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She glanced over at him as he backed out of the parking space. “I appreciate you coming to get me. I told your father I could’ve gotten a taxi.”
“It’s not a problem.” Adam maneuvered his ticket into the slot, paid for the parking, and waited until the barrier lifted to release them. Dealing with the normal stuff, and not directly looking at her, gave him a chance to recover from his unexpectedly emotional reaction to simply seeing her. “It’s only an hour away.”
“But I’m taking you away from your work.”
“Ben’s taking up the slack today.” He checked the navigation and made sure he got in the correct lane as he exited the airport. It was a fairly straight route back to Bridgeport and out to the ranch.
She set her purse on her knee and opened it, bringing out her phone. “I’d better let everyone know I’ve arrived safely.”
Adam badly wanted to ask whom she meant, but he still wasn’t sure he wanted to know. She texted with one finger at a rate Roman could probably manage. Had she married again? He had no idea.
“That’s better. Would you like a mint?”
“No, thanks.”
Adam kept his gaze on the road, and made sure the air-conditioning was set at a high level. Out here in the open, there was no shade and the glare off the road onto the glass windscreen was intense.
“I was sorry to hear about what happened to Louisa,” Leanne said.
Adam risked a sideways glance at her, his fingers tightening on the steering wheel.
“She was such a lovely girl.”
“Yeah, she was.”
“I wrote to her parents. I knew them quite well before I left Morgan Valley.”
“They never mentioned you wrote.”
“Why would they?” She looked at him thoughtfully. “I have to assume from your expression and your tone that your father didn’t give you the letter I wrote to you.”
“Why wouldn’t he do that?” Adam parried.
“Because he’s a very stubborn man who has probably never forgiven me for leaving him.” She sighed. “It’s okay, Adam. I know you don’t want me here. I’m not stupid.”
There was a lot he wanted to say to that, but he was driving, and he didn’t want to end up in an argument. He hated it when people got angry and said shit they didn’t mean. Keeping his cool, stepping back from any attempt she made to rile him up, was the way to go. She wanted closure? He’d give it to her with the minimum amount of participation possible.
She waited for a moment, and then sat back in her seat and closed her eyes, her expression resigned. Adam should’ve felt like the victor of their first encounter, but for some reason he didn’t. She wasn’t rubbing anything in his face; she wasn’t being brash and defiant as if nothing had happened. She wasn’t giving him anything to grab hold of and run with. Did he want her to? Did he want an excuse to let some of that good and righteous anger simmering deep in his gut out?
He continued to sneak glances at her as she dozed, noticing the good quality of her clothing and the fancy leather purse she was carrying. Whatever she’d gone on to become, she looked nothing like the mother he’d once known in her jeans and shirts, her red hair braided down her back. She didn’t look ill either, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t. Louisa hadn’t looked ill until after the chemo and radiation treatments....
Had Leanne really written to him? She was right that it would’ve been just like his dad to hold back any mail from his estranged wife. But it had hurt him when he’d heard nothing from her, and it had stuck with him like another layer of resentment.
She let out a little snore, and Adam returned his focus on the road. The sooner he got her to the hotel, the sooner she’d be off his hands and become his father’s problem.
* * *
Lizzie jumped when her doorbell rang and contemplated not answering it. She’d picked up Roman from Gabby’s and noticed the gold Lexus was parked at Coretta’s again. There was no sign of the woman herself, but Lizzie felt like she needed to be on her guard the whole way home.
She walked down the stairs to the lower level, stood on tiptoe to check out who was calling, and opened the door.
