Reunited With The Billionaire

“I know, Mom, but…” She blushed. “I have a date.”

Gina smiled. Howard stared.

“A date? With a boy?” Howard spoke in the same tone he’d have used if Wendy had announced she had a date with a Klingon warrior.

“Yes.” Wendy’s blush deepened. “His name is Seth Castleman.”

From that night on, everything revolved around what Seth said or did. Gina thought she’d never seen her little girl so happy. Howard thought he’d never seen her so distracted.

“She’s going to lose her edge,” he grumbled late one Friday night when he and Gina lay in bed, listening to the clock chime eleven and knowing Wendy had yet to come home.

Gina sighed and put her head on his shoulder. “She’s in love, Howard.”

“Don’t be silly.”

“The signs are all there.”

Howard had snorted. “Puppy love, maybe. That’s all it is.”

Gina had been sure it was more than that—until the accident, when Seth flew to Norway to be with Wendy and Wendy wouldn’t even see him. When she’d sent him a note that cut him out of her life.

The doorbell sounded. Gina glanced at the clock. Howard was the reading coordinator at the school where they both worked. He was meeting with the principal and she expected him home for lunch, but it was only ten. It had to be the UPS man with the books she’d ordered.

But it wasn’t the UPS man. It was Seth.

“Hello, Gina.”

She stared at him stupidly. Seth hadn’t come to the house in a long time, and now, only minutes after they’d talked about him, he was here. She gaped at the young man before her, snow dusting his dark hair and leather jacket, as if he were an apparition.

“Seth? I didn’t expect… I mean, what are you—”

“May I come in?”

Gina swallowed. “Actually,” she said carefully, “this isn’t a very good time.”

“I know she’s here.”

“Seth.” Gina glanced over her shoulder at the stairs. “I really don’t think—”

“How come you didn’t tell me she was coming home?”

There was anger in his voice, but she thought she could detect pain, too. “Oh, Seth…”

“You should have told me,” he said gruffly.

The snow was coming down harder. And Mrs. Lewis, out walking her dog, had paused on the sidewalk and was watching the scene with frank curiosity. Gina swung the door wide and moved aside. “Come in, then. But only for a minute.”

“Thanks.” Seth stepped into the entry hall and stomped his boots on the mat a lot harder than necessary. He didn’t give a damn just now about the snow he might track in on Gina Monroe’s slate tiles. Driving here, he’d gone from ticked off to angry to plain furious. It was stupid, he knew, because Wendy didn’t mean anything to him and Gina was under no obligation to tell him anything. Still, stupid or not, his temper was almost at the boiling point.

His anger started to abate as he looked at Gina’s worried face. Calmer now, he wasn’t even sure why he’d come. It was only that it was wrong that nobody had told him Wendy was coming home, warned him so he’d have been prepared for the shock of seeing her again.

“Seth.” Gina looked up at him. “You can’t stay. Really, I wish you could, but—”

“Yeah.” He ran his fingers through his snow-dampened hair. “Look, I’m sorry. I just…I saw her, you know? And it was—it was a surprise. How come you didn’t tell me?”

“Because…because—”