up and he also knew he wouldn’t fall asleep easily. Deciding a hot shower, followed by a glass of brandy from the minibar, might do the trick, he went into the bedroom and began shedding his clothes. First, though, he would text Austin, let him know he’d arrived and see if there was any change in their mother’s condition. Austin’s answer came within seconds.
Welcome home. Mom sleeping. No change. More tests tomorrow. See you in a.m.
Reassured, Adam headed for the shower. Ten minutes later, standing under the hot spray, he could already feel some of the tenseness leaving his muscles, and he slowly relaxed.
It was going to be interesting, being back in Crandall Lake. For the first time since he’d known he was coming, he allowed his mind to venture into the area he’d unsuccessfully attempted to banish from his thoughts many years ago.
Would he see her?
And if he did, what would he feel?
What did he feel?
He remembered how hurt he’d been by her decision. Her desertion. By the fact she had never tried to contact him afterward. When he’d discovered, a year or so later, that she’d gotten married scant months after he’d left for Nashville, he’d realized how right he’d been. She’d never really loved him. All she cared about was that family of hers. He’d been a fool to ever think otherwise.
Hell, he hoped he would see her.
And when he did, he would make it clear to her and anyone else in the vicinity that she meant absolutely nothing to him.
Less than nothing.
And when his mother was out of danger, he would persuade her to come and live with him, or at least to allow him to have a house built for her on his property in Tennessee. Then when he left Crandall Lake this time, he would not be back.
* * *
“I have something to tell you, Eve.”
Eve looked at Olivia, who sat at the kitchen table, a glass of red wine in front of her. Her tone seemed awfully serious. “Oh? Something happen?” Olivia constantly had problems with her mother-in-law, and lately the problems had seemed to be escalating.
Olivia nodded. “You could say that.”
Eve lowered the heat under her spaghetti sauce. “Cryptic doesn’t work with me, Liv. You know I suck at mysteries. I never know who dunnit.” Satisfied that her sauce would simmer while the pasta cooked, she poured herself some wine and turned to face her cousin and BFF, as the kids would say.
Olivia’s expressive brown eyes met Eve’s. “I almost called you yesterday, but decided this was something I had to tell you in person.”
Concern. That was what Eve was seeing. She frowned.
“Adam Crenshaw was at the hospital today,” Olivia said slowly.
The statement hit Eve like a blow to her stomach. Her mouth dropped open and she stared at Olivia. “A-Adam...is...is here? In Crandall Lake?” But he wasn’t supposed to be coming to Texas until September. In fact, Eve had planned to tell Olivia about his upcoming concert tour tonight.
Olivia’s eyes were soft with sympathy. She was the only one besides Bill who knew about Adam. Eve, in a low moment years ago, had finally told her cousin about him, but Olivia’d been sworn to secrecy. In fact, they never talked about him. Olivia, like Eve, understood it was better not to dwell on things that couldn’t be changed.
Eve, shaking inside, sank into the chair across from Olivia. Her cousin reached across the table and took Eve’s hand.
“Are you okay?” she said softly.
Eve swallowed. “I guess I have to be, don’t I?”
“Oh, hon, I know how you must feel. I’m sorry, but I knew you needed to know.”
Eve nodded. Olivia did know how she felt. Olivia had been through worse. She’d lost her beloved husband, Mark, four years ago when his helicopter crashed in Afghanistan. Thea, her little girl, had been born after he died. “Wh-what was Adam doing at the hospital?”
“He came because of his mother. She had a heart attack yesterday. Apparently, his brother called him, and Adam came home. He told me he got in late last night.”
“You talked to him?”
“Yes.” Olivia worked the day shift in Registration and Admissions at the Crandall Lake Hospital.
“I thought you said Adam’s brother brought her in.”
“Yes, she was brought in late yesterday afternoon, after I’d gone home for the day, but several things were left off the admission form, so I went searching for Austin—you know, the brother who’s the lawyer. He’s the one who filled out the forms. By the time I found him, Adam was there, too.”
Eve knew who Austin was. She’d even seen him a few times, but she didn’t really know him and had never spoken to him. Crandall Lake was a small town, but not that small. People pretty much knew everything of interest or importance that was happening, but not everyone was on speaking terms with everyone else. “Is Adam’s mother okay?”
“She will be, according to the doctors, although there are more tests to run. But even if she is, she’ll be recuperating for a while, and apparently Adam’s going to stay right here in Crandall Lake while she does. In fact, he told me he hopes to bring her back to Nashville when she’s well enough to travel. He said he wants her to live with him.”
Eve got up to check the pasta while Olivia kept talking. But each word her cousin uttered contributed to Eve’s sense of unreality. Was this really happening? Was Adam Crenshaw really here? In Crandall Lake? For the duration of his mother’s recuperation? As far as she knew, he had never come back here before. She also knew—courtesy of the very efficient gossip network in Crandall Lake—that he’d taken care of his mother financially once he’d begun to make money, so that she’d never had to work again. And Eve had also heard how Lucy Crenshaw visited her son often. People had speculated about why he never came to Crandall Lake, though, and what they could do to get him to come. His appearance now was bound to create a huge splash.
Oh, God. What if she should run into him? What would she say? Could she manage it and act normal? Or would she fall completely to pieces like that old Patsy Cline song?
“Do you want to know anything else?” Olivia asked after a minute. “Or do you want me to quit talking about this?”
Eve didn’t immediately answer. Instead, to give herself time to calm down, she tested a strand of pasta, then turned the burner off and poured the pasta into a waiting colander sitting in the sink. She didn’t look at Olivia.
“Eve? You okay?”
“Yes.” But she wasn’t. She was a mess.
“You sure?”
Eve sighed deeply. Turned away from the sink and met Olivia’s eyes again. “How does he look?”
“Want me to say he’s really ugly in person? Or do you want me to be honest?”
“Be
