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Ally frantically pacedthe shiny tiled floor while she waited for Matt to enter the private room where Jesse continued to sleep peacefully. Much more and she’d have a hole worn down to the next level below them.
He’d been such a rock for her during her father’s hospital stay that his secrets felt like personal betrayal. “So, when are you going to tell me exactly who you are?”
“Nice to see you, too,” his brow had creased to replace his smile.
She was pissed.Can’t he tell this is serious?“I don’t have the time or the patience for being nice. I don’t trust you, and I want to know who you are and why you’re here. It makes me sick to think I was starting to get so attached to you.”
“I told you straight off to ask if you wanted to know something. My life is just that.Mine. I’m not an open book for the whole freakin’ continent to read at will.”
Ally backed down slightly. “I know you’re hiding something. I overheard you talking to the doctor a little bit ago, and I think I have a right to be concerned.”
“You know you have a bad habit of eavesdropping on people’s conversations? I thought we talked about it already.” He moved closer, hands on his hips in a tight stance. “You have a right? Why, because we had sex?”
“No, because of my daddy.” She lifted her chin and stared him down. “And although he might not care about your history, I sure do.”
“Well, if you must know,” he said between clenched teeth. “I lived in New York most of my adult life until two years ago when I killed a woman. It all but destroyed me, and I needed an escape. That’s when your dad hired me. The rest is none of your goddamn business.”
She didn’t budge, tears streaming down her face while Matt stormed around her and out of the hospital room. What the hell was she supposed to say to that? She glanced at the doorway he’d exited. What did he mean, he’d killed a woman?
“Ally, you know I love you dearly, but what in the hell are you doing butting your nose into the boy’s business?”
Her throat squeezed at her daddy’s unexpected response.
“Geez, scare a girl to death. Aren’t you supposed to be asleep? Talk about butting into someone else’s business. Besides, he’s working for you and living in your house. I think that gives me the right to know what he’s hiding. He said he killed a woman. Don’t you think that’s important to know about?”
“It gives you no right at all. He works forme, and I already told you I know all I need to know. He doesn’t know it, but I already heard what happened to him and the woman two years ago, and it wasn’t his fault. But after that downright selfish display of yours, I don’t guess you’ll be getting another chance to find out anything about Matt Gentry, who will continue to be the foreman ofmyranch, if he’ll still have the job.”
“Why is it that you keep taking his side over mine?” Ally was a little hurt by her dad’s automatic defense of the man.
“Oh Ally-cat, you know you will always be my number one. But, in this particular situation and I mean where the foreman of my ranch is concerned, you’re plain wrong. I really thought things were going okay between you both but a man’s personal business is his own and if he wanted you to know he woulda told you.”
Ally went to sit on the bed beside her dad. “I wish you weren’t always right about everything.”
For the second time since she arrived in Rock Creek, Ally had put herself in the middle of a situation she didn’t really belong in and not-so-kindly been told to butt out. Maybe she’d overstayed her welcome after all. Her daddy was on the road to recovery and due to be released in a couple days if things continued to improve, so today would be as good a time as any to head back to New York to her old stuffy life. She felt bad for what she’d said to Matt, and she really would miss him, whether she should or not.
“I think it’s time I headed back to New York, Daddy. The doctor says you’re doing really well and if you continue to behave, you’ll be home before you know it.” When she thought he would protest, she raised a finger to his lips to silence him.
“It’s okay, Daddy. I’ll come back before I leave town and I promise I’ll visit again soon—and it won’t take two years. I hate goodbyes so just give me a hug, okay?” She leaned down to wrap her arms around him before the tears started to fall. She returned to the ranch to pack her things, taking care to avoid any run-ins with Matt, and said her sad goodbyes to Maribella and Roberto, promising to visit again soon. She’d called ahead and had a ticket waiting at the airport and made sure the car rental agency would be open so she could drop the truck off after she looked in on her daddy one more time.
She hadn’t expected to see Matt again, but when she walked in her daddy’s room, he wasn’t alone. Matt looked so good but definitely hurt. She wanted to apologize to him for everything and have him hold her one more time, telling her everything between them would all be okay.
He glanced at her father. “Jesse, I’ll be back later, I have to call the ranch.” He glared at her as he passed, careful to skirt around her. Anger and hurt swirled in his eyes, then he stomped purposefully out of the room. She started to follow but her dad’s words stopped her.
“Ally, don’t. Maybe you should give him some time to think. He’s pretty mad and I’m not sure he’d even listen.”
This is it, then.Her head hung low as tears fell down her cheeks. Her heart was breaking, and he would never know how sorry she was.
Chapter Ten
Matt stood on the familiar New York street corner, resting against one of the ancient parking meters positioned aplenty through his old neighborhood in the Lower East Side. He looked up at the illuminated fluorescent sign in the window of the ancient brick building.Zach’s Place.The classic neighborhood bar was his little brother’s pride and joy, had even been a safe haven of his own in the days after Wendy’s death.
He probably still had a stool at the end of the bar reserved for him, a place where he used to drown his sorrows—not like it really ever helped. He’d always looked back on those days as the lowest time of his life. Well, now it was running a far second.
Truth be told, the time after Wendy had been devastating in hindsight, but couldn’t hold a candle to the pain he’d felt when he’d allowed Ally to walk out of his life. Wendy would always be missed, and he was wracked with guilt, blaming himself for the life she wouldn’t get to live. But living without Ally? That was something he wasn’t sure he could ever deal with. She left an ache in his soul no amount of time would ease. Stupid pride had stopped him from going after her when Jesse told him she’d left Rock Creek. He’d realized far too late, of course, that he was willing to travel to the ends of the earth to have her back.
“You goin’ in, buddy, or you just gonna stare at my sign all night?”
Zach.
