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“Sam,” she said, shaking the woman’s hand like I had.
“Most everyone calls me Juni.”
“What a great name,” Sam commented.
Juni looked around the kitchen. “I can’t remember the last time I was here. It has to have been at least a year. Sorry,” she said, waving in front of her face when she teared up. “Miss Cena was such a lovely woman. I miss her.”
My eyes met Sam’s. “How well did you know her?” I asked.
“Once her eyesight got bad, I’d visit and read to her a few times a week.”
“Did she ever talk about her family?”
Juni’s eyes met Grayson’s, and they both shuddered. “If you mean her nephews, Miss Cena didn’t like to think about them, let alone talk about them. Or one of them, anyway. Johnny is okay.”
“Who are the others?” I wondered.
“Just one. James, but everyone calls him Jimmy.” Juni made a face. “Hard to believe twins could be so different.”
“JamesRooker?” Sam’s surprise mirrored my own.
Juni nodded. “That’s right.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cord look up at her. Then when he realized I was watching, he looked down again. The name Rooker meant something to him. I was certain of it.
My eyes met Sam’s a second time. “Did you say his brother’s name is Johnny?”
“That’s right. He doesn’t live around here, though.”
“Where does he live?” Sam asked.
“Colorado.”
“We should let you folks eat,” said Grayson, nudging his sister.
“It would be great if you could join us for dinner. As you can see, I’m seriously outnumbered,” said Sam, motioning to all the men in the room.
“There’s nowhere I need to be,” Grayson said, looking at Juni.
“Me either, if you’re sure you don’t mind. I may be biased since our family owns the place, but I love the Goat’s food.”
Cord looked up. “The Goat?”
“Yeah, have you eaten there?” Juni asked.
Cord shook his head. “There’s a bar named the same thing in the town where I’m from.”
“Interesting,” said Grayson, almost too quietly for anywhere to hear. “You said somewhere in Colorado, right?”
Cord nodded since he’d just taken a bite of pizza.
Grayson didn’t ask anything else about it, but I was beginning to think there was ahelluvalot more to this story than anyone was willing to let on. The only connection that hadn’t been made, or no one had mentioned yet, was how Sam fit into all of this.
I let her be when she and Juni walked over to the opposite side of the room after they’d loaded their plates with food. Actually, looking at mine versus theirs, mine would fit the description far better.
“Tell me about this place you mentioned in your hometown,” I said to Cord, taking the chair beside him.
“The Goat? It’s more of a bar than a restaurant. When they’re not touring, the band my brother Holt is in plays there sometimes.”
