“And more difficult for you than for others. First, you had to let go of Bonnie when she was killed. Now Jane is moving out of our lives.”
“Not out, just away.” She made a face. “And evidently I couldn’t let go of Bonnie because I insisted on keeping her with me, alive or dead. I was so stubborn that whoever is in charge of the hereafter let me have my little girl’s spirit to visit me now and then.” Though she had initially resisted that blessing. She had thought she was hallucinating, thought that grief had made her mind fly to any solace possible. She had only wanted to be with her Bonnie and was spiraling down to meet her when she had been stopped by the realization that the visits from Bonnie were no hallucination. She drew a deep breath and gave Joe a quick kiss. “Which makes me luckier than a lot of people. I refuse to feel sorry for myself. I have you. I sometimes have Bonnie. I’ll have Jane when she moves in and out of our lives.” She nodded at the FedEx box across the room. “And I have a chance to help the parents of that little girl find resolution.” She got to her feet and took a sip before she put the cup down on the coffee table. “So slap me if you see me go broody on you.” She headed for the kitchen. “How about lasagna for supper? There’s something about the smell of baking garlic bread that lifts the spirits and makes everything seem all right.”
“Besides outrageously tempting the taste buds. Sounds good. Need help?”
“Nah, you know my culinary expertise is nonexistent. I’ll do frozen.”
“Eve.”
She glanced over her shoulder.
He was frowning, and his gaze was narrowed. “It’s just Jane leaving? You’ve been pretty quiet the last couple weeks. Nothing else is wrong?”
And Joe noticed everything. She was tempted to deny it and put him off, but she couldn’t do it. They had been together for years, and their relationship was based not only on love but honesty. “Nothing that can’t be fixed.” She shrugged. “I guess I’m just going through some kind of emotional adjustment. I wanted everything to stay the same. I wanted to keep Jane close to me. Mine. Though I always knew she didn’t really belong to me. She was too independent and was ten going on thirty when we adopted her. And Bonnie was mine, but then she was taken.” She smiled. “And that spirit, Bonnie, who comes to visit me now and then is very much her own self now. Beloved, but only flashes of being mine.” Her smile faded. “But I’ll take it. I just want to keep her with me, too. I don’t want anything to change.”
“Why should that change?”
“It shouldn’t change. That’s what I told Bonnie. Nothing has to change.”
His brows rose. “Ah, your Bonnie. She said something to disturb you? When?”
“A couple weeks ago. She scared me. She said she didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep coming to me. She said everything was going to change.”
“How? Why?”
“She didn’t know. She just wanted to warn me.”
“Very frustrating.” He chuckled. “If your daughter has to pay you visits, I’d just as soon she not upset you like this.”
“That’s what I told her.”