Liz hesitated, before saying, “I think I can help you with that.”
Kate winced. Scott hadn’t seemed to hold Liz in high regard, so she doubted a call from his ex-lover would be appreciated. He’d hung up on Kate, and she was a stranger. She wasn’t the one who’d seen him naked—she only wished she had. “Liz, I’m not sure he’ll even speak to you.”
“Oh, I’m not calling him. His mother is.”
* * *
“SCOTT, CALL ON line two,” Cameron said an hour later.
“Who is it?” he asked, not taking his eyes from his computer screen, where he was searching for a web designer. He’d waited long enough, and given the current circumstances he wasn’t sure allowing HighRes Media the chance to finish his site was a good idea. He’d eat the hefty fees he’d paid already and start over. He’d only agreed to let Liz’s company design his site because Derek had insisted and he’d been feeling too guilty to say no.
Unfortunately, so far he was underwhelmed with the portfolios of the companies in his budget.
“She wouldn’t say,” Cameron said.
Damn it, the woman was persistent. Grabbing the receiver, he hit the button for the blinking line. “You are bordering on harassment, Ms. Hartley.”
“Ha! As if you would be complaining about a woman harassing you, Scott.”
“Mom?”
“Ah, so you do remember me?”
He sighed as he slumped back in the chair. “I just saw you last week for brunch. Or at least I thought it was you... Short, beautiful, blond-haired woman with new eyelash extensions that fell into her eggs Benedict?” He grinned at the memory, despite his foul mood. Angela Dillon was sixty-five years old, but she didn’t believe her age was any reason not to try out the new beauty trends on the market.
“I admit, the lashes were a dumb idea, okay? Now, not another word about them. Your father’s been relentless enough,” she muttered.
“How is Dad?” His father was a retired carpenter who now worked part-time at a ski rental shop at the base of Bear Mountain. Lee Dillon liked to stay busy despite his weakened health in recent years. Three heart attacks would be enough to make most people retire, but not Scott’s father.
“I just told you how he is—annoying.”
He laughed. His parents had always had a passionate relationship. Their arguments were fiery and their love for one another just as intense. And now that they were both semiretired, they drove one another crazy.
Scott didn’t have the desire to have what his parents had. Or rather, he had no desire to search for that kind of connection. Not anymore. Casual, fun, no commitments suited him just fine. He cherished his independence. Love and long-term relationships were Derek’s MO. His brother wanted the career and wife and kids. He fell in love hard and often and had had his heart broken over and over. Still, he bounced back the instant another pretty face caught his eye.
Scott had been hurt once, and that was enough. One and done.
“Anyway, I’m calling because—”
He cut her off. “I know why you’re calling, and the answer is still no.” Did Derek really think siccing their mother on him would work? They weren’t children anymore. This was his resort and he didn’t have to agree to a single thing, especially since Derek was probably only pushing the situation because he thought he was doing Scott a favor. Sure, the resort could use the reservations and the high-end guests that his brother’s wedding would bring, but he wasn’t that desperate.
“You’re just being stubborn.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. We all know you don’t like Liz...but she’s marrying your brother whether you want to accept it or not.”
If only his mother knew the real reason. He didn’t want to see his brother make the biggest decision of his life without hearing the truth about the woman he was intent on spending his life with. Scott knew Liz. Women like her were never happy for long, always looking for the next adventure, the next thrill...that was his type, not Derek’s. Derek had always been a hopeless romantic, a serial monogamist. The kind of man who fell prey to women like Liz.
The woman made movie trailers because she couldn’t commit to working on longer projects, getting bored too fast, too easily. She’d admitted as much to him...three vodka shots in, somewhere between removing his shirt and her underwear.
Of all the bad coincidences. To have shared a near-death experience with his brother’s girlfriend. The plane crash that had ended his career as a commercial pilot had cost him much more than his pilot’s wings. If only Liz hadn’t been on that flight to Mexico. He sighed. When he’d found out that she was dating his brother, he’d assumed the relationship wouldn’t last long enough for a confession to be worthwhile. No need to upset Derek for something short-term.
But the relationship had continued to grow, and then, six months ago, his brother had proposed. Scott had immediately confronted Liz about telling Derek, and she’d promised she would.
And of course she hadn’t. Cheating women didn’t come clean, he thought bitterly. He should have said something at that point, but too much time had passed and he’d lacked the balls. He kept waiting, on edge, for Liz to man up, but of course she wasn’t willing to risk her relationship with the truth.
“Look, Mom, if Derek thinks he’s happy, in love with Liz, that’s great, but I don’t have to watch him making what I believe is a mistake.”
“Yes, you do. It’s not up to us to decide for him. No one comments on your life choices.”
They didn’t need to. Her tone said it all. They disapproved of his playboy ways, but he didn’t care. He knew his mother was desperate for grandkids and she was putting her hope in Derek, knowing kids were not in Scott’s future. Therefore, she wouldn’t care if Derek were marrying Medusa, just as long as she had a grandbaby within the year. He thought his mother was in for disappointment. Liz Sheffield didn’t exactly have the nurturing, maternal gene. Her company was her baby. “Mom, you’ve only met the woman twice. Don’t you think you and Dad should get to know her better before giving your blessing on this marriage?”
“She’s a living, breathing woman, capable of giving me grandbabies, Scott. What more is there to know?” she said, confirming his thoughts.
Grandkids—the only thing she cared about.
“If you guys are all happy about this, then great. But I’m not on board.”
“Derek is your brother. Have you forgotten that?”
No. But damn, he wished he could. The guilt he experienced each day might be easier to handle if he’d slept with some random stranger’s fiancée and not someone his brother was head over heels in love with, someone who would be there for Christmas mornings and birthdays and family events. Good Lord, things would be awkward.
“The same brother who put you through college and flight school,” she continued. “The same brother who helped fund your new businesses...”
Guilt was a favorite negotiation tactic for his mom, but this time it wouldn’t work. “I’ve paid him back every cent.” It had been the first debt he’d repaid when he’d received the two-million-dollar settlement from Airways Travel two years before, after they’d lost their case in court. Thankfully, he’d been able to prove that it was a malfunction in the operating system that had caused the plane to go down and not pilot error. The money had been appreciated, of course, but mainly he’d been happy to clear his name from fault. No one had died in the crash, but people had been injured. Another thing he felt guilty about. He’d had to give up his career because of that crash. Adding lawsuits from families if he’d lost his case would have destroyed him