Molly coiled her arms around Kate’s waist and squeezed her sister as tight as possible, sighing when Kate squeezed her back just as hard. “I miss him so much, Kate.”
“I know, Moo. I know you do.”
Ten
It was a good day to be at the lake house. Sunny and breezy days on the cusp of summer were hard to come by in Texas. But that was just what the Gage family got when they visited their Canyon Lake home on the last Saturday of the month.
Julian had not planned to set foot here, but Landon had insisted, and he’d grudgingly agreed merely because he would be able to water-ski, swim and do the WaveRunner thing. After a day of that, the only thing that would be aching would be his goddamned muscles rather than his heart.
Now the wind slapped him as he roared across the lake on the WaveRunner, racing Garrett on his right and Landon on his left. He squinted in the direction of the mansion, which stood white and regal by the lake, with a small dock and bright pink bougainvillea hanging from the terrace columns. He could see his mother already seated at the long terrace table, calmly pouring glasses of lemonade for the two figures seated with her—Landon’s wife, Beth, and his stepson, David.
Julian swerved and spewed water behind him as he jolted the machine to a stop right beside the dock. He tied up the WaveRunner and jumped out, wet suit soaked, dripping a path up the wood planks as he ambled toward the terrace. When he arrived, he plopped down on a chair and took a glass of lemonade from his mother.
“Landon tells me you’re not coming back to the Daily,” his mother said without preamble. “Are you certain about that?”
Julian nodded, not up to explaining the deal he’d made with Landon and his reasons for it. The point was, he would continue to support the Daily with JJG Enterprises’ services, personally making sure the Daily’s client base thrived. But he was riding solo now.
Eleanor patted her bun absently with one hand, making a puppy-dog plea with her eyes until he groaned. “I’ve got 1,210 businesses already signed up for the services of JJG Enterprises. No, Mother. The Daily is my past. I’m a free agent from now on.”
She relented quickly, and Julian knew it was due to the guilt that gnawed at her over the way she’d attempted to separate him from Molly over the years, and the pain it had ended up causing him now. In fact, she’d even relented about her threat of cutting off his trust fund because he’d quit the family business, though she was still trying to convince him to come back.
Now his brothers strolled over, wet suits soaked, and plopped down just as a redhead emerged from within the house, carrying a salad bowl.
Julian stiffened at the same time Garrett did.
It must have been the red hair, shining in the sun, flowing behind her in the wind. For a blind second, Julian thought it was Molly. He didn’t even know how he felt about that, but his heart kicked in his chest like a wild thing. He was relieved when he realized that it was Kate.
He calmed back down while Garrett went over to take the bowl from her hands and whisper something in her ear.
“Hi, Julian,” Kate said, spotting him. “You’ve been so busy all morning I haven’t been able to say hi.”
“You just did, so now you can sleep soundly,” he said.
Then he realized how grumpy he sounded. Well, hell, he could still tackle some kayaks and hike this afternoon to let out some of his frustration. His every muscle ached, but there was still some juice in them, and he didn’t want to have a drop left by the time he was finished. It wasn’t enough; he needed to push harder. Push every single muscle to failure.
Servants brought out trays of canapés and wine. While the family chatted, Julian sat in silence, brooding when no second redhead came out of the house. Kate had been invited. So where the hell was Molly?
He wanted to ask, his tongue itching in his mouth. He wanted to ask where she was and how she’d been doing and why in the world she had betrayed him. He’d never gone twenty-three days, four hours, thirty-two minutes and about thirty seconds without talking to her. The time had dragged on so hellishly that it felt like years as far as he was concerned. However he measured it, this was proving to be the crappiest period of his life so far.
Kate kept her attention on him, and he could feel her gaze on his profile as she asked, “You’re not going to eat anything?”
Julian stared at the sal
ad bowl. Molly used to get all of his croutons and he’d eat all of her raisins.
He shook his head, not even hungry anymore.
Beth and Landon kept squeezing each other’s hands tenderly as they nibbled salad and drank their lemonades, and the grenade inside Julian’s stomach seemed to be ready to detonate. His oldest brother had a truly doting wife and a great kid, and he doted on them both in return. The family had been thrilled that Landon had been able to find love again after his first wife and their son had died. They thought he’d closed himself off for good, yet Beth had opened him up like a Christmas present and found gold.
Usually, the sight of them brought Julian immense cheer, but today he found it was…difficult. To see that connection.
Because the only person he’d ever had it with was not with him here.
“So how is dear Molly, Kate?” his mother asked, very politically bringing her up, damn her. “I’m so disappointed she couldn’t come.”
Lips compressed into a thin line, Julian stared at his empty glass of lemonade, wishing he’d gone for vodka.
“She was disappointed, too,” Kate said, “but she had that exhibit in New York and had to fly over for the opening.”