She shouldn’t have kissed him.
She also should have thought to check the bed-and-breakfast days ago. Grace was annoyed at herself for skipping the obvious. If she’d realized Noah was still in Tassamara, she would have called Avery right away. But at least she’d found him there this afternoon.
She slid into one of the bench seats of a booth at Maggie’s, giving Noah a bright smile as he did the same on the opposite side.
Possibly she should have thought a little more about how to approach this conversation, too. True, she thought she’d have the entire flight to DC to figure it out, but still, she’d been so focused on finding Noah that she hadn’t considered what she was going to say to him.
She took her phone out of her bag, opened the cover so she could see the screen, and set it on the table. She straightened it, lining it up so the edge of the phone was precisely parallel to the edge of the table, then folded her hands in front of her, leaving the phone to the side. If Dillon was watching, he could hardly fail to notice his cue. What did he want her to do? This was his opportunity to tell her.
But when she glanced up, Noah’s eyes were on her. Did he think she was being rude, paying more attention to her phone than to him? She should explain.
But maybe not by telling him that she was hoping her ghostly nephew would send her a text.
She gestured at the phone. “I’m expecting a text. From the office. When they find your pack.” It felt like a stupid excuse, but at least it had the virtue of being true. Or partially true, anyway.
He nodded, but before he could say anything more, Emma arrived at the table. “Good afternoon,” she said breezily. “Late lunch, early dinner, or just a snack?”
“Lunch for me,” Grace responded. She hadn’t eaten yet. She raised her eyebrows at Noah, inviting his response.
“Uh, lunch is fine, I guess.” His frown deepened, though, as if he were unsure of his answer.
“Two specials?” Emma asked the question, but didn’t wait for an answer as the bell jangled over the door and two more customers entered. She moved away from the table, calling out, “Good afternoon, Mrs. Mulcahey, Mr. Voigt. Good to see you both.”
Mr. Voigt wasn’t using his cane and Mrs. Mulcahey wasn’t in her wheelchair, Grace noticed, lips curving in satisfaction. Not that the improvements in their respective healths had anything to do with her, but it was nice to see that the effects of Akira and Zane’s wedding hadn’t worn off yet.
Emma didn’t return. She was fussing over the two older people, helping to get them settled into a table by the window.
“Friends of yours?” Noah asked, following the direction of her smile.
“Oh…” Grace thought about explaining.
She could tell him the truth: that Kaye Mulcahey had multiple sclerosis and seldom left her house and that when she did it was in a wheelchair, and that Abe Voigt used a cane, had for years. But that at Grace’s brother’s wedding to Akira — the person Noah was looking for who Grace had denied knowing — Akira’s dead father appeared to escort her down the aisle, apparently opening something like a dimensional portal to do so. And that Rose, a ghost who might have gotten promoted to angel by moving on and then returning, had absorbed energy from the portal and shared it with Kenzi, Grace’s adopted niece, who’d used it to heal the older people, possibly only temporarily.
Yeah, maybe not.
Her father would have leaped into the explanation, but Grace was far more cautious.
“It’s a small town,” she replied. She adjusted the spacing of her phone, moving it a smidgen closer to her. Why wasn’t Dillon texting her?
“So you mentioned.” Noah glanced over his shoulder again. Emma had disappeared into the kitchen. “Looks like we’ve lost our waitress.”
“She’ll be back.” Probably bearing food, if Grace knew anything about it. Maggie might have started preparing their meals before Grace and Noah even walked in the door. Emma’s questions were often a formality, one that Maggie considered proper restaurant etiquette.
“What’s the difference between lunch and dinner?” Noah asked.
Grace blinked at him. Was it a riddle? “What?”
He tilted his head toward the kitchen. “Why’d she ask that? What’s the difference?”
“Lunch is lunch food and dinner is dinner?” Grace hazarded a guess, not sure what he was looking for.
He gave a slight shake of the head, implicit negation, but didn’t continue his line of questioning. “Thanks for looking for my stuff. You didn’t have to do that. It’s all replaceable.”
“They might not find it,” Grace replied. “It’s a big forest.”
“Yeah. Interesting location for a holding company.” The emphasis he placed on the last two words was unmistakeable, and his tone was dry as he added, “That is what you called General Directions, right?”
“Primarily a holding company,” Grace corrected him, wondering what he’d learned about the company since she’d last spoken with him.
“And the research and government business?”
“If I’d known that was what you were interested in…” Grace lifted a shoulder. “I might have gotten more detailed in my explanation.”
“Does that include an explanation of someone named Akira? Your sister-in-law, I believe?” he asked.
Grace winced. Oops. She hadn’t expected that half-truth to come back to haunt her. “Not a guy?” she offered.
His look in response held the sorrow of a betrayed puppy — reproach, disappointment, the merest trace of pain. It was something about the eyelashes, she thought, feeling a laugh rising. He might not even realize he was doing it.
“Our dog used to look at me like that,” she said. “Every morning when I went to school. Like I was breaking her heart.”
He gave a spurt of surprised laughter and the heat of attraction stirred within her. She tried to ignore it, giving him a conciliatory smile. “I’m sure you can understand why I might not be more forthcoming to a total stranger looking for my sister-in-law. You obviously don’t know her and I didn’t know why you were asking about her.”
“Fair enough,” he replied, but he seemed distracted.
Grace glanced at her phone. Still no word from Dillon.
Did Noah know he was haunted?
If Dillon wanted her to talk to Noah about ghosts, surely he’d be telling her what to say. The fact that he wasn’t was mystifying. And a little worrying. Grace wished she could talk to him and demand some answers, but she didn’t want to risk scaring Noah away.
“As you might know by now, Akira’s on her honeymoon,” she said. “She’ll be back in a couple of weeks.”
“Long honeymoon.”
“She’s having a baby in May. This is likely to be their last chance for a vacation for a while, so they wanted it to be a good one.”
“Makes sense.” Noah’s eyes flickered to the left, as if he was listening to a conversation happening in the aisle.
Grace sensed an opportunity. He hadn’t exactly responded positively to her earlier offer of a job, but maybe she could just slide it by him while he wasn’t paying attention. Take his acceptance for granted, make saying no more difficult than going along with her. “I understand you’d like to talk with her.”
“Yeah.” The frown between Noah’s eyes deepened. He wasn’t looking at her, his narrowed gaze aimed at the floor next to the table.
“Long-term, of course, Special Affairs is the right department for you,” Grace said smoothly. “You’d be working with Akira and Zane. Zane would be your manager.”
“Uh-huh,” Noah muttered.
Grace bit back her smile. Whatever he was listening to, it wasn’t her. “In the short-term, until they get back from Belize, I’ll add you to the security team. It seems like a good fit for your skillset.”
“Uh, what?” Noah’s eyes lifted to her.
“You can start Monday.” Grace shot him a bright smile as Emma arrived at the table, carrying two plates of food.
“Wait, what?” Noah said to Grace, ignoring the food.
But Emma slid the plates onto the table before them, saying, “I’m guessing whose is whose.” She glanced over her shoulder and added in a whisper. “You haven’t been hitting up the Mickey D’s, have you, Grace? Maggie was grumbling.”
“Not me.” Grace spread her fingers to indicate her innocence. Her plate held her favorite chicken salad with grapes on a poppy-seed roll, sliced in half, with a side of coleslaw.
But Noah’s plate was piled high with golden fries, thin-cut and glistening, plus a double-patty burger topped with lettuce and melted cheese on a sesame-seed bun.
“She thinks those skinny fries are an abomination.” Emma heaved a sigh. “But if that’s what you like, it’s what you like.” She pushed the plate with the burger on it closer to Noah, ran an expert eye over the table checking for ketchup, condiments and silverware, before snapping her fingers. “Drinks. BRB.”
“We didn’t order,” Noah said, frowning at his plate.
“That never bothers Maggie.”
Noah lifted the top off of his burger, revealing two sliced pickles, diced onions, and a coating of tangy orange Thousand Island dressing mixed with mayo. “This is a Big Mac.”
“I think McDonald’s would object to you calling it that. Trademarks, you know. It’s a burger. With, perhaps, similar qualities.”
Noah stared at his plate.
“Let me guess. Exactly what you wanted for lunch?”
“Yeah.” Noah sounded grim.
“Maggie’s good.” Grace kept her voice mild. She reached out and filched one of his fries, nibbling it as he contemplated his food. “Mmm, hot grease and salt. Delicious.”
“Help yourself.”
“I did.” She picked up her sandwich as he looked at her.
Emma whisked by their table. “Coke,” she announced, placing an icy glass in front of Noah, “and sweet tea.” She set the second glass by Grace. “Right?”
Grace nodded at her and the young waitress grinned. She looked the same question at Noah as he set the bun back on top of his burger.
“Yeah, great.” He picked up the Coke and took a swallow as Emma breezed away.
Was this the moment to talk to Noah about psychic gifts? Unusual intuitions? Abilities that science couldn’t explain or understand? Before Grace could decide, the bell jangled over the door and Natalya entered, followed by three of the kids. Grace leaned back in her seat, setting down her sandwich.
Kenzi was talking a mile a minute as she followed Natalya to the counter. “And Mrs. Joshi said that I could bring cupcakes to school on my birthday, too, but I want my cupcakes to be the yellow kind. With lots of colors in the icing. Or maybe blue icing but sprinkles. Can I have sprinkles on my cupcakes? I like sprinkles.” She gave a skip to catch up to Natalya.
Grace smiled. Her new niece’s selective mutism was long gone. In fact, Kenzi seemed to be making up for lost time with her chatter.
“It’s not your birthday, silly,” said Michael, trailing behind them. Or maybe that was Mitchell. Grace wasn’t quite sure which twin was which.
“Sprinkles look like mouse turds. You want your cupcakes to have mouse turds on them?” Mitchell — or possibly Michael — sounded disgusted.
“I don’t want those sprinkles, I want the pretty sprinkles. Rainbow sprinkles,” Kenzi replied.
“Chocolate tastes better, though,” one of the boys objected. “Chocolate cupcakes are the best.”
“No chocolate. Yellow cupcakes. That’s what I want. And rainbows.”
“But—” the other boy started, but Kenzi interrupted him when she spotted Grace.
“Aunt Grace, Aunt Grace!” Kenzi dashed over to the booth. Grace was already sliding out, ready to catch her hug. The little girl wrapped her arms around Grace’s torso, pressing against her. The boys followed more slowly.
“Hey, Grace,” said Mitchell. Grace identified him easily now. Mitchell was always the first to approach, always the first to speak.
“Hi, Grace,” Michael said, hanging back behind his brother.
“Hey, guys.” Grace stroked a hand down Kenzi’s hair. “How’s it going?”
“It’s Friday. We don’t have to go to school for two whole days.” Mitchell held two fingers up in emphasis.
“I love school now,” Kenzi said, releasing Grace. “My teacher is nice. And we had cupcakes today, because it was Talia’s birthday, and I get to have cupcakes on my birthday, too.”
“I heard,” Grace said. “Sounds like you’ve got big plans. Maybe you can bake them with your mom. Then you get to decorate them yourself.”
“That would be good. Not with my mama, though, because she’s in heaven now, but with Mom.”
“Exactly.” Grace cupped Kenzi’s cheek for a quick second.
The little girl’s eyes flickered to Noah and she gave him an open smile. “Hello. Are you friends with my Aunt Grace?”
“This is Noah Blake,” Grace answered before Noah had a chance to. “He’s going to come work with us.”
“For the comp’ny,” Kenzi said with a nod. “‘Cept not like people visiting, like a place you go to learn things when you’re too grown-up to go to school anymore. What are you going to learn?”
Noah opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again and said, “I guess I don’t know yet.”
“Mom has a big machine.” Mitchell spread his arms wide. “It takes pictures, so she can see what’s inside people. That’s what she learns about.”
“Grandpa Max says he learns something new every day,” Michael offered.
“Grandpa Max is funny,” Kenzi said. “He says things that don’t make any sense, but not like my other grandpa. Good things. And he tells good stories.”
Grace chuckled as her eyes met those of her sister.
“A nice summary of our father if I’ve ever heard one,” Natalya murmured as she joined them.
“He bought all of us bikes. Two bikes.” Kenzi held her two fingers up to show Noah. “One to have at his house and one for our house. Travis and Jamie, too. He said they were good for the ‘vironment but mostly he likes going fast.”
“We all have to wear helmets, though,” Michael volunteered. “All of us. Even Jamie and Jamie says he’s too old and shouldn’t have to.”
“Jamie was persuaded by the pictures of bike accidents that I showed him.” Natalya put a hand on each boy’s back. “Maybe too persuaded. He’s being very cautious now.” She smiled at Noah. “Hello. It’s nice to see you again.”
He dipped his chin in wordless acknowledgement.
“We didn’t really have a chance for introductions the other day. I’m Natalya Latimer and these are my kids, Kenzi, Mitchell, Michael.” She nodded at each kid in turn.
Grace was pleased to see that she’d gotten the twins’ names right.
“And Travis and Jamie. They’re her kids, too. She’s ‘dopting us. All of us,” Kenzi piped in. “But they’re not here yet. They’re still at school.”
“We’re picking them up and then heading over to your place for dinner, Grace. Dad’s decided that all the kids need to learn how to change a bike tire.”
Knowing their father, that meant that at least one of the kids would need that skill in the future.
“I’m not feeding you, am I?” Grace asked.
Grace was as capable as her father of dumping a box of spaghetti in a pot of boiling water and opening a jar of sauce, but Natalya had a thing about the children eating actual vegetables for dinner and it was the end of the week. The fridge would be pretty bare.
Natalya tilted her head toward the cash register. “Maggie’s taking care of that. But there’ll be enough for you if you’d like to join us. Both of you,” she added, with a nod directed toward Noah.
“I’m set, thanks.” Noah indicated his plate.
“Offer’s open if you’re hungry again in a few hours,” Natalya replied. She let her hands drop from the twins’ backs and gestured toward the counter. “Maggie’s going to give you guys an after-school snack until it’s time to pick up your brothers. I think Emma said something about chocolate chip cookies.”
“Yum.” Grace wasn’t sure which boy said it, but they both bolted for the counter.
“Gotta work on the manners,” Natalya said under her breath, but she let the boys go, giving a rueful shrug.
Kenzi paused to say, “Bye, Aunt Grace, see you later. Bye, Mr. Blake,” before she darted after the twins.
Natalya turned back to Noah. “I don’t know what you’ve learned about me, Mr. Blake, but I’m a radiologist.”
She paused.
It was an expectant pause. And then it turned into a waiting pause, like the kind a teacher leaves when she’s expecting a student to admit that he hasn’t done the homework.
Grace frowned. It felt like Natalya was deliberately making Noah uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure whether to interject and take him off the hook — were they playing good cop, bad cop? — or wait and see where Nat was going.
“I heard something like that,” Noah finally admitted, sounding reluctant.
“I thought you might have.” Natalya’s voice held amused approval, like he’d given her the right answer. “My imaging equipment is top-of-the-line. The best in the state of Florida, truly cutting-edge. If you ever want a look at your brain, I’d be happy to scan it for you. I can either explain the resulting image set to you directly or send it to another radiologist for interpretation. And if you want a witness, someone who can confirm that you’re seeing your own results, I’m happy to oblige. I’m available anytime.”
She glanced back at the counter, and corrected herself with a chuckle. “Almost anytime. Still getting used to the five kids thing. It’s not like having a cat, that’s for sure.” She gave Noah a warm smile, then fluttered her fingers in farewell to both of them and strolled away.
Grace sat down again. Noah was motionless, sitting so still he might have been frozen.
“Okay, that was odd,” she said to him. “Are you, do you…” She couldn’t think how to phrase her question tactfully, so she went with blunt. “Are you worried about your brain? Do you think you have a tumor or something?”
He looked back at her. For a long moment, their eyes met. He wasn’t smiling.
Grace felt the same frisson of attraction she’d had the first time he’d smiled at her, but deeper, stronger. She wanted to help him. She wanted to tell him everything would be okay. But mostly, she wanted to lean across the table and kiss him. Instead she held his gaze until his eyes dropped and he picked up his burger.
“Or something,” he said and took a bite. He couldn’t have conveyed his Keep Out message more clearly without posting No Trespassing signs. But then he finished chewing and nodded toward her sister. “What does she think is wrong with me?”