Dangerous Curves Ahead: A Perfect Fit Novel (36 page)

He didn’t understand how she could miss somebody who only took from her and never gave, who always went out of her way to hurt her. But Ellis wanted to be close with her sister. It was a relationship that he would never understand. He shouldn’t even try because he had his own issues to work out.

Which was why he called his father. Harry was still in town, staying at the best hotel Durant had to offer. His father walked into the quiet bar wearing a suit and tie. It was surreal to see him dressed that way with his hair neatly combed. Harry had been captured in Mike’s memory wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a plaid work shirt. The man before him looked powerful. The man before him was a stranger.

“If I had known this was a special occasion I would have dressed better.”

Harry looked down at himself and gave Mike a cautious smile. “Oh, the suit? I had a meeting in the city this morning. I just got back.” He signaled the bartender who brought over two imported beers to the table.

Mike waited till the server left before he spoke again. “Why are you still here, Dad? You said you weren’t going until we talked. We talked. You’re still here.”

Harry stared at his beer for a moment. “Did you think that was talking, son?”

“Maybe not, but tell me how I’m supposed to act when my father tells me he left because he was an addict.”

“I guess you have a good reason to hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.”

Harry raised his eyes to meet Mike’s gaze, looking hopeful. It made Mike’s stomach twist with discomfort. “You don’t?”

“I talked to Mom. She explained some things. I don’t hate you anymore, and I’m not really mad, either.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what I’m feeling.”

“You’re hurt. I hurt you when I left. But I had to go, Mike. I couldn’t let you see what I was really like then.”

Mike held up a hand to silence his father. “I understand, but I’m not sure what you want from me. We can’t pick up where we left off. Twenty years is a long time. I don’t know you.”

“I know that, but I would like to get to know you again. I’ve made something of myself. I have things to offer you now.”

“I don’t need anything from you. I’m thirty-three, not thirteen.”

“Think about that pretty girl you’ve been seeing. I can help you get a really nice rock to put on her finger.”

“I don’t need your help buying an engagement ring. It’s done.”

“What about her business? The buzz about her is good but she’ll need a lot of capital to take it to the next level. A loan is out of the question. I had her checked out and it will be a few more years until a bank signs off on a loan of that size. I can give you what she needs.”

“You had my girlfriend checked out?” He was caught between irritation and anger, feeling like his privacy had been invaded, that a piece of him was exposed. “You had no business doing that.”

“I wanted to know about you. What better way than to learn more about the most important person in your life?”

The offer of money made his skin crawl, but Mike thought about Ellis for a moment. She loved making dresses. When he watched her work he saw passion glow from her that he had never seen before. It could make her dream a reality. He could make her business strong. Make it so she wouldn’t have to worry about money anymore.

“Why do I feel like there’s a catch? What do you want from me?”

Harry sighed and raked his fingers through his graying hair. For once he looked every bit of his sixty-six years. “I want to spend time with my son. Maybe offering you money isn’t the best way to do it but I don’t know any other way to get you to see that I want back in your life and nothing will stop me until I find a way in.”

“Why now, Dad? Why wait twenty years? You must have been clean before now. You must have been clean for some time if you were able to make that much money.”

“I was wondering when we were going to get around to that.” Harry sighed heavily. “I went to Mexico to lick my wounds. I knew I had to get clean in order to get your mother back.” He looked Mike in the eye. “You know she’s the only woman in the world that makes my damn heart pound when I hear her voice. But Mexico can be a destructive place for a man whose problem is pills. For a long time I still used. Not to cover up the pain in my back but to make myself numb from the pain here.” He tapped his chest. “I missed your mother and your sisters. I missed you to the point of pain. I started working with a private boat charter company during that time. I wasn’t doing well for myself but I was doing okay. I was feeling useful. Little by little they started giving me more responsibility. And little by little I felt like a man again and realized that I didn’t need pills to make me numb. Ten years had passed and the owner left the company to me. I had something then. But I didn’t feel like it was big enough, like I was successful enough to show my children. So I busted my ass for another year. I got contracts with the big cruise ships that port in Mexico. A year later I was rich. I knew I had something to be proud of then, to leave my children. So I booked a flight home just in time to see you graduate from the police academy. I was going to surprise you then, but I looked at you and saw that you were a man and that you had made it on your own. So I tucked my tail between my legs and went home. It took me another nine years to realize that just because you may not need your old man anymore, he still needs you. So I’m going to do whatever I have to do to get my wife and family back. And even if you still don’t want anything to do with me, you aren’t going to stop me from reclaiming the rest of them.”

*   *   *

It was hard for Ellis to ignore a summons to her parents’ house for dinner. She loved her folks, tremendously so, but tonight she’d rather crawl into bed than spend three hours with them. Being a bridal gown designer was harder than she imagined. The honeymoon period was over. One bride canceled her wedding. One bride moved hers up. Ellis’s sewing machine died, which halted her work for nearly two days, and now Mike was back at work. She missed him around the shop. He kept things running while she created. It made her think about taking him up on his offer. But she wouldn’t ask him to quit his job. She had no idea where they would be a year from now. They had yet to say
I love you
. Ellis knew the words weren’t important, but she was beginning to long for them.

“So…” Phillipa occupied the easy chair and studied Ellis and Mike. They had been sitting on the sofa for the past ten minutes, making small talk and waiting for dinner to arrive. “How do you kids like living together?”

“Hate it,” Ellis said. She couldn’t shake the feeling that her mother was up to something. “He expects me to share my closet with him.”

“That’s nice.” Phillipa responded, clearly distracted. She glanced at the clock for the fifteenth time. “I put you two kids down as your father’s guest for the university’s Christmas party. You’re coming, right?”

“I’m planning on landing on the moon that day. So I can’t go but I’m glad because I can’t stand to see you wear that poop-brown suit you wear every damn year to the party.”

“Good—What?” Her focus snapped back to Ellis as Mike let out a chuckle. “What’s wrong with my suit?”

“It’s ugly. Now spill it, hippie. What are you up to?”

“Don’t hate me.” She raised her arms in defense. “But I invited your sister over. You know I hate it when you two fight.” She glanced at the clock. “She should be here in about five minutes. I told her to be here half an hour ago.”

Irritation passed through her. Her mother was always trying to make things better between Dina and her. Phillipa thought that placing her daughters in the same room would magically cause them to resolve all their issues. Her realist mother was a dreamer.

“Dinner should have been here seven minutes ago.” Walter entered the room, his eyes moving from the clock to the door. “Dina should have been here twenty-eight minutes ago.”

As if magic conjured her Dina strolled through the door, her hair loosely curled around her shoulders and her body wrapped in a houndstooth coat that looked like it cost a fortune.

“Hey, Smelly Ellie. Hi, Mom. Hello, Walter. How are you, Mike? What’s for dinner?”

She dropped her coat on the chair Phillipa had vacated and headed into the kitchen.

Mike locked eyes with Ellis and raised a brow. She knew what he was thinking.
What the hell?
But it was always like that between her and Dina. Ellis knew she was forgiven when Dina breezed in and acted like nothing had happened. All her life she thought being ignored by her sister was better than arguing with her. Maybe that was changing. She wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. It was what she had done in the past. She hated not speaking to her sister. Ellis didn’t want to go through life estranged from her only sibling. But this time she was finding it hard to choke down the bitterness she tasted when she watched her sister walk through the door. She was finding it hard to forget those nasty words her sister had flung at her during their last fight.

The doorbell rang before Ellis could process it all. Mike stood up and helped her to her feet. She could think later. Now it was time to eat.

*   *   *

Dinner that night was an awkward affair, at least for Ellis. Mike sat by her side while they dined on Italian but neither of them had much to say. Phillipa, however, had plenty to talk about and kept the conversation going by herself for nearly an hour. Dina contributed, too, telling them about the new job she’d gotten at a large upscale department store in the city.

“I used your name to help get my foot in the door, Ellis. I knew you wouldn’t care. I wasn’t sure about you designing clothes for a living but it helped me get a better job. Who would have thought you would be known in the fashion industry?”

Ellis didn’t respond to her sister’s backhanded compliment or say anything more than “Pass the pepper” to her the entire meal. So when the last plate was cleaned Ellis made a dash for the kitchen, volunteering to slice the tiramisu for dessert.

“You okay?” Mike’s strong arms folded around her, and she smiled as some of the stress leaked from her body.

“I’ll be much better once you take me home.”

“You mean you’re not enjoying the most awkward dinner ever?” He kissed the spot behind her ear that always melted her bones. “I know she’s your sister but she is the most self-centered person on the planet.”

“You dated her,” she pointed out.

“We didn’t do much talking.”

“And yet you never slept with her.” She turned in his arms. “Why not?”

“You interrupted us. Remember?”

“Yeah.” Her cheeks burned. “I still can’t get the image of you in those Calvins out of my head.”

“But those Armani boxer briefs you got me for my birthday should be replacing that image nicely.”

“Wear the red ones to bed tonight.” She kissed his chin. “They’ll put me in a festive mood.”

He slid his hands down her back as he groaned. “Let’s get dessert over with quickly. We need to get you to bed early tonight.” He held her tightly against him for a moment, dropping his voice to a whisper. “You don’t know how grateful I am to you for interrupting us that night. Sometimes I kick myself for not getting to know you better four years ago, but I know I wasn’t ready then. Hell, I’m not sure I’m ready for this now.” He laughed softly. “But I can’t imagine not being with you and I want you to know that you’re stuck with me for a very long time.” He pressed a soft lingering kiss to her mouth. Ellis’s eyes were about to flutter shut when she noticed they weren’t alone anymore. Dina stood watching them from the doorway, her face twisted in a painful expression. Ellis gently removed herself from Mike, wondering how long they had been watched.

“Sorry,” Dina mumbled as her heels clicked on the hardwood floor. “Walter was wondering what was taking you two so long. He said you should have been out eight minutes ago.”

Mike could barely hide his annoyance with Dina and gave her a look that told her so. “I’ll carry the plates out. Are you going to be okay with the coffee, Ellis?”

She nodded, accepting his kiss to her forehead before he quit the room. Dina remained where she was.

“He really loves you. Doesn’t he?”

“I think so.”

“Mom says you two live together.”

Ellis nodded. She was having a hard time forming words. There was so much she needed to say to her sister and yet she could think of nothing to start with.

“She’s says that you didn’t tell me because you didn’t want to mess up our relationship.”

Ellis nodded again, now understanding that no matter when she told her sister about Mike, the fight couldn’t have been avoided. Because the fight wasn’t really about about Mike.

“Say something,” Dina pressed.

“I’m not sorry for loving him, Dina. I won’t apologize for it.”

Dina’s expression hardened for a moment, and Ellis could have sworn hatred flashed in her sister’s eyes. Then it cleared, and Ellis thought her imagination was playing tricks on her. “I still wish you would have told me.”

“But I didn’t and now it’s over.”

“I want my sister back.” Dina stepped closer and kissed Ellis’s cheek. “Don’t be mad at me.” Ellis kept her body stiff but Dina wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly. “I was mean to you. I was a big fucking bitch but I was surprised, okay? And I couldn’t stop myself from turning back into the girl who was always a little jealous that somebody loves you more than me. So please don’t be mad at me. I love you.”

Ellis relaxed a little. “I love you, too.” She was never really mad in the first place; more hurt than anything. She tried to let the bitterness drain from her body, but it was slow to leave.

“Good.” Dina smiled as if her words made everything all better. And for Dina things might be better. But Ellis knew that things would not be smooth sailing for them from now on no matter how much she wanted them to be. “Because I’m going to Mom and Dad’s Christmas party next week and I want my fashion designer sister to help me pick out a dress. Since you seem to have taken the last hot guy I know, I’m on the prowl again and I heard there are going to be a lot of cute, single, brainy men there.” She grabbed empty mugs from the counter. “Grab the pot. We’ll go shopping on Sunday.”