Thad Preston let Alan inside his motel room, appearing wary. “You said you want to do another story on me. What paper did you say you’re with?”
Ever since he’d read the article, Alan had had to tamp down his anger. He knew it wouldn’t get him anywhere. “Yes, I want to do a story…a true story.”
Thad was dressed in jeans and an oversize T-shirt. His brown hair was standing up all over and he had at least two days worth of beard stubble. He looked as if he needed help, and that’s what Alan was here to offer.
“I did tell the truth.” The twenty-one-year-old’s chin jutted out belligerently.
“No, you didn’t, because I know Lisa and I believe her. You have no credibility, Thad. The NFL kicked you out because of drugs.”
“I got injured,” he said, seemingly outraged.
“You got injured—a nonserious injury. That happened because you were on drugs. I have the lab sheet.” Alan took the faxed paper out of his pocket and waved it. “How about if I call a reporter to do a story on that?”
Thad made a grab for the paper, but Alan pulled it away. “This isn’t my only copy. Along with this, there’s a witness who was with you when you signed the papers from the Children’s Connection and will testify that you were not coerced.”
“Yeah—Chris. He’s a buddy. He’ll say whatever I need him to say.”
“No, he won’t. Apparently you owe him money, and he knows he’ll never collect.”
“Chris wouldn’t sell me out.” But Thad suddenly didn’t sound so sure.
Alan just let reality sink in. “You’ve no basis for a lawsuit. You can’t even afford a lawsuit.”
“My parents gave me the retainer.”
“And what happens when that runs out? A lawyer won’t work for free, especially if he knows he doesn’t have a chance to win. You’re not going to get a settlement from the Children’s Connection, and you’re not going to get a settlement from Brian and Carrie Summers.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’m a friend of theirs, and I gave Brian a copy of this.”
Looking deflated, but trying to find a bright spot, Thad sank down onto one of the beds. “Maybe if some L.A. director sees me on the news, he’ll want to make a movie out of my story.”
“You’ve had your fifteen minutes of fame, Thad. That article is it. A spokesman from the Children’s Connection will be interviewed on Channel 6 tonight. Your version of the truth won’t stand a chance.”
Thad looked worried and lost, as if he had no idea what to do next.
“Do you want to turn your life around?”
He glanced at Alan. “Just how am I going to do that with no money and no job? My parents said they’ve given me everything they’re going to.”
“I might be willing to help.”
Thad looked hopeful again. “Are you going to pay me to stay away from my kid?”
“No. I’m not. No one is. Even if I paid you, the money would run out. You’d spend it on drugs or booze, and then where would you be?”
“So just how do you want to help?”
Using reason instead of emotion, Alan had considered what would be best for everyone. “I have a plane and a pilot ready to fly you to Arizona, to the best rehab facility in the country, all expenses paid. I also know someone who bought an orange grove in California who needs help renovating the ranch house and with general outside work. You can go there after rehab and prove you can stay clean. If you do that for six months, I have a friend in Sacramento who owns a software company. They design video games. I noticed on your transcript that you’re good with computers. A job will be waiting for you there if you get through the rest.”
Alan could see Thad running all of it through his head before he asked, “Just why would you do this?”
“Because I think everyone deserves at least one second chance.”
Thad looked down at his hands. They were trembling a bit. “I don’t have any choice, do I? My folks don’t want me back home. My credit cards are maxed out. The manager is going to kick me out of here after tonight.”
“You have to want this, Thad. You have to want a future. Otherwise, we’re both wasting our time and money.”
“I thought my future was over when I got kicked out of the NFL.”
“You thought wrong.”
Thad stood, went over to the window and stared out at the parking lot. Then he turned around. “When do I leave?”
“Get your gear together and I’ll take you to the airport now.”
When Thad nodded, Alan breathed a sigh of relief. He also prayed that Lisa believed in second chances, too, because he needed a second chance from her.
When Alan strode into the jewelry store, it was almost 7:00 p.m. He’d spent more time with Thad than he’d intended, driving him to the airport, talking with him some more and keeping his eye on him while the pilot went through the preflight check. Alan had to make sure Thad was serious about rehab, serious about starting over. The twenty-one-year-old had hit bottom and didn’t know what else to do. He’d latched on to the lifeline Alan was providing, knowing if he didn’t, he’d have no future…at least not one that didn’t involve jail or living on the streets. His plane ride to Arizona was a start. There would be a counselor from the facility in Phoenix to meet the plane and take him to the rehab center.
A clerk looked up from her position at the cash register counter and smiled at Alan. He went straight to the glass cases with the engagement rings. Somehow, he was going to win Lisa back. He knew he had preparations to make. He wasn’t sure she could ever forgive him, but he was going to do his damnedest to court her and to convince her that he loved her. Because he did love her; there was no doubt about it. Brian had helped him see more clearly the monumental sacrifice she had made in giving up her child…because she’d put Timothy first.
At the locked case, one ring stood out immediately. It was a heart-shaped diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds. She seemed to like hearts—her heart locket, the heart-shaped earrings he’d given her. There was a theme here and he was going to go with it.
“Can I see that one?” he asked, pointing to the ring he’d chosen.
It took only a few minutes to get the information he needed—the clarity, carat weight, color and cut of the diamond. With the jeweler’s loupe, he studied it and moved it back and forth under the lights. It even looked as if it might be the right ring size.
“A check okay?” he asked.
“As long as you have your driver’s license,” the clerk assured him.
He’d taken out his license and was writing the check when his cell phone rang. Finishing the check and sliding it across the counter, he answered his phone while the clerk packaged up the diamond ring. It was Christina’s cell phone number.
“Hi, honey. What’s going on?” He took the bag the clerk handed him.
“Oh, Daddy.”
His daughter’s voice was full of tears and he began to panic. “Christina? What’s wrong?”
“Daddy, it’s the car. You’re going to be so mad. It’s all banged up. The deputy asked if I’d take a Breathalyzer test and I did….” She dissolved into tears again.
A Breathalyzer? His daughter had to take a Breathalyzer test? “Damn it, Christina, I don’t care about the car. Are you all right?”
His anger, panic and fear must have upset her more because she didn’t answer him, just kept crying. Alan had never felt so helpless in his entire life. “Christina?”
“Mr. Barrett, this is Deputy Moore.”
He struggled to keep his voice even. “Is my daughter hurt?”
“No, Mr. Barrett, she is not. She also wasn’t drinking, though the driver of her car was. Both were checked out by paramedics at the scene. The boy was taken to the hospital. The air bag broke his nose. Your daughter didn’t want to go to the hospital and since she was seventeen, we brought her here, the Rocky Ridge Sheriff’s Office. Apparently she can’t reach her mother, though she’s been trying. She also could not reach Neal Barrett. He’s your brother?”
“That’s right. I don’t know if she told you or not, but I’m in Portland.”
“Yes, sir, I know that, but under these circumstances, I can’t just let her go home alone.”
“Oh, I understand that perfectly well.” Of course, of all days, his plane was on its way back from Arizona. “I’ll charter a plane and be there as soon as I can. It might be as late as midnight, though. My guess is she’ll get hold of my ex-wife or my brother before that.”
“We’ll let her keep trying, Mr. Barrett. And if she does need to stay here, I’ll make sure I keep an eye on her. From what I can tell, she didn’t do anything wrong except have bad taste in boys.”
“Can you put her back on the phone?”
“I sure can. Here you go.”
“Christina, don’t say anything, just listen to me,” Alan commanded gently. “I’m flying down. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Did you leave messages for your mother and Uncle Neal?”
He heard a small “yes.”
“Okay, then just sit tight. One of us will get there eventually. I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too, Daddy. I’m so sorry.” She began crying again.
“We’ll talk when I get home. Hold tight.”
He hated to hang up but the sooner he did, the sooner he’d get to her.
The clerk had walked over to the cash register to give him privacy. Now Alan didn’t even hesitate to speed dial another number.
“Hello?”
The sound of Lisa’s voice made him feel as if he’d come home. He just hoped she wouldn’t hang up on him. “Lisa, it’s Alan. I have a favor to ask. You have every reason in the world to say no and you probably should, but I’m going to ask anyway. Christina’s been in an accident. She’s not hurt, but she’s at the sheriff’s office. I need to fly down there and pick her up and take her home. She can’t get hold of Sherri or Neal. In case they can’t get to her first, I think she might like having you to talk to. Will you come with me?”
This was a hell of a lot harder than he expected it to be and he wouldn’t blame Lisa if she said no.
Instead of answering him, she asked, “Did you see the article in the Gazette this morning?”
“Yes, I did, and we have to talk about that, but right now Christina’s my main concern. I think you can understand that.”
The silence on her end seemed to go on forever. Finally, she said, “I understand. Do you want me to meet you at the airport?”
“No, I’ll pick you up. My plane’s in use and I have to charter one. I’ll make my calls on the way over.”
She was quiet again.
“Lisa, thanks for doing this. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” When he clicked off the phone, he was still worried about his daughter, but he was terrifically pleased that Lisa was going to be by his side.
Lisa wore a headset in the corporate jet that Alan piloted to Rocky Ridge, but they didn’t talk much. She knew he was worried about Christina. After all, that’s why he’d brought her along. It was hard for her to tell what was going on in his head but she didn’t want to distract him while he was flying the aircraft. During the flight, Alan had called the foreman at the Lazy B, who was going to bring Alan’s SUV to the airport. He had told Alan that Neal had left that afternoon and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow, and that Maude was also away for the weekend.
When they arrived, the SUV was indeed there waiting for them. The keys were under the floor mat.
Tapping his hand on the hood of his SUV, Alan kept his eyes on Lisa’s. “I’m going to call Christina’s cell to see if she’s still at the sheriff’s office.”
She was.
“Sherri still hasn’t shown up,” Alan told Lisa. Then he added, “I know she’s going to feel guilty when this is all over because she wasn’t available.”
Lisa knew a bookful about guilt. “Guilt’s a terrible emotion. It’s so insidious it affects everything.”
After a silence filled with a replay of all she’d confessed to him, Alan asked, “Do you still feel guilty because you gave up Timothy?”
“Yes. I probably always will.”
Alan fell silent again, and Lisa wished she knew what he was thinking.
As he opened her door for her, their gazes collided once more. That connection she’d felt from the moment she’d met him was still there. Did he feel it, too? If he did, he didn’t acknowledge it. He backed away, climbed into the driver’s seat and took off for the sheriff’s department.
“Was Christina still upset?” Lisa asked.
“It was hard to tell. At least she wasn’t still crying.”
Five minutes later, they arrived at the Sheriff’s department, a one-story brick building, parked in the side lot and went in the heavy glass door. It was just after midnight, but there was a deputy at the front desk and another at one of the three workstations. He stood when they walked in.
“Mr. Barrett? I’m Deputy Moore.”
Alan introduced Lisa. “This is my…this is Lisa Sanders. She flew down with me.” Alan was already looking around the space. “Where’s my daughter?”
“I thought she might like a little privacy. The whole thing was catching up to her. One of the deputies got her something to eat before he went off duty. She’s in an office back here that has a couch.”
Lisa hurried to keep up with Alan as he followed Deputy Moore down a short hall. The deputy rapped on the door and Christina called, “Come in.”
As soon as his daughter saw Alan, she took off the earbuds from her MP3 player and ran to him.
He hugged her and murmured, “It’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be fine.”
Tears were running down her cheeks as she leaned away slightly. “Not the car,” she moaned. “And I have no idea where Mom is. I was supposed to stay overnight at Ginny’s tonight.”
“Can my daughter leave now?” Alan asked the deputy.
“I just need you to sign a form stating you’re her father and she’ll be in your care.”
Alan nodded.
Christina took Lisa’s hand. “Stay here with me, will you? Until Dad signs everything.”
“Sure, if that’s okay with Deputy Moore.”
“Fine with me.”
Christina looked miserable as Lisa sat beside her on the old leather sofa.
“Is he beyond mad?” Christina asked.
“He’s not talking a whole lot.”
Alan’s daughter shook her head. “That means he’s really upset. I’m going to be grounded for the rest of my life.”
Because Christina sounded so woebegone, Lisa joked, “He can’t do that. You have to shop for college.”
That brought a small smile to the teenager’s lips. “I’m so stupid, Lisa. I went to this party with Ginny, one we never should have been at. Our parents thought we were going to the mall, but we knew these really cool guys were supposed to be there. I think I’ve had a crush on Colin since I was a freshman. He never gave me a look. Then suddenly tonight, there he was, paying me all this attention, dancing with me. I didn’t realize he’d already been drinking before he got there.”
“Are you sure you didn’t realize it, or did you just not want to see it?”
Christina’s face flushed. “I didn’t want to see it. Being with him made me feel special. Anyway, he said he heard I got a new car. We went out to look at it and he asked me if he could drive it. I never should have let him.”
“But you didn’t want to seem uncool. You wanted him to like you. You hoped maybe he’d take you out after tonight.”
“Exactly.”
When Lisa looked up, Alan was standing in the doorway. Apparently he’d heard some of what Christina was saying. “So he drove your car much too fast. His reaction time was off, he swerved to miss a car turning left, and drove off the road into the base of a billboard. Does that about sum it up?”
“Yes. Daddy, I’m sorry. Nothing like this is ever going to happen again. I promise.”
With a scowl, Alan swept off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. “We’ll talk about it in the morning. I don’t know if the car can be repaired, but if it can, the increase in insurance will come out of whatever you make this summer working at the mall. If it’s considered totaled, we’ll talk about replacing it with a used one until you can afford to buy a new car on your own.”
Christina’s eyes were wide, maybe with surprise. Her lower lip quivered. Lisa imagined that Alan had always given her pretty much whatever she wanted. Now he was showing her the consequences of her actions, and that was a good thing.
There was a commotion down the hall and suddenly Sherri was standing there, looking flustered. She hurried to her daughter and hugged her. “Honey, are you okay? The deputy told me what happened.”
“Mom, where were you? I couldn’t reach you.”
“I was with…Russ. I had the cell phone turned off. I’m so sorry. I’ll never do that again.”
“Don’t be silly,” Alan said gruffly. “You deserve a life, too. But maybe you should check your messages more often.”
His ex-wife looked at Lisa. “What’s she doing here?”
“I asked her to come along because I thought Christina might need her. I didn’t know how long you’d be incommunicado.”
Sherri didn’t look happy about any of it, but that didn’t seem to bother Alan. In fact, he stepped close to Lisa and took her hand in his. “Lisa and I will be staying over at the Lazy B tonight.”
Ignoring him for the moment, Sherri looked Christina up and down. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine. Really.”
“I’ll call Dr. Cramer tomorrow and make an appointment to check you over.”
“All right,” Christina agreed. Then she added, “But tonight, Mom, I’m going to go to the ranch with Dad and Lisa.”
Sherri looked dismayed. “Why?”
“Because Dad’s been in Portland and I want to talk to him. And tomorrow, he and I have to get things about the car settled. But I’ll come home tomorrow night. I know you wanted me to have dinner with you and Russ.”
Whether because of guilt from not picking up her messages, acceptance of the situation or a desire to give Christina what she needed right now, Sherri didn’t argue.
Alan’s hand still enfolded Lisa’s. For the first time all evening, she actually felt hope blossoming again. Maybe Alan hadn’t dismissed her from his life. Maybe he hadn’t asked her along simply to help with his daughter. Then he let go of her hand and she was afraid she was reading too much into that simple hand clasp.
They all walked outside together, and after hugging Christina again, Sherri drove away.
On the ride to the ranch, Alan switched on the radio. Lisa had the feeling he just wanted to give them all a chance to calm down and get back on an even keel. But she knew that wouldn’t be easy. He’d almost lost his daughter tonight. In a car accident like that, anything could have happened. She was just so thankful that Christina was unharmed.
At the ranch, they all ambled into the kitchen. Christina asked Alan, “Is there anything you want to know about tonight? I wasn’t drinking, Dad, not a drop. I didn’t intend to drink.”
Alan nodded. “That’s all I need to hear for now. But I want you to know that when you get to college, you’re going to have choices to make. Your mother and I won’t be there to give you direction. You can always call us, but for the most part, Christina, you’re going to be on your own.”
More subdued than usual, she nodded. “I know that now. I mean, I know a wrong choice can be wrong for a lifetime.” She gave her dad a hug and then she hugged Lisa, too. “Thank you for coming along to rescue me. We’ll talk tomorrow.” Stifling a wide yawn, she disappeared into the living room and up the stairs.
Alone with Alan now, Lisa felt jittery. She didn’t know what was coming next. She didn’t know if a tête-à-tête between the two of them would be good or bad.
He hung his hat on the rack by the door. “I have something to tell you.”
“Should I sit down?” she asked lightly, wishing he didn’t look so serious.
“It’s up to you. I just wanted to tell you I took care of Thad Preston.”
Shocked, Lisa just stared at him. “What do you mean, you took care of him?”
“Did you know he was kicked out of the NFL because he was using drugs?”
“No. How did you find that out?”
“A private investigator. After I got the information I needed, I made a few calls. Then I went to see Thad. Fortunately for us, he was ready for some help. My pilot flew him to a rehab facility in Arizona. That’s why I didn’t have my plane. If he sticks it out and gets clean and stays clean, I arranged for him to work on a ranch in California and then get a position in a software company. But he has to want it.”
Lisa’s heart was beating so fast she could hardly catch her breath. One word had stood out above all the others. “You said, fortunately for us, he was ready for help. Is there an us?”
Covering the distance between them, Alan took her hands in his. “Last night…” He stopped then started again. “I was so foolish last night, acting righteous like that, acting as if I had all the answers. I didn’t live your life, Lisa. I can only imagine what it was like for you, not having a home, feeling abandoned, being pregnant with no one to care about you or for you.”
When tears came to her eyes, she couldn’t blink them away fast enough and they fell down her cheeks. “I thought giving up my baby for adoption was the best thing to do for him. I knew Brian and Carrie could give him everything I couldn’t. Do I wish now I had made a different decision? Maybe so, but Timothy has a mother and a father whom he loves and who love him. The thing is, Alan, I can’t walk away.” Her hand went to her locket. “He’s part of me. He’ll always be part of me. If you can’t accept that—”
“I can accept it,” he assured her, pulling her closer. “I can accept everything about you, Lisa—from your tattoos, to your spirit of fun, to your career goals. Do you know why?”
“Why?” she asked in a whisper.
“Because I love you. I’ve been fighting it for all I’m worth. But not anymore.” Reaching into his pocket, he brought out a small velvet box.
There was no way she could stem the tears now.
Alan opened the box, took out the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen, and slipped it onto her finger. “A perfect fit, just like us. Will you marry me, Lisa? I promise you, I’ll give you all the time you need. You have to be sure that this is what you want, too.”
“Oh, Alan, I’m sure.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted her lips to his.
Right before he kissed her, he asked, “Is that a yes?”
“Yes,” she murmured. Then his lips covered hers.
The long, deep, wet kiss went on and on and on until finally Alan broke away. He scooped her up into his arms. “Will you sleep in my room tonight?”
“With Christina in the house?”
“Christina’s going to be in the house during our preparations for the wedding. She’s going to be in the house when I want to kiss you. She’s going to be in the house whether we’re in Portland or in Texas. If it’s okay with you, maybe we can divide our time between the two. Isn’t it lucky I have a plane that can fly us back and forth?”
He’d meant to make her laugh, but instead she got choked up. “I’m the one who’s lucky. I never thought I’d find a man to love me for who I am—past, present and future.”
Alan smiled. “You found him and he’s never going to let you go.”
This time their kiss was a sweet promise of everything to come.