“Hey. You okay?”
I fiddled with opening my car door and throwing my bag inside. “I will be. Just a shock to hear his name, that’s all.”
He reached out and put a hand on my upper arm. “That’s not all. I heard you ran into him up in Anza earlier this year.”
I hesitated, nodding. There were no accusations in his tone, no demand to know why I hadn’t told him. But I should have figured on my mom letting him know. I suppressed a sigh.
“Adam and I went up to help her get the B&B ready for the season. We were in Bartons, and his mom, Beth, was there.” I shuddered, and Heath rubbed my arm to reassure me.
Retelling this story felt almost as if I was standing in the middle of that grocery aisle again, facing off with the mother of my ex. I shook my head. “She was all coos and smiles. Everyone wants to act like they are my long-lost best friend now, even Beth. Remember how much she hated me when she thought I was going to press charges against her baby for assault? She had the nerve to act like nothing had ever happened, and even wanted to introduce him to Adam.”
Heath’s jaw tightened, along with his hold on my arm. My stomach roiled at the memory as I remembered the panic, the pure fear, the heartbeat pounding in my ears at the thought of them meeting. Knowing that I would never in a thousand years be able to keep my cool around Zach and that Adam would pick up on it immediately—and ask questions—I did what I’d done just now: made my quick excuses, grabbed Adam, and bolted.
“Zach was in the store, too?”
I shut my eyes. “In the next aisle over. She called out to him, and I was trying to get the fuck out of there. But as soon I rounded the corner, I ran right smack into him—literally.”
In the present, my stomach sloshed with panic. I took a deep breath, forcibly reminding myself that I was safe.
When I’d smelled that same cologne he used to wear in high school—that heavy-handed stuff he practically bathed in—that was all it took. Gibbering panic had set in—my heart racing, adrenaline pumping, fight-or-flight mode kicking in. I’d almost peed my pants.
“That fucker tried to stop me, to say hello as if nothing had ever happened.” I was practically grinding my teeth as I said it.
Heath shook his head, clearly puzzled. “I never took him for that much of an idiot.”
I ran my hand over my eyes, tried to control the shaking. “Everyone sees stars in their eyes now. I’m the girl who’s about to marry a billionaire. Ever since that Forbes magazine feature article on Adam that mentioned my name. I’m supposed to forget everything about the past and help them all.”
Heath drew back, revolted. “Jesus. That’s disgusting. Did Adam notice your reaction to Zach?”
I dropped my hand from my eyes and tilted my head to look at Heath. “What do you think?”
Heath’s brow went up. “Yeah, not much gets by him.”
“I dragged him out of the store, and we drove down to Temecula to get groceries there instead.” I shook my head. “I wished to hell I’d done that in the first place.”
“What did Adam say when you told him why you were so freaked out?”
I bit my lip, but looked away without answering.
“Mia…shit. You didn’t tell him?”
“No. I didn’t want him to freak out and go back in there and punch the guy. You know he would have tried. And as for that dickhead…the way everyone sees dollar signs when they see Adam or me, I wouldn’t put it past that asshole to pick a fight so he could sue Adam and his deep pockets. To say nothing of Adam going to jail. No, he doesn’t need to fight my battles.”
Except there was a sinking suspicion about the timing of the news Camille had delivered to me. After all this time, Zach getting thrown in a Mexican prison mere months after that encounter…
Had Adam somehow been involved in that? But how?
Heath blew out a breath. “So Adam didn’t say anything?”
“He wanted to, but I never let him. I talked so much during the drive that he never got a word in edgewise. Whenever he’d try to broach it, I’d change the subject.”
Heath’s brow crumpled, and he appeared at a loss. Ugh. Sometimes life was too confusing. And all the thoughts stirring around in my head like a stew? I had no idea what to make of them.
Heath and I said our goodbyes soon after, and I got in my car.
During the drive home, I couldn’t stop thinking about that encounter in the grocery store. This new development—Zach going to jail for drugs—seemed like an eerie coincidence. I knew that Adam had dug for info after the grocery store incident. The next day, I’d caught him in my childhood bedroom at the ranch looking through my old high school yearbooks. They’d been buried in the top shelf of my closet. He’d been in there a few times before to look around, but that day in particular, he’d shown an inordinate amount of interest in the books. Had he continued to dig deeper, after that?
When I arrived at our house at noon, Adam wasn’t home yet. Since I’d had the tea date already set with Heath and Camille, he’d ducked into work for the morning to check on things. But he’d promised he wouldn’t be long. While I waited for him, I finished up some work in my new study, which Adam had converted from a guest bedroom across the hall from his home office.
I heard him come in and went down to meet him in the kitchen, where he’d grabbed a bottle of water. Throwing my arms around him from behind, I stood on tiptoes to kiss him on the neck. “What should we do today?”
“Let’s take the Duffy boat over to the Fun Zone,” he answered without even a pause. “I owe you a rematch in Skee-Ball.”
I grinned cheekily, resting my chin on his shoulder. “You mean…you crave further humiliation.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I have a bit of a masochistic streak going on.” He turned around and returned the hug, pulling me up against him. “How was tea? I bet Heath was about as dainty in there as a WWE wrestler.”
I blew out a breath. “Poor guy. At least it got him out of the house, though. He’s been less than social since Connor went back to Ireland.”
With a smile, he took my hand, and we went out to the slip where the electric Duffy boat bobbed, dwarfed by the much larger yacht. I sat lost in thought as we motored across the back bay to the Balboa Peninsula, home of the Fun Zone. Across the inlet, the pier and boardwalk rimmed the water, gleaming in the temperate sunlight.