“Ryan’s son. He’s twelve. Liam is . . .”
She sensed Noah’s nerves were easing. “Why don’t you start driving, and you can tell me about Liam on the way.”
He put the truck in gear. “Liam is special. Which is both good and bad.”
She shifted around so she could lean against the door and take this moment to study him openly. The clothes confirmed Noah’s unmarried state—clean and unironed, khakis and faded knit shirt, big hands, a pale stripe where his wedding ring had rested. For years. “Give me the bad side first.”
“Liam is the quietest kid I’ve ever met. He can go days without speaking a word.” He turned onto the road leading back into Miramar, taking it slow, winding his way through the tight curves. “Ethan has started opening him up. They’re best buddies now. Which is amazing, Ryan and Amara both tear up talking about the bond between these two.”
Of all the things she could imagine hearing about a boy entering the teenage years, being quiet did not register on Jenna’s awful scale. “Silence is fine by me.”
“I bet it is.”
“What makes you say that?”
He glanced over. Nerves resurfaced. “You really want to know?”
“Yes, Noah. I’m asking a real question. I’d like a real answer.”
“Your job. Taking care of people, you know . . .”
“On the way out. Right. So?”
“I can’t imagine what that’s like.”
She actually found herself pleased to hear him say it there and then. Normally when a guy heard what her job was . . . She decided to put it out there in stark terms. “It’s not just a job, Noah. For me, this is a genuine calling. Something I hope to continue doing for the rest of my life.”
He pulled up to the stop sign where her little valley road connected to the main Miramar highway. “Wow.”
“Yes.”
Noah showed her the evening’s first smile. “I imagine your saying that to some guys leaves them playing like Elvis.”
“More desperate to find the exit than my patients,” she confirmed, liking how easy it was to share a smile. Especially about this. “You got that right.”
His smile faded, smooth and swift as a cloud passing before the sun. “I had a calling. I lost it. Well, I guess it’s better to say it was stripped away.”
She nodded. Liking how he could reveal something that left him not just open, but raw. “We were talking about the son.”
“The artist. Which brings us to Liam’s good side. The kid is beyond gifted. He actually did some sketches that were used in a recent Christmas television special.The Elvin Child.”
She felt a chill. “You’re kidding.”
“You saw it?”
“Only about a dozen times. I loved it!”
He turned back to the road. “You and Liam are going to get along just fine.”
CHAPTER11
Ryan’s apartment was very nice. The lady detective was an excellent cook, and Noah’s friend Ethan did a fine job as host. They were pleasant and welcoming, and very much in love. As they gathered at the table, Ryan announced that they had become engaged. Noah was clearly happy for them both. There was no suggestion of his being sad over his own fractured love life. Nor did they ask any uncomfortable questions about Jenna and her lack of relationship. The conversation through the first course of smoked salmon and homemade cream of horseradish and rocket salad was light and easy.
The boy, Liam, was something else entirely.
Jenna felt herself bond with Ryan’s son. The sensation was intense, almost immediate, and utterly unexpected. Jenna spent the first part of the meal only partway engaged with the other adults. Mostly she focused on what was going on between herself and the boy—who did not speak. At all. Not one word from his appearance at the table, hair still slick from the wash and shirttail almost tucked in, until Ethan prompted him to thank his mother. Apparently smoked salmon was one of Liam’s all-time favorites. As was the second course of striped bass in a white-wine reduction. Liam was small for his age, which was remarkable, because he ate with a single-minded focus and cleared his plate before anyone else.
She instantly recognized the feeling she had for the boy. This bond was crucial to forging a solid relationship with her patients. Jenna did not even need to like the individual. She simply needed to find a way to connect at heart level. It happened more often than she had any right to expect. It was also one major reason why she considered this more than a job. A calling required something like this, a link far deeper and more vital than logic or even emotion.
