Secrets of the Tulip Sisters

He turned and stalked to the far side of the barn, then returned to stand in front of her. Not so close this time, but that was hardly good news. His glower was plenty intimidating on its own.

“I knew about Ryan,” he told her. “Kelly had mentioned the two of you stayed in touch. So the first time I saw you, I understood you might be open to using me to make him jealous. I decided it didn’t matter. I wanted you and when you said yes, I was okay with however things started.”

All of which sounded great, but then what?

“I thought things changed,” he told her.

“I did, too.”

“Right.” His voice burned with scorn. “You’ve been seeing him all this time.”

“What?” The word was a yelp. “I haven’t. I’ve run into him maybe once and I never sought him out. I haven’t had anything to do with him. Even if I was interested, which I’m not, he’s with Autumn, who might be pregnant, by the way.”

“I want to believe you, but I can’t. I saw Ryan an hour ago. He says he’s moving back to Phoenix with you. He’s going to learn real estate. His exact quote was ‘when a Murphy woman tells you she wants you, you’d be a fool not to go.’”

“I didn’t say that.” Olivia wanted to stomp her foot on the floor. “I’m not going back to Phoenix, I don’t sell real estate and I’ve been here all morning.” She motioned to the barn. “Look at all the work I’ve done. There’s no way I could have snuck off and talked to anyone.” She moved toward him. “Sven, you have to believe me.”

“Why? I knew you were using me and I trusted you anyway. I thought you were changing. I thought we had something.”

“I am and we do.” She reached for him, but he backed away.

“Just go.”

“No.” She glared at him. “No. You don’t get to give up on me like that.” Technically he could do anything he wanted, but she was willing to bluff her way through the moment. “I won’t accept it. I didn’t do anything wrong. You have to believe me.”

He turned away. “Goodbye, Olivia.”

Panic seized her and she couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. No! Not like this. It so wasn’t fair. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She refused to lose Sven to something that wasn’t her fault.

“You’re an idiot,” she said as she grabbed her bag and ran past him. “And I’m going to prove it. I’m going to find Ryan and make him tell the truth on camera.” She waved her phone. “Then you’ll have to believe me.”

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t call her back or ask her to wait or say he hoped he was wrong. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised, only she was. No. That wasn’t the word. She was devastated. This was a hell of a time to figure out that sometime when she hadn’t been looking, she’d totally fallen for Sven.

*

Olivia sat in her car and tried to figure out where she could find Ryan. If Sven had talked to him an hour ago, then he wasn’t at work. She shook her head. Of course he wasn’t at work—he’d been fired. So where would he be? Home, maybe?

It was a place to start, she told herself as she backed out of the driveway and headed in that direction. When she arrived she didn’t see any cars out front, but the house had a big four-car garage off to the side. She shouldn’t assume he wasn’t home.

She ran up to the front door and knocked. When there was no answer, she figured she was already in trouble so why not go for it. She checked and the door was open. Not a surprise in this small town, she thought as she raced through the downstairs, then went to the second floor. She heard noises—very specific noises. Good, she thought, pulling her phone out of her bag and punching the camera icon. No doubt he was boinking Autumn so the conversation wouldn’t go well, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t leaving until she got Ryan on video admitting they hadn’t been involved at all. Maybe having a furious Autumn hating on him would make him more talkative.

She walked to the end of the hall where a bedroom door stood open. She went inside and opened her mouth, closed it, then felt her jaw drop.

Ryan was in bed, all right. With a woman. But it wasn’t Autumn. It was Marilee.

They were going at it, Marilee on top, bouncing and screaming. Ryan’s eyes were closed as he moaned—possibly in pain, it was difficult to tell. Olivia knew she would carry the image of them for the rest of her life. Fine, later she would get therapy, but right now she needed a picture.

She snapped two, just to be safe. At the sound, they both turned.

“Hey, Mom.”

Marilee didn’t even look embarrassed. “Darling, what are you doing here?”

“Long story. I won’t bother you with it, or ask what you’re doing here. It’s pretty obvious.”

Ryan’s eyes widened, but he didn’t speak. She was pretty sure he couldn’t. She would guess he also couldn’t stay hard because Marilee glared at him, before sliding off and casually pulling the sheet up to cover herself.

“Is there a point to this visit?” her mother asked, sounding bored.

Later Olivia would process all that had happened this morning. She had a bad feeling that if she stopped to think about any of it, she would become immobilized, so she decided to just keep moving forward.

“There is,” she told her mother. “I quit. I’m not going back to Phoenix. I’m staying here. I’ll email you my resignation.”

“You’re supposed to give me two weeks’ notice.”

Olivia waved the camera. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen and you’re going to be fine with it. You’re leaving today, right?”

Marilee sniffed. “Ryan and I were already planning to go back to Phoenix together. As you can see, I’m sleeping with your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend, but it’s nice you thought he was.” Olivia looked at Ryan. “Let me guess. She’s going to teach you the real estate business.”

“I can’t stay here,” he said grudgingly. “Autumn’s not pregnant and I have to get away while I can.”

“I can see that. Good luck.” She jerked her head toward Marilee. “Watch your back, get a lawyer to read your contract and make sure she doesn’t stiff you on the money.”

“Olivia! How can you say that about me?”

“You have to ask?”

Ryan smiled and put his hands behind his head before leaning back on the headboard. “Olivia, don’t worry. It’s me. I’ll be fine.”

He would be an idiot, but none of this was her problem. She’d warned him. He would listen or not.

She returned her attention to her mother. “I’ll delete these when you’re gone. If you don’t leave or if you make any trouble for Kelly or Dad, I’ll figure out a way to humiliate you with them.”

“Blackmail, Olivia? Isn’t that a little low rent?”

“I learned from the master, Mom.” She smiled. “I probably won’t drop by while I’m getting my stuff, so this is goodbye. Good luck with everything. You, too, Ryan.”

“Sorry it didn’t work out,” he called after her as she walked down the hall.