Chapter 12
Colby took the mug of hot chocolate Ali handed him.
It smelled luscious, and he’d noticed while she was making it that it was more than just heating up some milk and a mix.
His first sip woke up every taste bud and seemed to warm him to his toes.
She smiled, and he guessed his was the usual reaction to the chocolaty, cinnamony with-a-touch-of-marshmallow concoction.
He’d also noticed, as she’d handed him the mug, something he’d missed before.
The lighting hadn’t been right, or his mind had been so totally otherwise occupied.
But now he’d seen it, that slight indentation or line on her left ring finger.
Like from a ring long worn but only recently removed.
He wondered if perhaps that was why she was so understanding.
Maybe she’d just been through a divorce of her own.
Hayley and Quinn were back on their phones again, arranging who knows what. He was still stunned at the evidence of the size and scope of Foxworth, and their apparent resources.
And it had all started with Ali and her pup, who was currently playing a futile came of tug-of-war with Cutter, who held the rope toy so carefully it was like he knew his playmate was younger and more fragile. As he obviously did, from their description of how he’d brought Ziggy to them.
Who would have ever thought bleeding all over that little mutt would have led to…this?
She came around the counter and sat on the stool to his right.
Without really thinking about it, he looked down at that finger again.
He’d been right, he could see the faint indentation and tan line.
He doubted she got very tan, with her complexion that fit with the red tones in her hair, but it was still there, just barely.
He wanted to ask, even though he told himself it was none of his business, really. He could make up some reason, like asking if they needed to worry about her ex showing up, but he didn’t want to do that. But he couldn’t seem to quash his need to know.
“There was a ring there for a long time,” he finally said, making sure it wasn’t a question so she could ignore it if she wanted.
She turned her head to look at him. “Yes. Nearly ten years.”
“You did a lot better than I did,” he said wryly.
“If you call being a widow better.”
His eyes widened, and he felt his gut tighten as if she’d punched him. “I… I didn’t… I’m sorry. And I’m just going to shut up now, before I say something worse.”
“It’s all right. You had no way of knowing.”
He stared into her vivid green eyes, and even he couldn’t miss the pain there. But she didn’t seem on the verge of tears or anything, so he risked asking, “When…?”
“He was killed in a car accident four years ago. But I only took the ring off when I moved in here.”
“Is that…why you moved?”
She nodded. “I spent those years in the home we made together, unable to let go. But I finally realized I had to, or I was going to stay mired in misery forever.”
He tried to imagine what that would be like, to have a woman love you so much she couldn’t get past losing you. He couldn’t. He’d never even been close to that.
He tried to choose his words carefully, not wanting to step in it again with her. “While he was here, he was a lucky man. To have you, I mean.” He shook his head, that still sounded bad. “That was stupid, too. Shutting up now,” he muttered.
“To the contrary, Mr. Kendrick. That was a lovely compliment.”
Before he had to come up with some stumbling response to that, Quinn rescued him.
“All right, let me run this by you both. Hayley will stay here a few days to get a feel for things, under the cover of being your friend from school, Ali. She’ll be open about it, and if at some point it feels right, you can introduce her to your charming neighbor.”
Quinn’s tone was beyond sarcastic on those last two words, and it made Colby almost smile.
“We’ll use my maiden name, Cole, in case she might recognize Foxworth,” Hayley said.
Quinn went on. “Also, in shifts, another of our team will be here—not necessarily inside, Ali, so don’t think you have to have houseguests the whole time.”
“It would be fine if I did,” she said. “And by the way, there’s a door into the garage—” she gestured toward the side opposite Liz’s place “—and then into the house, so you can come and go as needed out of sight. I’ll get you my extra key and door opener.”
Colby stared at her again, boggled anew at her willingness to trust what were basically strangers to her.
“We don’t want to interfere with your work any more than necessary,” Hayley said.
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted. “I can close the door to my office, and put my headphones on. That way I’ll never even know you’re here unless you pound on the door. And I’m a little light right now anyway, my next big project doesn’t start for a couple of weeks.”
He wondered whose life she was going to make comfortable, organized and functional.
Lucky people, whoever they were. A while ago he’d gone back to look at the place he’d helped build for Sarge, and had been amazed at how whoever had done it had managed to make it a welcoming dining hall, meeting room, office space and functional kitchen all in one.
Now that he’d met her, he wasn’t surprised at all.
“All right. Colby, one of our crew will be going with you when you go to pick up Grace for your scheduled visitation.” The man glanced at his wife, and Colby got the feeling they’d discussed this at length. “It would be me, except Hayley thinks I’m a bit…overkill.”
Colby couldn’t help chuckling at that. “You do have the air.”
Quinn shrugged, and it was Hayley who, grinning, went on. “We’ll start with Liam. He’s more the lean, wiry type, not quite as imposing. And that drawl of his distracts people from seeing just how strong he is.”
“Perfect,” Colby said, remembering the man’s accent and his lazy grin. “Because Liz will take that twang as meaning he’s stupid. To her, anybody from certain places she would never set foot must be.”
“Her mistake,” Quinn said flatly.
“I’ll bet,” Colby said. “He didn’t strike me as the least bit stupid.”
“He’s at the top of the tech tier at Foxworth Northwest,” Hayley said. “And smart as the proverbial whip.” She grinned again. “Smart enough to use people’s misperceptions to get what we need.”
“He’ll be wired into us so you don’t have to wear an earpiece,” Quinn went on. “Unless you make a habit of it?”
“Actually, I do. Loud power tools and all. I don’t think she’d wonder about it.”
“All right,” Quinn said. “Then you can be live with us too. We’ll get you set up with one of ours.”
“Does that mean I don’t get to wear the pearl earrings?” He put all the innocence he could muster into his voice. Ali, who had been taking a sip of hot chocolate, nearly spit it back out again, laughing. Hayley laughed as well, and even Quinn chuckled. And it all made Colby able to genuinely smile.
Hope, he thought, was a powerful antidote to despair.
“Careful,” Ali said after she swallowed. “She might like that enough to take you back.”
“More likely she’d slit my throat and steal them,” he said dryly.
“Did I mention we have a prize-winning ex-military sniper on our team?” Quinn said, just as dryly.
Colby blinked. “Uh…no, you didn’t.”
“But he’s about to get married,” Hayley put in, “so we’d rather not call him in if we don’t have to.”
Colby wasn’t sure how to take the cheerful yet apparently serious tone. He had the feeling that, even with what he knew of them from people they’d helped, he’d vastly underestimated the Foxworth Foundation.