“It’s bothering you.” Joe’s eyes were narrowed on her face. “Why?”
“No reason, I guess.” She took a sip of coffee. “I thought I was answering her. Crazy. I was half-asleep. Maybe I was dreaming.”
“More than likely. You don’t ordinarily have polite conversations with your reconstructions. At least, you’ve never mentioned it.”
She shook her head. “Never. The conversation is all on my side. As I said, I must have been dreaming.”
“And answered your Jenny when she wished you sweet dreams?”
“Sort of. I think she was actually answering me when I told her good night before I went to bed. She was just kind of … late.”
“Maybe it had to sink home,” he said solemnly. “She may be a little rusty. After all, being buried for eight years might do that to you.”
“Stop making fun of me. If you hadn’t worn me out last night, I wouldn’t have been having weird dreams.”
“As I recall, you had no complaints last night.”
She grinned back at him. “Not one.” She took another drink of coffee and then put her cup down. “Get out of here. You’re going to be late.”
He checked his wristwatch. “Yeah, I’ll pour the rest of my coffee into a to-go cup.” He got to his feet and headed for the cabinet. “I need the caffeine.” He gave her a sly glance as he took down the thermal cup. “You kind of wore me out, too. Very aggressive.”
She had been aggressive. She’d felt a desperate desire for life affirmation last night and there was no stronger affirmation than love and sex. “I wanted you.”
“And I thank God for that.” He tightened the lid on the cup. “Every day. Every minute. Come on. Walk me to the porch.”
The sun was coming up over the lake as she followed him out on the porch. Beautiful …
He gave her a quick kiss and started to run down the steps. “You’ll be working on that reconstruction today?”
She nodded. “The sooner I get it done, the happier Nalchek will be, and the sooner he’ll get out of my hair.”
“I looked him up while you were talking on the phone to him. John Nalchek isn’t all that young, early thirties. He was in Afghanistan. Special Forces and he won a chestful of medals. When he came back, he worked for his grandfather in the vineyards for a while. Marcus Nalchek owned the vineyard and half the farmland in central California and was grooming his grandson to take over. But when his grandfather died, Nalchek ran for sheriff and won. His father had held the office before him and he must have grown up with a law-enforcement mind-set.”
“And a massive determination. You should have heard him trying to be polite to me when I wouldn’t commit to start work last night on Jenny.” She called as he got into the driver’s seat, “He said he felt she was calling to him.”
“And when he went to bed, did she tell him goodnight?”
“I’m going to hit you.”
“I’ll look forward to it.” His eyes were twinkling as he started the car. “We didn’t go that route last night.”
Eve shook her head ruefully as she watched him drive down the road. He was impossible but he always made her smile when he made the effort. He was probably trying to distract her from thinking about how empty the cottage might be with Jane gone.
Distraction was good. Time to get to work.
She turned and went back into the cottage. Fix toast and orange juice then get to work on Jenny.
Or maybe just check to see if the cosmetic repair on the wound on Jenny’s temple was dry.
She moved over to the reconstruction and looked down at the skull.
Right as rain …
But there was nothing right about that wound that had taken a little girl’s life.
“But you were right, it didn’t hurt.”
Eve stiffened. “What the hell?” The words had come out of nowhere.
“You said there was nothing right about it. If it didn’t hurt, that was right, wasn’t it?”
She drew a deep breath and gazed around warily. “Not in the big picture.”
“I don’t know about big pictures. I’m a little confused.”