying out another production company.

She frowned. She wasn't going to let him soften her
up. She had backbone. She wasn't going to cower in passiveness.
"Well, you have a funny way of showing it."

He reached out to her. "Elaine—"

"Don't." She stepped back. If he touched her she'd
be lost, and she had things to say to him. "What you did was
despicable. I know you love Olivia and want what's best for her,
but you were wrong eleven years ago and you're doubly wrong
now."

His eyes narrowed coolly. "You have no right—"

"Yes I do. I love Olivia. She befriended me and
helped me when I needed it. No questions asked and without regard
to her own feelings." She stepped closer, her anger making her
bold. "When she figured out I was in love with you, she didn't
throw me out or point out your bad qualities—which I'm very well
aware of, by the way."

He opened his mouth but she cut him off with a jab
of her finger to his solar plexus. "She just said she'd help me if
you were what I really wanted."

"Am I what you want?"

She shivered at the low huskiness of his voice. She
closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and faced him again. "You're
what I wanted, but now I'm not so sure."

The way he blinked at her made her wonder if any
woman had ever turned him down. She sighed. No woman in her right
mind would.

Right now, she qualified as certifiable. "Everett, I
can't believe you manipulated everyone like you did. Did you expect
to get away with it?"

He didn't have to answer. She could see that he
did.

She got right under his nose and glared. "You know
the worse part of it all? That you had someone spy on me. That's
just awful."

She turned and walked out, the clicks of her heels
echoing in angry staccato.

"Elaine." He grabbed her arm and spun her around.
She lost her balance and tripped into his chest.

Beneath her hand, his heart pumped strong and fast.
She savored the rhythmic beating, knowing she'd never feel it
again.

"Everett, I quit."

He gaped at her.

She smiled grimly. She'd finally caught him off
guard.

She pulled back. "I'll head back to LA in the
morning to make necessary arrangements. Under the circumstances I'm
sure you'll agree it's best if I leave right away rather than
observe the typical two weeks notice."

She got up on tiptoes and pressed her lips to his
cheek. She inhaled his scent one last time, deeply so she could
remember it when she lay in bed alone at night. "Goodbye,
Everett."

She thought for sure the tears would fall as soon as
she walked away. But they didn't fall. Even later, curled under the
comforter in Mae's house, there wasn't a trace of moisture on her
cheeks.

Her heart, on the other hand, felt like it was
bleeding dry.

Chapter Thirty-two

First thing the next morning Olivia ran into the one
person she didn't want to see.

Gran looked up from her cup of coffee. "You're up
early."

"I'm going to the gym." She poured herself a cup.
While she added a generous amount of sugar, she debated sitting
down with her grandmother. Chances were the woman already had the
full scoop on what happened last night. Gran's gossiping network
was legendary.

She'd have to face Gran sooner or later. Might as
well bite the bullet now. "You knew what was going on. You helped
him."

Gran didn't bother to deny it. "The man loves you.
He only wants to set the past right."

"Kind of a weird way to show love if you ask me."
She grimaced as she scalded her tongue.

"He manipulated the situation to get to you, but how
is what you did any different? You manipulated things too."

She frowned. "I did not."

"What do you call the game you and Lainie have been
playing?"

She struggled not to squirm under her grandmother's
too-knowing stare. "I was just helping Lainie."

"And he was just helping you. You needed something
to help you break out of your rut. Isn't it time you let go of the
past and moved on?" Gran slowly pushed up from the table and rinsed
out her mug. She turned around before she walked out to tend her
gardens. "And, love, any attempt to win back your affection is
better than nothing, don't you think?"

Olivia pouted into her cup. What if Gran were right
and Parker was trying to get back in her life?

She shook her head. She couldn't think about it
right now. What she needed was a sweaty workout to help her
focus.

For the first time in over a month, the gym was
fairly empty. She knew most of the movie crew was heading home
today.

She glanced around furtively and sighed, satisfied
Michael wasn't there this morning. She hadn't really expected him
to be—he probably had a million things to do with the filming
wrapped up—but she'd wanted to be sure. She didn't think she could
handle another confrontation with him. She was still chafed from
last night.

Olivia headed automatically for the elliptical
machines. She climbed onto the track, pushed the buttons to the
correct settings, and pumped her legs.

Usually doing her cardio was a meditation. This
morning, she couldn't get her mind to still enough to get any
peace. Scenes from the night before played and replayed, one after
another, inside her head.

She closed her eyes. God, it was a disaster. It
wasn't the way she'd envisioned ending things with Michael. This
time, they were supposed to make a clean break. Civilly shake hands
and wish each other well in their life.

Even in the darkness behind her closed lids, she
could still see the stricken expression in his eyes when he heard
about their baby.

She waited for the pang that followed any thoughts
of the little girl she'd lost. It came, but for the first time ever
it wasn't so sharp it pierced straight through.

Olivia opened her eyes.

She would have spared Michael the pain of finding
out, especially like that. Even if he deserved it. She remembered
the way he'd let Sophie cling to him.

The bastard.

The hour dragged by. She almost sobbed in relief
when the machine beeped that she was done. She'd never felt this
tired in her life. Except for maybe eleven years before.

Forty-five minutes later she was dressed,
make-upped, and ready to go to the shop. She took special care to
look good, which meant she had to use half a tube of cover-up to
mask the dark circles under her eyes.

As per her morning ritual, she stopped at Grounds
for Thought for a Nutella latte. "Hey, girlfriend," she called out
to Eve, pasting on a smile so big it hurt.

Eve looked up from what she was doing, a frown
marring her smooth forehead. Olivia almost expected her to pull out
a magnifying glass, Eve was studying her so hard.

"How's it going?" To anyone who didn't know Eve, the
question would have sounded casual.

Olivia knew better. "I've been better."

Eve wordlessly began making Olivia's latte. Once
done, she took the mug, nodded to her barista, and came around the
other side of the counter. "Let's sit so you can tell me what
happened last night."

"What didn't happen?" Olivia said as they walked to
an empty table in the back. "I found out my father engineered this
whole situation because of some misguided attempt to get back into
my good graces. Gran was in on it of course."

"That's sweet," Eve said, sitting down across from
her. "Strange, but sweet. My father would never have gone to the
trouble."

Olivia gripped the latte. "I reserve judgment on the
sweet part, but it definitely wasn't the most strange thing. It
turns out Parker hired Rick to investigate Lainie. He told Rick
Lainie was the cause of valuable information leaking to the press.
Rick thought the next info she was going to sell was about my love
child with Michael. I believed it for a split second before I
dismissed it as bogus. I feel bad that I even believed it for that
long."

"Rick knows about the baby?"

"Everyone knows about the baby now."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes." She was surprised that she meant it. "Yes, I
think I am."

"What did Michael say?"

"The bastard asked if it was his."

Eve's mouth dropped incredulously. "No!"

"He thinks I aborted it. I didn't bother to clarify.
It doesn't matter anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Eve, Sophie Martineau was draped all over him last
night. You saw it. Do you really think I'm interested in sharing?
She can have him."

"Are you sure?"

"Damn right I'm sure." She leaned across the table
and patted Eve's hand. "I mean it. If Michael doesn't want me, he
doesn't deserve to have me, does he? And if he thinks I could abort
my baby, he never knew me at all. I think that hurt the most,
because he was my best friend and your best friend is supposed to
know you inside and out, right?"

Eve studied her. "You're taking this very
calmly."

"Actually, I wasn't, but I finally realized that
what I wanted didn't exist where I thought it did." And it didn't
mean she didn't really wish it still did. She'd probably miss
Michael all her life.

Another person entered the cafe. Both Olivia and Eve
looked up.

A grim looking Lainie strode toward them. "Good
morning," she said, though her tone said that it clearly
wasn't.

Olivia patted the seat next to her. "Sit."

"I don't have long. My flight leaves in a couple
hours, and there's the drive to the airport." But she sat down
nonetheless. "I just couldn't leave without thanking you both for
everything you've done."

A whirlwind with purple-streaked hair rushed through
the cafe and plopped down in the only remaining seat at the table.
"Having a quorum? What did I miss? And how was the party?" asked
Gwen brightly.