“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.”
Chapter Twenty-One
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.