The Second Family

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“Sorry again. I just keep puttin’ my foot in, don’t I?”

If his grin was meant to disarm, it failed. “You’re no backwoods hick. Please don’t insult my intelligence by pretending to be.”

That got to him, she noticed with some triumph. Instant sobriety fell over his face like steel mesh. When his eyes flicked back to her, Tess saw by their expression that she’d pushed him further than she’d intended.

“My job is to ensure that those two kids are safe, healthy and reasonably happy. It’s a tall order, given their circumstances. If you can’t grasp the inarguable fact that you’re their best option here, then…I’m sorry.” His eyes swept over her, dismissively. As if she were some kind of strange and repulsive insect. “So,” he went on, “we’ll agree not to discuss this again until you’ve had a chance to check things out for yourself. Okay?”

Feeling suddenly graceless, she could only shrug, wondering how she always ended up faring so badly in their talks. He turned his head aside to peer out the window, then suddenly swung back to her.

“One last thing. I’m curious—did you have a chance to talk to Nick about your father?”

Blood roared into her head. Her tongue flapped uselessly against the palate of her dry mouth. Tess was certain her eyes were going to eject from their orbs.

But the expression in his own face was inscrutable. After the slightest pause, he murmured, “I didn’t think so,” and shifted his gaze back to the window.

Tess waited until the pounding against her rib cage eased up before silently slipping out of her seat and making her way to the washroom. When she bolted the door behind her, she plunked onto the seat and burst into tears.

HE ALMOST EXTENDED an arm to stop her and apologize again for behaving like such an insensitive jerk. But his anger hadn’t subsided enough and besides, he knew he’d crossed into the kind of territory where apologies counted for little. The problem was, she was in denial about everything. And Alec knew from hard experience that you didn’t reach people in that state with kid gloves. Usually they needed a jolt. Like dumping a bucket of cold water over the head. He figured he’d just done that—figuratively—to Tess Wheaton. His regret at having to do so was minimal compared to his worry about what was going to happen to Nick and Molly.

Nick unexpectedly craned his head around from the seat ahead. His earphones were still clamped on but Alec hoped the kid hadn’t been tracking their conversation. He managed a smile and gave Nick a thumbs-up sign. The boy responded with a wobbly grin, confirming Alec’s suspicion that he probably had picked up some of what had been going on behind him.

He sighed, knowing that the quarrel had been more his fault than Tess’s. If only he could learn to be more subtle. Surely he could have extracted all the information he wanted from her without raising hackles. If he’d taken the time to cultivate her, he might even have brought her round to at least acknowledging another point of view. Malone closed his eyes and sank back against the headrest. It all boiled down to time—and there just wasn’t enough of it.

TESS PEERED OUT the window at the desolate terrain below. At least, to a big-city resident, what appeared empty, vast and very brown countryside. According to the pilot, they’d be landing at Denver International Airport in fifteen minutes. Could have fooled me, she thought. I don’t even see a city down there, much less the state capitol. Just a featureless landscape patchworked by peculiar dark-green circles and squares.

When she’d finally returned to their seats, she saw with relief that there had been a change. Nick was sitting with Alec and the window seat next to Molly was waiting for her. Molly gave an excited wave, which made Tess feel even more miserable.

“You were gone a long time,” the little girl said. “I was worried. Nick wanted to talk to Alec and I was going to take the window seat ’cause it was my turn, but I thought you might want it ’cause you’ve never been to Denver before.” Taking a quick gulp of air, Molly added, “Have you?”

Tess shook her head and smiled. “Thank you.” When she settled in, the seat belt warning flashed. She helped Molly buckle up and then surveyed the place she planned to visit for the next few days. Not exactly the Caribbean, she was thinking.

Okay, get real, Tess. You weren’t going on that cruise anyway. As for Doug…he hasn’t garnered a second’s thought since you saw him at work on Friday. Two days ago. God. Seems more like a week. Or a lifetime.

“Tess?”

“Hmm?” Tess turned from the window to Molly.

“We’ll all be staying at our house, won’t we?”

“Our house?” Tess drew a blank, then caught her drift just as Molly was explaining.