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I shrug. “I don’t know what the hell this means. But I got the same email, and so did the Steels.”
He raises his eyebrows. “The Steels?”
“Well, Ava Steel. And mine didn’t come directly to me.”
“What does that mean?”
“It came to the sheriff’s office. Did this one come to you?”
He nods. “It came to one of my email addresses, but not the one I commonly use.”
I cock my head, eyeing him. “Why would you have more than one email address?”
“I opened a few email accounts when I was researching my relationship to the Steel family.”
“Again…why?”
He shrugs. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn’t want to bog down my regular email address with all this stuff.”
He’s lying, and I’ve lost all patience. “And for the third time… Why, Pat?”
He drops his gaze to the floor for a moment. “I don’t know. Hell, I don’t know which end is up these days. All I know is that the woman in the hospital is the only link I have to who I truly am. Her name is Dyane Wingdam, and my mother is her daughter, Lauren Wingdam.”
“And where is she? The daughter? Er…your mother?”
“I don’t know. I only recently found out her name. I haven’t been able to track her down. She may be dead for all I know. But her mother, Dyane Wingdam, using the name Sabrina Smith, is alive. Alive and sedated and in the hospital.”
“And you’re sure this woman is related to you?”
“I’m sure.”
He doesn’t offer any more explanation, and I don’t push. First, I don’t have the time. Second, I’m not sure I care.
Except I have to care because Ava and I got the same message.
“Look, I feel for you. I really do. But I have to get moving. The bar is going to be hopping this afternoon.”
Pat shakes his head. “Come on. You’ve got to know something. Why would they send me to you? What is your connection to the Steels?”
“Christ.” I rub my forehead. “This isn’t a secret, so go talk to my dad. The only connection we have to the Steel family”—other than my dating Ava, which I keep to myself. Hell, he may know already—“is that my great-uncle died at Bradford Steel’s wedding fifty years ago.”
Pat’s eyes widen. “He did?”
“Yeah. He OD’d. But the guy never used drugs in his life, according to people long gone now. My dad always wondered why it happened, but he was never able to trace it to the Steels.” I hand the hard copy of the email back to Pat.
He shoves it in his pocket. “All right. I’ll talk to your dad. Where do I find him?”
“Didn’t you used to live here? His name is Sean Murphy. He used to run this place, and he lives here in town. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to shower and get the bar open.”
“Yeah, okay.”
He shuffles out the back door, and I’m ready to lock it when—
“Brendan Murphy, what the hell is going on?”
Ava.
Right at the back door of the bar.
And damn, she’s as beautiful as ever, all fiery and angry—about what, I have no idea.
So I smile, hoping my pearly whites can defuse whatever’s got her going. “Hey, baby. What can I do for you?”
Her full lips are turned down into a frown. “Don’t you ‘hey, baby’ me.”
I raise my eyebrows. So much for the patented Brendan Murphy smile. “What’s wrong? I thought we left things great between us today.”
“I thought we did too.”
“What’s going on, Ava?”
Man, is she pissed. If she were a volcano, she’d be spewing hot lava on me right about now.
“You tell me,” she demands. “You’re the only one I told about my fear that my mother was sick again, but I found my father walking along Main Street today, and I stopped him to talk to him. He told me point-blank that my mother’s not ill.”
Uh-oh.
But Ryan came to me. I didn’t go to him.
“Ava…”
“I won’t stand for secrets between us, Brendan. I like you. I like you a lot, and I like where this relationship is headed, but no secrets. I’ve got enough family members keeping secrets from me right now. I don’t need my boyfriend keeping secrets.”
She’s so beautiful. So worked up. My cock is already reacting.
She’s also right.
So I tell her that.
“You’re right.”
Her blue eyes go wide for a second. Is she surprised that I agree with her? But she goes back to her fiery stance in a flash.
“Good. Now spill it. Spill it all.”
I may never get to the shower, but Ava’s more important than anything else. “Okay. Your father asked me to keep this a secret—”
“What?” Her arms clamp across her chest. “My father asked you to keep a secret from me?”
“Just let me finish, Ava. Please.”
She glares at me.
I sigh. “I take confidentiality seriously, but you mean much more to me than your dad does. Although…I don’t want to get on his bad side either.”
