“Oof, that’s rough,” said Jack, all sympathy and concern. “Maybe they just need some time. At least your son reaches out sometimes, yeah? That’s a start.”
“He does, but I never know when it’ll happen. He’s very close to my daughter, and I think she poisons his mind against me. She’s the eldest, so she saw everything—” She broke off and straightened her spine. “I am so very sorry to inflict all this old drama on you. All you want to do is avoid the public and here I am crying on your shoulder like a toddler.”
“Please, it’s quite all right. Honestly, I wish my mother would open up like this. It would do her good.” Jack’s smile would have lit up a windowless closet. “Maybe this was destiny, us stopping in here like this. A son missing his mother, a mother missing her children.”
Okay, reel it in, Tina thought. She’s not going to buy that destiny crap. It might make her suspicious.
“Maybe you’re right.” Kate put one hand over her heart. “God works in mysterious ways.”
Welp, another thing Tina had called wrong. She had to hand it to him, Jack obviously connected with this woman much more than Tina did.
“He sure does,” Jack said easily. “I’m glad we came in here. Now load me up with something special for my mom. How about something in the needlepoint realm? She used to make these hilarious pillows for us. You know what mine said?”
“Hmm?” Kate seemed grateful that someone else was doing the talking now.
“Shut up and listen to your mother.”
Kate giggled, then laughed, then darted about the store filling a shopping bag for Jack. He paid for it all without blinking an eye, while Tina’s mouth dropped at the sight of the bill. Who knew needlepoint supplies could add up so fast?
“I’m surprised she charged you at all,” Tina said when they were back in his Audi, waving goodbye to Kate in the doorway of her little shop. “I think she would have given you half the store if you’d let her.”
“Just tell me you got something helpful while you were lurking behind the counter. I felt terrible letting her talk like that, spilling her guts. She’s a woman in pain.”
Tina put a hand on his thigh, which was even more muscular than she’d imagined. She instantly snatched it away. No distractions. “You were very sweet to her and did nothing wrong. She spoke of her own free will, and I think it meant a lot to her that you were so kind. Don’t forget the point of all this. We’re trying to find your sister.”
He nodded a few times, then started up the car. “So did you get something?”
“Oh yeah.”
16
“Don’t get your hopes up too much,” Tina added quickly. “I’m not sure what it adds up to.”
He reined in his eagerness. Part of him had been hoping Kate Mansfield’s heartbreaking story—though vague on the details—would be the key to finding Jessie. Maybe it still would be.
“So what’s our next move?”
“Food. We can look at the pictures I took.”
“You took pictures behind the counter?”
“Yup. Couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I don’t know what they all show, I was moving too fast.”
Tina was busy tapping on her phone while he drove. “Take a right,” she said, gestured at the intersection, where a classic white-steepled church reigned over a pocket-sized green park. “There’s a burger place with a view of a river.”
“Works for me.”
Even better, the river was swollen from a recent rainfall, and the noisy tumble of water over rocks meant they could talk without fear of being overheard. They chose a table in the corner of the open deck. Tina claimed a seat from which she could monitor comings and goings, while he got the view of the river flowing past radiant maples lit by dappled sunshine.
Tina insisted on bringing his shopping bag full of craft supplies with them. It sat on its own chair, its cheerful Bibs and Bobs logo broadcasting their apparent obsession with crafting.
Tina ordered a Portabello mushroom burger with gorgonzola cheese. “I like strong flavors,” she explained, when he raised an eyebrow.
“That tracks.”
He ordered the same. “Open-minded,” he explained. “And cheese-mold-curious.”
After the teenaged waiter had disappeared back into the restaurant, Jack propped his elbows on the table. “Before we get into the photos you took, what did you think of what Kate said? The sister seems important.”
