Chapter Seventeen

Clover had given up her overnight bag to Sawyer as soon as they got in the elevator. Normally, it would have been something she’d have argued about—she hated that whole “weak woman” thing—but at the moment, so many worries were running through her brain like negative vipers that she couldn’t find the energy to put up a fuss. When they stepped out of the elevator, Irving was waiting by the door, holding it open.

“Everything’s arranged just like you asked, Mr. Carlyle,” he said. “Miss Lee, I’m sorry about your news.”

“Thank you, Irving,” she said as she hurried toward him.

“Yes, ma’am.” He tipped his cap, sympathy in his eyes, and held open the door. “I’ll be praying for your father.”

The small kindness brought tears to her eyes and she bit the inside of her cheek to stop them from spilling over.

“Thank you,” she said, giving him the best smile she could manage as she rushed through the door, Sawyer right behind her.

They hurried out to the waiting Town Car and got in the backseat. Linus was already behind the wheel and pulled into traffic as soon as they had their seatbelts fastened.

“The fastest way is to take Thirteenth to the Grambas Bridge,” she said, already mentally plotting out the fastest route. “After that we can—”

“We’re not going that way,” Sawyer interrupted. “We’re taking a helicopter.”

She blinked in surprise. “What?”

“It’ll take us an hour to get to Sparksville instead of two.” His phone beeped and he checked the message. “Amara already arranged to have a car waiting for us at the airport so we can go straight to the hospital.”

Helicopter. We. Hospital. She was hearing the words just fine, but in her rattled state they weren’t making sense. The bags at Sawyer’s feet snagged her attention. Her bag was bright yellow with frayed handles. The other bag was black, in impeccable shape, and so expensive looking it practically smelled like money. With everything that was going on, of course her brain grabbed ahold of the least important detail and wouldn’t let it go.

“Why do you have a bag?”

“Because I’m coming with you.” He nudged it closer to her bag. “I won’t leave you alone at a time like this.”

It was a weird thing to say considering only an hour before he’d been counting down the hours until he could end their fake engagement. “I won’t be alone. I’ll be with my family.”

He stared at her with a rush of emotions warring in his eyes that she couldn’t decipher. “If we get there and you want me gone, I’ll leave. Fair enough?”

What should she say? He’d packed up and was out the door with her in a matter of minutes, had arranged for a helicopter so they could make the trip in half the time, and already had a car waiting for them at the airport. When minutes counted, he’d made sure to get the most out of every one.

Stuffing away her hurt feelings from earlier, she nodded. “Thank you.”

“Then let this officially establish that I’m a dick, not an asshole—which I obviously proved tonight. I’m sorry.” He smiled and draped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and brushing a kiss across the top of her head. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

God, she hoped so.

Linus made the drive to Carlyle Tower in less time than she thought possible. They scrambled out of the car and took the express elevator to the roof where the helicopter was waiting. Her stomach shimmied and shook at takeoff but settled as they flew west away from Harbor City. She and Sawyer had earphones and a mic so they could talk over the roar, but he didn’t push conversation. Instead, he held her hand as memories of her father washed over her. The time they’d gone fishing and she’d rolled the canoe, getting both of them good and soaked. The afternoons he’d spent teaching the intricacies of football and the beauty that was a baseball stat sheet. The fact that when she’d declared she wanted to live in Harbor City and go on adventures around the globe for a few years after graduation, he’d supported her even as her mom tried everything in the book to get Clover to change her mind.

Her dad had always been there for her. And what had she done in return? Left town. Rarely visited. Limited phone calls to once a week. All because she was afraid that Sparksville would suck her back in and she’d never make it out again. She’d end up like her mom, pregnant unexpectedly and married soon after. No adventure. Just day after day of packing school lunches, the PTA, and eating chicken pot pie every Thursday night because it was her husband’s favorite. Guilt, regret, and fear slashed at her like knives, cutting her up from the inside out.

Her roiling stomach let her know they’d started their descent before she noticed the water tower with the Sparksville High School bulldog painted on it. The municipal airport wasn’t big, but there was plenty of space for the helicopter to land. She and Sawyer got out, making sure to duck low to avoid the rotating chopper blades, and hurried over to a nondescript sedan parked on the tarmac.

Sawyer threw their bags in the trunk while she got in the passenger seat, too jittery to handle driving. She’d just clicked her seatbelt shut when he slid behind the wheel and started up the car. The dashboard navigation unit lit up, showing the step-by-step direction to the hospital that the rental employee had programed in before leaving the keys in the visor.

The drive to the hospital was a blur. Before she knew it, she and Sawyer were rushing through the automatic doors into an emergency room that resembled a library more than even a slow night at Harbor City General. There was a teenager feeding the candy machine a dollar, but no one else was in the small room packed with chairs.

“Jane?” a woman called out.

Heart hammering against her ribs as she prepared for the worst, Clover turned and spotted Mrs. Hermitage, one of her mom’s best friends, behind the intake desk on the opposite side of the room. Squeezing Sawyer’s hand tight in a moment of pure panic, she forced herself to take a deep breath. If her family wasn’t in the waiting room, that was a good sign. Right? Her mind said yes, but her feet wouldn’t move. With a gentle tug, Sawyer led her over to the intake desk.

“Oh, honey, I thought that was you.” The other woman stood up and leaned over the desk to give her a quick hug before sitting back down. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”

And now was not the time to catch up. “My dad, is he back there?” she asked, gesturing to the sliding doors with No admittance without authorization painted on it.

Mrs. Hermitage shook her head. “They’ve taken him up to a room for a night of observation. It wasn’t a heart attack, just a nasty case of angina. I can’t give you any more specifics, but your mom asked me to send you right up if I spotted you. She dropped her phone in her coffee and the darn thing went on the fritz. Nobody knows anybody’s actual phone number anymore.”

All the stress and fear from the last few hours drained out of her along with the adrenaline that had kept her functioning. She stumbled back, but Sawyer was there to catch her. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close, and she let him. The relief overwhelming the inner voice warning her of danger ahead.

“Do you know the room number?” Sawyer asked as he herded Clover toward the elevators.

“He’s in room 405.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said as the elevator doors closed.

Clover pulled herself together as they went up, taking in deep breaths and managing to mostly block out the sandalwood and cashmere scent of Sawyer’s cologne but not the comfort of his arms or the reassurance of his steady heartbeat against her cheek. All of her emotions were twisted and confused, but one thing rose above it all.

Okay. Her dad was going to be okay.

That’s all that mattered. Whatever happened with Sawyer, she’d figure out a way to make it through mostly intact. After all, not all adventures had happy endings. It was past time she grew up and accepted that.

The elevator doors whooshed open and they walked out onto the fourth floor.

The door to her dad’s room was open and her mom’s voice wafted out. “Phillip Lee, I can’t believe you snuck out for a cigarette. I thought you quit three years ago.”

“I had for the most part,” her dad shot back. “Anyway it was a stressful game, and I needed a moment.”

“If you weren’t hooked up to a machine right now…”

“Hi, Mom,” Clover said from the doorway.

Her mom turned away from where her dad lay in the hospital bed. Her mascara had run a bit and she looked exhausted, but the smile on her face was as big as Clover had ever seen it. She opened up her arms and Clover walked into them, reaching down to hold her father’s hand while her mother hugged her like a woman who’d almost lost her whole world that night—which she kinda almost had.

“So everything’s okay?” Clover asked, her voice a little high from how hard her mom was squeezing her.

Her mom let her go with a final pat on her back. “Except for the fact that I might have to kill your father.” She shot a dirty look at the man she’d been married to for twenty-six years. “A cigarette. Can you believe that?”

Phillip rolled his eyes. “I have one every few months under times of great duress.”

“You mean whenever you’re watching a game and it’s not going your team’s way,” her mom said with an exasperated huff.

“Pretty much.” Her dad winked at Clover. “Hey, pumpkin.”

She sniffled despite knowing tears were the last thing he’d want to see right now. “Hi, Dad.”

“I’d get up and give you a hug, but I’m afraid your mom would crack me upside the head for moving any more than necessary.”

“Good Lord, Phillip.” Her mom threw up her hands in frustration. “I thought you were having a heart attack. You do have a history you know.”

He gave a little shrug. “It’s just angina.”

“Which means no more sneaking cigarettes, and you’re gonna start eating better so your blood pressure doesn’t go out of whack again,” her mom said. “And if you can’t calm down, no more games on TV.”

“Jesus, just take away all the things worth living for, why don’t you?” her dad groused, but the deep worry lines between his eyes showed that he’d been almost as scared as her mom.

“I’ll still be here,” her mom snapped.

Phillip glanced over at his wife and any trace of anxiety slid away. “As long as that’s the case, I guess I can suffer through without the rest.”

“Well you’d better because I can’t live without you.” Her mom wiped away another black-tinged tear and gave her dad a quick kiss on the cheek before straightening and looking back at Sawyer who was hanging back in the doorway. “And is that your mystery fiancé hiding in the doorway? Come on in. I know we’re not at our best right now, but we promise not to bite you.”

“I’d get that in writing, if I were you,” her dad said with a grin.

Sawyer walked over, and there was a manly handshake from her dad—well, as manly as he could make it considering he was lying in a hospital bed wearing a gown that didn’t close all the way in the back—and a hug from her mom. That’s when her younger brother Bobby came in, a coffee cup in one hand and a half-eaten bag of Corn Nuts in the other. She’d barely had time to introduce him to Sawyer when a nurse came in, announced visiting hours were over, and hustled them out of the room and into the hall.

“Well, we might as well head home,” her mom said as they rode the elevator down. “You two will be staying with us, of course. Now we can finally have that family lunch that hasn’t fit into your busy schedules.”

Clover’s conscience jabbed her right in the heart. If they left without staying for lunch, it would hurt everyone. If they stayed and she had to lie to her family’s face about the non-existent wedding planning, it would hurt everyone. Jesus. It was just supposed to be a fun adventure that would get her some financial freedom. It wasn’t supposed to get so damn complicated.

“Family lunch?” Sawyer asked while she stood there silent like an idiot.

“Oh yes, it’s a family tradition, and I won’t take no for an answer,” her mom said. “Plus, if you’re there, it will distract Phillip from the fact that I’m hiding the remote to the TV as soon as we get home.”

Oh God. There was no getting out of this for her, but she couldn’t force Sawyer to go through with it. He’d already done enough. The smart thing was to get him out of Sparksville before her family got attached and walking away from him became even more complicated.

…

Sawyer kept a car and a half’s distance between the rental and Mrs. Lee’s back bumper as he followed her through downtown Sparksville. After years of having Linus drive him around, it was nice to get behind the wheel again and feel the motor purr—even if it was an anemic four cylinder. In the passenger seat, Clover was twisting the hem of her Keep It Weird hoodie around her fingers and gnawing her bottom lip. He wished like hell that he knew what to do right now, but he hadn’t planned out past getting her here. The details—as usual—were lost to him.

They made it through the second stoplight and past The Sugar Palace Donut House before she broke the silence. “I really appreciate everything, but you don’t have to stay. We can tell my mom a work emergency came up.”

“Is that what you’ve been doing when they’ve invited us to the family lunch?” He left the part about her not even bothering to ask him to himself because he couldn’t understand why that bugged him. It just did.

Her cheeks turned pink enough to be visible in the light coming in from the street lamps. “Yes.”

“Why?” There it was. That twisted squeeze of his lungs, the annoyance bubbling up. Not that he cared. After all, their relationship was just a sham. It wasn’t real. Whether he met her family or not didn’t matter.

Keep telling yourself that, Carlyle.

“Lying to them on the phone is one thing,” she said, a slight tremble coming through in her voice. “Doing it face-to-face is something else, especially after what just happened with my dad.”

“I understand.” In half a breath, he was back in the hospital room with his father; the beeping of the heart monitor had been so loud before it went silent. “When my dad died three years ago, it was a massive heart attack that came right out of the blue. It’s why sidetracking my mom’s campaign to marry me off has been so difficult. She took my dad’s death hard. I mean we all did, but Mom lost herself for a while. I guess Hudson and I got used to dealing with her with kid gloves.”

Clover reached out and put her hand on his leg. “I’m so sorry.”

They’d taken turns talking her into going out to lunch, into seeing her friends again, and into rejoining the events and charities she’d always been a part of. She’d fought. The woman was as stubborn as anyone he’d ever known, but she’d made it to the other side so it had been worth it. She was definitely back to her old fighting weight.

“Thanks, but since you’ve met Helene Carlyle you know she’s a tough old bird—don’t you ever tell her that I called her that. What happened to your dad, it’s made me realize just how far she’s come from the dark days. It’s probably past time that Hudson and I reined in the whole treat her like she’s made of glass thing.”

She withdrew her hand and turned so she faced the window instead of him. “You’re going to tell her the truth about us and the whole Marry Off Sawyer campaign?”

He followed Clover’s mom’s car onto Caller Court, concentrating on the road instead of the way his lungs had tightened or the fact that he could still feel the imprint of her fingers on his leg. “It’s probably past time, don’t you think?”

“Yeah.” She nodded, but kept her face averted. “So let’s go with a business emergency cover story. You can head back to Harbor City, and I’ll figure out how to tell them the truth in the morning.”

Gut tight, he turned into the driveway of number forty-three Caller Court while Clover’s mom pulled into the garage.

He should be relieved. It was an uncomplicated solution to a messy problem. All he needed to do was say thank you, but that’s not what came out. “I can stay, have your back when you tell them the truth.”

This time she did turn to face him. The porch light shining in through the window highlighted the gold of her hair. One side of her mouth was curled up in a semblance of a smile but not quite making it, as if she just couldn’t fake it anymore tonight. The lies had taken a toll.

“I appreciate that,” she said, “but you’re not the only one who’s facing up to the realization that how you’ve been handling family up until now may not have been the best option.”

Neither of them said anything as they got out of the car. He went around to the trunk and got her bag, leaving his own on top of the spare tire. Then he followed her inside to the Lees’ warm, yellow kitchen decorated with wildflowers and photos of coffee mugs. Bobby said good night and headed up the stairs. Sawyer placed Clover’s bag on the kitchen island while her mom started a fresh pot of coffee despite the fact that it was ten o’clock at night. Clover had gone over to a framed family photo on the counter and picked it up. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have thought it was the first time she’d ever seen it.

Earlier today his mom had asked him what he really knew about Clover. The truth was, not a lot. He knew what she liked to do, how she liked her hamburgers, that she dipped her fries in vinegar, and that she laughed at all the same places he did in movies. That wasn’t the same, though, as actually knowing her and what made her tick. Now he wouldn’t. She’d come back to the penthouse in a couple of days and get her stuff. He’d cut her a check for the full amount. She wasn’t the one who’d decided to end things early, after all. And then she’d be off to Australia and he’d go back to his life the way it was before she’d shown up at Carlyle Towers, answering an ad for a personal buffer that he’d never placed.

The fact that he felt like he’d swallowed glass just meant that it was better to get out of here sooner rather than later. “Mrs. Lee—”

“Laura, I insist. We’re going to be family after all,” she interrupted. “Don’t worry, I’m making decaf. Do you want some?”

Clover sat down the photo and crossed over to stand by him. “Mom, Sawyer has to head back to Harbor City.”

“Really?” Laura said, her eyes wide with surprise.

“Yes.” He nodded, playing his part. “There’s been an emergency at the office.”

“Uh-huh.” Laura looked from Clover to him and back again, her gaze cool and assessing. “Well, we’ll just move family lunch up to family brunch so you can head back to the city tomorrow afternoon. Even a busy man like yourself needs a morning off every once in a while.”

“Mom, it doesn’t really work like tha—”

“I’ll stay.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, the tightness in his shoulders released, and he realized it was exactly the answer he’d wanted to give the whole time.

“You will?” Both women asked at the same time. One was pleased while the other was not in the least.

“You’re right,” he said. “It’s Friday night. The office will still be there on Monday.”

“Wonderful!” Laura clapped. “I’ll get you set up in the guest room. Jane, you’ll be in your old room. I know, I know you’re grown adults, but this is my house and my rules—and I have a lot of them or so my children tell me.”

He was beginning to see why Clover had learned the importance of good negotiation. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Laura—or Mom. You two are engaged after all.” She let out a little whoop of excitement, put one arm around him and another around Clover before pulling them in for a tight hug.

Looking over the top of Laura’s head, there was no missing the dirty look Clover was giving him. He was a selfish bastard. He knew. But his time with Clover was up the minute they got back to Harbor City and if he could delay that for another twelve hours, he’d take it. Tomorrow would be soon enough to own up to the truth. Until then, he’d take all the distraction he could get.