“Hi, Jesse. Sorry to drop in on you unannounced, but when you didn’t answer the message I left on your answering machine, I came anyway.”
“Something wrong? I haven’t been to my place in two days. You could have tried my cell phone.” He shuffled Heidi to his back, where she wrapped her legs around his waist like a monkey and dangled Boo in front of his nose.
“I tried but it said the number was no longer in service.”
“Oh rats, I forgot to give you the new number.”
Jillian nodded. “That’s what I figured.” Jillian looked at her shoes. “Jesse, I have to go to Italy. I tried to get out of it, but it was either go or lose my job. With Noah gone, I have to work.” Her attempt at a smile fell short. “They promised no longer than a month. I’m going to have to take you up on your offer to keep Heidi. Livia is out of touch in Africa. You still cool with it?”
Jesse hated the false optimism in her voice. She used to be so sunny and genuinely cheerful. Nothing ever got her down. Pollyanna, he’d always called her. She was trying to maintain that spirit for Heidi’s sake, but he could hear the desperation under the surface.
“I haven’t heard from Livia in a couple of months either. The Peace Corps must have her in the wilds where she can’t get to a computer. She wouldn’t be much help anyway. Africa is no place for the monkey.” He hitched Heidi higher on his back. “What about Aunt Irene?” He lowered his voice. “This isn’t a good time for me. Base security has been compromised.”
“I’m not going to Aunt Irene’s.” Heidi dropped her legs from his waist, and he let her down. She came around to face him with her arms folded over her chest and a mutinous thrust to her chin. “She makes me go to bed at seven like a baby. And she always nags me about being ladylike. I hate wearing dresses!”
Which was the final word, as far as she was concerned. She flounced away and went to sit in the car. Jesse sighed and turned back to his sister. “I’ll have to find someone to watch her. I’m working long hours at the base.”
Jillian looked suddenly decisive. “I’ll just tell them I’m not going. Maybe I can find another job.”
She turned her head, but not before he saw the tears in her eyes. “This has been your dream all your life,” he said. “You can’t quit. I’d love to keep the monkey. We’ll figure it out. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for you. You have to go.” Feeling like the most inept man alive, he patted her on the shoulder. Her tears made him feel he was twelve again and standing at the blackboard with no clue to the right answers.
He hoped having some goal would help his sister get over what Noah had done. He dropped his voice and placed his body so Heidi couldn’t hear from the car. “Noah is bound to surface at some point. Maybe he’ll be in Italy as well. There has to be some reason for what he did.”
“What could there be, Jesse?” Jillian wiped at her face. “He took all my research and published it under his own name. What kind of man would do that to his wife? He stole from me. And to top if off, he vanished without a trace just before the journal came off the press.”
“I know, I know,” Jesse soothed. At least she was getting mad again. He much preferred an angry Jillian to a sad one. How could he care for Heidi though? All he knew about children was that they liked to be carted on his back and they made a lot of messes. He still remembered the way Heidi had smeared Jillian’s lipstick all over his boots one night.
Of course, she’d only been a year old, he reminded himself.
Jesse let out his breath. “Don’t worry about Heidi. I’ll take care of her. You just go and make some brilliant new discovery.” He didn’t know what he was getting himself into or who he could find to help, but maybe a teenage girl out of school for the summer would want to earn some extra money.
Jillian chewed her lip. “I don’t know, Jesse. Maybe I should just quit. I hate to leave Heidi.”
He forced optimism into his voice. “And deprive me of her company? We’ll have a great time.”
A truck pulled up to the gate. He heard low voices, then a female voice began to shout to be allowed on the base. That irate tone sounded familiar, and he turned to look. Kaia’s angry gaze met his.
She looked like she was about to spear a whale, and he was in the direct line of fire.
Four
Jesse had the audacity to smile, his teeth nearly as white as his service uniform. The air had ruffled his sun-streaked hair and left it boyishly tousled as he stood, hat in hand, talking to a woman beside a car. Kaia had a feeling he wouldn’t be reprimanded easily.
She wasn’t sure she could keep from crying while she yelled at him. His demands just might cost her the research project. She got out of the truck, leaving it running where it sat blocking the main gate.