Page 65

“…so responsible,” she finished. “I had no control over your father, but still…”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me,” I said. “I get it. I get it more than you know.”

“I know you do, Bryce. If I’d never married him—”

“Then I wouldn’t exist, and neither would Henry. Don’t go there, Mom.”

“I try not to. You and Henry are everything to me. It’s hard sometimes, though.”

“I know.” Boy, did I ever.

“I’ll miss you, honey.”

“I’ll miss you too, Mom. And I’ll miss Henry something fierce.” Truth was, I’d been missing him already.

But this was for the best.

I left my mother to her packing, went back in the nursery to kiss my sleeping son, and then walked out to the deck to enjoy the evening—as much as I could, anyway.

Joe and I hadn’t finished our discussion. How were we going to communicate when we weren’t at work? I had no idea. Maybe the Spider would know a way to do that.

Could I contact him? I pulled my phone out and logged in to the new account Joe had set up. Nothing was in the account, at least not that I could see offhand. On a whim, I checked the trash bin.

And I found a gold mine.

Joe and the Spider had emailed back and forth this evening…and he hadn’t told me. It was in code—a code I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t like Joe to keep things from me. Could I wait until tomorrow at the office to confront him about this?

No. I couldn’t.

I quickly told my mom I was going over to Joe’s for a little while, got into the Mustang—tomorrow I was selling this damned car—and made my way to Joe’s home on the ranch.

His and Melanie’s house was smaller than the sprawling main ranch house, but not by much. I got out o

f the car quickly, and—

My heart jammed against my sternum.

Marjorie was walking out of the house.

I could get back in my car and drive away before our inevitable encounter. Yeah. That was what I should do.

Instead, though, I got out of the car and walked toward her.

She stopped suddenly when she met my gaze. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same,” I said.

“I had to talk to Melanie.”

“I have to talk to Joe.”

She nodded. “He’s out back on the deck. I’ll get out of your way.”

Let her go, I said to myself. Just let her go.

Instead, “Is everything okay?”

“Sure. Fine.”