Page 90 of Takeover

I let out a breath and say, “I didn’t do anything.” I raise my shoulders and pretend to be clueless.

“Right. I know my sister. You did something, and judging from the way she’s eating, she’s not just mad, she’s hurt.”

She walks away, but her words stop me in my tracks. I look at her, her shoulders slack, both cheeks stuffed with food as she chews. She manages to cram another piece of cheese in her mouth. While Vincent is distracted with Alan, I walk over to Tara and grab her elbow.

“Let’s talk.” I grab both our jackets, and we dip through the sliding door onto the deck.

When we get outside, I put on her coat, and as soon as I let her go, she crosses both arms and gives me her back. I take my time buttoning up my own jacket, giving her time to finish chewing.

“Hey,” I finally say. When I put both hands on her shoulders, she tenses. “You’ve barely said two words to me, Tara. I don’t know how our day got derailed.”

She finally looks up at me. “You don’t know how our day got derailed, Ethan? You want a clue? Look in the damn mirror.”

“That’s unfair,” I say, raising my voice just a bit. “What the fuck did I do to make you so mad? Defend my son? I’m never going to stop doing that. I’m the only reliable parent he has.”

She takes a step back when she hears my words. “Yeah, I know that’s how you feel. Honestly, Ethan, now is not the time or place to have this conversation. I want to enjoy this afternoon with my family without all of this drama.” She walks past me and goes back inside, leaving me to follow behind her.

The rest of the afternoon goes by fairly quickly. Vincent is entertained by all the Taylors, including Vickie and Cheryl. Even John, who’s given me nothing but the stink eye, dotes on my son. By the end of dinner, Vincent is sitting on his lap while they share their dessert. Tara is less tense and chats nonstop with everyone at the table. Whatever anger she has toward me is on hold until we get out of here. I don’t know if it’s the wine or the food, but she’s relaxed, and when I put my hand on her knee, she puts her hand on top of mine.

That relaxes me too, and I lean over and kiss her cheek. She looks at me and smiles for the first time since this morning, and in that instant, I know we’ll be okay. I lean down close to her ear and whisper, “I love you.”

She looks at me, blows me a kiss, and mouths the words back to me. The tension in my shoulders disappear, and I release a breath. When I look across from me, it’s to find Cheryl looking at me and smiling. She quickly looks away when I catch her, but the smile doesn’t leave her face.

Even her dad scowls less when he looks at me, and after dinner, while Tara is in the kitchen helping Cheryl clean up, he comes over and hands me a brandy.

“Is Tara okay?” he asks. “She was eating everything in sight when she got here.”

“Yeah,” I say, running my free hand over my face. “My ex-wife has been a problem lately, but I handled it.” I down the brandy and put my glass on the coffee table. “Sometimes I wish Lindsay would just go away and never come back. I thought I was doing the right thing by making sure my son has a relationship with his mother, but now, I don’t know, John.”

He sits down next to me, and for the first time today, he’s not scowling at me. “I know what you mean. I know a little something about that. Alicia tried to make trouble too, even though she’s the one who left me. Things were fine until Cheryl came along, then she was like a dog trying to mark its territory.” He leans closer and whispers, “The kids don’t know this, but I came home early one day to find her here. She said she was moving back in and that bitch wasn’t going to get her hooks into her kids any more than she already had. We had been divorced for two years by that time, and we were cordial, but having her there that day really threw me. Of course, I made her leave, but that wasn’t the end of it. I changed the locks, but she’d show up at random times.”

“What did you do?” I ask him.

“Cheryl would always invite her in, and that only pissed off Alicia more. Things all came to a head when I overheard her telling Alan that the only reason she didn’t take them to Disney World was because Cheryl told me not to let them go. Mind you, I transferred money into her account so she could pay for the trip. Turns out, she never made any arrangements. I had enough after that. I banned her from the house. I talked to my lawyer and we were going to go back to court because I wanted full custody. I was even asking for child support, just to make a point. Cheryl talked me out of it, so I dropped it, but I think my threats scared Alicia straight because she cut the shit after that. Things went back to normal. As normal as it is with Alicia.”

I lean my head back on the couch and close my eyes. “I can handle whatever she throws at me. Tara can handle whatever Lindsay throws at her, but when she involves Vincent, that’s a different story. She tried to manipulate him, and I confronted her about it. Tara wanted me to wait a day before I said anything, but I was too angry. That’s why Tara’s upset. Plus, we haven’t had a minute alone, so she can’t yell at me until later.”

John chuckles and lays a hand on my shoulder, almost as if in sympathy. “Tell me you’re not scared of my daughter?” he says, laughing for the first time since I got here.

“Terrified.” We both laugh, but when my laughter dies, I say, “I want to keep her with me always. This might sound crazy coming from a man who was married before, but I never knew it could be this way. What I have with her…I didn’t think it was possible, but she’s made us a family. Everything is so damn easy with her, and I don’t plan on losing that.” Right on cue, I hear Vincent laughing and the sound of Tara’s voice.

“I know what you mean. Here’s some advice from someone who’s been there, done that. Just make Tara feel included in the decisions when it comes to Vincent. That was something I learned the hard way with Cheryl. No matter how big or small. And don’t have my daughter shacking up with you for much longer. Put a damn ring on it.” He reaches over and pours me another drink. The conversation ends when Vincent comes running out of the kitchen and into my arms. He jumps on me so quickly, I barely have time to put my drink down. Alan comes after him, pretending to be some sort of monster. Vincent’s screams mix with his laughter, and when Alan gets to him, he practically jumps into his arms.

49

That talk Ethan and I were supposed to have never happened. He got a call from Hunter about an emergency at one of his warehouses in Texas. He left immediately. He left me and Vincent at my parents’ house and sent the driver to pick us up later. He was in the office until the middle of the night, and he only came home to pack a bag and get on a plane to Dallas to deal with the employees at the Irving, Texas warehouse.

I can still feel his arm wrapped around my waist when he climbed into bed with me that night. “I’m sorry, Tar Tar, but I have to go to Texas.” I leaned into him and enjoyed the feel of his body against mine. “It should only be two days. Carla will stay overnight until—” I turn in his arms and lay a finger on his lips.

“I’m here. Carla doesn’t need to spend the night. Don’t worry about a thing. Go to Texas, put out the fire, and come back home to us.”

Despite his need to go, he undressed and made love to me. While he showered, I packed his bag, and all too soon he was gone.

“You’re such a mom,” Vickie says to me, pulling me out of my trance. I’m sitting in my home office and looking at my sister’s face on my iPad.

“What are you talking about?” I ask her, only listening with half an ear while I type a response to an email.

“Working from home so you can be there to take Vincent to his swimming lesson, even though your man is richer than God and can pay to have someone else take him. You’re basically raising his son while he’s away.”

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