‘So you and Zeke are...?’
Tia paused.
‘Zeke is Seth’s father, if that’s what you’re asking,’ she admitted.
There was something about Netty that was instantly trustworthy, and Tia hadn’t had anyone but her father to talk to in a very long time. And because there was no point pretending otherwise. Not when the two of them were heads together as they so often seemed to be.
‘But...?’ Netty prompted gently.
‘But...we’ve only just...reconnected. And Seth doesn’t know.’
‘Yet.’
‘Right.’ She gritted her teeth. ‘Yet.’
She sensed rather than saw Netty’s sympathetic smile.
‘You could do a lot worse than Zeke, you know.’ Leaning sideways, she nudged Tia softly in the arm, like a show of solidarity. ‘There are plenty of women here who have been trying to land him ever since he founded Look to the Horizon a few years ago. Some of them are even married.’
‘And Zeke has...been tempted?’
Netty tipped back her head, her rich laughter almost as gloriously warm as the sun itself.
‘Never once, Tia.’
‘Oh, right.’ It didn’t mean anything. It didn’t change anything.
‘And before you ask...sure, I’ve been tempted. I mean, Zeke’s set up this charity to show kids like Robbie that they should never be constrained by what society tells them they should or shouldn’t do.’
‘As Seth would say, setting up this sailing school is way cool.’
‘Way cool,’ Netty agreed. ‘But Zeke also teaches these kids a whole lot more than just sailing. He inspires them to be proud of themselves, and he shows them how to stay mentally strong when people are unkind or impose limitations. He defines the very idea of a kind, caring guy and he’s one heck of a role model. And let’s face it, he’s also fit as hell.’
‘True,’ Tia agreed, baring her teeth in what she hoped looked like a smile.
‘Relax.’ Netty laughed again. ‘I said I’ve looked. Who wouldn’t? But I’ve never acted. I got the impression that he was closed off to the possibility of relationships. I always suspected that his heart was taken by some special girl. And here you are.’
‘Oh, no. No. It isn’t like that at all...’ She faltered as Netty reached over and placed her hand on Tia’s arm.
‘Tia, take it from someone looking at the two of you with no preconceived notions. It is exactly like that.’
‘He hasn’t looked this way once.’ She would have swallowed the words down if she could have. But they evaded her attempts to capture them. ‘He doesn’t even know that I’m here.’
‘Trust me, Tia. He knows. Now, stay here, I’m going to get us a refreshing drink. It’s roasting out here today.’
Tia murmured a word of thanks, her eyes still on Seth and Robbie, who had already raced back to Zeke and were listening attentively to whatever it was he was teaching them.
Emotion banded around her chest.
This was a side of Zeke she’d always wondered about. If it lurked beneath the surface of their tempestuous, stymied relationship. She’d certainly never known it. Maybe it was meeting too young when his own father’s lessons had been too close to the surface, or maybe it was marrying as kids where he’d wanted to prove
himself the alpha male; either way it came down to poor timing.
He hadn’t even told her directly that this charity was his. When she’d asked him about it he’d simply said that when Z-Black had taken off, he’d realised that he had the chance to build something quite special. Not just teaching a few kids a few skills, but teaching them something as challenging as sailing. Helping them to see it less as a disability. Even just assisting them to get the right prosthetics.
Basically everything that Netty had said, only she’d been full of admiration where Zeke had dismissed his own work.
It was so far removed from the young, arrogant, almost selfish Zeke of old. Like the man she’d always imagined he was, but who he hadn’t been. Not back then. He’d been too young. They both had.