“I’ll talk to your dad. See what he thinks about that. And if he says it’s ok, I have that purple room in my house ready for you anytime. You can help me decorate it. Give me another hug. I’ve missed you bunches this week. Then…I think your guests from school need you now.”
“Promise you won’t leave?” There was uncertainty in the big blue eyes. Jac hugged her again.
“I won’t leave until the last party guest is gone. I promise.” She had taken a vacation day for this, to ensure she didn’t get called in. One of Emery’s biggest struggles was people breaking promises to her.
Pamela, unfortunately, had a horrible habit of doing that. She breezed in to visit Emery two or three times a year from neighboring Illinois. Always spouting off promises that she inevitably never kept.
Jac had her theories why, but she had never discussed that with Max.
Not yet. But Emery was getting older now—and Jac suspected she had somehow convinced herself her mother rejected her time and time again because of something Emery had done. Things the little girl had let slip the last time Jac had seen her had finally started to make sense.
Jac was going to bring that up to Max as soon as she could.
Speaking of Max…she pulled in a deep breath. Time to face her particular lion in his own den.
She walked through to the large kitchen at the rear of the home. There was an enclosed garage that was easily big enough for three cars. A few years earlier, Max and Jac had turned it into a large recreation room, complete with pads on the floor. Emery was getting deeply involved in martial arts. She had plenty of room to practice now.
Plus, with the mats rolled back, it made a great space for birthday parties, complete with a small half bath off to the left.
She suspected that was where most of the guests were now.
But first…
The kitchen.
And the man she could hear in there speaking.
He looked up when she entered. “Jac, I’m glad you’re here. She was getting worried you wouldn’t make it. Pamela cancelled twenty minutes ago. She’s on her way to London with a client. Should be landing any minute. She promised to call—if she gets a chance.”
Jac winced. This was the second year in a row that had Pamela had missed Emery’s birthday party. Most likely, an overly expensive present would arrive from London next week. Cold, pricey, and impersonal. Just like every time before. “I’m sorry. The director called. He wants me to take a look at that…code…for you. And he had questions about the Jason Evanton case from two years ago. I was almost out the door when he called, then I had to look up the case number on my laptop.”
“Everything ok with Dennis?”
Jac shook her head. “I need to go in tomorrow and show him my reports. What I did to try to find Jason. He said it ties into the new cold-case division Agent Knight will be heading up.”
“Let me know if I can help with anything.”
“I got it covered. You just need to get me a copy of the code before I leave. But that’s PAVAD. Today is for Em. It looks like you are having difficulties of your own. Anything I can do in here?” Jac was used to doing. Especially in Max’s home. And the poor man…he really was in over his head.
He looked adorably flustered at the moment. The hair had gotten longer—usually, she scheduled reminders for him to get his and Emery’s hair cut on a regular basis.
Before.
The man was not good at scheduling details at all; she’d always handled that when they worked together. She took a quick look around the kitchen; at least, he was using the whiteboard calendar she’d installed when Emery had entered first grade.
“Yes. Help me. There are just too many of them. There are little girls and a few boys everywhere. When you turn your back, they clone themselves. I’m pretty certain I saw doubles earlier—but the director’s wife was in there. That might be part of it.”
“Marianna brought the twins?” Rumor had it that the director was keeping his family under wraps lately.
Since Andy.
“Maybe. Or maybe they just cloned themselves when my back was turned. At this point I just do not know.”
She didn’t have much time with him after that—thank goodness. Jac ended up acting as the unofficial hostess, keeping things moving smoothly while Max prepped the food and drinks. She never even made it to the rec room in the first hour she was there.
Jac was just kept too busy for that. She didn’t have a chance to talk to him about what was going on with Emery, either.
Jac was as comfortable in Max’s home as her own. She’d missed him and Emery. Missed the social connections being so involved in Emery’s life had brought her. She had spent two or three nights a week with Max and his daughter, outside of PAVAD.
To have that suddenly change had hurt. There had been a real void. She’d thought to fill it by finally buying her own home and focusing on that, but it hadn’t been the same.
She had never expected that it would be.
It occurred to her as she was helping carry gifts to the rec room that they had become her world for those years. Almost her entire world. Only Nat—who she’d seen maybe three or four times a year before her sister transferred to St. Louis—and Miranda, who was in and out of St. Louis sometimes on opposite cases from Jac, had also had a place.
That had just made the rift between her and Max all that much more painful. Probably more so than it should have been.
She’d meant what she’d said to Emery, though.
If Max would allow it, she’d do her best to spend time with Emery whenever she could. That was one promise she intended to
