I nodded.
“You and Jonah seem…close.”
“I’d say we’re close. We’re in love with each other.”
Was I allowed to say that? Jonah had only just professed his love for me last night. Maybe he wasn’t ready for Talon and everyone else to know. I bit my lip. I hoped I hadn’t just committed a major faux pas.
I set my plate down, poured myself a cup of coffee, and sat down next to Brooke. I took in the scenery. The yard was huge and beautiful. Roger had followed me out and was frolicking around, chasing a squirrel. The pool here was bigger than the pool at Jonah’s, at least as far as I could see. It was several hundred feet away from the house. This was how Jonah and his brothers had grown up, in luxury.
But luxury didn’t matter, not after Talon was taken. So much was more important than luxury.
From what Talon had told me, his parents had been stern but loving before his abduction. Afterward, his mother couldn’t cope and killed herself within two years. And his father? I really didn’t know much about him. I still didn’t understand why he had buried the whole situation under the rug.
Talon was hell-bent on figuring it out, and for the first time, I felt like I really understood his passion for uncovering the truth. I had that same passion now. I needed to know the truth about what had happened to Gina. Something about the situation didn’t add up.
Brooke had been talking, and I hadn’t heard a word she said. “I’m so sorry. I zoned out for a moment. What were you saying?”
“I asked if you and Jonah are serious.”
Serious? Hadn’t I just said we were in love? That meant serious to me, although perhaps not to her. “I’d like to think we are.”
“I see.” She took a bite of a croissant. “He’s very good-looking, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is.”
“He would’ve made a gorgeous male model in his day,” Brooke said. “When I was modeling, all the top models couldn’t have held a candle to him.”
I couldn’t argue with that. Jonah was indeed gorgeous. I wasn’t exactly sure what to say to her, though. It didn’t matter because she kept talking.
“Jade and Talon said Jonah had a huge crush on me. He had my posters plastered all over his bedroom wall.”
I wasn’t much younger than Brooke herself, and I remembered her posters well, specifically one of her in a blue bathing suit. It had been one of the best-selling posters of all time. I had spent many hours staring at that poster in the local Kmart, wishing I had a body like hers.
She was still a very pretty woman. Her blond hair was short now, and one of her eyes was slightly squinty—from the accident, Jonah had told me. She had light silvery-blue eyes much like Jade’s. And although she was wrapped in a terrycloth robe, I figured her body was still way above average.
For a moment, self-doubt crept into me. I was no Brooke Bailey.
But Jonah loved me. Hadn’t I just promised myself to stop thinking of myself as average?
First step. Do not let Brooke Bailey intimidate you.
So I laughed nonchalantly. “I’m sure he did. I’m sure most adolescent males worshiped you from afar.”
“Oh, yes. You should’ve seen the fan mail I got. I wouldn’t be surprised if I got a letter from Jonah himself.”
I smiled. No reason in the world existed for me to envy this woman. She was living in the past, unable to accept that her modeling days were over. Clearly, she was lusting after Jonah. Could I blame her? The man was magnificent.
But he loved me. I didn’t need to throw that in her face. It was enough that I knew.
She returned my smile, pulling a smartphone out of the pocket of her robe. “Would you excuse me? I need to send a quick text.”
Chapter Twenty–Five
Jonah
Felicia had arrived, and Talon was bringing her to the kitchen when my phone buzzed in my pocket. Another text from the
strange number. I would have to have words with Brooke at some point, but obviously not now.