There hadn’t been much time for patience, however. As he looked over at Rachel, the lines on her face spoke of exhaustion, even though she’d closed her eyes and appeared to be resting.
On one hand, he felt guilty for his answer to her. He didn’t know how people who lied on a regular basis could do it. He was hiding something from her, and while part of him didn’t want to tell her that they were very close to finding a donor for her as long as he passed this last test because he didn’t want to get her hopes up, he also didn’t want to tell her while she was angry with him. The last thing he wanted was her to forgive him simply because she felt obligated to him for being willing to donate one of his kidneys.
Besides, he still wasn’t sure if their relationship could be salvaged. Yes, she’d apologized, but she didn’t understand why it had been so hurtful to him. Which meant it was just going to happen again.
As much as he hated to admit it, she did have a point about not telling Ricky about the Bennetts. Ricky was an adult, and Ty needed to let him decide for himself whether or not he wanted to know everything Ty had learned about Cinco.
By the time they arrived at Rachel’s office, Ty felt good about having a plan, both for telling Ricky about Cinco and for letting Rachel know the last thing he was keeping from her. When he pulled into the parking lot he gently shook her awake, and when she came to, she had much more energy than he’d seen from her in a while. Maybe they had overreacted in insisting that she go to the doctor.
“Let me walk you in,” Ty said.
“I’m fine,” Rachel said, an irritated tone to her voice.
This wasn’t how he was hoping things would go. He smiled at her. “I know you are. I just wanted to let you know that I did think about the things you said to me. I know it seems like I was shutting you down, but I honestly just needed some time to process. You made some good points, and I wanted to let you know that.”
She gave a tiny nod. “Thanks. I appreciate that. But I’d still rather walk myself in. I shouldn’t be too long.”
He watched as she walked into the building, hoping that what he’d just said was enough. She got halfway across the parking lot when a woman he recognized from his previous office visit stopped to talk to her. They both looked in his direction and talked for a moment longer. Then Rachel turned around and walked back to him.
Maybe she’d reconsidered his offer. When they’d spoken previously, the lady had seemed friendly, chatting him up in the coffee shop. He’d originally been thinking he’d go in and get himself something, but after the taste test at the gas station, he’d had his fill.
“What were you thinking, going to my office and asking people questions about me?” Rachel said as soon as she got to him.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” he said. The lady had been asking him questions, not the other way around.
Rachel glared at him. “Allison said that after the two of you talked in the coffee shop, one of our other coworkers asked her about you because you had been at the office previously asking questions about me.”
He did remember. Before they’d even had the paternity test results back, he’d made a quick trip to Denver to meet with his investigator and had stopped in the office to ask some questions of his own.
“Our coworker saw your notes. One of them was a section about me being an unfit mother. How could you think that about me?”
Of all the crazy things. Now he was defending himself against random office gossip based on something that happened months ago.
“Yes. I did look into that, when you first came to the Double R, because it was a huge issue in your divorce case. While I had absolutely no doubts about your parenting in the first place, it should please you to know that all of Chris’s accusations against you were completely unfounded. I saw the reports.”
Even though he thought his words were reassuring, they only seemed to make Rachel angrier. Her face turned a deeper shade of red than he’d ever seen on her before, and her eyes flashed with so much rage that if they’d been lasers, they would have melted him on the spot.
“Who gave you the right to do all that? And why didn’t you tell me? You said there was nothing else you were hiding from me.”
He hadn’t known it would be such a big deal. “Everything that both me and my investigator found exonerated you. There are no skeletons in your closet. No one had anything but positive things to say about you. The only reason Chris’s case against you got so far was because he was a master manipulator.”
The look she gave him burned straight to his heart. “The only master manipulator I know is you. I can’t believe I honestly thought that you trusted me. Only it isn’t so much that you trusted me, but that your investigator couldn’t find any dirt on me. I told you I didn’t want any secrets, which in my opinion are just as harmful as the lies you so despise.”
They’d already had this discussion, and she couldn’t have driven her point home any harder if she’d put a stake through his heart.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I truly never intended to hurt you. All of this happened before we knew the results of your paternity test. When we get back to the ranch, I’ll show you everything in my file. You can go through
