The pounding rain made the streets hard for Seth to see in the dark. Lack of street lighting simply made it worse. At least the traffic was light. At this late hour, few cars were on the road. Seth squinted and slowed his car, turning his wipers up to full blast. They whipped back and forth across his windshield, attacking the rain that dared to land upon the surface.
“I love this weather,” Tori said from the passenger’s seat. Seth wanted to look at her but didn’t dare take his eyes from the road.
“I didn’t know it could rain like this. This is crazy.”
“But being indoors while it rains like this gives you that cozy, safe feeling.”
Seth wanted to argue that they weren’t indoors, and he was feeling anything but safe driving on a road that he could barely see. His steering wheel gave a small shudder and he felt the tires hydroplane.
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered. The moment was gone before his startled brain could think how to react. He struggled to remember what to do when a vehicle hydroplaned.
Foot off the gas. Don’t hit the brakes.
He risked a glance at Tori. She was staring straight ahead, a serene look on her face. He wondered if she’d even felt him lose control of the car. The last time he’d seen her this mellow was during their dinner that night at the conference in Denver.
He’d spotted her at registration. He saw her from the back. She was bundled up in a coat, but he’d known right away it was her. His gaze had instantly locked on to the woman with the long black hair. Something about the way she carried herself had resonated in his bones. He knew her. He’d moved slowly in her direction, not letting her out of his sight as she accepted her badge and bag from the registrar. As she turned, she’d looked right at him and not blinked, her gaze locked with his. She hadn’t seemed surprised; perhaps she’d spotted him earlier and not reached out? It didn’t matter. All he wanted was to spend time with her.
They’d played it cool. Greeting each other like old acquaintances and agreeing to dinner like you would with an old friend to catch up. During the meal, she’d been pleasant but reserved. They’d shared the events of their lives, talking about their spouses, work, and Eden. They’d danced around the causes of the actual breakup, but she’d oohed and aahed over his pictures of his daughter with no anger or jealousy on her face. He’d hoped she could respect that he’d made the right choice. But after the dinner as they walked back to her hotel room, she’d stopped him in the hall at her door and looked deep into his eyes.
“I’ve always wondered if you thought about me. If you’d wondered what you walked away from. I know you love your daughter, but do you ever wonder what could have been with us?”
It’d been a surreal moment. One he blamed on wine and the removal of themselves from their real lives. That’s what happens at conferences. People are separated from their everyday routines and feel free to take steps they wouldn’t usually take.
She’d been gorgeous. Her eyes large and dark in the dim light, and she’d worn heels and a sexy dress. She’d never dressed that way in college. He was seeing Tori the woman wielding all her feminine weapons for the first time. And she took his breath away. She’d fulfilled all the potential she’d demonstrated in school. Smart, respected in her field, and all woman.
“Every fucking day,” he’d uttered. And it was true. Things had never clicked with Jennifer; he’d often wondered what he’d walked away from.
Her eyes had closed as he spoke, and she’d exhaled, her shoulders slumping the tiniest bit, as if she’d held her breath for his answer. He stared at her mouth for a long second and then kissed her. He slid his hand around the back of her neck, closing the space between their bodies as he pressed her backward into the hallway wall. She wobbled in the heels as his body met hers from hip to chest, their lines melting into each other. The moment lasted forever as he explored her mouth and sank both his hands into her hair. Silk. Pure smooth silk. She gave a small moan in the back of her throat and relaxed against him.
His brain shot into overdrive and all rational thought exited. “Open your door,” he whispered against her lips.
She stiffened under his hands.
Seth froze. Too far.
He slowly extricated himself from her heat, holding her gaze. Anger and then sorrow shone in her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she mouthed. No sound came from her lips.
“Tori,” he started, but she broke their eye contact and dug in her purse. She pulled out her room key, her hands shaking.
“We shouldn’t have had dinner.” Her words tripped over themselves. “I thought I could do this. I thought we could talk about old times and everything would be fine. I didn’t know we would end up like this. I won’t do that to my husband, and you shouldn’t do it to Jennifer and Eden.” She turned her back to him and fumbled with the door lock, trying to find the slot for her key. “I screwed up. I shouldn’t have let it go this far.”
“It’s not your fault, Tori,” he’d said, feeling utterly helpless. Why had he considered going in her room? He wanted to shoot himself. “I didn’t mean it.”
She looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes angry. “You just needed some sex?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. Christ, I don’t know what I want.”
She pushed her door open and turned to face him, blocking him from the room. Her chin was up, her eyes fiery. “We’re both married, so I’d say we know what we want. We made our choices long ago. Well, you made the choice for us.”
His heart cracked at her words and the angry tone. Here was the elephant that’d been in the room with them at dinner. They’d delicately danced around the topic, but now she’d ripped it open and laid it before him. A gulf widened between them, spread apart by his past decision. He couldn’t fix it now.
“We’re married. And I think we’re both happy for the most part. I won’t apologize for something I did long ago. I made the only choice I could,” he answered.
Her face had paled, all emotion disappearing behind a cool mask. “Good night.” She stepped backward and shut the door in his face. He’d stood there for a long moment, hearing her heels click across the floor in her room, and then there was silence.
In the car, Seth knew Victoria was slightly buzzed from her wine at Lacey’s. She hadn’t eaten dinner that evening and had said she rarely drank more than one glass of wine. After the emotional group at Lacey’s house, he’d offered to drive her home and she’d readily accepted. She’d given Lacey and Trinity a hug good-bye. From Lacey’s faintly surprised look, he’d gathered that Tori wasn’t a hugger.
He was learning about her in bits and pieces. Watching her interact with other people was the most telling. Tonight had been an eye-opener.
Seeing her break down over the thought of her adoptive parents lying about her birth parents had told him two things. First, that Tori adored and had utterly trusted the wonderful people who’d brought her up. Second, that she had a stiff upper lip around her friends. When Michael Brody looked crushed at the sight of Tori in tears, Seth knew she’d never shown that side to anyone. Lacey had looked stricken, and Trinity had been moved to tears in sympathy.
The people around Tori cared deeply for her but never saw below her shell. A shell she kept up nonstop. Until tonight. Even now it was still down, a relaxed state about her that was no doubt created by two glasses of white wine.
He wished it didn’t take wine to tear it down.
“How long ago did your parents pass?” He’d never met her adoptive parents. He remembered her phone calls home from college; she’d seemed very close to her mother, calling at least once a week to check in and see what was up.
“I was twenty-five. Mama died and then Daddy three months later. I swear he died of a broken heart. He was never the same after she passed.”
“I didn’t know you’d been so young. I remember you’d told me your parents were older.”
“They were in their seventies when they passed.”
“That’s young. It may not have seemed so when you were twenty-five, but personally I find that to be young. No doubt the perspective of what is old changes as we age.”
“Definitely,” she agreed.
They lapsed into a comfortable silence.
“You’ll finish the inventory tomorrow?” he asked to fill the quiet.
“Yes, shouldn’t take me long. As long as there are no more interruptions.”
“Have you learned anything in general about the women? That was a different era.”
“I wish I could say I have. Lacey made a general observation that they had a lot of amalgam fillings. Something you’d expect to see from that era. She said some of the dentistry was quite poor. Poor enough to make her wonder if it wasn’t American. But she mentioned that dental techniques had come a long way in the past fifty years and perhaps that it was simply a dentist who wasn’t very skilled.”
“Have the police considered that the women weren’t from the US?” That was a fresh angle Seth hadn’t thought about. Were they looking at a bunch of trafficked women?
“I don’t know. I imagine so. I think they’re still struggling to come up with a working theory. Heaven knows there are enough rumors around.”
“Doesn’t foreign dentistry look different than American? I’ve heard the jokes about British dentistry. They probably weren’t from third world countries if they had fillings. I’d imagine they wouldn’t have the access to care and possibly their diets wouldn’t even bring on the amounts of decay caused by American meals of processed food.”
“That would be a question for Lacey.”
“I like her,” Seth added. “I liked the couple I met tonight, too. Jamie and Michael seem to be good together.”
Victoria gave a soft snort. “If she can put up with his mouth, then it’s a match made in heaven. Sarcasm is his second language.”
“You were never one for sarcasm,” Seth agreed. “I still remember you staring down some jerk from your anatomy class who thought he was the funniest guy on campus. You didn’t even blink when he tried to be funny.”
“I remember that. He wasn’t funny. He was an idiot.”
“Michael doesn’t seem like an idiot.”
“He’s not. He’s one of those super-smart people who are missing part of the filter between their brain and mouth sometimes.” She paused. “He means well.”
Seth figured that was the best compliment Michael Brody was going to get from Tori. Actually, he suspected it was a form of high praise.
“You’ll use his help to verify if your birth parents are dead?”
A long moment of silence filled the vehicle. “I will. If I don’t look into it, I’ll always wonder. But how had I gone so long without questioning anything they’d told me?”
Seth hated to hear her doubt herself. “I suspect that’s a testament to how great your adoptive parents were. No doubt you’ll find out everything happened as they said.”
She told him to turn at the next street, and he knew they were getting close to her home. Part of him wished the drive was longer. A different part of him wanted to follow her into her house and pick up where they’d left off long ago.
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. It was wishful thinking on his part. He slowed down as the street turned into a residential neighborhood. The street was dark and quiet. Lights off in most of the homes. Unsurprising, considering it was nearly midnight.
Tori was quiet in her seat, and he wondered if she wanted the ride to be longer, too. Tonight had been good. They’d spent a few hours in each other’s company, and he wanted more. Yes, the evening had started with a crisis, and Tori had gone through a few rough moments at Lacey’s home, but overall he’d loved being with her. It didn’t matter what they did together, he was relaxed and at peace when she was beside him.
The road curved sharply, and Tori gasped, her hand grabbing at the door as she straightened in her seat. He hit the brakes. “What? What is it?” Seth scanned the empty road in the dark, looking for a person or cat.
“My house is on fire!”
He looked in the direction she’d pointed, his pulse rate skyrocketing. A flickering light shone through a wide broken window on the first floor of her house.
“Call nine-one-one now!” he ordered. He jerked the wheel and parked the car in front of her house, flung open his door, and got out. Tori lunged out her door and started toward the house. He grabbed her arm. “Wait! What are you doing?”
She jerked to a stop and stared at her home.
Flames danced inside the home. The fire seemed localized to one area. No other flames showed in the upstairs windows. She seemed transfixed by the flames.
“Could anyone be in there? No pets, right?”
She shook her head.
“I’ll make sure.” He turned her face toward his. Her eyes didn’t seem to focus. “Call nine-one-one now. I’ll check around. Is there a hose somewhere?”
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed. “It’s in the garage. Don’t you dare go in there.”
“I won’t,” he promised and ran up the porch stairs.
He punched the doorbell three times and pounded on the front door. “Anyone here?” he shouted. He pounded on the door again. At least it’s raining. Everything is soaked. It shouldn’t spread outdoors.
A rushing sound and faint roar came from the flames, but no voices. The front window was shattered. He glanced at the flower bed in front of the window, seeing just a few pieces of broken glass. Most of the glass must be inside. Someone broke the window from the outside. He gave a small breath of relief. Someone hadn’t broken it out, trying to escape.
The hole wasn’t large enough for a person to get through, so he didn’t think anyone had broken in. It looked like something had been thrown through the window.
Something thrown to start the fire? Was it started on purpose?
He glanced back at Victoria. She was still on the phone, gesturing with wide hand movements as she talked. He waved at the side of the house, indicating he was going around back. She nodded and pointed at him like a mother does when her kid is in big trouble.
He got the message. Be careful.
Not a problem. He had no desire to step inside a burning house.