Nightingale Way: An Eternity Springs Novel (22 page)

No “good-bye”? No “Take care of yourself” or “I’ll talk to you soon”? What the hell, Melinda?

She handed over the phone, and by the time Jack got it to his ear, she was headed out the door. His gaze lifted to the wall clock. Not thirty seconds, but a minute and a half. Progress? He wouldn’t make book on it. “Cat? You there?”

“Yes.”

She sounded distracted, and Jack began to second-guess his efforts. Had he done more harm than good? He’d always had a hard time reading her over the telephone, so he decided not to try. “How is Fred doing?”

“Fred is just fine.”

“Good. I’ll be by to get him first thing in the morning.”

“You’re coming home?”

He realized he liked it that she called Eternity Springs home. “I’m leaving here within the hour.”

“Okay. Have a safe trip. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She disconnected the call before he had a chance to respond. He sighed and dropped the phone into his trouser pocket, then turned to see his former father-in-law
standing in the hallway, staring toward the front door with a bemused look on his face.

“George. I didn’t know you were home.”

George Blackburn fit the profile of a computer science university professor geek to a T, wearing his gray hair longish, his beard scruffy at times, and usually jeans and a button-up shirt at work. He carried a messenger bag, which his daughter teasingly called his man purse. From the very first time he’d met George, Jack had wondered how he and Melinda had gotten together, not to mention stayed together.

George tossed his bag carelessly onto the office’s leather sofa. “I came home a few minutes ago. Couldn’t concentrate with all the hubbub going on, so I gave my class a walk. I heard the tail end of Melinda’s call. She was on the phone with Cat?”

“Yes.”

“That’s nice. I’m sure Cat was happy to hear from her mother. Was Melinda going back to work?”

“She has a meeting.”

George Blackburn nodded. “From one crisis to the next, isn’t it?”

“That’s the job.”

“Yes, it is, and this country is lucky to have people like you and my wife doing that job.” George waved at Jack to follow him into the kitchen, where he crossed to the refrigerator and removed a gallon of milk. He held it up toward Jack in a silent offering. Jack declined with a shake of his head and George poured a glass. “Am I glad we have this nonsense behind us. Melly has been so worried about Cat. In all these years, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so fretful as she’s been these last few weeks. Why, the woman has hardly slept.”

“Really?” Jack couldn’t imagine that. The Melinda Blackburn he knew was the definition of calm, cool, and collected, and he’d been around her during some seriously
tense moments. “Fretful” wasn’t a word he’d ever use in connection with Melinda. Determined, yes. Confident, yes. Reserved, definitely. She could be queen of the ice queens, but that’s what made her so effective in her work.

Yet he knew she loved Cat. She’d been the proverbial mother grizzly, protective of her cub in the wake of the attack on Cat’s house. She wasn’t overt about it, but he’d known Melinda long enough to recognize the glint of steel in her eyes when she felt fiercely about a subject. She felt fierce about Cat. If George said she felt fretful, too, then okay. She felt fretful.

“I wish she would come right out and tell Cat she loves her.”

“Cat knows her mother loves her.” Now George’s gaze shifted to the framed photograph of his daughter that sat on the wooden shelf hanging above the kitchen table. “Not everyone possesses a warm and fuzzy personality. I’m the first to admit that Melly can be more of a porcupine than cuddly kitten.”

Jack managed not to snort at that understatement. “I’ve certainly found myself full of quills at various times in the past. It’s amazing that I still have blood in my body.”

“We’ve all felt the points of Melinda’s barbs.” George’s gaze shifted to meet Jack’s. “That said, she is a loving and caring woman. Shame on Cat if she refuses to see it.”

Jack immediately leaped to his ex-wife’s defense. “Just because a person knows something doesn’t mean they don’t like to hear it stated on occasion. There are times in a person’s life when they need their mother.”

“And their father. And their spouse.”

Jack went silent. “We weren’t there for Cat when she needed us most.”

“No, we weren’t,” George agreed. “However, we can’t change the past, and we’ve done all right this time
out. In our own way, we were each there for her this time.”

Jack smiled crookedly. “By the way, my investigator wants to know if you’ll show him that hacking trick you pulled off.”

“What hacking trick?” George asked, filled with innocence. As Jack smirked, George patted him on the back and spoke with quiet sincerity. “Thanks for taking care of my little girl, son.”

“I was happy to do it.”

“It’s not over, you know.”

A frown creased Jack’s brow. “Everything points to Barnes being a lone wolf.”

“That doesn’t mean that Catherine doesn’t need us to be there for her still. You, especially. She needs you, Jack. She always has. That’s been obvious since the day you two met.”

The question burst out of nowhere. “Then why was Melinda so against our relationship?”

“That one is easy, Jack. Right or wrong, Melinda never believed she had the skill set to be what Cat needed in a mother. Right or wrong, she always believed that you were too much like her to be right for her daughter.”

“I wasn’t Cat’s mother,” Jack fired back, annoyed.

“No, but were you right for her?”

“Yes. Yes, I was.”

“Then why didn’t you fight for her?”

Jack had no swift response to that, and George took pity on him. “So, Cat tells me you’ve adopted a dog?”

Jack conceded the change in topic by explaining how Fred came to be part of his life. As he spoke, George returned the jug of milk to the refrigerator. When the door closed, the crayon drawing that had decorated the front of the refrigerator for as long as Jack could remember slipped from beneath a magnet and floated
to the floor. George bent and picked it up. “Isn’t it funny how we see things every day without really seeing them?”

Stick figures. Mom, Dad, and Cat, Jack felt certain. “The picture has been there a long time.”

“Since preschool. Different refrigerators. Same magnet.” George blew out a heavy breath. “Different family in so many ways.”

Jack wanted to ask him about that curious remark, but for once, George’s expression appeared to be as closed as his wife’s. Returning the drawing to its place of honor, George cleared his throat and said, “If I didn’t say it clearly enough before, I’ll say it now. Thank you, Jack, for stepping in to help Catherine. I don’t know what her mother and I would do if we lost her.”

“I was glad to help. I’m glad she let me help, and that you and Melinda wanted me to be part of the plan to begin with.”

“I’ll bet our Cat was spitting mad when the drug wore off.”

“Let me just say that her claws are as sharp as her mother’s quills.” He checked his watch, then added, “I’d better be going. I told the pilot to expect me before the top of the hour.”

“So, you’re headed back to Colorado?”

“Yes. I’ll get in late tonight.”

As Jack shook George’s hand, his former father-in-law said, “Give my little girl a kiss for me, would you?”

“I sure will.”

Just before the door shut behind him, Jack heard George add, “Probably wouldn’t hurt to give her one from you, too.”

“I like the way you think, Professor. I like the way you think.”

* * *

For the first time since Cat took up residence in Nightingale Cottage, sleep didn’t come easily. She didn’t find the rush and bubble of Angel Creek soothing or the scent of lavender drifting from beneath the window relaxing. The crisp night air didn’t make her want to snuggle beneath the comforter and float into dreams. Not even Fred’s now familiar muffled snore from the foot of her bed offered her comfort.

Her life was no longer in danger. She could go home. Go back to her old job. She could get her old life back.

Shoot, chances were good that she could get her old husband back if she put her mind to it.

So why wasn’t she celebrating? Why hadn’t she shared the job offer tidbit with Nic and Ali after word of the arrest broke on national news and they came by to dish? She’d kept it to herself, too, when Cam and Sarah stopped by with a bottle of champagne, and even when Emily called and interviewed her for the
Eternity Times
. It was crazy. It wasn’t like her at all.

Why was she so confused?

She rolled over and pulled her pillow over her head and tried to clear her mind. Instead, she kept hearing Douglas Lowery’s voice echoing through her brain.
I want to offer you your old job back
.

She threw off the pillow and sat up, reached for the television remote, and switched the channel until she found an old Hepburn and Tracy movie. She loved old movies. This would be the perfect distraction.

Her concentration on the story didn’t last five minutes.

“Okay,” she murmured aloud. “Obviously, you can’t ignore it. So think it through. What’s the problem here?”

Fred lifted his head and stared at her as if to say,
Excuse me, but would you please be quiet? Some of us are trying to sleep
.

“Tell me about it.” She thumbed off the TV, punched
her pillow, and lay down once again. Then she sat back up, switched on her bedside lamp, and reached for the notepad and pencil lying on the nightstand. She divided the page into two columns, Pros and Cons, and prepared to make her list.

Her pencil hovered over Pros. And hovered. And hovered.

Finally, she wrote the word “Family.” She missed seeing her dad, and yes, even her mother.

In the Cons column, without hesitation, she wrote “Family.”

Next, she wrote “Friends.” She missed Marsha and Janie and her other friends in Virginia. It would be nice to see them again.

In the Cons column, she wrote “Friends.” When she returned to Virginia, she’d miss the new friends she’d made in Eternity Springs.

“That helped a lot.” She tossed the notepad aside and her gaze landed on her cell phone. Acting solely on instinct, she picked it up and dialed the number she’d never forgotten.

After four rings, Jack answered. “Cat? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Not really. My mind’s buzzing and I can’t sleep. Where are you?”

He hesitated a moment. “I’m close.”

“Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

“Absolutely.”

She told him the details about Douglas’s call. “I don’t know why in the world this makes me so crazy. I should feel great about the offer whether I take it or not. I was devastated when they let me go. I should feel vindicated, you know? Instead, I feel …” Her voice trailed off.

“You feel …?” he prodded.

“Scared. I’m scared, Jack.”

He waited a beat, then said, “Give me a minute, would you?”

She heard faint sounds in the background, then the squeak of hinges. Fred’s head lifted and his ears perked. A moment later, she was startled to hear Jack’s voice outside her bedroom window. “Unlock your back door, Cat.”

“Here?” she said into the phone. “You’re here?”

“I decided to check in to Cougar’s Lair. Hurry up. It’s cold out here.”

She scrambled from her bed and unlocked the door. He strode inside wearing gym shorts and nothing else. Not even shoes. When he took her into his arms and held her, it didn’t occur to her to resist.

“Now, what are you scared about?”

She couldn’t remember. She couldn’t think. He was so … bare. And cold. Dressed in only her thigh-length sleep shirt and panties, she was cold, too.

He could warm me up
.

Temptation beckoned. Yearning called. It would be so easy to give in.

It would be so stupid under the current circumstances.

Eyes wide open. Remember?

She wasn’t thinking clearly and now was not the time to act rashly, but it simply felt so good to be held. She
needed
to be held. Pulling out of his arms, she decided to take a risk. She climbed back into bed and scooted to the far side.

Almost imperceptibly, his eyes widened.

“This isn’t an invitation for sex, but I’m cold and you’re cold and I don’t see why we can’t act like adults about this.”

“If we act like adults, I’ll be making love to you in two minutes flat.”

Oh, jeez.

She sighed. “Would you hold me, Jack? Just … hold me?”

Following a long pause, his mouth twisted in a rueful
smile. “You ask more of me than just about any human being on earth, Catherine.”

Then he climbed into bed, tucked her against him, and said, “Talk to me, Kitten.”

She did exactly that. She described how she’d felt about losing her job and how reinventing herself as a blogger had helped to heal the wound. She talked about missing her friends, her dad, and even her mom. She confessed to a longing for Thursday nights at the movie theater watching first-run films while munching on buttered popcorn.

“So what’s the problem?” he asked when she fell silent.

“I like writing for the
Eternity Times
. I’ve made friends here who mean a lot to me. I love Eternity Springs.”

He kissed her head. “It’s a pretty special place.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Do you have to decide tonight? Is Lowery going to call demanding an answer first thing in the morning?”

“No. Not that I know of, anyway.”

“Then why don’t you sleep on it?”

“I tried. I couldn’t get to sleep.”

“Try again. You’ll sleep now. I’m here. I can feel you relaxing more every minute. That’s not exactly easy on my ego, you know. You should be all excited, being in bed with me.”

She smiled against his chest, breathed in the familiar clean scent of him, and lost herself in the comfort and pleasure of sleep in a bed shared with Jack Davenport.