Lawson had already been steeling himself for Mom news, but there wasn’t enough steeling in the world for Lucian saying Tessie’s name in that tone. The same tone Lucian used with botched business deals and symptoms of stomach flu.
“What happened to Tessie?” Lawson couldn’t get that out fast enough. But he reminded himself that Lucian could be calling because their mother had told him that Tessie was Lawson’s daughter.
Lucian cursed. “You haven’t heard.” More cursing. “Someone at the rehab center in Austin sold info about Tessie’s stay there to the tabloids. Then one of her so-called friends gave an interview about her getting drunk. It’s about to be plastered all over those magazine covers where you don’t want your picture plastered.”
Hell. Now Lawson was cursing. And thinking of suing that half-assed clinic. “Tessie only stayed in rehab a couple of hours.” But he knew that wouldn’t matter. Eve was a celebrity, and Tessie was her daughter, so that made Tessie tabloid fodder, too.
“I tried several contacts but couldn’t stop the pictures from being printed,” Lucian added.
Well, crap. “There are pictures?”
“Yeah. Of Tessie in the hall of the clinic. Of Tessie coming out of the clinic. A third of Tessie drinking what appears to be margaritas with two friends. And a fourth photo of Tessie and Eve driving through the Heavenly Pastures gates at the ranch.”
Ah, Lawson understood Lucian’s concern then. It wasn’t actually for Tessie. It was because the ranch and therefore the Grangers would get looped into this tabloid scandal. Dylan wouldn’t care a rat about it since he was often at the center of local scandals. Lawson wouldn’t have cared, either, but he didn’t want Tessie’s name dragged through the mud.
“There are LA reporters at the Longhorn,” Lucian went on. “They’re fishing for a story.”
Lucian didn’t demand that Lawson get over there now and put a stop to it, which meant his brother knew Lawson had a personal stake in this. “I’m on my way there,” Lawson said, grabbing his keys and hat, but he was talking to the air because Lucian had already hung up.
Lawson headed out of the house, already trying to rein in his temper, but it riled him to the bone that someone had done this. Yes, Tessie had been wrong to get drunk and then run off the way she did, but news like this could cause her to go off the deep end. That meant after he took care of the reporters at the Longhorn, he needed to drive to Eve’s and check on them.
However, Lawson hadn’t even made it out of the driveway before he realized a trip to Eve’s wouldn’t be necessary. That’s because he saw her car heading his way. The tires squealed when she braked to a too-fast stop, and she threw open her door while she was still turning off the engine.
She’d been crying.
Eve hurried to him and went straight into his arms. “Did you hear?”
He nodded, pulled her closer than necessary, considering this was supposed to be a hug of comfort. Since he didn’t know what to say, Lawson just stayed quiet and let Eve continue.
“I just came from the Longhorn,” she said. “No one from Wrangler’s Creek is talking to the reporters, but they’ll just make up the story they want to print, and it’ll be far worse than the truth.”
“They might not do that if I kick their asses,” Lawson offered. He hadn’t exactly meant it as a joke, but it caused Eve to pull back and give a brief, weary smile.
The smile vanished as quickly as it’d come, and she groaned. “Wellsmore is a private, conservative college. They have strict rules of conduct for their students, and this could get Tessie expelled. Or even arrested for underage drinking.”
Lawson hated that because he didn’t want her to have a juvie record. Or any kind of record, for that matter. Plus, school might be the anchor that Tessie needed to turn her life around. But he could definitely see where the dean would have grounds to kick her out.
“How’s Tessie taking it?” he wanted to know.
“She’s crying and locked herself in her room. I hid her car keys because I didn’t want her driving off anywhere. Cassidy is there at the house, of course, and will call me if Tessie tries to leave. I would have stayed, but I was hoping I could talk the reporters into nixing the story. But they just started taking pictures of me.” She motioned toward her tear-streaked face. “Now this will be in the tabloids, too.”
Lawson had to fight that ass-kicking urge, but it was a sick SOB who made a living off someone else’s misery.
“What can I do?” he asked. It wasn’t lip service, but he figured there wasn’t a whole lot that could be done by anyone right now.
Still, Eve pulled back and looked up at him. It had those sexual overtones that all their shared looks had, but the overtones were significantly diminished by her tears, bunched-up forehead and teeth clamped over her trembling bottom lip. She seemed on the verge of falling apart, and she probably didn’t want to do that in front of the ranch hands who were milling around.
Lawson considered taking Eve to his office, but Nicky and the kids were home. Eve probably didn’t want to face anyone right now. That’s why Lawson got her into his truck and started driving.
“I can’t go home right now,” Eve said when she saw the direction he was going. “I don’t want to be around Tessie or Aiden when I’m like this. This crying-mess is best for adult eyes only.”
“I’m taking you to my place.” It was risky. Eve and he usually had no willpower around each other, but Lawson figured they were safe from having sex, considering Eve’s and his state of mind.
She didn’t object to the destination, maybe because she’d be closer to Tessie but not right there with her. In fact, Eve could keep watch of her place with the binoculars that Lawson hadn’t gotten around to throwing out.
Eve rummaged through his glove compartment and came up with a Kleenex so she could blot at the tears. “I was going to tell Tessie about you being her father, but I’ll hold off. I don’t want to add it to what she’s already feeling.”
“Uh.” That’s all Lawson managed to say because Eve snapped toward him.
Her teary eyes widened. “You told her?”
“She guessed when we were at the apartment in Austin, and I didn’t lie to her. So, she knows.”
He couldn’t tell how Eve felt about that. She sure didn’t look relieved. “How’d Tessie take it?”
That wasn’t an easy question to answer. Tessie hadn’t seemed upset. Not with him, anyway. But she had unleashed a little wrath about Eve. Lawson kept that to himself though. Eve was already beating herself up enough without dumping more on her.
“I think she’s still trying to work out how she feels,” Lawson said, settling for that. “That’s why I haven’t been by to see her. I wanted to give her some time.”
Eve stared at him. “I thought you stayed away because you were avoiding me.”
“I was but not for the reason you’re probably thinking.” It was the truth, but Lawson wished he’d thought about it before blurting it out.
She blinked. “Oh.”