Sara Stone - Full Exposure

“He’s wrong,” Kate said quickly.

“I know. But if I were in his shoes, faced with a person struggling with nightmares and memories that scare me to my core, I’d probably do the same thing. I know I’m strong enough to move past it all. But for him? It’s a gamble. One he’s not in a position to make without risking Nate.”

Georgia closed her eyes. “That makes me love him even more. I told Eric the other night that I don’t need a hero. And I don’t. But that little boy does. He needs Eric to be his hero and stand up for what he believes is in the kid’s best interest.”

Katie took hold of her hand and squeezed it. “Pushing you away? That’s not what’s right for Nate. One day he is going to figure that out.”

“Maybe.” Georgia wasn’t so sure. Eric’s moral compass saw the world in black and white. And believing in her—that choice was squarely in the gray column.

ERIC SAT AT the kitchen table staring at the private investigator’s findings. Neither the DOF or the team he’d hired had determined the fire’s point of origin, but his guy had uncovered something that changed the entire investigation. Forty-eight hours had passed since his fight with Liam, but Eric couldn’t keep this information from him. It didn’t matter that it was late, practically the middle of the night. He had to call.

He punched the numbers into his cell. It rang and then went to voice mail.

“Hey, it’s Eric. I thought you might like to know that the private investigator discovered that the anonymous tip the DOF received? It was placed by B&B Trucking. The day we fired them. I’m passing this information along to Caroline Smith. Should put you in the clear. And for what it is worth, I’m sorry I doubted you.”

Eric ended the call and set the phone down on the kitchen table. He had a feeling it was only a matter of time before Liam was cleared of any wrongdoing. Determining where the fire started would help. He hoped that Caroline would have that key piece of the puzzle by tomorrow’s meeting. But knowing how something started didn’t change the outcome. Liam could have played by the rules and still missed a smoldering spark let off by a chainsaw. Sometimes it came down to human error.

Eric knew what had pushed him from friends to lovers with Georgia. One dropped towel on his bedroom floor combined with years of love and longing. Knowing that didn’t change the fact he had no idea what to do next. The uncertainty, not knowing which was the correct path, ate at him day and night.

“Uncle Eric?” Nate appeared in the doorway, wearing his train pajamas and dragging his froggie.

Eric pushed back from the table and crossed to his nephew, crouching in front of him. “What’s up, buddy? I thought you were asleep.”

“I woke up.” He rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “I need to make a sign.”

“Can it wait until the morning?”

“No.” The way he said that one word left little room for argument. “I need to do it now. Can you get my markers?”

“Sure.” Eric scooped him up and headed for Nate’s room. If he refused, Eric knew he’d be walking straight into tantrum territory. Right now, he didn’t have the energy.

Eric set his nephew down. He retrieved the markers and a piece of construction paper, setting them on the child-size table. “What’s the sign for?”

“To tell the bears to go away,” Nate said, sliding into a seat at the table.

Eric glanced around the room. “There are bears in here again?”

“Not my room.” Nate opened the green marker and drew a big X and a circle. “Georgia’s. If I put a sign on her door, the bears will stay away. And then Georgia can come home.”

Eric studied his nephew as he drew a second X on the page. How could he tell a little boy that he couldn’t fight these bears because they haunted someplace within Georgia’s mind? He pulled the second little chair beside Nate’s and sat.

“That’s a good idea, buddy,” he said. “I’m sure Georgia will appreciate the sign. But I don’t know if she can move back here. She’ll still be here for you during the days.”

He was so damn grateful Georgia had stayed true to her word, continuing in her role as Nate’s nanny after things fell apart between them. But every day when she showed up, full of smiles for his nephew, it became more and more evident that he’d been the one holding back. Georgia would never walk out of Nate’s life, subjecting him to the roller coaster Eric had ridden as a child.

Nate looked up from his paper. “I need tape.”

“OK.” Eric stood and went to the craft bin. He tore off a piece of Scotch tape. “Here you go.”

Tape on his finger and the sign in his other hand, Nate headed for the door. Eric followed him down the long hall to Georgia’s former room. Carefully, Nate placed the tape on the top of the paper and secured it to her door.

“Now she can come back,” Nate said, looking up at him. “She needed help fighting the bears. Just like you help me when I’m scared. I helped Georgia.”

“Yeah you did, buddy.” Eric patted his shoulder, wondering how a toddler could be so damn wise. “But now it’s back to bed.”

They walked back to Nate’s room and Eric tucked him in, kneeling beside his bed while Nate drifted off to sleep.

Eric knew he’d made the wrong call when he’d let Georgia go instead of helping her fight her bears. But he’d always thought it would be easy. He’d thought that when a child’s heart was at stake, as his had been so many times growing up, there would be a definitive line between right and wrong. He’d been so determined to take the correct road, even if it tore him to pieces, that he’d put on blinders. There was one big difference between his parents’ relationships and his own.

Georgia.

He’d fallen in love with a woman who was steadfast and sure, especially when it mattered. She’d never walk away from the people she loved. She had a razor-sharp view of what was important in life born from witnessing firsthand how fast it could all slip away. He’d viewed her experiences and memories as a handicap. Eric had willingly followed her brother down that path. But they were her greatest strength. Georgia refused to give up. She didn’t walk away from love because it was difficult or complicated. She fought to find a way through.

“I don’t deserve her. Not after the way I let her go,” he whispered to the sleeping child. “But starting tomorrow, I’ll do whatever it takes to win her back and prove that I love and need her. That we need her. I promise. I won’t let her fight the bears on her own.”

ERIC WALKED INTO the Department of Forestry conference room wishing he could fast-forward through the next thirty minutes. He’d planned to be at home when Georgia brought Nate back from preschool. But then Caroline had moved the time of this supposedly informal meeting. The best he could hope for now was to get there by nap time. He was ready to beg. Whatever it took to win her back. He would have confronted her this morning while Nate was in school, but Caroline Smith had originally set this get-together for nine-thirty.

Settling into a chair at one end of the rectangular table, close to the door, Eric glanced at his watch. Georgia should be picking Nate up right now.

A hand touched his shoulder and Eric looked up. Caroline Smith, dressed in a fitted black pantsuit that accentuated her curves, smiled down at him. “Good morning. Glad to see you’re healing. I heard about your fight with Liam Trulane.”

“A scuffle among friends,” he said. He’d refused to offer any insights into what had caused the fight. Most people, including Caroline, probably believed it had everything to do with the investigation. Eric had neither confirmed nor denied anything, unwilling to let the rumors touch Georgia.

“You’ll be pleased to know we traced the fire back to its point of origin,” Caroline added.

“Good.” It had taken them long enough. But he couldn’t tell from her expression if it was good news for Moore Timber, or if it further implicated Liam and his crew. “Where’d it start?”

“Why don’t we wait for everyone else?” she said.

Two men Eric didn’t recognize walked into the room carrying file folders overflowing with paper. Lawyers? Eric frowned. He’d brought legal representation to the first meeting, but after the investigation and questions dragged on and on, he’d decided to curtail the number of billable hours he was investing. Even if the DOF determined they’d made every reasonable effort to prevent the fire, he would be on the hook for a large portion of the expenses associated with fighting the flames. Why pay a lawyer to sit and listen to Caroline too?

More people came in, some of whom Eric knew from the DOF office. The private investigator he’d hired slipped into the room, claiming a chair around the wall. Eric drummed his fingers on the table, stealing a second glance at his watch. Georgia should be arriving home right about now.

“Welcome.” Caroline Smith stood at the head of the table. “Thank you for coming today. Before we get started, I wanted to thank Moore Timber for their cooperation. Eric, you’ve been a real asset to this investigation.”

Eric nodded. “Of course.”

“The law presumes that if a fire occurs during an operation, it is the result of that operation,” Caroline said.

What the hell? Every person in this room knew the DOF rules and regulations. Couldn’t she get to the point?

“We initially suspected that the White Rock fire started where Moore Timber was harvesting,” Caroline continued.

In his pocket, his cell vibrated. Eric pulled out his phone and checked the screen. Nate’s preschool. He frowned and stood. “Please excuse me. I need to take this.”

He didn’t look back as he pushed through the door and quickly redialed the school. “This is Eric Moore. I missed a call.”

“Mr. Moore,” a warm voice replied. “This is Ms. Marianne, Nathaniel’s teacher. Your nephew is here—”

“Is everything OK?”

“Oh yes,” Ms. Marianne assured him. “He’s fine. But his nanny did not come to pick him up. It is our policy to call after thirty minutes, but Nate was getting a little anxious.”

“Georgia didn’t show up?” Dread wrapped around him, clouding him in questions. Was she in trouble? Or had she run away? Georgia had promised she’d never walk away from Nate. But what if, just this once, she hadn’t been strong enough? What if the stress she lived with day in and day out had won?

“Not yet, Mr. Moore. It’s possible she is on her way, but we tried the number we have on record for her and no one answered.” The teacher dropped her voice. “Nate’s worried that bears might have attacked her. He was starting to get worked up, so I told him I’d call you.”

Bears. Eric was wondering that same thing. Only he knew that Georgia’s worst enemy did not have fur and claws. And if Georgia’s memories made her run, there was no hope for their future.

“I’ll be right there,” Eric said. He ended the call and opened the door to the conference room. Caroline was still at the podium. He tuned her out, quickly gathering his briefcase, shoving his legal pad inside.

“I need to leave. Family emergency,” he said. “I look forward to reviewing your findings.” He pushed through the door, ignoring the exclamations from the filled conference room, and headed for his car.

Fifteen minutes later, he was inching down the two-lane road leading from the center of town to Nate’s preschool. Somewhere up ahead was an accident. Eric pulled out his cell and scanned his contacts. He’d tried Georgia twice. No answer. He’d even called Liam, but had been sent straight to voice mail again. There were only a handful of people whom he trusted to pick up Nate. He picked the one who lived on the other side of Nate’s preschool, out in the farm country surrounding the town and away from this traffic nightmare.

“Katie,” he said when Georgia’s friend picked up. “I need your help.” He explained about the call from school and his missing nanny.

“I’m happy to pick up Nate,” she said. In the background, he heard Katie moving around, collecting her things. “But I don’t understand. Georgia left here with plenty of time to run a few errands in town and get to Nate’s school.”

“If she stopped in town, she might be stuck in this traffic,” he said, hoping that was the answer.

He ended the call with Katie and focused on the cars ahead of him. A pair of ambulances sped past him in the oncoming traffic lane, sirens blaring. Cop cars followed, then a fire truck.

Slowly, the cars in front of him inched forward. The cops had probably started directing traffic. Minutes later, he was at the scene, waiting his turn to bypass the first responders. He glanced left, scanning the area of the accident. He spotted two cars, a small four-door red one wrapped around a tree, and an upside-down Jeep.