Emily backed away. “I don’t need this psychobabble crud from you. I’m outta here.”
Intellectually Dee understood Emily was transferring her anger from Chase over to Jacob. Yet as Dee watched Jacob lope down the steps with a Thermos of coffee in hand, she couldn’t help but remember Emily’s words.
Such a perfectionist himself, how would Jacob accept failures from others? She had her fair share of flaws. Her perfectionist parents had frozen her out for years because of one mistake.
Climbing back inside the truck, Dee shook off her own emotional baggage and focused on Jacob. While in many ways a loner, he never turned his back on anyone in need. He took care of lost souls like herself—like his sister—on a regular basis. Yet how close did he allow himself to become in return? How much of himself did he share?
A woman could lean on those broad shoulders forever.
Would he ever lean on her?
She couldn’t settle for less than everything from a man ever again. If she and Jacob didn’t learn how to share control, find some balance between them, she feared she would lose Jacob as well as Evan. The chill inside her spread, and she couldn’t seem to jam her feet under that heater enough to warm herself.
Jacob opened the driver’s-side door, a blast of cold air gusting inside. Dee suddenly realized they would be alone together for the night.
When they arrived at the base’s visitor’s quarters, would they be staying in one room or two?
Chapter 15
T ossing aside his duffel bag next to the tiny microwave, Jacob wondered if Dee had expected him to get two rooms rather than one.
A moot point since he was lucky to have snagged even this last available visitor’s quarter. She had been antsy and distant since he closed the door on the small space with a bed, a blue sofa and corner mini-kitchen. She would likely wear a hole in the carpet if she kept walking around.
Worries for her son, he could understand. He’d felt that radiating from her every pore when he’d held her while they’d watched the sun come up. This was different.
She’d been so certain the Suburban hadn’t gone into the river. Could she be doubting now? He didn’t even want to think of what it would do to her if that body turned out to be her ex-husband.
He needed to calm her, if he only knew where to start. Right now, she’d taken to staring out the window as if she might find answers there.
Parents always wanted to talk about their children. He’d learned that from his friends and a woman he’d once dated who had a kid from a prior relationship.
He sat on the sofa and hoped that would encourage her to join him. “Tell me about Evan.”
Dee’s head swiveled away from the window toward Jacob. Pain glinted in her eyes like icicles on the bare oaks outside, then melted with her tender smile. “Evan loves chocolate ice cream and anything that flies. He has this plastic plane, a tub toy, that he’s carried around forever, like his blanket.” She sniffled and scrubbed the back of her wrist under her nose as she leaned against the wall. “I promised him a toy aircraft carrier for his birthday.”
Her ache lanced at him with surprising force. He’d felt empathy before, but this was something more. Her pain was his. His investment in finding Evan became all the more personal. “We’ll have another birthday for him with a huge cake and a trip to one of those places with goofy people in costumes, where kids can play video games.”
How easily the word we slid from his mouth, bringing images of creating a normal family life.
“He would like that…. His birthday.” Her hand fluttered to rest on her stomach. “He was an emergency C-section delivery. The placenta began to separate, and the doctor had to go in—” She blushed, staring at her crossed feet. “Oops, TMI.”
“TMI?”
“Too much information.” She tugged the hem of her sweater, molding cashmere to the gentle swell of her breasts. “You don’t need to hear all the details.”
Jacob waited for her to continue. He wouldn’t let her shut down now that he finally had her talking. rattled off the information then asked, “Why? We thought that was Chase causing more trouble.”
Keagan snagged a gulp from his bottled water before returning to the keyboard. “Maybe, maybe not. I’ll check around and see if Lambert’s crossing back and forth over the border. So far, though, there’s not even a peep from him. He’s not at work. No credit card activity.”
Dee started shaking again. “They’re not dead. They can’t be.”
Keagan patted the air in a calm-down motion. “I’m not saying they are. There are plenty of ways to pay for things without credit cards. Until I have definitive proof to the contrary, we’re going to keep looking for your boy. My wife and I have a son, too.” His gaze fell briefly to the photo of a newborn in blue grinning as he held a toy dolphin. “I’ll search for your child as if he were my own.”
Her hand shook as she reached to stroke a finger along the edge of the gold frame on the agent’s desk. “Thank you.”
Jacob hoped like hell that Dee was right about her ex driving off. “Would he really risk coming back here just to torment her? Why not make a clean run with Evan?”
“That would be the logical choice, but…” Keagan trailed off.