Maggie kissed Zoey on the cheek. “How could he not?”
And just like that, Zoey whirled, made a beeline for Josh, and grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the hall. “Let’s play princess, Uncle Josh! You can be the prince ’cause you’re a boy.”
“Do I get to wear a crown?”
“I only have tiaras, but I get the one with the pink jewels ’cause it’s my favorite.”
Their voices faded as they entered Zoey’s room.
Maggie glanced down at the letter she’d been reading. Or at least staring at while her mind strayed into forbidden territory. She shook off the memory of that kiss—and the guilt it induced—and began reading. She had a crucial mystery to solve and needed to focus if she hoped to find answers.
Maggie wasn’t sure how long she’d been reading, but she was down to the last few letters. Hope drained like water from an unplugged bathtub. If they didn’t find more to go on, how would they ever find Ethan’s friend? And if they never found his friend, how would they find closure?
She was midway through the second to last letter when Rocky’s name caught her eye. She devoured the words like a starving woman. Her heart leapt in her chest. “Josh,” she called. “Come here.”
She read the passage a second time while she waited for him to extract himself from her daughter.
“What’d you find?” Josh entered the room wearing a golden tiara atop his head and a mint-green baby blanket draped around his shoulders and secured with a hair clip.
Maggie was too excited to give him a hard time. “Listen to this. ‘We spend an inordinate amount of time complaining about the food. I dream about your meatloaf and lasagna every day. I never realized what a glutton I was until I joined up. Rocky’s family has a diner in Rock Hill and he describes the food in meticulous detail. He has us all salivating by the time he’s finished describing the cuisine they serve up.’”
Josh beamed at her. “They own a diner in Rock Hill, South Carolina.”
“How many diners can there possibly be in the town?”
He was already on his phone. “He didn’t give the diner’s name later?”
“No, that’s all he says about it. But that really narrows it down. Surely we can find his family.”
“There are only two restaurant names containing the worddiner. But there are quite a few that seem like they might be actual diners.”
“Let me get through the last letter and see if there’s anything else. If not, we can start calling.” She grinned widely, her body buzzing with excitement at the thought.
Josh joined her on the love seat as she read the last letter. It was hard to concentrate when they were so close to finding Rocky.
Eventually she reached the end. “Nothing else here. But we have what we need.” She pulled out her phone. “We should start with the ones withdinerin the name.”
“Wait. Supposing we find the right restaurant... have you thought about what you’ll say?”
“I don’t know. I guess something like ‘My husband knew your sonin the Army, and could I get his phone number so I could ask some questions?’”
“You think his family would give out his contact information so easily?”
She hadn’t thought that far ahead. “I could just ask them to give him my contact info. They’d know Rocky was his nickname so they’d know I’m telling the truth.”
“That only proves you know someone who knew him over there.”
She huffed. “Stop being such a downer. We’rethisclose.”
“I know, but... I was just sitting over here thinking this is too big to mess up. What if we make them suspicious and get their guard up? We might never find him then.”
“You think we should drive over there?”
His gaze locked on hers for a long moment. “They’re more likely to take us seriously and believe us. Plus, provided we do actually get to talk with Rocky, this won’t exactly be an easy conversation. A lot of vets avoid talking about this stuff. And depending on what he says, it might not be so easy to hear either. Seeing you in person might compel him to talk—and to tell the truth, whatever that is.”
Her spirits flagged. He had some good points, but she was so eager to get answers.
He was tapping the keyboard on his phone. “Rock Hill’s only four hours away. We could leave Sunday morning.”
