Snoops in the City (A Romantic Comedy) (25 page)

"Exactly," Ms. Trent said. "Unfortunately, that doesn't solve the problem of their disruptive behavior."

"Maybe it does," Lorelei interjected. "What if Wade stops in at the center on his lunch hour for a few weeks? That could be all the reassurance the girls need."

"It's a thought.” Ms. Trent picked up a pen and pointed it at him. "In the meantime, Mr. Morrison, you can reassure the girls by word and deed that you're always there for them."

"So they can stay." Lorelei made it a statement rather than a question.

"They can stay," Ms. Trent agreed, "but it'll have to be on a wait-and-see basis. I have to consider the welfare of the other children in this center, too."

"I understand.” Wade got to his feet before the director could change her mind. He reached across the desk and shook her hand. "Now that I have a handle on what the problem might be, I can deal with it."

They checked in on the twins, who readily abandoned their bright-colored building blocks and launched themselves at their father. Afterward, Wade walked Lorelei to her car.

"The girls seemed relieved when I told them I'd stop back at lunch time," he remarked.

"See," Lorelei said smugly. "I told you so."

"But how did you figure that out?" he asked, shielding his glasses from the bright morning sun.

"Takes one to know one, I guess."

"What do you mean by that?"

She shrugged, a seemingly casual gesture that he knew wasn't. "You know my brother Grady, right? He was a model child. Good grades, good athlete, good behavior. He's eight years older than me. By the time I was in grade school, I already knew I'd never stack up. So I got attention my own way."

"You acted up," she finished.

"Still do.” She stood on tiptoes, hooked her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth with a heat rivaling that of the morning sun.

Then she winked at him and got in her car.

She hadn’t needed to kiss him to get his undivided attention. The meeting this morning had proved there was much about her to like and admire.

"Lorelei," he said before she could drive away. She gazed at him, and he met her eyes. "Thanks."

She blew him a dramatic kiss.

"For you, anything, any time," she said, her eyes gleaming. Before she drove away, she called, "Don't make me hunt you down, Wade Morrison. Call me and let me make good on my promise."

This time, Wade knew he would call.

Grady kept Tori's hand firmly in his when they got out of the SUV to walk the short two blocks to Giovanni’s.

Although he'd rather have stayed in, with ready access to his bed or hers, he'd been open to her suggestion that they eat at the Italian restaurant.

"Can I ask you something, Duke?" Tori asked.

"You can ask me anything as long as you stop calling me Duke," he said. In truth, though, the nickname didn't bother him as much as it used to.

He liked old Westerns where the good guys came out on top. If Tori thought that made him a closet Pollyanna, so be it.

"I like the nickname.” She wrinkled up her nose. "It makes you seem like less of a curmudgeon."

"I'm not a curmudgeon."

"Only 'cause I won't let you be."

"What's the question?"

"Do you think the end justifies the means?"

He nearly stopped walking. Was this the prelude to a confession? Had he gotten it wrong after all when he'd gone with his heart and trusted her?

"Why do you ask?" he ventured. "What did you do?"

She looked guilty, telling him he was on the right path. "I know it's your birthday today," she confessed. "That's why I wanted us to go out."

He'd meant to ignore his birthday this year, considering the circumstances, but found he couldn't get annoyed.

"Lorelei told you," he guessed.

She nodded.

"So that's why we're going to Giovanni’s?"

She nodded again.

"I wish you'd told me before but I think it's nice that you want to take me out to dinner," he said.

They reached the restaurant. He opened the door and waited for Tori to precede him.

"That's only part of it.” She sounded miserable.

"You can tell me the rest after dinner." He smiled at the vibrant, dark-haired woman in red who stood at the hostess stand. “We have reservations for two under Whitley."

"Actually, the reservation's under Palmer," Tori corrected. "And it's for more than two."

The hostess checked something off in her book, and the hairs on the back of Grady's neck stood at attention. She smiled pleasantly and picked up some red-and-white menus. "Right this way.”

"Would you give us a minute?" he asked the hostess before she could leave her stand.

He barely waited for the hostess to nod her agreement before he took Tori's elbow, steering her into the empty waiting area at the entrance to the restaurant.

"Who are we having dinner with?" he demanded.

"If I tell you, you might not stay," Tori said.

"If you don't tell me, I'll definitely leave."

"Lorelei's here, and I'm pretty sure she brought her boyfriend and his twin girls."

"What boyfriend?"

"Wade Morrison. They've been seeing each other."

"What? I told her to stay away from him. I told her he was bad news."

"She's all grown up now," Tori said. "She didn't listen."

"She damn well will listen to me," Grady said, turning to head back into the heart of the restaurant. Tori's hand on his arm detained him, reminding him of where they were.

He sighed. "I know. Now is neither the place nor the time."

"Now definitely isn't the time, but that's not it," Tori said. "Lorelei, Wade and his girls aren't the only people who came to celebrate your birthday. Your parents are here, too."

The news that his parents waited at the table took a temporary back seat to another, even harsher realization. Now he knew what Tori meant about the end justifying the means.

"You lied to me," he said.
Again
, he thought.

"I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you everything."

"A lie by omission is still a lie," he said.

"I meant well," she said quietly. "Lorelei did, too. She's sick about this rift with your parents and thought getting you together might help mend it."

"Lorelei doesn't know what she's talking about."

"Because you won't explain it to her," Tori said. "She wants to help. For that matter, so do I. Neither of us can do anything if we don't know what's going on."

He nodded toward the exit of the restaurant. The corners of her mouth dipped in obvious disappointment. She preceded him, waiting just outside the restaurant for him to join her.

He indicated she should sit down at a wooden bench a storefront away and joined her.

"About a month ago, I needed a copy of my birth certificate.” He tried to keep his voice flat and toneless. "I stopped by my parents’ house. Nobody was home so I let myself in with my key and went into Dad's office, thinking I might be able to find it myself. Instead I found my adoption papers."

Wade saw understanding dawn in Tori's eyes.

"Your parents never told you that you were adopted.” She shook her head back and forth. "They shouldn't have kept that from you."

"Damn right. I turn twenty-nine today. You would have thought that sometime in the past twenty-nine years they would have mentioned it."

"That's why you're upset," she said.

"You'd be upset, too, if your entire life was a lie. All this time I thought they were my parents, and they're not."

Tori shook her head. "That's not true. They're your parents in every way that matters."

"Then why didn't they tell me the truth?"

"Have you discussed this with them?" Tori asked.

He shook his head vehemently. "I couldn't trust anything they told me. I can't stand being lied to. You know that."

"Sometimes people lie for the right reasons," she said softly. "Maybe your parents thought it would be best for you not to know."

"It wasn't," he said harshly.

"Okay, so they were wrong. Did it occur to you that they lied because they didn't want to lose your love?"

He blew out a breath. "You can't know that."

"Lorelei tells me your mother cries over you. She wouldn't do that if she didn't care."

He raised his eyes skyward, for the first time taking into account how his estrangement from his parents might have affected them. He'd been so angry he hadn't considered they'd be hurt.

"It tears me up when my mother cries," he confessed.

"Then dry her tears, Grady," Tori said.

"You're saying I should forgive them? Just like that?"

"That's what loving somebody's all about.” Tori laid a hand on his arm. “Everybody makes mistakes. By punishing them for theirs, you're also hurting yourself."

He rubbed a hand over his face. "I've let it go on so long I'm not sure I can walk back in that restaurant and end it.”

She reached for his hand, folding it in her smaller, softer one. He didn't know why that made him feel better. "You won't be alone," she said. "I'll be with you."

He nodded and together they stood.

Somehow, knowing she'd be at his side made all the difference.

***

"ARE YOU OKAY?" Wade asked Lorelei later that night after they'd finally settled the girls in their side-by-side twin beds. "It's not every day you find out your brother was adopted."

Lorelei leaned her head back against the cushion of his sofa and turned to answer him. Not only had Grady and her parents taken a huge step toward mending their relationship at dinner, they'd also broken their silence.

"It's wild," she said. "I love him every bit as much as I always did, but it explains a lot of things. Like his brown hair. His athleticism. The fact he's the only one in the family taller than five feet eight."

"I guess it'll take some getting used to," Wade said, smoothing the hair back from her face.

"I'll say. Grady still doesn't seem used to it."

"That's understandable. Most people find out they're adopted when they're kids," Wade said. "I can see why your brother felt betrayed."

"Me, too. But I think everything will be okay now," Lorelei said, knowing she spoke the truth. "Grady won't be able to hold a grudge. He pretends to be cynical. Inside where it matters, he’s a softie."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. The reason he's so tough on people is that he expects a lot from them. He has a highly developed sense of right and wrong."

"Then why is he doing so much business with the city?" Wade muttered, almost to himself.

"Excuse me?" she said.

"Nothing. I'm just trying to piece things together."

"He doesn't like me dating you," she confided, stroking his lean cheek to soften her words. "He warned me against you at the mayor's party. He said you weren't a good man."

"Is that so?"

"He must have gotten his wires crossed, because I know you are.” She kissed him shortly and sweetly on the lips. "For proof, all you have to do is watch you with M.K. and Ash."

"I haven't done a very good job there. I didn't realize their misbehavior was a cry for attention. I needed you to tell me that."

"You do, you know," Lorelei said.

"What?"

"Need me.” She removed his glasses and kissed him again, this time long, slow and hot. She rubbed sensuously against him. "You not only need me sexually, you need me in your life. M.K. and Ash do, too. It's about time you admitted it."

"I admit it," he said, staring at her intently. She wondered if it was because he couldn't see clearly or because he finally got it.

"You're not only saying that because you want sex, are you?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I want you in my life, Lorelei."

"That's what I want, too," she said softly.

He rose and extended his right hand. She took it, letting him pull her to her feet. "That doesn't mean I don't want sex, too."

She laughed. "I thought we couldn't make love with the girls in the house."

"The girls are deep sleepers, and there's a lock on my bedroom door," he said.

She pretended to think about it, but really, what was there to think about? She wanted this man. She even believed she loved him, although she'd be quiet about that. She couldn't risk sending him into hiding once again.

"Okay, I'll make love to you," she said, as though it had been his idea all along, "but I'll leave before the girls get up in the morning.”

"Since when did you get to be so responsible?" he asked, drawing her close.

"Since I met you," she said and preceded to spend the next few hours showing him exactly how exciting her new responsible self could be.