There was a click and the line went dead. Jada rolled her eyes and looked at the screen. Sure enough, the call was lost.
“Done already?” Ian asked.
“No. Give it a second.”
Sure enough, the phone buzzed. Jada answered. “Hello, Mom.”
“What happened? Did you hang up? Jada?”
“No, you ended the call. You must have pushed the wrong button again.”
“I don’t think so. But whatever. Hold on. I’m going to put you on speaker now. Don’t hang up on me.”
Jada expected her to lose the call again, but this time she lucked out.
“Can you hear me, Jada?” her mother asked.
“Hi Jada!” her dad called.
“Yes, I hear both of you. You don’t have to talk so loud.”
“I told you I could do it,” Jada’s mom said. “Something must have happened on her end, Monty. You should be less critical.”
“So anyway,” Jada broke in, “what’s going on? Why are you calling?”
“If your phone was stolen,” her father said, “you need to report it to the police right away. And did you call the phone company?”
“It wasn’t stolen, Dad. And I didn’t lose it either. I just switched over to this one for now. Don’t delete my old number, okay?”
“Too late,” Jada’s mother said. “I replaced it with this one. Why did you get a new phone if your old one still works? I don’t know. This is all very strange.”
“Tell her why we called,” her father said. “We want to know about the TV.”
Jada flinched. She hoped this wasn’t what she thought it was.
“Right, exactly,” Jada’s mother said. “So we were at a truck stop this morning, getting fuel. It was a good price, which is why we stopped, even though we weren’t going to stop for another few hours until we got to the truck stop with one of our favorite buffets. I think I’ve told you about it, Jada. It’s the one with all the fancy jello molds and a bar of desserts.”
“Mmm-hmm. You’ve told me, Mom.”
“Would you get to it, Kenya?” her dad asked.
“This is important,” she said. “We might have never seen Jada on TV if we’d gone on to the other place. They don’t have a TV in that store like they do at the other one.”
Jada heard her father sigh.
“We saw you on television,” her dad said. “An announcer said you’d married some rich man. Got your mother all worried.”
“Please, honey. I’m so worried. It can’t be true. You would never have kept something like this from us, would you?” her mother asked.
“No, of course not, Mom. It’s not true, Dad. It’s a big mistake. A huge misunderstanding.”
“I told you, Kenya. How would one of our girls meet a billionaire, let alone marry one? It’s ridiculous.”
“But it’s on the news,” her mother said.
“That doesn’t make it true,” her father said. “I always say you can’t believe most of what you see on TV.”
“Well, it’s not really the news,” Jada said. “It’s more like gossip. Anyway, it’s not true.”
“We saw all those reporters outside your house, Jada,” her mom said. “Are you still trapped in there?”
“No, I’m not. I’m hiding out.”
“Good girl. Tell us where you are. We’re coming to get you,” her father said. “The press will never be able to find you if you’re with us. Hard to hit a moving target.”
Jada grimaced. “Actually, I’m perfectly safe where I am. Thanks though.”
“We’re already on our way,” Jada’s dad said. “We’ll be in Springers Glen tomorrow.”
“No, don’t do that. I’m not in Springers Glen. I swear, I couldn’t be more safe where I am.”
“Where are you?” her mom asked. “Please tell me so I won’t worry.”
Jada steeled herself. There was no getting around it, not if she didn’t want them showing up in Springers Glen and banging on every door in town looking for her. “I’m at Ian Buckley’s lake cabin.”
Silence on the other end of the phone. It stretched on.
“Hello?” Jada asked finally. “Are you there?”
“Soooo,” her father began, “you actually do know this Ian Buckley person?”
“Oh, honey. What do you mean, a cabin?” her mother asked.
“It’s not actually a cabin. It’s more like an estate with a mansion and everything. They just call it a cabin. It’s a rich people thing,” Jada said.
Ian grinned and turned on his side, watching her.
“A rich people thing. What does that mean?” her mother asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” her father said.
“Anyway,” Jada said, “Mr. Buckley has been kind to me and has assured me he’s got his people working on figuring out what happened, how this story got started and how to stop it. They’re going to get it all sorted out tomorrow when the courthouse opens.”
Ian raised a brow at her and mouthed silently, “Mr. Buckley?”
She waved him off.
“You mean to say, you’ve met this man, this ... this ... billionaire?” her mother asked, her voice an awed, half-whisper.
“I have,” Jada answered.
“Is he with you now?” The identical question came from her parents at the same time, but with very different tones. Her mother said it with longing uplift at the end, clearly hoping the answer would be yes. Her father, meanwhile, said it deep and low, with suspicion, and obviously wanted the answer to be no.
“He is here, at the estate, with me,” Jada sad. “We had a picnic today.”
Again, silence fell on the line.
“Well,” her mother finally said, her voice cheery now, “I see no reason to hurry home, Monty. Jada is obviously well-cared for, safe and sound.”
“I don’t know,” her father said. “Nothing about this seems right. Are you people aware that Monday is Memorial Day? What kind of billionaire doesn’t know the courthouse won’t be open on Memorial Day? And what about you, Jada?”
A short laugh burst out of her. “Oh no! I forgot about that. I was going to go into the office anyway, so that’s probably wh
y I didn’t realize it. Ha!” Her spirits soared with the knowledge that the holiday might guarantee her one more day with Ian.
“None of that matters, Monty,” her mother said. “Listen honey, you have a good time. Enjoy yourself. Get to know the billionaire. I mean, get to know Mr. Buckley. Ian. It was Ian, right?”
“Fine,” her dad said. “But remember, Jada. You’re a good girl. Don’t let some high-flyer take advantage—”
“Shh! Don’t be ridiculous,” her mom interrupted. “I’m sure Ian is a lovely man. And we’ve got to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.”
“Kenya!”
“Ignore him, Jada,” her mother said. “We love you, honey. Enjoy your picnic. And have fun.”
“But not too much fun,” her father added.
“I love you both, too,” Jada said. “Drive safely, back to wherever you were going before you had the idea of coming to get me. Okay?”
Her mother laughed, her father grumbled, then they all said goodbye. Jada ended the call relieved it had gone as well as it had.
“How are your parents?” Ian asked, sitting up. “Are they worried?”
“They were, but I think they’re okay now.”
“You going to tell me what was funny?”
“Funny? Oh yeah. So, I think we may be stuck together a little longer than we’d thought.”
“You don’t say. How so?”
She searched his face, hoping he’d be as pleased with the news as she was. “Well, it’s kind of silly that we both forgot. The courthouse won’t be open tomorrow. It’s Memorial Day.”
A big smile stretched across his handsome face. “You don’t say.”
Chapter Eight
IAN HAD BEEN MORE DISGRUNTLED than he’d shown when the deer and Jada’s cat interrupted his tryst with Jada. Hearing that Monday was Memorial Day helped soothe the ache in his loins. More time with Jada was exactly what his body ordered.
Jada chatted gaily about her parents, but Ian had difficulty following the conversation. That had been happening more and more each time he talked with her. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interesting. She was. It wasn’t that she wasn’t clever. She was. And smart. And funny, too. The problem was that each time he saw her she got more beautiful, and it was damned distracting.