“What in the hell is wrong with you?” Louie began. “For most of your life you’ve wanted one thing. One. Delaney Shaw. As soon as it looks like you’re finally going to get what you want, you do something to screw it up. You hurt her on purpose so she’ll hate you. Just like always. And guess what? She does.”
“Why do you care?” Nick raised his gaze to his brother’s deep brown eyes. “You don’t even like her.”
“I like her okay, but how I feel doesn’t really matter. You’re in love with her.”
“Doesn’t matter. She’s leaving in June.”
“Did she say that?”
“Yep.”
“Did you ask her to stay? Did you try to work anything out with her?”
“It wouldn’t have made any difference.”
“You don’t know that, and instead of finding out, you’re going to let the one woman you’ve loved your whole life walk out. What’s that matter with you? Are you chicken shit?”
“Fuck you, Louie.” He barely saw Louie’s fist before he buried it in his face. Light exploded behind Nick’s eyes and he went down hard, cracking the back of his head on the wood floor. His vision darkened and he thought he might pass out. Unfortunately the exposed ceiling beams came into focus, and with his cleared vision, his skull felt like it had been split in two. His cheekbone began to throb, and his brain pounded. He groaned and gingerly touched his eye. “You’re a little prick, Louie, and when I get up, I’m gonna kick your ass.”
His brother moved to stand over him. “You couldn’t kick old man Baxter’s ass, and he’s been pushing around one of those oxygen cylinders for ten years.”
“You cracked my head open.”
“No, your head’s too hard. Probably cracked your floor though.” Louie pulled a set of keys from his pants pocket. “I don’t know why you made Delaney hate you, but you’re going to sober up and realize you made a big mistake. I hope it’s not too late.” He frowned and pointed a finger at his brother. “Take a shower, Nick. You stink like a distillery.”
After Louie left, Nick picked himself off the floor and stumbled upstairs to bed. He slept until the next morning and woke up feeling like he’d been run over by a monster truck. He took a shower, but didn’t feel much better. The back of his head hurt and he had a black eye. That wasn’t the worst of it. Knowing that Louie was right was worse. He’d pushed Delaney out of his life. He’d thought he could push her out of his head, too. He’d thought he’d feel better. He’d never felt so low.
Are you chicken shit? Instead of fighting for Delaney, he’d fallen back on old habits. Instead of taking a chance, he’d hurt her before she could hurt him. Instead of taking a risk, he’d taken a swing. Instead of grabbing her with both hands, he’d pushed her away.
She’d said she loved him, and he wondered if he’d ruined everything. He might not deserve her love, but he wanted it. And if she no longer loved him? that nagging little voice asked. He’d made her love him once. He could do it again.
He dressed and headed out the door to take the biggest risk of his life. He drove to Delaney’s apartment, but she wasn’t home. It was Saturday, and her salon was closed, too. Not a good sign.
He drove to her mother’s, but Gwen wouldn’t talk to him. He looked in the garage to see if Delaney was hiding out and refusing to see him. Henry’s Cadillac sat inside. The little yellow Miata was gone.
He searched for her all over town, and the longer he looked, the more desperate he became to find her. He wanted to make her happy. He wanted to build her a house on the Angel Beach property or anywhere she wanted. If she wanted to live in Phoenix or Seattle or Chattanooga, Tennessee, he didn’t care, as long as he lived there with her. He wanted the dream. He wanted everything. Now all he had to do was find her.
He talked to Lisa, but she hadn’t heard from Delaney. When she didn’t show up to open her salon that Monday morning, Nick paid a visit to Max Harrison.
“Have you heard from Delaney?” he asked, walking into the lawyer’s office.
Max looked him over and took his time before answering. “She called me yesterday.”
“Where is she?”
Again he took his time. “I guess you’ll find out soon enough. She’s left town.”
The words hit him in the chest like a two-by-four. “Shit.” Nick sank into a chair and rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Where’d she go?”
“She didn’t say.”
“What do you mean, she didn’t say?” He dropped his hand to his thigh. “You said she called.”
“She did. She called to tell me she’d left town, and she was breaking the will. She didn’t say why or where she was going. I asked, but she wouldn’t tell me. I think she thought I’d tell her mother before she was ready for Gwen to know.” Max tilted his head to one side. “This means you get Delaney’s provision. Congratulations, come June, you’ll get everything.”
Nick shook his head and laughed without humor. Without Delaney there was nothing. He had nothing. He looked at Henry’s estate lawyer and said, “Delaney and I had a sexual relationship before she left town. Tell Frank Stuart and the two of you do whatever you have to do to make sure she gets that property at Silver Creek and Angel Beach.”
Max looked disgusted and tired of the whole mess. Nick knew the feeling.
Two weeks after his visit to Max, he still hadn’t heard a word. He’d haunted Gwen and Max Harrison, and he’d called the old salon Delaney had worked for in Scottsdale. They hadn’t heard from her since she’d quit the previous June. Nick was going crazy. He didn’t know where to look next. He never suspected that he should have looked within his own family.
“I hear Delaney Shaw is working down in Boise,” Louie mentioned as he casually took a swallow of his soup.
Everything within Nick stilled and he looked up at his brother. He and Louie and Sophie sat at his mother’s dining room table eating lunch. “Where did you hear that?”
“Lisa. She told me Delaney’s working in her cousin Ali’s salon.”
Slowly Nick lowered his spoon. “How long have you known?”
“A few days.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
Louie shrugged. “Didn’t think you’d want to know.”
Nick stood. He couldn’t decide if he should hug his brother or punch him in the head. “You knew I’d want to know.”
“Maybe I thought you needed to get yourself together before you see her again.”
“Why would Nick want to see that girl?” Benita asked. “The best thing she ever did was to leave town. The right thing is finally being done.”
“The right thing would have been for Henry to accept his responsibility a long time ago. But he had no interest in me until it was too late.”
“If it weren’t for that girl and her mother, he would have tried to provide for you years ago.”
“And monkeys might have flown out his butt,” Sophie said as she reached for the salt and pepper, “but I doubt it.”
Louie raised a stunned brow while Nick laughed.
“Sophia,” Benita gasped. “Where did you hear such foul language?”
There were any number of places, starting with her father and uncle and ending with the television. Her answer surprised Nick. “Delaney.”
“See!” Benita rose and moved toward Nick. “That girl is no good. Stay away from her.”
“That’s going to be a little difficult since I’m going to drive to Boise and find her. I love her, and I’m going to beg her to marry me.”
Benita stopped and raised a hand to her throat as if Nick were choking her.
“You’ve always said you wanted me to be happy. Delaney makes me happy, and I’m not going to live without her anymore. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get her back in my life.” He paused and looked into this mother’s stunned face. “If you can’t be happy for me, then stay away until you can at least fake it.”