* * *
Thanks to a phone call to Frank to alert him of his plans, Boone actually managed to arrive at the Farmers’ house ahead of them. Frank had dawdled on the road, taking a slew of side trips ostensibly to show B.J. the sights. Apparently Jodie hadn’t caught on, or if she had, it had been too late. She looked genuinely stunned when she saw him and his rental car in their driveway.
B.J. ran straight to him. “Dad, I didn’t know you were going to be here already!”
“I came as soon as I heard about your trip,” he said mildly.
Jodie whirled on her husband. “You knew about this,” she accused.
“I did,” Frank said. “When you wouldn’t listen to reason, I saw no other choice. I wasn’t going to let you land the two of us in legal hot water because you were being irrational.”
Jodie regarded him incredulously. “Irrational? You think it’s irrational to want to keep our grandson away from the woman who ruined our daughter’s life?”
“Enough!” Frank commanded, giving a pointed look at B.J. “We’ll discuss this later, Jodie.”
B.J. was looking from one adult to the next in confusion.
“Okay, buddy,” Boone said with forced cheer. “Thank your grandparents for taking you on a cool road trip, then grab your suitcase. We need to head back home, so we can be there for Christmas.”
“But I thought Grandpa and Grandma Jodie were going to have Christmas with us,” B.J. said. “They said we were all going to be here.”
“Not this year,” Frank told him. “We’ll come back in a few weeks and you can show us all your presents. You and I will do some more fishing, okay?”
“Okay,” B.J. said, throwing his arms around his grandfather’s waist. “I love you.”
“Love you, too,” Frank said.
When B.J. went to hug Jodie, tears streamed down her cheeks. She squeezed him tightly.
“Never forget how much we love you,” she whispered brokenly.
“I know,” B.J. said.
As they drove away, Boone glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that Frank had gathered Jodie into his arms. She was openly sobbing now. While the scene tore at his heart, he knew there had been no other way to handle the situation. Eventually they would work things out, but only when Jodie could let go of her irrational determination to get even with Boone.
Though he should have been relieved to have his son safely beside him and to be on the way home, he couldn’t stop thinking about the expression he’d last seen on Emily’s face. He had a hunch the crises weren’t entirely behind him.
* * *
After the long cross-country trip to California, the overnight stop in Colorado, the emergency flight to Florida, then the drive to North Carolina, Boone was exhausted by the time he got home. He’d have preferred to make the drive from Florida in a long day, but he’d known better than to push it, as tired as he was. Once home, he decided he and B.J. needed a good night’s sleep before going in search of Emily.
Over breakfast, B.J. regarded him with disappointment. “I missed the school pageant last night,” he told Boone. “Grandma Jodie said it was just a play and that there would be other ones, but I really wanted to be in it. Do you think Emily got home in time to see it?”
“She was supposed to be here,” Boone said. “But she knew you weren’t back, so I’m not sure if she went. We’ll find out this morning.”
But when they walked into Castle’s by the Sea a few hours later, there was no sign of Emily. Cora Jane met them halfway across the dining room. She pulled Boone aside.
“I don’t know what happened,” she told him. “But Emily called yesterday. She’s not coming for Christmas. She said it’s for the best. What on earth is she talking about?”
Boone’s shoulders sagged. “Dammit. I was afraid of that.”
“Did something happen in Colorado?”
“Yes, but not anything you’re thinking. This is Jodie again.” He explained about having to leave Emily to go after B.J.
Cora Jane shook her head. “No wonder she sounded so upset. I’m sorry, Boone. I really thought things were going to work out this time, especially after you went all that way to Colorado to see her.”
“They are going to work out,” he said with determination. “I just need to see her, straighten out a few things.”
Cora Jane regarded him hopefully. “Can you do that?”
“I have to do that,” he said.
“Well, all I know is that her heart is here, even if she’s not,” Cora Jane told him. “The girl loves you, Boone. It ought to be enough.”
He hugged her, noting that she felt more frail than usual. “You always were my biggest fan. Why don’t you come to my place tonight? Have dinner with B.J. and me. Let me cook for you for a change. Maybe you can help me come up with a good strategy for straightening out this mess.”
“I’m a poor substitute for my granddaughter,” she said.
He touched her weathered cheek. “You’re nobody’s substitute,” he said fiercely. “In my book, you’re family. You always will be, no matter what happens between Emily and me.”
And that, thank God, was true.
* * *
The grill was ready for the fish. The vegetables had been brushed with oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper, then wrapped in foil. With yet more unseasonably warm weather, he’d set the table on the patio, and B.J. had actually been coaxed into taking a shower. Cora Jane was due any minute.
Through the open windows, he heard the crunch of gravel in the driveway and walked into the living room to let her in. To his shock, though, it was Emily who stepped out of the driver’s side of the car.
Across the yard, he could see the hint of nervousness in her eyes, saw the hesitation in her step.
“Do you have food for one more?” she called out as she helped Cora Jane from the car.
“Around here there’s always food enough for one more,”
