Between You and Me(59)

       
           



       

A gentle hand patted her shoulder. "Tess. Hey, sleepyhead. C'mon now."

"Huh?" She opened her eyes and focused on her brother, who was crouching down to look into her face. "Hey, Dane."

"Hey, Tesstastic. You okay?"

She yawned. "Fine. Just tired."

"You're out cold at twelve thirty in the afternoon. Is that normal?" he asked, brow furrowing with concern.

She laughed lightly. "Yes. I'm fine. Ask your brothers' wives if you don't believe me."

"Well, from what I heard, both Abby and Lisette spent a good part of  their early pregnancies with their heads in the toilet, so no thanks."  Dane grinned and shifted from his crouch to sit in the armchair adjacent  to the couch.

"Yeah, I've been spared that much at least." Tess took a deep breath and  sat up slowly. "No morning sickness at all, just tired most of the  time. I'll get past it soon. Almost done with the first trimester  already, then supposedly I'll feel better, get my energy back." She  stretched her arms over her head. "So why am I so lucky as to be blessed  with your presence?"

"We were supposed to go to lunch," he reminded her.

Her eyes flew wide. "Oh no! You're right! Ah crap."

He laughed. "Jeez. You forgot all about me. Not like you."

"Blame it on pregnancy brain," she said.

"It kicks in this soon? Shit, you're in trouble then." He grinned  wickedly, but his voice was gentle as he asked, "Do you want to cancel?  Get back to your nap?"

"No, of course not." She rose slowly and stretched again. "Besides, I'm  starving. Not working most of the morning has apparently made me  famished."

"Are you carrying a baby, or an alien life form?" he joked. "Sucking the life force out of you, seeking nourishment. . ."

"You're a dork." She laughed as she crossed her office to her desk. "Let  me just check the emails I haven't looked at to make sure there are no  emergencies, and we'll get out of here. Give me five minutes?"

"No problem." He crossed one long leg over the other as he pulled his  phone from his inside jacket pocket. "I'll tell Julia you say hi. She  wants to see you soon, by the way. Dinner next week, maybe? Monday or  Tuesday?"

"I'd love that," Tess said as she clicked into her inbox. "Tuesday works for me."

She scanned her work emails quickly; nothing there that couldn't wait.  Then she checked her personal email, and there was one from Logan. Her  breath caught. Since she'd returned to New York, he'd cut way down on  contact, texting her every three or four days instead of daily, and no  phone calls. She was hurt by the lessening contact, but supposed she  shouldn't be surprised. Logan Carter went it alone. He'd made that clear  from the start.

So what if she thought things had changed? So what if she thought she'd  maybe seen his eyes get a little glassy during their emotional goodbye,  or that he'd kissed her as fervently as she'd kissed him? He wasn't  letting her stay close; that became more clear with each passing week.  And it hurt. Truth was, thinking about him only made her miserable. She  missed him like hell. Apparently, that wasn't mutual.

But he'd never sent her an email before. Usually, they talked via texts.  So with curiosity building, she clicked on it. But when she opened it,  she realized it wasn't just to her, but to her and her two older  brothers. It had to be something about the house, then, since Pierce  wasn't addressed; Tess owned the ski house with only Dane and Charles,  since Pierce had been living in England when they bought it.



Hello Charles, Dane, and Tess,

This is an official notice to inform you all that I'm cutting back on my  work. My mother's health has started to seriously decline and I'm  needed there. Effective today, I'll be turning over regular care of your  Red Mountain house to Richie Wood, one of my most reliable colleagues.  I've worked with him for years, and I can personally vouch for his  trustworthiness, his dependability, and his just being a great guy. His  cell number is . . .                       
       
           



       





Tess felt her blood pressure start to rise. Annmarie was worse? Why  hadn't he said so? Why hadn't he told her anything? She could feel her  blood race through her veins, leaving vague nausea in its wake.

Then another thought hit, like a kick to the chest. Was this really  solely about his mother, or did he just want to quit dealing with the  Harrisons because of Tess? He'd been slipping away slowly. Was she being  paranoid, or was this a real possibility? What the hell was going on? A  million questions rushed through her on another wave of anxious  adrenaline, leaving her breathless.

"Um . . . Tess?" Dane looked up from his phone, catching her eye from  across the room. He looked ambivalent as he said, "I just saw an email  from Logan."

"I'm just reading it now," she said tightly as her stomach roiled.

"You didn't know about this before now?"

"I'm as shocked as you are," she muttered.

"Huh." He peered harder. "Actually, you seem more so. Your face is all flushed."

She huffed out a hard breath. "I'm a little pissed off. I had no idea he was doing this."

"I thought you two were close."

"So did I," she bit out. Maybe it was the hormones, but she wanted to  throw something. Instead she turned off her computer and shot to her  feet. "I need lunch."

"Maybe you need to talk," Dane suggested in a soft voice, a tone one  would use to talk to a child or wounded animal. "Are you okay? You look  really upset."

"I am upset!" she cried. "I had no idea that . . . that he . . ." Her eyes filled with tears.

"Ah shit, honey. Come here." Dane stood and crossed to give her a hug.  "Tell me something. If he's distancing himself, is that the worst thing  in the world?"

She didn't say anything. Resting her head on her big brother's shoulder,  she clamped her lips tightly, holding back her words as she willed her  tears to stay in her eyes and not escape.

"I thought you two were just friends," Dane said.

"We are," she whispered. "That's the problem."

"Aha. You're in love with him," Dane guessed.

"Well, duh." Tess stepped back and sniffled hard. "It's complicated."

"Now there's an understatement." He smiled kindly as he added, "I've been waiting for you to fess up for weeks, you know."

"Oh really."

"Yup. I mean . . . you've been so excited and happy about the baby . . .  but with this underlying sadness that's made no sense. Now it makes  sense." He sighed. "You've been missing him."

The tears sprang up and rolled down her face. She sniffled and wiped  them away with impatient flicks of her fingers. Her heart felt like it  was lodged in her throat.

"My poor sweetheart. Shit." Dane let out another sigh. "Come on. Let's  go get you and my growing niece or nephew fed, and you'll tell me all  about it. Maybe I can help. If I can't, at least I'm here to listen." He  tweaked her nose the way he always had when they were kids. "I love  you, Tesstastic. I hate seeing you sad. I'm here for you."

His show of kindness left Tess wobbly with gratitude. She hugged him again and whispered, "Thank you."

* * *

When Tess got home that evening, she'd had an entire car ride through  rush-hour traffic to think over her lunchtime chat with Dane. He thought  she should tell Logan how she felt; she disagreed. But one thing she'd  definitely agreed with: Call him, not text or email, and ask him  directly what was going on.

As soon as she'd let Bubbles out to go potty, fed her, and sat down, she  did something she hadn't done in over five weeks: She called Logan.

"Hey there," came his deep voice over the line, and it sent a shiver right through her. "How are you?"

God, she'd missed his voice. She knew hearing it would only make her  miss him more, which was why she hadn't called all this time. Now, the  sound of his low, sexy rumble made her want to crawl through the phone  to get to him and wrap herself in his strong arms. But all she said was,  "I got your email today."                       
       
           



       

"I figured," he said.

"Annmarie's worse? Why haven't you told me?"

"Umm . . . yes, she is, and because there's nothing you can do, so why upset you?"

"Because I care," Tess ground out. "Because I'd like to support you, and her, if I can. How about that?"