“Hold on for a second, Lesley,” she yelled out. “I need just a second and I’ll hit the speaker button.”
Why didn’t I use an oven mitt to put in the tray? she wondered as she looked at her reddening skin.
She heard the tinny sound of Lesley talking, but couldn’t make out her words. “Hold on, I can’t understand what you’re saying.”
She used her index finger on her good hand to press speaker on her phone. “Can you repeat that, Lesley?” She turned up the volume since the cold water was still running. At least the side of her hand was feeling better.
“I was wondering if Mr. Mazur had gotten in touch with you yet. He seemed very anxious the last time I spoke to him, and I wanted to make sure the two of you had connected.”
“Who is Mr. Mazur?”
“Oh dear, you haven’t connected,” Lesley sounded upset. “I gave him your name and number since it was so important. I wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t for the fact that it was urgent.”
“What was so important?” Jill dried off her hand and set the timer for the potatoes, as Lesley explained.
“He had tracked down his wife, Angela, to our group sessions. He’s been really worried about her since their son died.” Lesley paused. “Jill, had you realized that she just up and left her old life in Detroit? Apparently, the grief was so bad she couldn’t cope anymore and one day she just disappeared. Her husband’s been frantic. A private investigator tracked her down to Orange County, California.”
“Lesley, she never mentioned anything but her baby. That was the only thing I knew about her previous life, how about you?”
“Same here. But grief can do strange things. Mr. Mazur was here, I don’t know, the middle of last month. I can’t believe he hasn’t been in touch with you.”
Something clicked for Jill.
Darn it!
“Lesley, was it really six weeks ago, or was it more like right after the last session I attended? You know, four weeks ago. Was he kind of hard to understand?”
“It was after the last session. He didn’t have an accent or anything, he just talked really fast. Why?”
“I got two calls from a number that I didn’t recognize and that didn’t translate into my voice to text. I figured it was more spam, so I blocked the number. I feel terrible. I wonder if I can recall those voice messages. Do you have his number?”
“I do somewhere. Let me text it to you. Don’t delete it, okay?” Lesley teased.
They both laughed, then sobered up. “Angela seemed so sad the last day I saw her,” Jill said. “If I can do something to make things better for her, I’m all for it.”
“That sounds like you. I’ll text you the number. Thanks for the testimonial.”
“You’re welcome.”
Law had been delighted to learn that Jill was a science fiction nerd. He was looking forward to watching the latest episode of his favorite series. What’s more, he had the idea that Jill was in the mood for more than just a little television, which dovetailed nicely with his plans.
Ash had finally come up with an angle that had worked for him to agree to see an online psychologist. Since his namby-pamby brother had studied psychology in college, he had a professor who he’d talked to after Xave’s suicide. That professor had connected Law with one of his associates that he highly recommended, and it turned out to be a good fit. The woman knew her shit. He finally felt like he was coming to terms with his anger, but he was still struggling to put the guilt behind him.
As he pulled into her drive, he saw that she had already made use of the mulch that he’d hauled over for her. Jill had quite the green thumb.
When he pulled into the short driveway she was waiting outside the front door. It was the first time he’d seen her in a dress, and man, wasn’t that a treat? It was white and frothy and showed off her long tan legs.
She swayed up to the driver’s side of the truck. “Come inside, I have food and beer waiting.”
“Food even? I didn’t think the day could get any better than a chance to see you.” He watched a blush stain her cheeks. Compliments seemed to take her by surprise. How was that even possible?
She backed away from the door so he could get out. “Well, get yourself on into the house and grab some food.”
“I brought something I need to get out of the truck bed.”
She cocked her head. “What?”
He reached over the side and pulled up a flat of blue irises. “You’d been talking about filling that space over there.” He nodded toward an area near her jacaranda tree.
“You brought me flowers. Good flowers. The kind that doesn’t die! These are beautiful, Law.”
Jill started running her hands over the tops of the blooms. “You’re going to love it here,” she crooned. “I’m going to take such good care of you.”
He chuckled. “I also figured this would give you more flowers to talk to when you need to sort things out.”
Her head jerked up and she bit her lip. “I didn’t do that in front of you, did I?”
“Darlin’, we were working in your yard for four hours, last week. After one of your work calls, you were pissed as hell. You went around to the side of the house and went off on a ten-minute diatribe with your marigolds. Now, I would’ve been worried if you’d thought they were answering you, but it didn’t seem like a back and forth conversation.”
She still gave
