LITMIR.BIZ

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out.

      “She’s my best friend,” Crystal said.

      “Maybe that’s clouding your judgment.”

      “Damn it, Derek. Look at the facts. Charlie isn’t reading and she’s been stealing. Lily didn’t cause that. She’s trying to fix it. We need to rethink our plans for the summer.”

      “Meaning?”

      “Meaning Lily wants us to do what’s best for Charlie, not what’s good for your career.”

      “Oh, so you’re just going to cancel your plans and stay home, carting the kid to Portland every day to study.”

      “I think we should consider it. Sorry if that interferes with your plans.”

      He barked out a short laugh. “It doesn’t interfere, honey. It negates them completely. You know I won’t do anything this summer without Charlie.”

      “What a shame you and Joan will have to miss out on Hawaii.”

      “It’s Jane,” he said automatically, but of course she knew that. “And it’s not so much that missing Hawaii is a problem. I need to play in the majors. How the hell do you think we’re going to pay for things like a private clinic in Portland, along with everything else you claim you need?”

      “Maybe if you managed your money better, you wouldn’t have to worry about that.”

      “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

      “You earn huge amounts, Derek, but you spend even more. How many are on your payroll now, a dozen? Twenty? Do you really need to travel with your own personal massage therapist?”

      “As a matter of fact, yes. My people are the engine that keeps this train on track. You know that, Crystal. You know.” He aimed a meaningful look at her designer shoes and the diamond pendant glittering at her throat. “Maybe you should lay off the shopping. Ever think of that?”

      She glared at him, then glanced at her watch. “We should go. It’s time to pick up the baby at Mrs. Foster’s and Cameron at the country club.” She got back in the truck and put on her seat belt. She was utterly self-possessed, expecting the world to wait on her.

      He got in and started up the truck. Steam still rolled off the hood and the asphalt. It was no longer raining, but fog hung thick in the ditches and vales surrounding the road.

      “Cameron doesn’t mind hanging around the club,” Derek said, hoping to deflect her attention from who was watching the baby. “Now that Sean works there, they sometimes get in a round together.” He slammed the truck into reverse and peeled out, rear end fishtailing on the slick surface of the road.

      “I think Cameron’s been spending too much time with your brother.”

      “For God’s sake, Crystal. The kids have a right to get to know their uncle. Cameron likes him. Sean’s good for his golf game.”

      “Giving him pointers, like teaching him how to cheat?”

      Derek took the next curve a little too fast, swinging onto the shoulder, veering into the gravel along the shoulder. “That was a low blow. Sean’s no cheater.”

      “No? Then he was banned from the Asian Tour for…what? Having a bad hair day?”

      “For getting mixed up with the wrong woman,” he said. Then a devil inside him made him add, “God knows, I can relate to that.”

      “You bastard, you—” She broke off, looking at the road. “You just missed the turnoff into town.”

      “I’m taking Echo Ridge.”

      “Then you’ll have to go through town to get to the sitter’s,” she pointed out.

      All right, thought Derek. He might as well go for broke. “Ashley isn’t there. She’s with Jane.”

      She sucked in an audible breath. “Well, that’s just peachy. The thought of my baby in the hands of your jailbait girlfriend makes my day.”

      “Jane Coombs is twenty-four and already has her Ph.D.”

      “You love reminding me of that. I don’t give a shit about her academic credentials.”

      Derek knew she did. Crystal joked about getting out of college with only her “MRS” degree, but the fact that she had never finished her education was a sore spot, something probably only Derek knew.

      “Jane loves Ashley,” he said. Then he took a deep breath. “And you might as well know she’s moving in with me.”

      “Ah, living in sin. You’re such a perfect role model for our children.”

      “We won’t be living in sin.” His hands were suddenly drenched in sweat, slick upon the steering wheel. “Crystal, we’re getting married. We plan to tell the kids next weekend.”

      “You bastard,” she said, her voice eerily quiet. “You damned, fucking bastard.”

      He glanced over at her and had the strangest sensation of déjà vu. And then he laughed. He was a bastard. His stepfather used to remind him of that all the time. And the fucking part? Well, that was certainly true. He fucked anything that twitched a tush at him, and on a pro golf tour, there was a lot of twitching.

      “You think this is funny?” Crystal demanded.

      “I think it’s hilarious. We’re hilarious. God, look at us, Crystal. Look at the mess we made, me with my pecker and you with your purse.” He chuckled, feeling giddy and light-headed as though he’d just slammed down a shot of tequila. He looked over and caught her staring at him with her heart in her eyes.

      “Damn it, Crystal,” he said, “I was so damned in love with you, but you made it so damned hard to stay that way.”

      Her eyes misted and for just a moment he saw the girl she had been, the dream lover he thought he wanted for the rest of his life. She had worshiped him with a fervor that was a turn-on. Where had that gone?

      “God, Derek,” she said, “it’s so much easier than you—look out!”

      He yanked his gaze back to the road in time to see a doe and her spotted fawn gambol down the fogged-in bank, stepping directly into the roadway right in front of him.

      Derek had grown up in this place. He knew every curve of the road and every outcrop, every sheer cliff, and every thick-girthed cedar and Douglas fir that bordered the wild highway. He even knew that the Huffelmanns owned property for the next mile along the road and had posted it No Trespassing. Old man Huffelmann would not even give the highway department permission to put a guardrail alongside the steep incline, so there was no barrier to keep him on the road.

      The tires screamed on the wet pavement and he dialed the steering wheel frantically in the opposite direction of the skid. Crystal stayed completely silent, though she threw her hands in front of her and braced them on the dashboard. Somehow, Derek wrestled the car back into its lane.

      Crystal glowered at him. “You drive like a maniac.”

      “You used to like that about me.”

      “I used to like a lot of things about you.”

      “Hey, at least I didn’t cream Bambi and his mom.” He could tell she was in no mood. Fine, he thought. He might as well get on that last nerve of hers right now and get it over with. “I suppose this is as good a time as any to tell you I have to miss Ashley’s birthday party.”

      “Derek, come on.”

      “I’m sorry, but I have to be in Vegas for a big tournament, so I need you to change the party date.”

      “I’m not changing a thing.”

      “She’s only two. She’ll never know. She’s just a baby. It’s no big deal.” A pair of madronas, the bark peeled off to reveal bloodred branches, grew beside the sharp

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