For the first time since they’d come in the room, Angie looked at Jennie. “He left around two … yes that was it.” She turned back to Ryan. “I was baking a pie and the buzzer went off.” She scrambled to her feet. “Would you like a piece?”
“We really don’t have time.” Jennie tried to jump up too, but her bare legs stuck to the vinyl beanbag chair, dumping her in an ungraceful heap at Ryan’s feet. She shouldn’t have worn shorts.
Ryan chuckled, extricated himself from his beanbag with the ease of a veteran and offered her a hand up. She took it, but gave him a frosty glare.
Angie’s response to their refusal was anything but cool. “Oooh. That’s too bad.” She cooed. “It’s peach-kiwi. I could really use some help in eating it.”
“And we’d love to help you out.” Jennie gripped Ryan’s arm and steered him toward the door. “Unfortunately, Ryan is allergic to fruit—” She’d nearly said fruitcakes like you, but didn’t. Angie may have been an outrageous flirt, but she was also Cathy’s friend and had given them what Jennie hoped would be a solid lead.
They thanked Angie for her help and left a phone number. “Call me if you think of anything that might help us find Cathy and the kids,” Jennie added, wanting to remind her why they’d come.
Angie promised she would.
“Allergic to fruit?” Ryan hung an arm across Jennie’s shoulders. “Couldn’t you have come up with a better excuse than that?”
Jennie shrugged away. “I didn’t see you making any. If I hadn’t insisted on leaving, we—make that you—would probably be sitting back there letting her spoon-feed you.”
For some reason Ryan found that extremely funny.
Jennie strode out ahead of him. She’d gone half a block when Ryan grabbed Jennie’s arm and swung her around. “I know you’re mad at me. I can almost see the steam coming out of your ears. What did I do?”
“You don’t know? Ryan, I have never seen such blatant display of flirting in my life. She was all over you. And you encouraged her.”
“Encouraged her? I just sat there. What did you want me to do, slap her hands? We were trying to get information that might help us find your brother.”
Jennie winced, but didn’t back down. Instead she hooked her arm around Ryan’s, snuggled close, and fluttered her eyelashes. “I’m right-brained,” she mimicked in a breathy voice. She let go of Ryan’s arm and stuffed her hands in her shorts pockets. “If you ask me she’s a no-brain.”
Ryan grinned. “You’re jealous.”
“Am not.”
He jogged ahead of her, turned around, and blocked her path. “You are too. Hey, I’m not complaining. I’m flattered.”
Jennie pushed him aside and kept walking. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “I’m not jealous.” At least not anymore.
Jennie stopped walking, suddenly shifting her attention back to Cathy Williams and her connection with Nick’s disappearance. “Anyway, you’re right. I need to be concentrating on Nick.” Even as she said it, she realized that something had changed inside her. Her mind had somehow walled up the searing pain and flood of emotions connected with Nick’s disappearance and left her heart numb.
Gram had explained the phenomenon once after Grandpa Ian had been killed in the bombing while he was on assignment in the Middle East. When people asked her how she coped, Gram would say, “I think the Lord has given me a pain killer. Just enough to ease the pain and numb the heart. Otherwise it would be unbearable.”
That’s what had happened. God had given her something to numb the pain and to help her focus on finding Nick, rather than caving in to the grief of losing him. It even allowed her to think about other things—like Ryan, but more important, it allowed her to think more objectively where Nick was concerned.
Ryan settled his arm back around Jennie. This time she left it there, drawing comfort from his presence. “You’re right about something else too,” Jennie said after they’d walked a few feet. She glanced into his blue eyes and offered what she hoped would be an apologetic smile. “I was jealous.”
He dropped a light kiss on her nose. “You don’t have to be, you know. I haven’t even thought of being with another girl since the first time I kissed you.”
Which is more than you can say for yourself, McGrady. As if to drive home the point, her conscience brought to mind three guys she had developed a profound liking for … Scott Chambers, the hot-headed environmentalist she’d met in Florida. The thought of Scott working so hard to save the dolphins still warmed her. In some ways she thought he went to extremes to protect the environment, but she admired him for taking a stand.
Then there was Rocky, her favorite cop. Jennie would never forget how he risked his job and his life to protect her and Allison from a determined killer. His caring went above and beyond the call of duty. Not in a romantic way, she reminded herself. He was more like the older brother she never had. A kindred spirit.
And Dominic, from Bogota, Columbia. Even though he’d nearly gotten her killed, those chocolate brown eyes, charm, and intensity still singed her heart. The Caribbean cruise, the moonlit nights. Under different circumstances …
No, she erected a mental roadblock. They were friends. End of story. So why did it all seem so confusing? Why did she feel such strong ties to each one of them? You are such a hypocrite, McGrady. You criticize Lisa for falling in love with every guy she meets. You may not be falling in love, but the attraction is sure there.
Unable to argue the point, Jennie glanced at Ryan from the sidewalk lines she’d been trying not to step on, and realized he was waiting for an answer. What was it he’d said? Oh yes. He hadn’t thought about other girls. Jennie smiled at the response that came to mind. She could have said “me too” without lying. After all, she hadn’t thought about other girls either.
She ignored her weird sense of humor, opting to keep her mouth shut, and hoped her smile would suffice. Actually, Jennie didn’t know what to say. Only a month ago, she thought Ryan was the only guy she could ever love. This boy-girl thing sure could be confusing.
“It’s okay, Jennie.” Ryan removed his arm from her shoulder and reached for her hand.
“What’s okay?”
“That you’ve dated other guys.”
“I didn’t say …”
“You didn’t have to. I can read it in your eyes.” He squeezed her hand. “Anyway. It’s my fault. I should have told you how I felt before I left. Truth is, I wasn’t sure until I got out there on that fishing boat. I missed you so much—”
“I missed you too.”
“Hey, listen,” Ryan said. “I have an idea. How about when this is all over and we find Nick, I take you out on a real date. We’ll have dinner and go to a movie.”
Jennie thought that was the most wonderful idea she’d ever heard and told him so. You’re a lucky woman, McGrady, she reminded herself. Guys like Ryan don’t come along very often. He’s unbelievably understanding. Maybe a little too understanding. The critical thought had come from somewhere deep inside, emerging like an ember and bursting into flames. Jennie snuffed it out before it could spread. Ridiculous. Unfounded. Absurd.
They met Gram and J.B. in front of the library and compared notes, then decided to check out Cathy’s boyfriend before heading home. While they weren’t able to talk to him personally, they did learn from a housemate that Judson had not returned to his dorm the night Cathy had stood him up—the same night Cathy and the children had disappeared.
After calling the police with their findings, they ate lunch and headed home. Gram and J.B. both cautioned Jennie not to get her hopes up, but it didn’t do any good. She was certain Judson would lead them to Nick. She also felt sure that the police would find Nick, Hannah, and Cathy alive. Judson, after all, was a law student, not a killer. Maybe he and Cathy had gone somewhere and taken the kids with them.
But why? An errant voice in her head argued. What reason would he have to take the kids? Cathy maybe, but not the kids. Since Cathy was babysitting, she may have insisted on taking Hannah, but certainly not Nick. And what about Bernie? And Nick’s shirt … Jennie didn’t have any answers. She tried to put herself in Judson’s place and after a while gave up. None of it made sense. But then crime seldom did.