Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lydia walked with her arm locked through Ty’s as they made their way back toward the compound in the dark. The stars twinkled, and the moon shone brightly as the waves crashed against the sand in the distance.
They’d managed a walk by the water every night that they’d been in Shoalmans Bay. She loved that showers would come next, then their snuggle session on the couch—their cozy evening routine.
She sighed as she looked up to the sky, resting her head against his shoulder, more than happy that they were taking their time when the warm breeze felt soft and perfect on her skin. “It’s amazing how quiet everything is when the beach was so alive with the holiday yesterday.”
Ty hummed his agreement as he nodded. “I think it’s crazier that the compound feels so empty with your gram-gram, aunt, and uncle gone. The place is massive, but surprisingly, three people leaving makes a big difference.”
She grinned. “They have a big presence while they’re here.”
He nodded. “That they do.”
She wrapped herself tighter around him. “I think Gram-Gram’s going to miss you. She seems pretty smitten.”
He smiled. “I think she likes that I remind her of your dad.”
“Occasionally, you’re as funny as he was.”
He huffed out a pained laugh. “You’re bad for my ego, Lyd.”
She laughed as she looked at him, entirely content with life.
Or mostly anyway. “Did you hear anything from your contact agent today?” Because yesterday’s conversation had been on her mind since the moment she woke up this morning.
It was only now that she was getting the chance to ask him about it.
He shook his head. “Unless something pops up, I probably won’t. At least not for a couple of days.”
“So, they probably don’t know when you’re leaving, then?”
He shook his head. “It’s really hard to say.”
She nodded, not loving that a group of higher-ups in the FBI had so much control over Ty’s life.
“Are you going to miss me, Lyd?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. But probably not.”
They grinned at each other.
She let her head rest against him again. “Where will you go when you leave?”
“Back to DC. Back to bank robberies until the next undercover op comes along.”
“And that will be in DC, too?”
He shook his head. “Not necessarily. Ops can take place pretty much anywhere. Sometimes even overseas. It all depends on the needs of the case.”
“And you’ll be gone for a while?”
He shrugged. “Probably. The official policy is that undercover operations are supposed to be wrapped up within a six-month time frame—a year at the most—but there have been instances where ops have lasted two, three, and even four and five years.”
She struggled to keep her mood light as her hopes that they would be able to stay friends and get together on occasion quickly faded. “Oh.”
“It’s always up in the air until it isn’t,” he added.
She nodded, not wanting to talk about Ty’s real life anymore. “I think I’m in the mood for some ice cream.”
He looked at her. “Do we need to go to the store?”
She shook her head. “I know that Mac keeps a stash of her favorite flavor in the freezer. Chocolate Madness.”
He raised his brow. “That sounds intense.”
She laughed as they climbed the steps to the property. “They make it here locally. It’s full of all kinds of amazing things: chocolate ice cream, thick, fudgy swirls, brownie chunks, and tons of chocolate chips.”
“Are you going to be able to sleep after you eat all that?”
She grinned as she shrugged. “I guess we’ll see.”
“You can count me in for a couple of scoops. We’ll be toked up on sugar and caffeine together.”
She laughed again as they moved closer to the main house, but she stopped dead when she heard the raised voices coming through the open kitchen windows.
“You’re never here. When you’re not in Boston, which is most of the time, you’re always on your phone. Always, Will.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is. You barely pay attention to the kids. You barely pay attention to me. These past few days with your family at home are the most checked-in that you’ve been in weeks.”
Lydia swallowed as she held Ty’s gaze in the shadows, shocked by what she was hearing.
She turned to leave, pulling on Ty’s hand to follow, wanting to give Will and Mac their privacy, but Ty stopped her with a firm grab to her wrist as he shook his head, taking several careful steps closer to the edge of the window.
“Everly’s still regressing,” Mac said next. “She’s still having a hard time adjusting to Maverick being here. Both of the kids need individualized attention, but I can’t do it all. I need help.”
“So stop shutting me out. Communicate with me. I’m constantly asking you what I can be doing. I get that I should know, but sometimes I don’t. Most of the time, it feels like you’re looking for reasons to be mad at me.”
“I don’t have to look very hard.”
“See? How is that helpful? How is that productive?”
“I want you to be here, Will. I want you to be present when you are. You’re a million miles away when we’re standing in the same room.”
“I know things have been a little crazy. Work is busy—”
“No. This isn’t about your job. This has nothing to do with your job. This is something else. Your job has always been busy, but we’ve made it work.” Suddenly, Mac broke down in tears. “Are you cheating on me?”
“What? No, I’m not cheating on you.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re distant and distracted. You’re never far away from your phone. It feels like you’re keeping secrets.”
Lydia’s gaze whipped to Ty’s as her stomach sank.
“I’m not cheating on you, Mac. I would never do that to you.”
Mac lost her composure again. “I’m packing the kids up. I’m taking them to my parents’ for a while—”
“You can’t. My parents will be back in a couple of weeks.”
Mac tossed out a bitter laugh. “Of course, that’s what matters to you. The pretenses. The illusions. Happy and perfect. What would your parents say if they knew that things sucked between us right now? What would it do to your dad’s upcoming campaign if his son’s marriage were falling apart?”
“Fuck the campaign.”
Mac laughed humorlessly again. “We both know it doesn’t work that way.”
“Please, Mac. I’ll try harder. I’ll be home more. You and the kids are all that matter to me.”
“I’d say we’re more of an afterthought these days.”
“That’s not true.”
Mac sniffled several times, clearly trying to shore herself back up. “I’ve been watching Lydia and Ty over these past few days… They’re so wrapped up in each other. They’re so happy. We used to have that, Will. We used to be that. Where did it go?”
“It’s still here.”
“It doesn’t feel like it.”
“I’ll do better. I promise I’ll do better. Please stay here with me. Don’t take the kids away.”
Mac exhaled a shaky breath. “I don’t know.”
“Please, Mac.”
“I just—I can’t do all of this alone. You need to get your shit together.”
“Okay.”
Maverick started to cry on the monitor on the counter.
“I’ll get him,” Will said.
“I’ll take care of it. I need to feed him anyway,” Mac said as she left the room.
“Fuck,” Will muttered. “Fuck,” he said again, hurrying up the stairs after Mac.
And then there was silence—a horrible, heavy silence as Lydia stared at the ground, pressing her hand to her stomach, still trying to catch up with the last few minutes.
Will and Mac had always been so close—so sympatico.
They’d clicked from the first moment that she’d introduced them almost seven years ago.
On the rare occasion that things had gotten a little rough, she’d always been the first person Mac had called.
It shocked her that she’d been on the compound for days, and Mac had never said a thing.
“I’m going inside,” she heard herself say.
Ty nodded. “I’ll be in shortly.”
She nodded this time, heading for the house and immediately up the stairs, wasting no time getting into the shower. She washed her body, then her hair, reaching for the bottle of conditioner as she stared at the tile while her mind raced.
What did all of this mean? Why hadn’t Mac told her what was going on? Was Will keeping secrets? Did those secrets have anything to do with Richard Russo?
Rinsing her hair, she turned off the water and got out, wrapping herself in a towel. She applied her night cream and brushed her teeth on autopilot before she put on her pajama shorts and cami top.
Eager to get into bed, she pulled back the covers and lay down, shaken in a way that she hadn’t been since Ty showed up with his badge all those weeks ago.
Ty hurried back down the beach steps and closer to the water as he pulled his phone from his shorts, finding Nick’s number as he turned to look at the main house. Instead of texting, he called.
“Yeah,” Nick answered on the second ring.
“Hey. Will and Mackenna Monroe just had one hell of a knock-down, drag-out.”
“What about?”
“She thinks he’s cheating.”
“Well, that’s interesting. We haven’t seen any evidence of infidelity. Surveillance hasn’t spotted him with another woman at any point since we started watching.”
“Exactly. She also accused him of being tuned out and distracted—secretive and always on his phone.”
“That’s even more interesting.”
“I agree. There’s something here. We’ve got a long way to go to prove that, but this is something. I know for a fact that Will loves his family, so what has him so preoccupied that it’s causing problems in his marriage?”
“Maybe it has something to do with work.”
Ty shook his head, knowing in his bones that this was what they’d been waiting for—the first crack. “That’s what Will tried to tell Mac, but Mac countered with the fact that he’s always been busy. She said that whatever’s going on with him is different. I’m telling you, man. This is something.”
“So, let’s follow it.”
“I’ll head to the gym in the morning and see if I can get him to talk. If I poke a little, he may want to vent. Maybe he’ll offer something up, especially since it’ll just be the two of us.”
“Sounds good. Keep me up to date.”
“Will do. I’ll reach out after he and I talk.”
“Sounds good,” Nick repeated.
He hung up and put his phone away, rubbing at the back of his neck as he headed back toward Lydia’s place, noting that the lights were off upstairs.
He clenched his jaw with the newly familiar stirrings of guilt for hearing a private moment between Will and Mac and immediately feeding it up the chain to the brass. Clearly, their marriage was in trouble, and Lydia had been upset.
“You’re doing your job,” he reminded himself as he punched in the code on the door and quietly went upstairs, heading for the shower and to brush his teeth.
Minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom in a pair of clean boxer briefs, noting that Lydia lay with her back turned to him, knowing that she wasn’t asleep.
Getting into bed, he pulled up the covers and looked at her glossy hair in the moonlight, when she usually faced him so they could chat until they were both sleepy. “Are you awake?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Mostly, I’m just tired.”
He read the room easily enough, understanding that she didn’t want to talk. “I’ll let you get some sleep.”
“’Kay.”
He stared at the ceiling, replaying what he’d heard by the kitchen window as he listened to the waves in the quiet, waiting to doze off.