“Subtle, Dad. Really subtle.”
Kane went to the door. “Your mother taught me to say what I needed to when it should be said. If you want to come over tonight, we’re all having dinner at Kingsley House. We decided to spare the restaurants the family’s presence.”
“I think Hallie and I will stay in tonight. We have some things to talk about, and—” He broke off at the knowing look on his father’s face.
“A girl who’d rather stay home with you instead of partying. Not exactly what the old Jamie would have liked, is it? See you tomorrow.” He left, closing the door behind him.
Jamie flopped back against the couch. “See what I have to put up with?” he said to no one—but then he figured the Tea Ladies were there.
He picked up the box of research Jilly had collected and began to flip through the photocopies. A picture fell onto the floor and he picked it up. It was a glossy magazine photo of a very pretty engagement ring. Very simple, very elegant, and he thought Hallie would like that.
In the next second he tossed the photo onto the coffee table. “Et tu, girls?”
As he stretched out on the couch and began to read, he was sure he heard dual giggles.
Chapter Seventeen
By the time Hallie got home it was after six. She had so many bags to carry she could hardly walk. Cale had offered to send some of the “boys” to help her, but Hallie said no. She really hoped that Edith had shown up with her little cart full of food-from-around-the-world, so she and Jamie could eat and talk.
She wanted to tell him who she’d met that day and ask him about the other family members she’d heard mentioned. And she might bring up Alicia and ask who she was. And Hallie looked forward to showing him the clothes she’d chosen for him. She might even be persuaded to model what she’d bought for herself.
Hallie thought about how they’d go out to the gym and she’d take Jamie through his exercises. She’d check to see how his knee was healing.
And maybe a towel would once again fall to the floor.
When she got to her front door, she was surprised to find it locked. She looked in her purse for the key but couldn’t find it. When she lifted the brass dolphin knocker and gave it a couple of bangs, no one came to the door, and she didn’t see any lights on in the house.
She gathered her pile of shopping bags and went around to the side of the house. Just as they’d been told, the doors into the tea room were temperamental. Sometimes they would open with a light turn of the knob, but sometimes they were locked tight.
She was glad to find that this time they were not only unlocked but one of them was standing open a few inches.
“Is this an invitation?” she laughingly asked the resident ghosts as she went inside. “Or are you just helping with all these bags?”
She put them on the floor by the couch and turned on a table lamp. On impulse, she dumped all Jamie’s new clothes out and began spreading them over the furniture. There were sweaters, shirts, and even trousers that she’d chosen with the help of Cale.
“He can roll these sleeves up,” she’d said to his mother.
“Jamie won’t like that,” Cale said. “His arms…He wants them covered.”
“I think he should get over that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Cale said, smiling. “Think we could get him into a pair of sandals?”
They looked at each other and shook their heads. No way, they agreed. For Jamie, it was barefoot or shoes and nothing in between.
When Hallie heard a sound coming from the kitchen, she went through the pantry. As with the side doors, the door into the kitchen was half open. Hallie was about to step inside when she saw Todd. He was standing as Jamie sat down at the table and leaned his crutches against the wall.
“All I’m asking is that you be cautious with Hallie,” Todd said. “Don’t mistake gratitude for love.”
Whatever else he was about to say, Hallie didn’t want to hear. She took a step forward to show herself, but the door into the kitchen moved, as though it meant to close. The movement was so disconcerting that she stepped back into the darkness of the pantry.
“I’m not confusing anything,” Jamie said. “I like her a lot. You saw what she did today. It was more than all those counselors I went to did.”
Hallie had no interest in hearing what Todd had to say, but she did want to hear Jamie. She leaned back against the shelves and listened.
“To be fair to all those highly trained specialists,” Todd said, “a lot of time has passed since then.”
“But Hallie—”