“He looked how I felt when I discovered publicly that my ex-wife had cheated on me. He looked devastated.” He finally met Summer’s gaze. “Remember?”
Summer nodded. “I’ll never forget. But remember, something good came from that. You have Patrick Jr. thanks to a little help from these two hard-asses, and you got free of a woman who made you miserable. And you’re here with us.” Glancing at Lucy, she added, “That’s a very good thing, I think.”
Lucy looked down at the key ring as she fingered each key. “Can you go talk to him? See if he’ll come inside?”
“He wouldn’t talk to me. It was almost like he couldn’t hear me. Luce, he was—” Patrick looked around and didn’t finish his thought but seemed to be speaking to himself. “He’s too proud.”
“What if I go talk to him—Wait, what the hell is this?”
Gwen squinted at an item attached to the key ring as Lucy held it up. “Is that a ring?”
Lucy separated it from the rest and held it up to show Patrick but he shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve seen it on there but he’s never said a word about it.”
Lucy put the set of keys in her pocket. “Why would someone keep a diamond engagement ring on a key ring? I’m going to check on him.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Luce. You may just get more of what he gave you earlier…even though I don’t think he really intended to hurt your feelings. This is all tied up in whoever was on the other end of that call. That much was clear from the look on his face. He was hurting.”
Lucy was up and out of her seat the moment the last three words came from his mouth. She grabbed her umbrella. “I’ll be right back.” The worry was obvious on her face and Gwen felt bad for her. The three of them clearly had issues to work through.
At Christmas Eve, she’d thought maybe Lucy and Patrick had gotten together, but now wasn’t sure if any of them were together…yet. Beck was hard to decipher. He was lucky to have friends who cared that much. Gwen wondered if they’d ever be anything more.
She came back in a minute later, looking more worried. Patrick frowned and asked, “Was he an asshole to you?”
She shook her head. “No. He’s gone. The truck is there but he’s gone. It’s like a monsoon out there…and he’s out in it.” She reached for Patrick and he put his arms around her in a full embrace, unlike the “just friends” arm around the shoulders that they’d shared earlier. She spoke softly to him.
Patrick nodded and said, “Of course.” They put on their coats, grabbed Beck’s beat-up denim jacket, and said their good-nights.
Jayne turned to Seth and leaned against him. “I hope everything’s all right. Beck is moody and all but I’ve never seen him so…brusque, especially with women. Although…”
Seth, who hadn’t said much all evening, gave her a half smile and said, “They seem to bring out the worst in each other, don’t they?” as he pushed a lock of her reddish brown hair from her cheek. “Why don’t we go relieve your mom of babysitting duty? I’m sure Toby wore her out tonight.”
Jayne nodded and they said their good-nights. Julián looked from Chris to Gwen and raised an eyebrow. “Want to call it a night?”
Gwen pulled them close and whispered, “Yes, but I’m hungry.”
“Hungry? What are you hungry for?”
The fire that had been simmering inside her all night long flamed a bit higher as she replied, “A cowboy sandwich with me in the middle.” As if responding to the heat in their eyes, the flames within roared to a blaze. Her knees went a little weak at the way they smiled at her with intent in their eyes. They helped her with her coat and hustled her out of the nightclub.
Julián tossed Chris the keys and said, “You drive, I’ll warm her up.”
“Hell, why didn’t I think of that?”
Chapter Twenty
Gwen pulled them to a stop as they walked toward the front door. “Wait. We have two vehicles here tonight.” Chris looked like she’d kicked his puppy. “Sorry, guys. I’m not leaving my truck here overnight.”
Chris held out his hand. “Give me your keys and I’ll drive it home. You can ride with Julián.”
Gwen shook her head. “The gas pedal is touchy. I’ll follow you home.”
“Darlin’—”
“I’ll be there before you know it. I just need to warm the engine up and I’ll be on my way.”
Chris said, “Then we’ll walk you to the truck.”