“Did you do the interview?” Harry asked.
“No. I kicked her the hell off my property and told her to come back at her own risk. But it got me thinking. Thinking about how three decades is long enough to keep holding on to a ghost.” He poured himself another shot. “And more than long enough to screw things up with all of you.” He looked at each of them, looked more deeply than Drake could ever remember. “I hope you’ll all stay, at least for the night, all of us around the same table at the same time—” He rubbed a hand over his face. “But I understand if you’re too busy, if you need to get back to the city.”
“We’d love to stay, Dad.” Suz looked at her brothers. “Right, guys?”
“Sounds good,” Harry said.
Alec poured himself another shot before saying, “I can wait until tomorrow to get back.”
“Drake?”
“I was planning to stay. But you should know that I brought someone with me. Her name is Rosa. I’ve been painting her.” Anticipating his father’s surprise, he added, “I had to, even though she only agreed to sit for me as long as I never show the paintings to anyone.”
“I know I have no right to tell you what to do,” his father said in a grave voice that matched his expression, “but if she’s that uncomfortable with people seeing her on canvas, even if you make her all the promises in the world about keeping them for your eyes only, you’re still setting yourself up for trouble.”
“She’s already in trouble. That’s how she found me. How I found her.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“She’s on TV. A reality show. She’s famous. Really famous. Someone took pictures of her without her consent and sold them to the press. Nude pictures.” Suzanne made an angry sound in the background. “She’s spent the past week trying to find her footing again. Trying to decide exactly how she wants to deal with the situation.”
His father’s frown furrowed deep. “This morning on the job site, the radio was on. I’m pretty sure I heard about your Rosa, about the pictures. The newscasters were saying that no one in the press has heard from her since the day they hit, that she’s disappeared. Her mother was on, and she was obviously worried. More than worried. Terrified about what her daughter might have done because of the pictures. She was begging anyone with information to come forward.”
“Rosa’s been safe with me the whole time,” Drake told his father. “Actually, she’s with Oscar right now, taking him for a walk. But I hope when she gets back that she’ll be welcome here.”
“Good. I’m glad she’s safe, and of course she’s welcome here. But why doesn’t her family know where she is? Why couldn’t she at least tell them that she needed time to think about everything?”
“She would have done that if she could. But her situation—the show, the pictures, and her relationship with her mother—it’s all far more complicated than that.” And if anyone could understand complicated, Drake figured it was his father.
Just then, William’s phone buzzed in a jarring ring tone that couldn’t be ignored. “Damn it, I’ve got to get back to the job site. But I’ll be back as soon as I can to make dinner. And then—” He looked pained. “We can talk about the paintings.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Adirondacks felt like the polar opposite of Miami. Yes, there was sand and water, but that was where the similarities ended. Rosa had spent her whole life in the sun—but this cool air, and all the green, felt so right. Montauk had been a good temporary refuge, but somehow this was like coming home. Especially with Oscar loping along beside her, a big bear of a dog who always looked after her.
Just like his owner.
Rosa really hoped everything was going okay with Drake and his brother Alec. While it hurt to be judged so quickly—and so negatively—she knew all too well that it came with the reality TV territory. So even if she still felt the sting in the disparaging way Alec had looked at her, it wasn’t anything she hadn’t felt before.
And maybe, she told herself, it wasn’t a terrible thing for Drake to see what it would be like to go public with dating her. That it wouldn’t just be strangers judging his choices, but his closest flesh and blood. He’d worked hard to persuade her that he didn’t care what strangers thought, but she knew family was everything to him. She’d never forgive herself if she came between Drake and his family.