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Allie nodded and gave a thumbs-up.
Not waiting for Travis to gun the motor and leave her behind, she raced around to the passenger side, opened the door, and slid in. She smiled at him in victory as she pulled her seat belt on.
“Hey, it was your idea to take separate cars, if you remember.” He gave her a sideways smile.
For some reason, her victory seemed a little sour, and she wasn’t actually certain who’d won this round.
Neither of them uttered another word for a few minutes as he maneuvered out of the neighborhood. Needing to take some control of the situation, she offered, “Do you want to give me the address? I’m sure I can help direct you to the house.”
He waited ten long seconds before answering her. “No. I think I can remember how to get around.”
She started to object, and he reached his hand out and flipped on the radio.
Really?
Rude. And his musical selection wasn’t any better. She didn’t think anyone listened to eighties music anymore. But rather than argue over his poor taste in music, she sat in silence, staring out the window. Because she had to face the truth that Allie’s comments had brought home.
Darcy had a boyfriend. Someone she was spending all of her time with. Someone she might even love. And she hadn’t even told Meredith about it.
Her daughter really was a stranger to her. How had that happened?
She’d only been twenty-two when she first met Darcy. Ridiculously happy and in love with Jon, Meredith hadn’t cared that he was twice her age and had a half-grown daughter he was raising alone. She only cared that he was warm and funny and made her feel secure. That he was going t
o love and take care of her forever.
It hadn’t been hard to feel a connection with Darcy. A girl who, like Meredith, had been abandoned by her own mother as a kid. Then Jon died only two years after they were married from a sudden coronary, and her heart had broken from the loss. Abandoned all over again, even as, at the ripe age of twenty-four, Meredith became a single mom to a sullen thirteen-year-old.
She’d sworn then to toughen Darcy up. And herself.
Five years later, what had Meredith really accomplished? Another failed marriage. A daughter who couldn’t wait to get away from her. Sad memories and a whole lot of regrets.
Regrets that hit her hardest whenever she was around Allie McBride. An old friend who had always easily gained adoration and attention from those around her. Treating Allie like shit hadn’t made Meredith feel any better about herself. Quite the contrary. But she hadn’t been able to stop herself.
“Do you know anything about this kid? Bryce?” Travis asked her as he stopped at a red light.
Shame flooded her. Of course she didn’t.
She kept her attention outside the window. “His family is very well respected in the community. His dad, Peter, is on a planning committee with me for the school’s big centennial gala that’s…Saturday night.” Only two days away. Amazing that something that she’d nearly been obsessed with the past few months now seemed so unimportant. “As to Bryce? I don’t know anything about him.”
She sounded pathetic even to her ears. Fortunately he didn’t say anything more.
The address brought them to a massive two-story house with an attached garage that spread across the whole corner of the block. Travis pulled up to the front curb and stared at the monstrosity, disdain evident from the sneer at the corner of his mouth. “What’d you say this guy does for a living?”
“Peter’s family is in the food service business,” she said and stepped out of the car.
She followed the walkway up to the house and was almost to the porch before she realized Travis wasn’t behind her. Instead, he’d strolled up the driveway, slowing to glance at the cars parked inside the garage.
She shook her head. Men. Always checking out the newest and latest model—of cars and women.
Satisfied, Travis met her at the front door and stood next to her. She pressed the doorbell and a loud pattern of bells sounded though the house. He snorted and shook his head as he muttered something under his breath.
“I get the distinct impression you don’t think much of people with money?”
He glanced at her. “I don’t have a problem with people with money. I have a problem with how some people spend their money. There’s a difference.”
Any response she could give him was cut off when the door opened to a portly older woman Meredith didn’t know but assumed was a maid. “Yes?” she asked.
Meredith quickly took the reins and mentioned her name and her connection with Peter, Bryce’s father, and the fact Bryce went to school with Darcy. “Is Bryce home? I’m looking for my daughter and was hoping he might know where she is.”
