After Manda left the coffee shop a second time, Jasmyn sat for several minutes, waiting for the pain in her chest to clear.
Carlos Anibal apparently liked the jasmine plant.
Jasmyn Annabelle’s mother had chosen her name well. Purposefully.
Which meant…
Honestly? It probably meant very little except Jerri knew a lot more about Jasmyn’s father than she had admitted.
A loud banging on the window caught her attention.
On the other side, Chad grinned at her. He made senseless sweeping gestures. She shrugged. He put his palm against the pane, mouthed Wait, and walked toward the door.
Like she was going somewhere? Breathing was still an issue.
Chad plunked a large shopping bag on the table and disappeared behind it as he sat down. “How’d it go?”
“How’d what go?”
He peeked around the corner of the bag. “Oh, dear. That bad?”
Jasmyn’s forehead hurt, as if the skin were all knitted into furrows. “I’ll be fine.”
“PDA alert!” he called out. “PDA!”
“What?”
Before the word was out of her mouth, he was at her side and pulling her up into his arms. “Public Demonstration of Affection.”
The hug felt awkward. Her head was buried in his shoulder, but she knew people must be watching after his announcement. He held on to her tightly, until it began to feel like exactly what she needed.
“But,” he murmured, “I don’t do public display of tears.”
“Me neither.” She disengaged herself and wiped her eyes with her sweater sleeves. “I did once, in front of my smashed-up house. Got my picture in the newspaper in five counties. It was awesome.”
“Oh, Jazzie.” He pointed to the bag. “This will cheer you up.”
She looked inside and saw rubbery material, black with a wide streak of pink. “A wetsuit?” She lifted the thick, bulky suit out partway.
“My sister’s. I recalled this morning that she had left one at home. She’s taller than you, so it might be a bit long, but it should suffice for today. We never did get to our surfing lesson. I don’t know where the time went. You’ll probably be winging your way back to Illinois soon, so we better hop to it. As in right now. Seriously, the surf’s up, dude.”
“Chad, the tag is still on this suit.”
“What can I say? My sister bought it and never used it. She takes wastefulness to new heights. I suppose all we Rutherfords have that habit. I hope you won’t hold it against me.” He exaggerated a sad face. “Mildred does.”
Jasmyn giggled.
“That’s better.” He smiled and looked somber at the same time, as only handsome Chadwick could. “You know, Jasmyn, the biological family is not all it’s cracked up to be. Which explains my presence at the Casa. We’re family without being family.”
She nodded and folded the wetsuit back into the bag. “Which explains your presence here too?”
He grinned. “I suppose so! Okay, let’s go hang ten and all that business.”
As they headed toward the door, she noticed a coffee mug in his hand. “I forgot to put my cup in the bin. Here, I’ll take that one too.”
He yanked his hand away. “I’m stealing this one.”
“Not really.”
“Yeah, really. They don’t sell these and you can’t find them anywhere. The heft is perfect. I could offer to pay an inordinate amount of money for it. Or tell them we need it for a criminal investigation and I left my badge at home.”
She touched his arm and stopped walking. “Chad, what are you doing?”
He rolled his eyes. “Now everyone is looking.” He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “It’s for the DNA. Keagan can do something with it.”
Jasmyn took the mug from him, walked back to the table, picked up her mug, and deposited both of them in the collection bin. At the door, she smiled at Chad. “Thanks but no thanks.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure. She’s my sister.”