Wild Zone (Rough Riders Hockey 4)

“I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life.” The warmth in his voice suffused Olivia, drawing tears to her eyes.

Tate exhaled and lowered his head, nuzzling her neck before he kissed her there. “We’d better get moving before the cops come and bust us like teenagers.”

He had to coax Olivia a little more than that to get her to give up their little cocoon of bliss. Sliding back into reality was extra painful with the problems involving her mother hovering and Olivia’s exit looming.

But once they were back on the road, with her head against Tate’s chest his arm around her shoulders, the night air blowing across her face, Olivia found comfort again.

&nbs

p; Eventually, the questions she’d known she’d have to face came.

“I’m glad you and Quinn patched things up.” His voice, low and soft, filled the cab.

Olivia instantly flashed back to the night. Yes, she and Quinn had definitely plastered over a gap in their relationship, but she’d noticed tension buzzing in Quinn all night. The kind radiating off a soux chef who’d arrived late and was rushing to complete his job before Olivia found out he was behind. One a waiter got when they were caught eating the last Mango-Basil Vacherin in the fridge before the dinner rush was over.

“Me too. We have a ways to go, and she has her hands full with our mom. I hope it lasts.”

“Liv,” he said, almost hesitantly. “What…happened?”

She tilted her head to look at him.

“I mean, you all obviously love each other. But this underlying tension, its long standing and I know there are problems with the business, but I don’t get the impression that’s the real issue.”

“Oh, so perceptive, Mr. Donovan.” She paused, but with no easy explanation, she said, “It’s complicated.”

“How ‘bout the streamlined version?”

She sighed and thought back. “We had the all-American family,” she started, raising her emotional walls as she eased into an abbreviated version of her past. “My dad had a good job, my mom stayed home and raised healthy twin girls. We lived a nice life in the nation’s capital. We have extended family in the area, aunts, uncles, cousins. Our backyard used to look very much like the Croft’s did today. When I was young I always believed my life would be the same when I grew up. I’ve already told you I was a daddy’s girl. He and I were… We were just best buddies. I idolized him. Loved him more than I could ever put into words.”

Tears burned her eyes the way they always did when she thought of what she’d lost. “When he wasn’t working, we were together doing something. We loved all the same things—music, sports, culture, history. I developed my love of travel and cooking from him. We talked about all the places we’d travel when he retired. Had even planned our first trip for the summer between high school and college.”

When she paused to collect herself, Tate said, “Sounds amazing.”

She nodded. “I planned on going to culinary school. Had been accepted to one of the top schools in New York. And was in a special culinary tract in high school where I supplemented my graduation requirements with culinary courses at a specialty charter school.”

“That’s cool. I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Yeah. It was. I first noticed my dad had something going on—something beyond the normal flu or colds or whatever—about two or three months into my senior year. I didn’t find out he had cancer until after he died of a heart attack two days after Quinn and I graduated.”

“Oh God.” True dread filled Tate’s words, and a ball of anguish sat heavily in the pit of Olivia’s stomach. “They didn’t know? The doctors didn’t catch it? Did the cancer cause his heart problems?”

“That’s where the ax falls in our family. They did know. Mom and Dad knew at least six months before Dad died, but they didn’t tell me and Quinn.”

“Jesus…” His arm tightened around her.

“Only Quinn found out by accident. She heard mom crying, went to check on her and overheard her and dad talking about it. I wasn’t home. I was catering an event with my high school class that night. And when I got home, everything seemed totally normal. Even looking back a hundred times, knowing that they all knew, I still couldn’t find any sign of it.”

“They didn’t tell you?” Tate asked, disbelief filling his voice.

“No. None of them. Life went on as if nothing had changed. There were little shifts. Quinn seemed moodier than normal. She drifted away from me. When I talked to mom about it, she told me it was a normal part of growing up. That Quinn was preparing herself for the day we separated for college. Whenever I asked Dad how he was feeling, he blamed his trips to the doctor, his fatigue, his loss of appetite on stress at work, and something I didn’t need to worry about. I was seventeen, and I was busy. They’d never lied to me before, so I just took them at their word.”

She stopped. This was the killer. The other stuff was anguishing, but this cut Olivia open. She let her gaze blur over the streets of DC as they came into the city, her mind years in the past.

“I was out with friends when I got the call that Dad was in the hospital. And even though I was only a ten minute taxi ride away, he was already gone when I got there.”

“Oh no,” Tate breathed, his voice pained. “Baby, that’s…”

He trailed off. She understood. There were no words.