Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ty sat across from Nick at a booth in the upscale coffeehouse in downtown Shoalmans Bay. He wore a pair of athletic shorts and a tank top as he sipped at his glass of water, making hydration a priority on another hot July day.
“So, we’ve got something to work with, but not really,” Nick said.
Ty nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty much the gist of things. Will and Mac had a hell of a fight. She’s positive that he’s hiding something from her, which she thinks is an affair.”
“We need to figure out what it actually is because we know it’s not another woman.”
Ty shrugged. “For all we know, it has nothing to do with the case. But I think it does.”
Nick sighed as he sat back on his bench. “This whole thing’s a mindfuck.”
Ty raised his brow at his co-worker because Nick didn’t know the half of it. “I’ll second that.”
“And he didn’t meet you in the gym again this morning?”
Ty shook his head. “I think he and Mac are giving each other plenty of space.” Which felt like the wrong move in his opinion, but he’d been married for zero days in the whole of his life, so who was he to judge?
Nick made a sound in his throat.
“Lyd and Mac are hanging out at the zoo with the kids today. I’m hoping that Mac might say something of value that Lydia will pass along.” As he spoke, his phone alerted him to a text.
Snagging the phone off the table, he grinned as he looked at the selfie Lydia had taken of herself and Everly by one of the large tanks with a seal in the background.
Definitely not a mermaid.
Chuckling, he shook his head as he responded. No, definitely not.
It’s starting to get really hot. We’re heading home.
K. See you in a bit.
Ev wanted me to tell you that she couldn’t find the unicorns.
He grinned again. I guess it wasn’t her day.
I think we can safely say that there are no magical creatures living here at the zoo.
He chuckled again as he glanced up, realizing that Nick was watching him.
“Lyd sent a picture.” He showed his co-worker. “It’s sort of an inside joke.”
Nick nodded. “How are things going with you two?”
Ty shrugged as his mind flashed back to kissing Lydia’s sexy siren’s body in the wee hours of the morning, remembering how hard he’d had to fight himself to do the right thing when Lydia had been hot and eager in his arms. “Am I talking to my lifeline in this whole fucking mess or to the guy who’s going to run back to the brass? ”
“You’re talking to your contact agent.”
He nodded. “It’s probably truthful to say that the lines blur from time to time. I understand the case objective. I know what I need to do and will do it if and when the time comes, but Lydia’s a different story.”
Nick nodded this time. “That’s normal. You know that. You’ve been in the undercover game for a while. This is classic identity conflict.”
Ty exhaled a long breath as he stared at the table because this felt like so much more than confusion about his current reality.
“You’re in deep,” Nick continued. “You fall asleep in the same bed. You spend your days together. It doesn’t surprise me that the line gets blurry.”
Nick didn’t understand that it went so much deeper than that.
Nick didn’t stare into Lydia’s fantastic hazel eyes every day or watch her smile.
She was absolutely fucking gorgeous, and her heart was pure gold.
He’d never known a woman like Lydia before.
She was once in a lifetime, and he would have to let her go.
“You just need to decompress when all of this is over. Things will get back to normal shortly after the operation ends. Just like it always does.”
“Yeah,” Ty said, even when he didn’t believe that at all.
This wasn’t an operation where he spent long days with the criminal element.
Never had he struggled with a case in this way before.
Not once had there ever been an invisible line that he’d been tempted to or even willing to ignore.
With Lyd, he fought it every single day. “I’m sure you’re right.”
“Of course I am, man.”
Ty sent Nick a small smile as his phone alerted him to another text. He immediately came to attention when he realized that it was Will, not Lydia.
I’m heading to a golf tournament with a client. Someone in our foursome canceled. Please tell me you play.
“Holy fuck, man,” he said to Nick. “We just got our next shot.”
Nick leaned closer, looking at the screen as Ty’s thumbs flew over the keys.
I’m no Tiger Woods, but I can certainly hold my own.
Can you save my life and meet me at the compound in an hour? We’re playing on Martha’s Vineyard at one thirty.
Definitely.
You can use my dad’s clubs. They’re in the garage.
Sounds fun. I’ll see you soon.
I owe you, man!
Ty grinned as he looked at Nick. “I’ve gotta go.”
Nick smiled back at him. “Yeah, you do. Call me when you get back.”
Ty stood. “You know I will.”
He tossed Nick a wave and headed for the door, smiling as he looked up to the bright-blue sky. Golf was something that he and his dad had enjoyed when his dad hadn’t been deployed. Neither of them had been great at the game, but they’d always had a good time.
He gave his attention back to his phone, texting Lydia as he headed toward her SUV.
Will asked me to play in a golf tournament as a favor. Apparently, someone bailed, and it’s for one of his clients, so I won’t be around for a while.
Okay. Have fun. I’ll see you when I see you.
He got in the Telluride and hurried back toward the compound to change. He and Will were about to spend the next several hours together.
Lydia chuckled as she looked back at Everly fast asleep in her booster seat, then at Maverick in the backseat mirror as he cooed at one of the toys hanging from his car seat. “She’s still out cold.”
Mac smiled as she drove them closer to the compound in her Range Rover. “I have a feeling that this was her nap for the day. As soon as we unbuckle her, she’ll be ready to go again.”
Lydia grinned, thrilled that they’d had a blast on their morning adventure to see the animals, minus mermaids and unicorns.
Mac seemed far more relaxed and much more like her usual, happy self after their mini getaway.
“Maybe I can convince her to have another dance party with me in the pool. Another round of sunshine and fresh air will have her asking to go to bed tonight.”
Mac took her eyes off the road long enough to toss her a look of deep skepticism. “We are talking about Everly, right? Because my daughter has never asked to go to bed.”
Lydia laughed. “It’s a dream I have for you.”
Mac laughed this time as she slowed and turned onto the estate property. “How about you have a talk with the chatty mister who currently has his back turned to us. If I could get him to sleep for three hours in a row, that would be a dream come true.”
Lydia batted her lashes at her. “He and I will have a conversation.”
Mac chuckled as she pulled up to her usual spot at the garage. “And we’re back.”
Lydia opened her mouth to respond but frowned when she spotted Ty with Uncle James’s golf bag on his shoulder, heading toward the Duffys’ property. “What is he doing?”
Mac shrugged. “I don’t know.”
And then she heard it—the horrible, rhythmic thumping sound that occasionally haunted her dreams.
A rush of adrenaline suddenly surged through her body as a wave of pure terror clutched at her stomach, making it hard for her to move, but she hurried out of the SUV and started running as she watched the helicopter land on the large empty space on the Duffys’ side lawn. “Ty!”
He kept moving toward the death trap, dressed in his snazzy golf shirt and shorts, clearly not hearing her.
“Ty,” she screamed again, picking up her pace as he moved closer to the door and the wind from the rotor. “Ty!”
Finally, she caught up to him, grabbing his arm.
He whirled.
She clutched at him now, pulling on him as Will got out of the cabin. “What are you doing? Where are you going?”
He walked her backward several steps. “The tournament’s on Martha’s Vineyard.”
She adamantly shook her head as she yanked harder on his wrist, trying to pull him even farther away. “You can’t get in.”
He settled his hands on her shoulders, rubbing his palms up and down her arms. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to be all right.”
She shook her head again as her chest constricted—as she fought to breathe. “You don’t know that. You can’t know that.”
He cupped her cheeks now. “I have to do this, Lyd. I have to go.”
She shook her head again. “No, you don’t.”
He nodded. “Yes, I do. And I’m going to be just fine. I’ll text you as soon as we get there.”
She struggled not to burst into tears, seeing that his mind was made up. “Please don’t go,” she tried again.
He pressed a long kiss to her forehead. “I’m going to be okay. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Her teeth chattered now as she turned away, trying to run on watery legs to the pool house.
She made it to the door, trying three times before she punched in the right combination, then let herself inside, sinking down the glass to the floor as she remembered waving to her family as the helicopter left the ground.
It had taken her years to be able to look up the media coverage about her family’s fateful flight. If she allowed herself to think about it, she could see the mangled mess of the aircraft far too clearly. And Ty had just gotten into one.
She pressed her forehead to her knees, squeezing her eyes shut as she listened to the helicopter lift off. “Be okay. Please, be okay.”
“Lydia,” she heard Mac call through the door, realizing that her friend was knocking. “Lydia, let me in.”
She made it onto her knees and turned the knob, finally giving in to her tears as Mac stood on the path with the car seat in one hand and a sleepy Everly in her opposite arm.
Compassion filled Mac’s big blue eyes. “Oh, honey.”
“I’m okay,” she struggled to say as she sobbed and sat back on her butt, unable to stop shaking. “I just need a minute.”
Everly got down and immediately hugged her. “Do you want to listen to my Toniebox to help with your big feelings?”
She cried harder as she nodded—as Everly’s sweetness touched her heart. “I do.”
“We can have a dance party in the pool,” Everly suggested next, smiling at her. “That will help, too.”
Lydia wiped at her wet cheeks. “You’re my best girl, Ev. You really are.”
Everly took her hand as she nodded. “Come on. We’re going to listen to music. You can pick the Tonie that you want. I have lots and lots because I ask Grandpa for them.”
She stood on Jell-O legs, struggling to smile as Mac wrapped her arm around her shoulders as they started walking toward the main house.
“He’s going to be okay, honey.”
She nodded, even when she couldn’t allow herself to believe it. In her experience, people who got onto helicopters didn’t come back. “There’s a good chance that I might knock Will out when I see him again.”
Mac batted her lashes as she shook her head. “You’re going to have to get in line for that.”
They smiled at each other, and she vowed that she would enjoy the rest of her day with her family. Ty had made his choice, and she was making hers.
Ty shook his head as he watched Lydia run away while Will put James’s clubs into the exterior storage space. He tore his gaze away long enough to get into the cabin and clenched his jaw as Asher stared at him with disapproval in his eyes.
“Fuck,” he said as he buckled in, looking toward the pool house, loathing himself for causing Lydia so much pain. She’d been terrified—shaking and sheet white. But he had to go. This was another opportunity to get deeper into the fold with Will—the entire reason he was here.
“Fuck,” he repeated, currently unconcerned that Will’s client was studying him from the seat across from his in the luxury four-seater as they lifted off the ground.
“That was tough, man,” Will said, sending Ty an apologetic smile. “We were supposed to be long gone before they got back from the zoo. I’ll have to apologize to her later.”
Ty nodded, feeling more than half sick that he wouldn’t be able to offer up an apology of his own and make things right for several hours.
Lydia had told him her story. She’d told him about her one true fear. And he was fucking sitting on it, stirring up her trauma.
“Fuck,” he muttered again as he stared out at the water rushing by, ready to get this over with and get back home to Lydia.