“I’m fine.” He looked anything but. “I just need some sleep.”
“We can do Sunday evening if it works better,” Ger said, shrugging. “I just need to change over drivers.”
It was like she was being pulled between her past and her future. “I don’t know,” she said, her voice thin. “I need to think.”
“Go inside,” Rich said, his face unsmiling. “Figure out what you need to do.”
“Can I call you from L.A.?” she asked.
“I’ll be busy. I’m on nights, remember?”
Yeah, she remembered. But it didn’t stop him from calling her before. She hated the blankness in his eyes. The way he wouldn’t smile at her. She could feel Dylan and Ger’s gazes boring into her back, and she had to push down her intense emotions for fear they might spill over.
“I guess I’ll see you when I’m back then.”
Rich nodded. “Yeah, I guess you will. Be safe.”
That got her. Those two words that he probably only said by rote, and yet made her heart flutter. Right now she felt anything but safe.
She felt exposed.
Rich turned and walked toward his apartment, and she watched until he let himself inside. Not once did he turn around. Her fingers curled around the door handle as she tried to push down the panicked feelings her encounter with Rich had generated.
She needed to be sensible. Maybe he really was just tired.
Yeah, but he’s a doctor. He pushes through. He always has before.
Okay then, maybe he was being guarded because Dylan and his bodyguard were there.
So why doesn’t he want you to call him when it’s safe to talk?
She had no idea. All she knew was that there was this horrible, nagging feeling pulling at her gut. That she’d lost something precious. Something she hadn’t realized she’d wanted this much.
Taking a deep breath, she turned to face Dylan and Ger willing the tears not to sting her eyes.
“Tomorrow afternoon should be good. It’ll give me a chance to speak to Isla and make sure she’s ready for this. If you give me the address, I’ll drive us down after lunch.”
“We’ll arrange a car and driver,” Dylan said, glancing at Ger, who nodded. “It’s safer that way.” A smile tugged at his lips. “Thank you for agreeing to it. I know this is rushed.”
“It’s for Isla.” She was the only one Meghan could think about now. “And you don’t need to worry about our safety. Nobody else knows you’re her father. And Angel Sands is the safest town I’ve lived in.”
“I know.” Dylan’s smile was soft. “But I want to take care of her anyway.”
Rich couldn’t fucking sleep. Which was bullshit, because he never had any problem drifting off. It was a legacy from his internship days, when they worked crazy hours and caught whatever rest they could before shifts. He’d learned to sleep on a row of chairs, on locker room benches, or on a hospital bed in an empty examination room. Hell, one of his fellow interns had found a mortuary slab that wasn’t being used and managed to fall asleep on it.
This was all his fault. The whole situation. If it wasn’t for him, Carlyn would never have brought Dylan Nash to the gallery, and Meghan wouldn’t be with him trying to work out what to say to Isla.
He’d messed their lives around, the same way he always did, and Meghan was paying the price.
The stupid thing was, he knew better than to get involved. Especially with a mom whose kid deserved better than him. Every relationship he touched turned sour, and everybody he loved got hurt. He should come with a warning written across his brow.
He turned on his side, his eyes alighting on his alarm clock. It was almost four a.m. His heart w
as pumping so fast it was like he’d given himself an adrenaline shot. If it was any other time of day, he’d pull on some running shorts and pound his feet over the sand. But it was the middle of the goddamned night and he’d already made enough of a dick of himself.
He hadn’t heard Dylan Nash leave. Maybe that’s what was freaking him the hell out. There was no ping of the elevator, or low voices in the hallway, and definitely no slamming of Meghan’s front door. For all he knew, Dylan was fast asleep in there, getting the rest that was currently eluding Rich.
Meghan deserved better than being hurt just because he couldn’t figure out how to deal with a persistent stalker. If he’d just shut Carlyn off in the beginning, none of this would have happened.