She dangled his shirts from her fingertips. “All dry.”
As he swept them from her grasp, a pair of black lacy panties loosened from his T-shirt and drifted to the floor. He plucked them up between two fingers and waved them in the air. “Damn, busted. I didn’t think I’d taken these off, too.”
She snatched them back from him and crumpled the silky material in her fist. “Very funny. I told you I put your things in with my laundry.”
Chuckling, he pulled the warm T-shirt over his head. As he poked his head out of the neck, he said, “I think I can help you with the second part of your plan.”
“You’re going to use the discovery of the bones to launch an investigation into that construction area as a possible burial site for those missing people.”
“Exactly.” He shook out his uniform shirt and hung it on the back of a kitchen chair. “It won’t carry the same weight as a sacred site, but it will definitely cause delays in the construction.”
“Does that mean you’re not going to tell anyone that I dropped those bones there?” She swept her tongue along her bottom lip.
“Why should I? The interruption you caused will give me some time to poke around that land. Then when forensics discovers the bones are...whatever they are, I’ll have another reason to halt the project. Maybe I’ll make a similar discovery in Paradiso as we did south of San Diego.” He put his finger to his lips. “And you won’t tell anyone about my plans, either, right?”
“My lips are sealed.”
He stuck out his hand. “Then we have a deal.”
“Deal.” She curled her hand around his, her smooth flesh sending tingles up his arm.
She started to pull away, but he held fast, running the pad of his thumb across the back of her hand. “How have you been, otherwise? You look good.”
She left her hand in his. “I’m fine. I still enjoy my work. The extended family is doing well. Chip’s my constant companion.”
He’d already asked around about Jolene’s marital and dating status, and he’d been relieved to find out she was single and not dating anyone special. He squeezed her hand before releasing it. “Happy?”
“Outside of the garbage going on with the casino? Yeah, happy. And you? What happened to your marriage?”
He shrugged. “What didn’t happen? I knew it was doomed the minute I moved back there...or at least after the birth of Jess.”
“Aimee didn’t change after Jess was born?” Jolene placed a hand against her heart.
“Nope—still the life of every party.”
“Is she still using?” Her fingers curled against her blouse. “Not while she was pregnant?”
“She stopped at first, but I think she was taking drugs at the end.” He slammed a fist on the counter. “I should’ve seen it, but she hid it from me. Lied.”
“And Jess?” Jolene’s eyes widened. “Is she okay?”
“She was premature and low birth weight. She’s been a little slow with certain milestones. That’s when I knew for sure Aimee had been using, even though she still denied it. She made a show of attending NA meetings, but that all fell apart when I followed her once and caught her in some guy’s car smoking meth after the meeting.”
“Oh, my God, Sam. I didn’t realize it was so bad. What about Jess now? Is she with Aimee?”
“Aimee’s mother is staying at the house while I’m gone. Aimee dumps Jess on her mom most of the time it’s her turn to have her, anyway. I can trust Aimee’s mom. Jess is in good hands.”
“That must be so hard on you, Sam. So hard for Jess.” She touched his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
He flinched. He didn’t want Jolene back because she felt sorry for him.
“It’s my fault. I should’ve known what I was getting into when I married Aimee, but then I was her partner in crime in those days.”
“But you changed. You gave up the drinking. You grew up, and she didn’t.” Jolene tucked her hair behind one ear. “Do you think you could ever get full custody of Jess? Is that something you’d want to do?”
“I’ve started looking into it. We’ve been separated over a year, and the divorce was finalized a few months ago.” He held up two fingers. “I swear.”
“I believe you.” She dipped her head once. “Maybe you could give me a ride to Gran’s house, so I can pick up my car. I don’t know what she was thinking taking off like that.”
“I hope she wasn’t feeling ill.” Sam flicked his shirt off the chair, not unhappy with the abrupt change of subject, and punched an arm through one sleeve. Granny Viv was most likely scheming to get him and Jolene back together. She was always solidly rooting for the two of them—until he’d betrayed Jolene by lying about the last time he and Aimee had slept together.
He hadn’t thought that detail would matter. He’d been trying to make himself more marketable to Jolene by distancing himself from his marriage. He never dreamed Aimee would get pregnant, especially as she’d assured him she’d been on the pill during her recovery.
That had been one of the hardest things he’d had to do in his life—tell Jolene that the wife he was separated from, the wife he supposedly hadn’t been intimate with since their separation six months before, was three months pregnant with his baby.
He smoothed his shirt over his chest and buttoned it up. “Do you mind if I have a look at that map?”
“If you think what you’re doing can delay the project, then of course. I can make a copy of it for you on my printer, or you can take a picture of it with your phone.” She held up her finger. “It’s in my office.”
She crossed the living room to an open door near the front entrance where she’d set up a small office. She called out. “It’s just an eight-and-a-half-by-eleven sheet of paper, but
