All A Heart Needs B&N (9 page)

She'd laugh at him if she were here. She'd loved to tell ghost stories. One of their favorite activities was to set up a tent in her room and turn off all the lights? Stacey would hold up a flashlight and whisper a story that always started with the same words,
It was a night just like this
…

He'd loved her stories and had helped her make up even creepier, bloodier tales. But none of those stories had been real. The lights had always come back on, and everything had been normal.

"Sean?" Jessica called.

Her voice penetrated through the fog in his brain. She was standing on the porch. She'd opened the front door and turned on the light in the entry. He could also see a light on upstairs now. Kyle had obviously gone up to his room.

Well, if a six-year-old could do it…

He got out of the van and walked up to the house. "Sorry, I was just checking my phone," he lied.

"Everything looks fine. You can go home."

Now that he'd made it to the steps, he wanted to go inside. "Actually, I'd like to see Stacy's photo album." He'd been thinking about that album ever since Jessica had mentioned it.

She gave him a doubtful look but waved him inside. "It's still up in the attic. I'll get it for you. Let me just make sure Kyle is getting ready for bed. Tomorrow is a school day.

He followed her up the stairs and into Kyle's room, which had once belonged to Stacy's brother, Blake. Jessica had turned her son's room into a kid's paradise. Bunk beds with bright red and orange-checkered comforters and matching fluffy pillows took up one corner of the room. On the opposite wall was a bookcase filled with books and games, a desk with crayons, paints and paper, and along the other wall was a toy chest overflowing with trucks, blocks, action figures and stuffed animals. Kyle knelt on the floor in the middle of the room, playing with a model airplane.

Kyle looked up and gave Sean a happy smile. "Hi Uncle Sean. Look what Ryan gave me."

"That's cool."

"Ryan said he's going to teach me how to fly planes when I'm bigger."

"That will be fun."

"Kyle," Jessica interrupted. "You're supposed to be getting ready for bed."

"Five more minutes," Kyle pleaded.

"You had five minutes. Put the plane away and go brush your teeth."

Kyle grumbled but got up and headed for the bathroom.

"Sorry about the uncle part," Jessica said. "Nicole thought it would be easier to give Kyle the same relationship to everyone in your family as Brandon has."

"Kyle can call me whatever he wants. I have no problem with uncle." He paused. "You did a great job on this room, Jess. It feels light and happy."

She smiled with pleasure. "I hope so. I always wanted a room like this. Maybe not so much boy stuff, but I get to relive at least some of my childhood fantasies through Kyle." She cocked her head to one side, giving him a speculative look. "Being in this room doesn't bother you?"

He shook his head. "I didn't spend much time in here. Stacy's room might be another story."

"I haven't done anything with her room yet. Right now there are just boxes and extra furniture in there, most of which came out of the master bedroom. I keep the door closed so Kyle doesn't get into things. Do you want to see it?"

"Not tonight." He wasn't quite ready to face that old memory. "I would like to see her photo album though."

She nodded and they made their way into the attic. Jessica turned on the lone light, pulled a pink album out of a box and handed it to him.

"Here you go," she said. "I'm going to get Kyle in his pajamas."

After Jessica left, he opened the album. The first few pictures didn't mean that much to him. Stacy as a baby didn't resonate with him, but when he got to the photos of them together, his heart started to pound. Seeing her blue eyes stare back at him now made him realize that he hadn't actually looked at her face in a picture since the night she died. She'd always been in his head, her features obscured by the flames and the smoke. But this was the girl he remembered. This was his friend.

She'd been a happy kid, a lot like Kyle, he thought, always curious, willing to try new things, make new friends. She'd loved playing at his house and getting involved with all his siblings, while he was usually happier to be on his own.

As he flipped through the pages, he found his tension easing. And, occasionally, a smile crossed his lips. Stacy had had a short life, but it had been good.

He closed the album and put it back in the box. Then grabbed another album to look through. This was the family album. There were date nights between Stacy's parents, birthday parties for the kids and a New Year's Eve celebration with all the neighbors that included Sally Watson and her husband, Kent, Brett Murphy and his first wife, Natasha, and even his own parents, Jack and Lynda. There were also a few shots of Sara's parents. They'd certainly all done a lot together; they'd been a tight group.

He was about to turn the page when his gaze caught on one photo in particular. There were about ten adults sitting around a bonfire at the beach, but in the shadows, the camera had caught Sally and Robert in a rather intimate pose. They were huddled together. Robert had his arm around Sally's waist as she leaned in to say something to him.

Had there been something going on between Robert and his next-door neighbor? Sally was an attractive woman. Sean searched the photo for her husband, but Kent didn't seem to be there. He turned to the next page and found a couple of more photos where Robert and Sally seemed to be together while their spouses were nowhere to be seen.

"Sean."

He jumped at the sound of Jessica's voice.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she said. "What are you looking at?"

"Pictures from the old days." As she came to his side, he pointed to a photo taken at New Year's Eve. It was a crowded party, everyone in cocktail dresses and dark suits and there in the corner were Sally and Robert again. They weren't doing anything wrong, but there was something about the way they were always so close together that disturbed him. "I found a lot of shots of Sally and Robert looking a little too cozy. What do you think?"

"They just look like they're at a party."

"There are other shots." He flipped back to the beach bonfire. "What about this?"

"They do appear to be very friendly," she said slowly, lifting her gaze to his. "Do you think something was going on between them?"

"I don't know. But if they did have an affair, that would give Sally a reason to be concerned about what's in these boxes."

"Would she really be worried about a twenty-year-old affair coming to light?"

"She's still married, isn't she?"

"Yes. But even if we found a picture of the two of them in bed together, we wouldn't take it to her husband."

"She might not know that."

He had barely finished speaking when they heard a sudden loud crash that came from somewhere below.

"What was that?" Jessica asked, dashing for the door.

"It sounded like it came from the outside," he said, following her down the steps to the second floor landing.

Jessica stopped to take a quick look in Kyle's room. Then she pulled the door shut. "He's fast asleep."

"Let's check the downstairs," he said, jogging down to the first floor. There was nothing out of place in any of the rooms, so they went through the kitchen and out the side door to the driveway. The trashcans had been upended, a plastic bag spilling out of one of them. "I think we found the problem." He pulled the can upright and stuffed the garbage back inside. "It was probably raccoons, Jess. We get a lot of them around here."

She wrapped her arms around her waist as she gave a tight, worried nod. "Sure. Let's go back inside."

After they went into the house, Jessica turned the dead bolt and gave him a wide-eyed nervous look. "That driveway seems to make me nervous every night."

"I really think it was just a raccoon, Jess. I can't tell you how many times they knock the cans over at my parents' house."

"You're right."

"You don't look convinced."

"I'm tired. And I just need get used to this house."

"Do you want me to hang out for a while?"

Indecision played through her eyes, but in the end she shook her head. He didn't know whether to feel disappointed or relieved.

"No, I'm good," she said. "You don't need to babysit me. I've been taking care of myself for a long time. I'm a tough girl."

"You are tough, but you're also really soft in all the right places."

Her quick intake of breath matched the new spark in her eyes.

"Sean," she warned. "You're about to mix the signals again."

He stared back at her in bemusement. "You can read my mind, can't you?"

"It's not hard when you look at me the way you're looking at me. And don't think I don't want to kiss you again, because I do, but we can't keep crossing the line. You can't have me, and I can't have you. So you should go home. It's the right thing to do."

"I'm really bad at doing the right thing." He cupped her face with his hands and gave her a long kiss. She resisted for a second, and then her mouth opened under his. She tasted like chocolate and wine, like everything that was good and bad for you at the same time. He thought he could kiss her for a couple of days and it wouldn't be long enough. Every kiss made him want another and another. He finally broke away, sliding his mouth along her jawline, swirling his tongue around her ear lobe and then he whispered in her ear. "Goodnight, Jessica."

"Goodnight, Sean," she murmured, her sweet, sexy gaze sending out an invitation that didn’t match her words.

It took all his strength to walk out of the room. He hadn't wanted to come into this house and now he didn't want to leave, but he had to leave. In a few hours, the sun would rise again, and with it would come all the reasons why he and Jessica did not belong together. He just wished he could remember some of those reasons now.

Sean woke up early, put on some running shoes and ran across town, ending up at the coast. The fog was still thick on the beach, sending a cool misty spray against his face as he ran. He didn’t mind the cold morning. It felt refreshing and invigorating. He needed to clear his head and refocus his priorities.

On his way back, he stopped by the local market to pick up coffee and a bagel. Then he headed home. He ran into his youngest sister, Shayla, in the driveway. Shayla had dark blonde hair and eyes that mixed between light blue and gray depending on what she was wearing. Today she had on black slacks and a purple sweater over a white top.

"Hi stranger," he said, giving her a hug. Despite living a few yards from the main house, he hadn't seen Shayla since he'd moved in. "Where have you been hiding?"

"At the hospital. I seem to spend my life there."

He saw the tired shadows under her eyes. "It's been a grind, hasn't it?"

"Yes, but I love it, too."

"You're going to make a hell of a doctor," he said, knowing it was the truth. Shayla had an IQ that was close to genius. She'd skipped a grade to graduate from high school at sixteen and was now finishing up her first year of residency at the age of twenty-five. In addition to her brains, she also had a big, caring heart. That combination was going to be great for her patients.

"I hope I'll be good. I've applied to do a global health rotation in Africa," she said. "If it goes through, I'll have a chance to experience health care in a third world country."

"That sounds adventurous and challenging."

"I've been in the classroom or the hospital for so many years, I think it will be good for me to get out into the world. It's only for two months. Dad isn't too thrilled about my idea. He thinks it might be dangerous."

"Will it be dangerous?"

She shrugged. "I don't know exactly where I'll be sent yet. But I hope I'll be able to do some good."

He nodded, very proud and impressed by his little sister. "You're amazing, Shay."

"It's about time you realized that," she said dryly. "But I haven't gotten chosen yet. We'll see what happens. Hey, I'm sorry I missed your show the other night."

"No problem. There's always another show."

"Is there? Emma said you didn't have anything planned for the next few weeks. Are you guys recording?"

"We're going to do some of that," he said vaguely, not wanting to get into his other plans until he knew how they were going to work out.

"I better go."

"See you later." As he left Shayla, he couldn't help thinking that she was probably going to outshine them all with her ambition and drive.

After downing his bagel and coffee, he picked up his guitar and started to strum. A melody began to take shape. Then he tried out some of the words going through his mind,
soft lips, hard shell, fragile, strong, should but couldn't
, and he knew he was writing about Jessica, about the push-pull he felt whenever she was around her, wanting what wasn't good for him and what wasn't good for her.

His phone rang, and he set down the guitar, thinking it was a good time for an interruption. "Hello?"

"Hi Sean. I have some information for you," Emma said. "I located the Emery case file."

There was an odd note in her voice. "And?" he asked, his pulse quickening. "Do you know how the fire started?"

"No, the investigation was inconclusive."

His heart sank. "So that's that."

"I'm not sure."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm concerned as to why the investigative report is so short. And some attachments appear to be missing. There's usually a case file an inch thick when two people perish in a fire. This report is barely three pages."

"Why would that be?"

"I don't know. It strikes me as very odd, because Dad worked that fire, and the Emerys were his friends. He would have made sure the investigation was thorough."

"Maybe he didn't have that much power twenty years ago."

"Maybe," she said, clearly unconvinced. "I'm going to do a little digging. I'm on my way to a meeting right now, but can we meet this afternoon? Maybe around one?"