After dumping out the rest of the beer Jonas had given her, Lily poured herself a glass of wine before she went back to her own bedroom, where she shut both the door and the window. She even closed the curtains in case Derwin decided to make a return visit.
“Hayden, I need to tell you about a huge mistake I made,” Lily muttered, and she gave that line a few more practice tries before she stopped. Just stopped. And cursed herself. She needed to try to start making things right, and the best way to begin that was to call Cam and see if he wanted them to tell Hayden the truth together.
She fished out the note from her pocket with her left hand and tugged her phone from her back pocket as well. Lily pressed in the number before she could chicken out and start practicing again.
“Hello?” the man said, answering on the first ring.
Lily frowned because she’d thought she would instantly recognize Cam’s voice. She didn’t. “Cam?” she asked.
“Uh, no,” he said without even a moment of hesitation. “Sorry, but you have the wrong number.”
Her frown deepened, and she checked what she’d dialed. “I don’t think I do.” She repeated the number on the note to him.
This time he did pause. “Who is this?”
If this was Cam, he’d obviously not been prepared for a quick follow-up to his note. “It’s Lily,” she said and then added “Lily Parkman” when he still didn’t respond.
Well, heck. Cam had obviously written down the wrong number.
“Look,” she continued, “this note with the number was in my mailbox—”
“Lily Parkman,” the man interrupted. “You own the ranch where Jonas Buchanan works.”
Now she was the one who paused. “Yes. Who are you?”
The snail-crawling silence came before he cleared his throat. “I’m Wade Bentley.”
Lily repeated the name a couple of times to see if it rang any bells. It didn’t.
“You don’t know who I am,” he concluded a moment later.
“No,” she verified, and if she hadn’t been so confused, the relief might have washed over her that Cam wasn’t about to rush in and blurt out all her sins.
“I’m Eli’s father,” he said.
The shock came. Mercy, did it. And yes, definitely no relief. The note had been meant for Eli, not Hayden. It took her more than a moment to let that sink in, and then Lily looked again at the message.
It’s time you hear the truth. Call me. Love, Dad.
“It’s time Eli knows the truth,” she stated, trying not to make it sound like some kind of protective accusation. But heaven help her, she was suddenly feeling a whole lot protective of the boy.
“So, you read the note,” he muttered. “I didn’t have Eli’s number or email and thought he and I should talk before I spring a visit on him.”
“A visit to tell him the truth,” Lily spelled out, and this time the accusation came through loud and clear.
Bentley’s next pause was even longer. “Yes,” he finally verified.
“You didn’t even put Eli’s name on the note,” Lily added. “How were you even sure he’d get it?”
“Really?” Bentley said. “I left off his name? Huh. Didn’t mean to do that. Then again, Eli’s probably the only one on the ranch who’d get a note like that from his dad left in the mailbox.”
No, not the only one. And Lily had just assumed the worst. But this worst was for Jonas.
“Please give Eli the note and have him call me. He needs to hear what I have to say.”
And with that ominous-sounding comment, the man ended the call.
CHAPTER FOUR
STANDING AT HIS kitchen sink, Jonas ate the rest of his bacon and toast while he loaded the dishwasher—his day for the particular chore since Eli and he alternated doing such things. Because it hadn’t been Eli’s duty day, the boy hadn’t spent more than a minute in the kitchen. After Eli had gotten up, he’d slapped together a breakfast sandwich and headed out, saying he wanted to look in on the new horses. That was possibly the truth.
Possibly.
But Jonas also figured it was his son’s way of avoiding any more talk about the kissing that Jonas had walked in on the day before. Jonas couldn’t blame the kid. It wasn’t exactly a comfortable subject, but eventually they’d have to talk about it so Jonas could try to make sure it didn’t get out of hand.
While Jonas continued to load the dishes and eat, he read through the emails on his phone. He didn’t usually multitask his way through breakfast, but he’d wanted to hurry so he could go to the main house and check on Lily. He was betting she hadn’t gotten much sleep after telling Hayden about the note left from Cam.
If she’d told Hayden, that was.
She wouldn’t have chickened out. No, not Lily. But it was possible the timing hadn’t worked for her to do a tell-all. If the confession had happened, though, if Hayden now knew that Griff and not Cam was her father, then Jonas wanted to be able to lend whatever support was needed.
Once Hayden had started to come to terms with the truth of her DNA, it was possible she’d have questions about Griff. Hard questions about the person he was and how he’d died. Lily would no doubt be able to answer those, but Hayden might want some input from someone other than the woman who hadn’t been forthcoming with her about her father.
Depending on the level of Hayden’s anger—and Jonas was betting there’d be plenty of it—she might be more willing to talk things over with him rather than her mother. That would hurt Lily, no way around it, but Lily would also want any comfort he might be able to give to her daughter.
Jonas topped off the coffee in his mug with plans to finish most of it on the short walk from his house to Lily’s. After all, Lily and Hayden weren’t the only ones who probably hadn’t gotten much sleep. Jonas had spent a good chunk of the night tossing and turning and worrying about his boss and his niece.
He chugged some of the coffee, headed out the front door. And he immediately came to a stop. Lily was there, sitting on the top porch step with her back resting against the handrail post. She, too, was downing some coffee that was no doubt sorely needed, because the moment she looked at him, he saw the fatigue and worry in her Parkman blue eyes.
Sighing, Jonas met her gaze. “How bad is it?” he asked, and his mind was already spinning with the possibilities. A teenager’s emotions were often in the “full throttle” mode, so it was possible that Hayden hadn’t taken the news well at all.
Lily matched his sigh and patted the spot next to her. “You should probably sit down for this.”