Sunset Thunder

  Chapter Nineteen

  RYDER WAS NERVOUS. He wasn’t sure the last time he remembered feeling nervous, but he sure as hell didn’t like how weak it made him. His legs felt like rubber, ready to collapse with each step, or turn him around and make him run out the door.

  What is your problem?

  Stepping out the french doors of Violet’s suite led to the incredible indoor pool that Ryder had only heard of through Joel. Palm trees, the brick walls, street lights, that wouldn’t brighten nearly the way the skylights above did, it was as though Ryder had stepped outside. It was the Caliendo’s private tropical getaway.

  The ambience should have relaxed him. However, Violet’s family were taking their seats around two tables and would soon be sending him their what is he doing here looks.

  This atmosphere didn’t help his nerves. 

  Ryder stuffed his hand in the pockets of his denim pants to keep from reaching out and grabbing the support of Violet’s hands. After the many embraces they’d shared while dealing with his dark times, he knew her touch would calm him. But, they had to take extra cautious steps in their relationship because of her kids.

  He was their father’s friend. Would they accept him?

  Sophia and Parker liked Ryder, but that was when he was their dad’s friend. How would they feel about him dating their mom? Eventually they would move in together.

  Would they be okay with that? Or would they grow to hate Ryder and resent him?

  Maybe they were moving too fast. Maybe supper with her family was a too quickly decided mistake and he should retreat.

  He felt like he was running and hiding, just as he’d told Violet not to do. Only this was much different.

  But was it?

  Violet would also carry all his worry; she was their mother after all. Violet loved her children and from the protective stare she cast, he knew all his worries and more would have already crossed her mind too.

  As though she sensed Ryder’s apprehension, Violet touched his back. A motion he would much rather do to her, but he was surprised at how much her touch reassured him.

  Violet was not a pushover, and her family would be aware this woman did not make decisions lightly. Therefore, she would not have invited him, had she not thought Sophia and Parker were ready.

  “They don’t bite,” she said. “Out of all these Caliendos, I’m the scariest. You’ve already won me over, with your cute smile. They’ll be a snap.” She dropped her hand away, but not before sliding it over his rear in a slow, seductive way, and sending him a wink before she stepped in front of him.

  He grinned. He couldn’t help it.

  This woman was full of surprises and he was ready to discover every last one of them.

  Her teasing, that was usually his department, took away some of his uneasiness and made him wonder why he stopped kissing her inside...what a stupid move that had been. Now, all through supper he was going to be back in that bedroom with her kiss and her rear-touching hand would run through his head, through his blood.

  “Look who I invited for supper,” Violet called out casually in her strong, solid voice, like she hadn’t just seductively touched him. Her voice didn’t hold an inch of fear about who she was bringing into the Caliendos reclusive area. Then again, she was good at hiding what she didn’t want others to know. She could be as freaked out as he was and would never show it. His gut told him she wasn’t. 

  All eyes turned to Ryder. Surprise laced each face and Ryder did his best to send a round of smiles personally to each family member. All, except Marc, who half-smiled, but sent him a face laced with doubt, suspicion and accusation.

  Ryder’s apprehension returned, slamming full force into every step he took. 

  “Ryder!” Parker waved as they approached. His light hair was drenched, pooling dark marks on the lime green t-shirt he was wearing. “Have you caught any big fish lately?” 

  Parker’s voice eased him...a bit.

  “Not lately. Haven’t been on the boat.” 

  I’ve been working, losing my dad and thinking about your mother...haven’t had time to even think about the boat.

  “I could go with you next time.” 

  Sophia elbowed her brother, sliding down beside him. “Cause you were such a big help last time. You didn’t even catch anything. Remember?” 

  Parker shoved her with his body, but she hardly moved reaching across the table for the ketchup. “I have caught fish, Sophia,” he said then looked at Ryder. “I have caught big fish.” 

  Ryder couldn’t help the grin that took over his face. He’d never had siblings, but he’d been around the Kendricks growing up and the banter between siblings was very much like this.

  This wasn’t so bad. Yeah, but they don’t know your intentions with their mother yet.

  “I believe you buddy. And yeah, you’re welcome on my boat anytime.” That got a huge smile from Parker.

  Ryder glanced at Sophia and caught her eyeing him up. She turned away quickly, focusing her attention on her plate.

  She suspects my intentions. She hates me.

  “Don’t make promises I might take you up on when he gets in a bad mood,” Violet teased.

  While Ryder would have preferred to sit in one of the two empty chairs across from Parker and Sophia at the far end of the table, Marc and Kate moved to the opposite side of Rosemary, leaving two empty chairs right in the middle of everyone. 

  You got this. How many galas and events have you been to your entire life easily interacting with hundreds, even thousands, of people?

  Those people weren’t the close-knit family of Violet. Ryder had interacted easily with these Caliendos, but not while he was dating Violet, a daughter, a niece, a sister, and a mother to this close-knit family.

  Dating. He liked the sound of that. 

  Ryder pulled Violet’s chair out for her before sitting down directly across from Eliza Caliendo.

  Where Ryder’s mother had a dark, dramatic look with her deep auburn hair often colored to keep the grey away that coordinated with her red lipstick, Eliza accepted the silver that had taken over her once blonde locks. Against her porcelain skin and bright blue eyes, like Violet’s, she had a softer look about her.

  Today, her pursed lips looked like she was pleased but at the same time she was holding in her words. She and Violet not only resembled each other physically, they also dressed similarly in a chic, sophisticated manner. 

  “Where’s the salad?” Marc asked Violet. There was something in the way he spoke that matched the way he looked at Ryder...full of suspicion.

  “Salad?” Violet asked.

  “The salad you’ve been preparing for the last fifteen minutes,” Marc said. There was definitely no salad involved with what they’d been doing the last fifteen minutes. 

  “Oh,” Violet said, as if recalling what she was likely doing before he knocked on the door and distracted her. “The lettuce was bad. Can you believe that?”

  “Did you buy it at the Carlex grocers?” Izzy snickered under her breath. Ryder knew better than to take this woman’s snickering to heart. She was, and always had been, the wild, loud, inappropriate sibling of this bunch and Ryder knew her type.

  “So Marc, I hear we are short staffed a server,” Violet said. “Maybe Izzy should step in until we find a replacement.” Her head slowly turned to Izzy with a smirk. “Could be a week. Could be a year...”

  Carl chuckled. He was sitting beside Eliza, sending Ryder a wide friendly, even welcoming, smile. Ryder had been gone for a year, but he’d heard from Joel, that Marc and Izzy weren’t Robert’s biological children. The truth had only come out the last year or so. It turned out the older couple now rubbing arms together had been having an affair and Carl was Marc and Izzy’s dad.

  Emma sat to their right with Parker and Sophia on the other side, watching Ryder with skeptical blue eyes. The blue eyes these women got from their mother were like staring into the blue water on a sunny day.  
r />   “Alright,” Eliza said, breaking up the sibling banter. “Ryder, how are you?” she asked. 

  “I’m good. Thank you.” 

  “And Donald? How is he? I haven’t seen him in...” Eliza paused and looked at Carl. “It must be coming into two years now,” she said and Carl nodded in agreement.

  No one had seen Donald in twenty-two and a half months.  

  “He’s good,” Ryder said, and, before he could stop himself, he went straight into the rehearsed story he told everyone about redesigning the company. Ryder didn’t come right out and lie, stating that it was his father who was doing the work and most people wouldn’t catch it. However, Violet would catch the omission and guilt built up in him for lying to her family, forcing her to partake in his lie. But what was he supposed to do? He’d promised his dad. Ryder didn’t like it, but he didn’t see another alternative.

  “How so?” Marc asked and Ryder sensed his mood change as work-talk was brought around the table. 

  Ryder could handle work-talk and these people could relate with accurate interest, because they owned and operated their own businesses.

  Ryder went straight into describing the changing look of the stores, taking them from the industrial, chrome appearance back to an old country look, with a personal feel. They were neutralizing the atmosphere with a homey feel, while ditching the commercial look. They were adding wood baskets in the produce area and changing the shelves from stark white to honey-colored. 

  The family listened closely and as he answered questions from each of them, he felt his nerves begin to relax.

  What did he think these people were going to do? String him up to a tree and throw rocks at him? No, but he hadn’t expected them to be so welcoming either. 

  “It sounds like you are very involved with the process,” Carl observed with an approving nod.

  “I am. We hired the Kendricks, my dad’s sister’s family. They are contractors and helping to redesign the new look. I’ve been there every step.”

  “Good for you,” Carl said. “It’s nice when the business can stay in the family.” 

  “My father agrees. He is a huge believer in family sticking together and has instilled his beliefs in me. There is no other place I would rather be, then working with the family chain. It’s been a long line of Carlexs that have built it into the corporation it is today.”

  In the olden days, the Carlex Grocer had been a small store on the main street of town. Now they had large box stores across the country.

  “With Joel’s wedding, I have been unfortunately forced to communicate back and forth through email, phones and texting. It’s not the same, but we are getting close to finalizing the construction that will take place.” 

  Ryder hadn’t noticed the mood shift until he finished. The Caliendos all seemed to look away from him. They were looking at their plates, at the kids and at Violet. At first he didn’t know what he said to make every face drop their support and draw their eyebrows uneasily together.

  Then it hit him.

  Joel. Joel’s wedding. Idiot.

  “Awkward,” Izzy muttered from the end of the table. “Not as awkward as Emma’s dress...”

  “Izzy,” almost every Caliendo scolded.

  “Ryder?” Rosemary called and Violet bent back so he could look around at the young girl, whose chestnut curls were a dark contrast to the rest of the Caliendo family, obviously getting them from her mother.

  “Yes?”

  Rosemary squished her nose up and asked, “What do you like to play?”

  “Play?” he asked.

  “He likes to boat,” Parker said.

  “No,” Rosemary said. “I like to play hockey and my Uncle Colt is coaching my team. But I play with girls and boys. So I am a hockey player,” she explained and Ryder grinned, nodding his head but not quite following the girl. “So Aunt Violet called you a playboy...” Ryder slanted an amused look at Violet, while the young girl continued.

  Violet couldn’t hide her wide eyes, and her short intake of breath at being exposed by her niece.

  “And Aunt Izzy said you only like to play with girls. I was just wondering what you play with the girls?”

  A playboy who liked to play with girls.

  Ryder might have been insulted, had it not come out of the adorable innocence of Rosemary and her awaiting brown eyes.

  Kate gasped and Marc choked.

  Izzy couldn’t contain her laughter, but the sound was lost to the rest of the gasps around the table.

  Kate began to hush Rosemary.

  “That’s alright,” Ryder told Kate, trying his hardest to keep a straight face. It was apparent Violet wasn’t the only one in this family that thought he fancied the girls.

  Violet moved to block Ryder’s path, her eyes apologizing. He gently pulled her shoulders back to catch Rosemary’s eyes. “Rosemary, I guess my favorite thing to play...” He couldn’t help but glance at Violet who looked mortified. “...is fishing.”

  “Fishing?” Rosemary asked.

  “I like fishing too,” Parker said. “And I fished with Sophia and she’s a girl.”

  Sophia jabbed his side. “A playboy isn’t someone who plays with girls, you dork,” she told her brother. “A playboy is a rich man who has se−”

  The whole table roared to life, covering the end of Sophia’s proper definition in front of Rosemary and Parker.

  “What?” Sophia asked.

  “That word is not age appropriate for some of the people around this table,” Violet told Sophia.

  “I want to know,” Parker whined.

  “I will tell you if you give me your dessert,” Violet offered him.

  Parker looked mortified. “No.”

  “Alright, moving along.” As Violet turned to once again apologize to Ryder, he caught sight of a mark on her lower bottom chin. A dark, large, round bruise. The size of a hand. The swelling looked fresh.

  How had he not noticed the mark before? 

  “She had that when she came back from your place this morning.” Ryder looked up to see Marc staring at the bruise, no doubt in horror at the black, purple and green painting her porcelain skin.

  Violet’s hand went straight to her chin and her head whipped in Marc’s direction. Ryder couldn’t see, but by the quick snap of her head, he assumed she had a warning look on her face.

  Marc continued, despite whatever look Violet had sent him. “We were all wondering where it came from too...”

  “Marcus,” Violet hissed. 

  What was he saying? That Ryder hit Violet?

  He would never lay a hand on her, or any other woman for that matter. Violet was only at his house a short time. Long enough to console him after driving his dad home. 

  His dad. 

  Ryder had witnessed Donald’s fits. His father wasn’t deliberately violent, but when his symptoms overtook him, they caused the older man great distress. Donald might not be as strong as he was before his illness, however Ryder had taken a knock or two from him when he was agitated. And he could become forceful...forceful enough to make that mark on Violet’s face.

  “Did my dad do that?” he whispered. Not for the sake of her family or keeping his father a secret, but for the sake of Violet’s children.

  If Violet’s forced smile hadn’t given him his answer, when she looked at her kids and said, “Parker, Sophia. Today is your lucky day. Once in a lifetime opportunity here. Today, and today only, if you go right away, I will let you eat in the cave.” Violet didn’t have to repeat that sentence. Both her kids jumped up and grabbed their plates as Rosemary begged her parents to go too. 

  “Of course,” Kate said, helping Rosemary off the chair while Marc handed Rosemary her plate.

  The three kids all but ran to the rocks where the water slide to the pool weaved in and out of the rocks. At the midpoint of the slide was a small fenced-in area facing them. They could eat in the caves as they loved but Violet could still see them. 

&nbs
p; Her family glanced around at each other, but Ryder had no interest in them. He repeated his question to Violet, regardless of what anyone thought about his dad...or were about to discover. There was no way Ryder would sit though dinner now knowing what had caused that mark on her face.

  Violet turned to him with softness in her face that contrasted the ugliness of the bruise, from which he now couldn’t peel his eyes.

  He was so angry that he’d missed sight of her chin when he’d arrived. Spending the rest of the day twisted with remorse at the way he’d treated Violet was already eating him up inside. He’d spent the afternoon in the garden with his father and Ryder had decided his dad wouldn’t want him to punish himself or run away from the only love he’d ever known. Confessing his feelings on Violet’s front step, then their kissing, Ryder simply hadn’t noticed the bruise. 

  “We don’t have to talk about this right now,” Violet said. 

  That was his answer. Donald was responsible for the bruise on her face.

  The rest of her family wasn’t as quick to let the topic pass. “Donald did that to your face?” Eliza asked, sounding like a worried mother, in shock. She had every right to be. 

  “Momma, I’m fine,” Violet assured her.

  Eliza didn’t look convinced, but she said no more. The rest of the table looked mortified, with a thousand questions in their eyes. Curiosity that Violet would never be able to fill if she kept the truth hidden from her family. Ryder couldn’t ask that of her. Neither would he find trust in them if he didn’t explain, especially with the whole Emma situation still in their heads.

  Ryder silently apologized to his father and hoped the day they met again on a level of equal communication he would understand why he couldn’t keep this secret any longer.

  “My dad was diagnosed with dementia a couple years ago,” Ryder said. “Shortly after my mom died.”

  He watched their faces all shift from accusing to confusion and at last to sympathy. The very thing his father did not want.

  Violet touched his leg and whispered, “Ryder, you don’t have to do this.”

  He squeezed her hand, loving the comfort and strength her support gave him. “He stayed in the spotlight as long as he could before the symptoms became too obvious. Then he stepped away and asked me to not to tell people of his condition. Which until now, I haven’t.” 

  “Ryder, I’m so sorry,” Eliza said immediately. “Donald is an amazing person, with a good heart. I am just so sorry.” 

  “No, I’m sorry.” He turned to Violet. “I didn’t notice it today. You should have told me.” He tilted her head with his finger to get a better look. “I can’t believe he did this to you. I’m so sorry.” 

  Violet caught his hand. “It’s alright. It was an accident. He didn’t mean to. He was confused and upset and his elbow accidentally hit my chin.” She smiled, but it did nothing to reassure Ryder. “I’m okay.”

  Her face didn’t look okay.

  “I’m okay,” she repeated. She turned to her family. “I drove over to Ryder’s house this morning, to invite him over for supper.” Talk about laying it all out there for her family. She was going to shock their systems...if Donald’s marks across her face hadn’t already. “I saw Mr. Carlex walking along the ditch, so I gave him a drive home. He was disoriented and upset, but he is fine now.”

  Ryder had been such an ass to Violet this morning, after she had gone out of her way to bring home his dad and was hurt along the way. Now Ryder felt like even more of an ass. 

  “Is that where you got the scratches on your legs too?” Izzy asked. 

  He felt Violet squeeze his hand before she said, “Well, I’m not outdoorsy, alright,” she said, turning the incident in to a joke on her. This was nothing to joke about. “I was in my heels, wearing a dress that ended up in the garbage, I slid down the ditch, and scraped the back of my legs on the way.”

  She did all that today?

  Izzy laughed. The rest of her family only found slight humor in her story.

  Ryder didn’t find the humor at all, but maybe that was because it was his dad who had caused all these marks on her body.

  “Can’t you just picture Violet in her tight blazer, running through a ditch, trying not to rip her pantyhose?” Izzy said between fits of laughter. Ryder had never even seen this woman in pantyhose.

  The table gave a half-hearted round of laughter. Good, at least his wasn’t the only one not finding the humor. 

  “Sweetheart I’m just glad you found Donald,” Eliza said in a serious tone. “That would have been very scary having to search the woods for him.”

  What? How was Eliza thinking about his father when he’d hurt her daughter?

  “How’s your father now?” Eliza asked Ryder. “That must have been very dramatic for him.”

  Ryder didn’t answer right away, not sure he’d heard the question right. But the waiting eyes assured him she was referring to Donald. “He’s fine. He also has some scratches, but no big bruises.” Ryder turned to Violet again, wishing they were alone so he could pull her into his arms and hold her.

  Susan and Kelly were trained in dealing with the symptoms of his father’s condition, but Violet was not. He was never leaving her alone with Donald again. 

  “I’m just glad it wasn’t you causing the bruise or I was going to have to have a word with you,” Marc said. By the half-serious, half-joking tone, he realized Marc meant he’d planned on leaving a bruise on his face in retaliation.

  The rest of the table caught on and all chuckled, then started speaking at the same time, taking all the attention away from Ryder. 

  “You? Stand up to Ryder? You would lose!” Izzy said from the end of the table in a fit of laughter.

  “Kate would have a better chance of getting in a punch,” Emma teased. 

  “Stop picking on your brother,” Eliza said.  “Some men are fighters and others are lovers. My baby is a sweet little boy.”

  “That’s not helping his case Momma,” Izzy cracked before another burst of laughter.

  Ryder would have normally grinned at the banter, but he couldn’t get past the bruises and scratches on Violet. Violet had been there for Ryder when he had no one. She’d held him when he needed support. He’d greedily taken it and then yelled at her when he was finished. The whole thing caused Ryder to feel claustrophobic.

  “Would you excuse me? I’m just going to use the men’s room.” Ryder slid his chair back. 

  “I can show you where it is.” Violet slid her chair back, but he stopped her. He needed a moment to himself.

  “I saw it earlier. I’m okay.” 

  His stride couldn’t carry him away fast enough. Once inside Violet’s suite, he headed straight to the bathroom he’d seen in her bedroom. There was a bathroom in the hall, but he didn’t even register it. Ignoring the bed where Joel made love to Violet, and their kid’s photos on the dresser, Ryder shut the door and let out the breath that had been suffocating him. He sucked in fresh air and the smell of Violet filled his lungs.

  Ryder splashed his face with cold water and let it air dry as he hung his head over the sink. One of the double sinks. One Joel’s. One Violet’s.

  Ryder looked up at the marble backsplash, the white makeup bag on the counter, toothbrush sitting on a charger and a basket of jewelry, Ryder realized he was using Joel’s sink.

  He pushed away. 

  Was he jealous? Of Joel?

  If Violet was still in love with Joel, then yes, he was jealous. He’d left the table needing a break to settle his constricting chest, and now the compression was growing worse. The bathroom was closing in on him more with each new realization.

  Ryder could try to blame his new discovery on his lack of sleep, or the stress of losing his dad, or the sudden confession of Violet’s feelings, but the evidence was clear. The very first moment of his interaction with Violet, was because of Joel. She’d initiated sex with Ryder, which had been incredible, minutes before a meeting with Joe
l and his fiancée. What other reason could Violet have, than the obvious...she was still in love with Joel.

  Why hadn’t he seen this before coming here?

  Ryder closed his eyes.

  What was he doing here?

  Joel and Violet had children together. Two. They’d had a life. In this suite. In this resort. And Joel was so damn flip-floppy, that he could decide on a whim to get Violet back. Ryder had nothing in comparison to offer Violet. Joel was the father of her children.

  The more Ryder tried to convince himself differently, the more points Joel gained. This would never work. He needed to get the hell out of here.