Pete nodded. “Well, I figure if anybody can find him, it’ll be you. You’re not his usual type, but I can see why he might get hooked.”
Redmond came back out on the porch. He’d changed into jeans and a shirt and his black hair was damp. “Let’s go before Charlie’s off. I recall she only works days.”
He passed me and headed toward one of the pickups in the drive.
I followed him and gave Pete a little wave. As anxious as I was, this was going better than I thought.
Chapter 36: Jenny
We pulled up to the facility, which had a few spots near a big circle drive under an overhang.
“Is this a nursing home?” I asked. It looked like one.
“Sort of,” Redmond said. “They do some rehab things. I think they have a few other patients like Hannah, sort of in limbo.”
“So what exactly happened?” I asked.
“It was a terrible car accident. A clusterfuck of shit that went down when everybody drank too much.” Redmond stared out the windshield, his wrist over the steering wheel. “Changed everything.”
“Is that why Chance took off?”
“He said he needed to see the country, live by the seat of his pants. He quit his job.” Redmond pulled the keys from the ignition. “Running from demons, I guess. I don’t blame him for blowing us all off. We deserved it.”
“But his mom?”
“I hope he’ll come around about her. She’s a good lady, just a little preachy is all.”
I touched my dreadlocks with trepidation. “She’s not going to like me, is she?” I asked.
“If you can get her son back here, she’ll love you.” Redmond smiled and I could see why girls might fall for him. He had the same lazy grin that Chance had. It made me miss Chance all the more.
“Let’s go find Charlie,” Redmond said. “She’s not going to speak to me, so you’ll probably have to plead your case. She’s kind of a tough one.”
I nodded and opened the passenger door. I was getting good at these hard introductions.
We wandered into the visitors’ area. A couple elderly women were seated by the window, their wheelchairs angled close. One of them lit up at seeing Redmond. “My boy is here!” she said.
Redmond walked right up and kissed her hand. “Hello, Mrs. Tate.” He nodded to the other. “And Mrs. Johnson.”
The old woman beamed. “I see you have a lady friend. Do you have some news for me? A wedding, maybe?”
“Not with this one,” he said. “But I’ll let you know.”
“I want some grandbabies!” she said.
“I’ll work on it. See you soon.” He squeezed her hand and came back to me. We wandered toward a big round information desk.
“Is that your mom?” I asked.
“Oh, no,” he said. “She thinks every young man who comes in is her son. I don’t see any reason to correct her.”
“Oh.” I was starting to like Redmond.
We approached the friendly big-haired woman at the desk. “Is Charlie around?” Redmond asked.
“Yeah, I think she’s in the break room. She’s leaving early today.” She sat up a little straighter as Redmond leaned on the desk. He was definitely a charmer.
“Can we go back and catch her?” he asked.
Her lashes flitted down. “Sure. You know where it is?”
“Not a clue.”
The woman smiled. “I’d show you myself, but I can’t leave my post.” She pointed down one of the corridors. “Go down the A hall, turn right first chance you get. It’s a door marked ‘Employees Only’ on the left.”
“Got it. Thanks.” He turned to me. “Ready?”
I nodded.
We walked down the hall, passing numerous open doors of elderly people in beds or wheelchairs. Most of them were watching television. Everything smelled of antiseptic and medicine. I hadn’t been in many places like this. My father’s parents had died when I was very young, and my mother’s parents were jet-setting all over the world in their retirement.
We found the break room. Redmond opened the door. Inside, a couple women in scrubs were chatting. One of them, a slender dark-haired woman in her early thirties, narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
The other woman scooted through the door. “Catch you later, Charlie,” she said.
“Sure,” Charlie answered, then returned her glare to Redmond. Finally she cast her angry gaze at me. “Who’s this?”
“Chance’s girlfriend.”
I could see that caught her by surprise. “He hasn’t said anything about any girlfriend.”
“So you have been talking to him.” Redmond flashed her a wide smile. “Well, she met him playing a gig in LA. And she’s trying to find him again.”
Charlie looked back and forth between me and Redmond, unsmiling.
“If he wanted her, she’d know how to reach him,” she said. “Sounds like you’re getting involved in his business.” She paused for effect. “Again.”
Redmond held up his hands. “She tracked him down at the house. I had nothing to do with it.”
“Charlie?” I said tentatively. “I think he might have lost his phone not long after I met him. Have you heard from him in the past two weeks?”