Almost Perfect (Fool's Gold #2)(44)

“They’re up at the new camp?”

“Yes. Even Melissa was excited.” Liz told her about the film class.

“Sounds like fun,” Pia commented as their wine was delivered. “Keeps them from getting bored.”

Liz sipped her wine gratefully. “There’s going to be construction in the house. My brother was great at starting projects, but didn’t feel enthused about finishing them. The house needs to be fixed up so we can sell it or rent it out. I haven’t decided.”

“You haven’t been back in years and now you’re dealing with all this,” Pia described, sounding sympathetic. “That can’t be easy.”

“It’s not,” Liz admitted. “Between the unexpected responsibility of my nieces, Tyler getting to know his dad, me having to deal with Ethan and being back in Fool’s Gold, it’s been an active couple of weeks.” She took another sip. “Ethan’s mother hates me.”

“Denise? I doubt that. She likes everyone.”

If only that were true, Liz thought. “She doesn’t like me. She’s angry about me keeping Tyler from Ethan and the family.”

“Well, sure.”

Liz looked at the woman sitting across from her. “Let me pause and bask in your sympathy.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. But from her point of view, she’s lost time. Nothing can make up for that.” Pia held up her hand. “And before you go off on me about sleeping with Ethan right after you left—first, I didn’t know you were actually dating him. Second, nothing happened. He was too drunk that night and we didn’t make a second attempt.”

“You’re saying lack of penetration means it doesn’t count?”

“Something like that.”

Liz was too tired to fight, even with Pia. “I’ll accept the blame for the first six years that were lost, but not after that. I came back again.”

She briefly told Pia about her meeting with Rayanne and the subsequent letter.

Pia’s blue eyes widened. “I can’t believe she did that. I know Rayanne had her problems, but to keep Tyler from Ethan? And then she died without telling him.”

“Why are you surprised? She was never very nice. To me the question is more about why Ethan ever got involved with her.”

“She was pregnant when they got married,” Pia informed, then paused as their salads were delivered.

Pregnant as in they had to get married? Liz waited until the server had left to lean forward. “That’s why they got married?”

“Uh-huh. I think Rayanne had picked out Ethan a while before, but he wasn’t that interested. Then she got pregnant and he wasn’t the kind of guy to walk away.”

Liz ignored the stab of pain at hearing that and refused to wonder if he would have been willing to marry her if he’d found out about Tyler. She knew the answer. After all, Ethan was a Hendrix.

“Then I showed up,” Liz said. “Threatening her happy world.”

“She must have been terrified. Especially if she knew that you and Ethan had been involved before. She would have thought she could lose everything.” Pia looked at her. “You probably think she deserved it. She wasn’t exactly nice to you in high school.”

Neither were you. Liz thought the words, but didn’t say them. Pia was different. Not the same mean girl she’d been back then.

“No one deserves to lose everything,” Liz said at last.

“But it happens.” Pia sipped her wine. “It did to me.”

“What are you talking about.”

“You don’t know? Oh, right. You were gone by then.” Pia shrugged. “My senior year of high school it all fell apart. My dad lost his job.”

“He owned the company, didn’t he?”

“He was president, which isn’t exactly the same thing. It seems sales weren’t as good as he had led the board of directors to believe. He’d also been stealing money for years. Not telling the employees was one thing, but not telling the IRS is another. He was charged with tax evasion, fraud, theft. I can’t remember everything. My mom took off for Florida. I wanted to stay here and finish high school. She agreed. When I graduated, she said, after what she’d been through, it would be better if I learned to stand on my own.”

Liz didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry.” Her own mother hadn’t been a prize, but at least she’d grown up used to it. Pia’s mother had done an about-face at the worst time in a young girl’s life. That made things worse. “What about your dad?”

“He killed himself the day before the trial started.”

Liz dropped her fork onto the table. “Pia. I’m so sorry.”

“It was a long time ago.”

“That can’t make it any easier to deal with.”

The other woman looked at her and smiled slightly. “It makes it easier to forget. Besides, I was a real bitch in high school. Maybe I earned it.”

“No. You didn’t. I really am sorry.”

“Sorry enough to let the whole naked-with-Ethan thing go?”

Liz nodded. “I was never really angry at you.”

“I’m a safer target than Ethan. Right?”

Liz shrugged. “And you’re also insightful. That’s annoying.”