“Yes, he told me that you and Jenny would be working together for months on this new hotel...”
“Don’t start,” he warned her, amusement softening his words.
“Well, why shouldn’t I?” she demanded with a huff. “You’re not getting any younger, you know. And I’ve met Jenny. She’s a nice girl. Talented. Pretty, too.”
All true, he thought. She was also smart, opinionated, desirable and oh, yeah...untrustworthy. He scowled and remembered how cozy she’d looked with the damn carpenter today.
“Mom...”
“You can’t fault a mother for hoping,” she said, cutting him off before he could tell her to dial it back.
“Not interested in getting married, Mom,” he said flatly. And she should know why, but he’d learned over the years that Peggy Ryan wanted nothing more than to forget the day that had changed everything for Mike.
There was a sigh in her voice when she said, “Fine. You are so hardheaded. Just like your father.”
His frown deepened, but he didn’t say anything. His mom didn’t notice, or chose not to notice, because she rushed right on.
“I wanted to remind you, your dad’s birthday is next week, and I want you and Sean both to show up, okay?”
Mike took a breath and blew it out. No way to avoid it and he knew it. But he never really looked forward to spending time with his father. It was...awkward. Uncomfortable.
Not that it had always been. Up until the year Mike turned thirteen, he’d thought of his father as his hero. Big, strong, with a wide smile and a kind nature, Jack Ryan was the kind of father most kids dream about. Jack had taught both of his sons to surf. A Little League coach, he’d spent hours at batting cages with them.
But the year he was thirteen, Mike had discovered that the father he idolized was also a liar. And that discovery had colored his image of his father ever since. He hadn’t been able to forget or forgive. Jack had tried to close the distance between them many times, but Mike couldn’t do it.
Memory was sometimes a hard thing and the images from the day when his father tumbled off that pedestal were as clear now as they had ever been.
“Oh, Mike,” his mother said on a sigh, “I’m so sorry. You can’t possibly know how sorry I am.”
Mike stiffened. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Mom.”
“Yes,” she argued. “I did. And I truly wish I could take it all back. Change that day.”
“Yeah, well, we can’t do that.” Mike’s hand tightened around his phone. “So let’s just leave it in the past, okay?”
“I really wish you would, sweetie,” Peggy said, then sighed again. “But fine. For now, I’ll move on.”
“It’s appreciated.”
“But I want you at your father’s birthday dinner, Mike. No excuses. Sean’s already promised to be here.”
Of course he had. Sean didn’t know what Mike did. He’d never told his younger brother about their father’s fall from grace. Protecting Sean? Maybe. And maybe it was just that the thought of even more people knowing was too hard to take. Either way, though, Sean remained in the dark and that’s how it would stay.
“Fine. I’ll be there,” he said, knowing his mother wouldn’t stop until she’d gotten him to agree.
“Thanks, sweetie. We’ll see you then.” She paused. “Oh, and say hi to Jenny for me.”
He hung up on her laughter. Shaking his head, he leaned his forearms on the terrace railing and watched the people below. Then he saw her. Jenny. Everything in him fisted as he watched her walk, alone, through the night, moonlight and neon playing in her hair.
Six
Normal was relative.
Jenny reminded herself several times during the following week that she and Mike were supposed to be back to “normal.” And she supposed they were. For them.
The first day back, they stayed out of each other’s way. But soon enough, work made that ploy impossible. While Jenny continued to work on the sketches of the Wise Woman for “The Wild Hunt” game, she was also going over her plans for the paintings at the new hotel. She’d taken so many pictures of the place, it was easy enough to figure out what she wanted where—it was simply time-consuming.
Then Mike got bogged down with calls from the contractor and plumber and electrician and the work on the game wasn’t getting done, so Jenny volunteered to help. With her handling the Nevada hotel, it gave Mike time he needed to work with Sean and the marketing department on the cover design and the publicity campaign designed to push the game during release week.
Naturally, Jenny spent a lot of time in Mike’s office fielding phone calls that she then had to tell him about, so they ended up spending hours together every workday. Yet what should have made them closer was instead highlighting the tension building between them.