Impact (Suncoast Society #32)(57)

“I’m exhausted, I’m mentally drained, and all I want to do is come home and curl up in your lap and cry.” She didn’t sound like their Tilly.

She sounded defeated, and that worried him.

Greatly.

“When are you leaving work?” he asked.

“I have a budget report to go through. It’ll take me about a half hour to finish.”

“Can you do that at home?”

“I…” She hesitated. “I guess I could. I need to have an analysis ready for Lucas in the morning.”

“Then come home. Load up, let Loren bring you and Katie home.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good girl. Love you.”

“Love you, too, Sir.”

He ended the call and headed right for Landry’s office. Once again, he was on the phone. Cris closed and locked the door and was already dropping to his knees by the time he reached Landry’s side.

Landry had already turned his chair so Cris could kneel between his legs, his arms slipping around Landry’s waist, his face pressed against Landry’s groin.

Landry stroked his head as he talked to whoever it was on the phone, and that’s all Cris needed. The physical contact.

There’d been times during Landry’s first round of cancer treatments after the accident, when the man had been dead to the world, zonked out on painkillers, and Cris would close his eyes and press his forehead against Landry’s thigh, lift the unconscious man’s hand and place it on his head, and cry.

He’d been strong for Landry because Landry had needed him.

He’d been able to be strong for Tilly because she’d needed him.

But with both of them in his life, he found it far easier to slip back and forth in roles with both of them than he ever imagined it would be.

Landry finally ended the call and set the phone on his desk. Cris heard it. He didn’t open his eyes.

“Tell me, love,” Landry softly said.

“This is my fault.”

He sighed. “You didn’t kill Sofia.”

“I meant the custody battle. If I hadn’t said anything about Katie—”

“We might still have had one months or years down the road when they eventually discovered her. Best to get it out of the way now, once and for all, so they can’t blindside us later and she is far too young to even know about it.”

He hadn’t thought about it like that. “I’m worried about Tilly.”

“And I’m worried about you both.” Landry’s fingers still stroked Cris’ hair. “I think tonight I know two pets who need some serious attention from me, yes?”

“Yes, Master,” Cris whispered.

“You need to mourn. Tilly doesn’t expect you to be stalwart and steady all of the time. She knows you’re human.”

“This doesn’t feel real. None of this feels real.”

“I know. It’s happening so quickly.” Landry’s nails gently raked Cris’ scalp, making him shiver in the good way. “One shock after another, we almost don’t have time to adapt accordingly.”

“I feel horrible for not stopping to mourn her.”

“We will have time for that later,” Landry said. “She sprang into our lives, dropped a baby on us, and left again almost immediately. It’s normal to have difficulty adjusting.”

Cris felt the room rock a little and it took him a moment for his brain to shift into gear. He lifted his head. “Was that an earthquake?”

Landry wore a playful smile. “Just a small one. They feel odd now, don’t they, since we don’t get them in Florida?”

“Hope that’s not a bad omen.”

“Perhaps it’s a good one. A literal seismic shift.”

“Thank god for Loren.”

“Indeed,” Landry said. “Indeed.”





Loren looked up. “What the hell was that?”

Tilly waited, heart racing. “I think it was an earthquake.” She hated them. Fortunately, she’d only felt two minor tremors in the past, nothing catastrophic.

Yet another reason she wasn’t fond of California.

“Are you shitting me?” Loren said.

“I shit you not.”

They both froze, waiting, even as they heard others in the office make exclamations. Blaring alerts filled the office from people who had USGS quake apps on their phones.

Leigh stuck her head into Tilly’s doorway. “I’m calling it an end of day, folks. I hate those damn things.”

“It was a little one,” Tilly said.

“You’re a Florida native, too,” Leigh shot back. “That could have been a big one, as far as either one of us know.”

“The building’s still standing and we have power.”

“Don’t take the elevator,” Leigh called over her shoulder as she headed for her office. “And we need to get your car seat base out of my car.”

Tilly sighed. It seemed the issue was settled for her.

Loren got up and started packing her things. “I just changed Katie a little bit ago. She should be fine until we get home.”

“The roads will be a mess,” Tilly said. “Everyone leaving work early because of this.”