“Oh, that’s awful.”
“He wanted me to go into our marriage with my eyes wide open, knowing that he could never love me. Not the way he felt I should be loved. But he offered me a way out. Out from under my father’s thumb, where I was only good for standing around looking pretty for his business friends. Away from my stepmother, the woman who made my life a living nightmare. I won’t go into details, but think about the opposite of your family, of how you are loved by not only your parents but your brothers. That was my life. Empty. Hollow. Even my degree was useless because once people realized who my father was, they were happy to hire me, as long as it gave them inroads to him. Or they were social climbers, loving having a connection to Janelle.”
“So you agreed to marry him?”
She pulled in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Yes. I went into my marriage with my eyes wide open. And I was happy. Steven was happy. We were a true partnership in our home. While we weren’t in love—”
“Who wants to stop by the lake?” Harper grinned, nudging Beth with her shoulder. “You had just had Patrick the last time.”
“No, no, I promised Ms. Patti no shenanigans tonight.” Tessa raised her right hand with her fingers crossed.
“Who said anything about shenanigans? I simply thought we might take a walk on the lakeshore, maybe dip or toes in the water.”
“Only our toes? The last time a whole lot more got wet than just our tootsies.” Everyone laughed at Jill’s joke.
“Camilla’s not here, so we should be safe. Besides, Dusty is not on duty tonight, I checked with Rafe. So he couldn’t possibly get his poor sensibilities offended.”
“Not to be a party pooper or anything, but I probably should get back to the ranch. Gage is probably having fits because I came tonight without my bodyguards. It wouldn’t be fair to give him extra headaches because I wasn’t careful. I hope you understand. Though I had a great time. I’m so glad you invited me.”
“You’re right, it is getting late. We should probably head home.”
Suzanna was pretty sure Nica was safe to climb behind the wheel, since she’d really only had about half a margarita when she’d drained Suzanna’s glass, and that had been over an hour ago. This reminded her to look across the restaurant, noting that Dr. Gabriel Shaw was gone. She reminded herself to talk with Nica about the good doctor, give her a shoulder to cry on if need be, or somebody to vent with if that would help.
After a round of hugs and promises to call when they got home, everybody piled into their respective vehicles and headed home. Climbing into the front seat and putting on her seatbelt, Suzanna relaxed, leaning her head against the headrest and realized this was the first time that she’d relaxed and allowed herself to simply have fun since before Steven died.
And she didn’t feel guilty. Talking with Nica earlier reminded her of all Steven’s good qualities. His compassion, his friendship, and his brotherly love. He’d have been happy to see her finding new friends, meeting people like the Boudreaus. And she had a sneaking suspicion he would have liked Gage.
She held onto that thought all the way back to the Big House.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
After sleeping likea baby when she got back to the Boudreau ranch, Suzanna rose bright and early to the smell of bacon cooking. Rushing through a quick shower and brushing her teeth, she put her hair up into a bun on the back of her neck, dressed in a faded denim skirt and an emerald green top and headed downstairs, stopping short when she found Gage standing at the bottom of the stairs.
“Good morning,” she managed to stutter out, feeling heat rush into her cheeks, remembering how she’d fantasized about him the day before. Her dreams during the night had been filled with him, too. Passionate, not safe for work-type dreams, where she’d been a willing participant. More than willing, actually, she’d been aggressive and enjoyed every single second of the dream and wished it could be reality.
“Morning, Suzanna. Hope you slept well.”
“I did. Last night was fun. I’ve never done a Girls Night Out before.”
“Glad you’re making new friends. Ms. Patti loves those women, which makes them okay in my book.”
And I bet you’ve thoroughly and completely run background checks on each and every one of them, vetting them to make sure they pass muster to be part of your precious Boudreau family.
“I had a message from Elizabeth Blackthorn when I woke up this morning. Apparently Donald told her that we stopped by.She wants me to call her, and if I’m in town she wants to do lunch or dinner.”
“I hadn’t planned on driving back to Dallas after what happened yesterday. The rental place is supposed to deliver a new car this morning. If you want to meet with her, we can head that way.”
“Lemme talk with her. She might simply want to touch base since she wasn’t home when we stopped by. Maybe Donald made a big deal about our visit.”
“Or maybe she wants to pump you for information to pass along to her husband. She might be an innocent of her husband’s machinations, but she may also be involved up to her eyeballs.”
“No.” She shook her head vehemently. “Elizabeth isn’t involved with Dawkins, Inc. in any way. She’s told me many times that she insists Donald leave work at the office, and once he’s home he’s not allowed to talk about business. I can’t see her involved in any way in Steven’s death.”
“Make the call. See what she says. And see if you can find out what her husband told her about our visit. Whether he seems upset or angry. Somebody put the tracker on our vehicle yesterday. It wasn’t there before that, because I checked. I’m thorough and I know how to do my job well. Bas also checked yesterday morning, before we left. I bet if I asked Ranger, he’d tell me he checked the car too.”
“Have I told you how much I appreciate you’re helping me? I know you’re only doing it because Brandon asked you to, but it means a lot that you believed me when I said I didn’t kill Steven.”
“Breakfast, everybody. Come and get it.” Ms. Patti’s voice floated in from the kitchen, causing Gage to smile. It was obvious he adored the woman. Not that she blamed him, Ms. Patti was pretty amazing.
