I’m looking less than awesome while Owen Ryan is standing here in his Savile Row suit.
But then, it’s not like I have to impress him anymore. I no longer work for him, not that I ever impressed him when I did work on the team.
“I was hoping to talk to you,” he says to me.
“Oh.” I look at my mum.
“I’ll make some drinks,” she says. “Coffee okay, Owen?”
“Yes, thank you.” He moves into the living room as my mum disappears down the hall to the kitchen. “You mind if I sit down?” He gestures to the chair.
“No, of course not.” I’m forgetting my manners.
I’m just stunned to see him here. And I’m thrown because Owen’s the closest thing to Carrick, and him being here is making me hurt all over again. Well, not that the hurting has ever stopped.
There’s that awkward moment of silence there always is when you have no clue why someone’s arrived at your home, unannounced.
So, I decide to break it with the most obvious. “Is Carrick okay?”
“Yes…and no.”
“No?” The panic in my voice is evident. I sit up straighter in my seat.
“Carrick’s fine…physically.”
“Oh, right. Okay. Good.”
“But Carrick is the reason I’m here.”
“Right…”
I’m not sure if I want to have any conversation with Owen Ryan about anything, let alone Carrick. Maybe he’s here about my dad’s car. Maybe he’s found out that Carrick wants me to keep it, and he thinks it’s too much money to give to me. And he’d be right. It is.
“Before you start, can I ask, how did you know where I live?” I tuck my hands under my thighs. “Did my Uncle John tell you?”
He’d better not have, or he and I will be having words.
“No. I didn’t ask John because I didn’t want anyone to know that I was coming to see you.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want Carrick to know.”
“Oh.” I free my hands and wrap my arms around myself. “So, how did you find out?”
“It wasn’t difficult. There’s only one Wolfe listed as living here in Santos.”
I freeze. He notices.
“Carrick didn’t tell me about your father.”
“Okay. So…how?”
“I had you looked into when you started working for Rybell…well, the moment I knew my son was interested in you for more than a roll in the hay.”
A roll in the hay? I can’t even…
So, Owen has known all along who I am, who my dad was. And honestly, I’m feeling a little pissed off at him for having me checked out.
I mean, who does that, apart from people on TV shows?
“You actually had me checked out?”
“Yes.” He doesn’t look ashamed of the fact.
“Why?” I exclaim a little angrily.
“Because I love my son and because I’m his manager. His career, to a big extent, is in my hands. You know his profile. Who he dates matters. Especially if she matters to him. It’d be big news. I knew you mattered, so I had to know if there were any skeletons in your closet that could potentially damage him.”
I mattered to Carrick.
Mattered.
“And did you find anything?”
“No. But you know that already. But when I did find out that your father is William Wolfe, that presented a whole other problem for me. Not to Carrick’s career. If anything, that would have been great press for him. No, what concerned me was you. Your dad’s accident…I know you were there when it happened, Andi…and you were so young. It’s bound to have affected you, left a mark. And Carrick doing what he does for a living…I foresaw problems. I know you’ve never had a boyfriend that has lasted beyond a couple of months. You have a tough exterior, and you’re hard to get to know. And I know because of who Carrick is, if he cares about someone, actually lets that person in, then it’s all or nothing with him. I figured you sat somewhere in the middle. Emotional attachments don’t seem to be your thing, so I paid attention.”
“I really don’t want to talk about this,” I snap, turning my face away.
“Andi…I didn’t come here to upset you.”
“Then, why did you come?” Swinging my eyes back, I glare at him.
“I came because what I said that night to you in the restaurant…I was wrong.”
“Well, apparently, you were right. As you foresaw, I left him.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “I mean, I was wrong when I said that you should leave him sooner rather than later—before he got in too deep with you. I was wrong because he already was in too deep…still is. And I think you are, too.”
“Are you foreseeing things again?” I’m being a bitch, but I don’t care.
This guy has been nothing but an arsehole to me from the moment I met him, and now, I find out that he’s been invading my privacy. I’m bloody livid.
“I deserve that,” he says. “But no. I saw your face the other night when you saw Carrick outside the hotel. You’re in love with him, and that was when I knew you’d left him, not because you don’t care enough, but because you care too much, and you can’t handle it. You think you can’t be the person he needs.”
Is this guy a bloody mind reader? Or a psychologist in disguise?
“Carrick has never loved a woman in his life—until you. And the way he loves you…that’s not something you want to throw away. I’ve never seen him in a better place than when he was with you. And surely he’s safer in that place than the place he’s in now. He’s not doing well without you. You not being around…I know my son, and it’s killing him.