“Don’t be. It was my mom’s department.”
“You really want to see her again, don’t you?”
He fiddles with the glasses in his hands, looking down as he nods.
I touch his arm, lowering my voice. “You know, I could help you do that. I could hire someone to track her down.”
When he looks up, fear saturates his eyes. “No. You can’t do that.”
I take my hand off him. “It was only a suggestion.”
“I want to find her, but I can’t risk it. I can’t have anyone asking questions and tipping off Lance as to where she might be.”
I nod hurriedly. “Okay. I won’t do anything.”
He shoves the sunglasses back on the rack and wraps his arms around me. “I know you only said it to help.”' His face buries in the nape of my neck, andI lift onto my toes, hugging him back. “I just can’t do anything to jeopardize her safety.”
“I get it,” I murmur. “But there’s a guy on my dad’s staff. He’s discreet.”
He hugs me with more urgency. “No, don’t have anyone look into this.”
I swallow hard and croak, “Okay.”
He unravels his arms from around me, and I feel him shiver.
“Baby,” I whisper, keeping my hands on his arms. “Are you okay?”
He blows out a long breath and forces himself to nod. “Yeah. Thinking about her just got my heart pumping.”
“Sorry.”
An easy smile brightens his face, and he hooks a finger under my chin. “Don’t be. I’d be feeling a million times worse if I didn’t have you with me.”
“Do you think about your mom often?”
His head tilts to the side. “Sometimes. Like if something reminds me of her. Or when I look at her stuff I saved.”
“She didn’t take it with her?”
“She took what she could, but she had to travel light.”
“And what happened to the rest of her stuff?”
“Lance got angry and torched it.”
My heart crushes. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“There are some things I wish I still had, but I like the stuff I got to keep.” He pauses, stroking the pendant on his chain. “Plus, I have this.”
“Does it help you feel close to her?”
“Yeah. At least Lance lets me wear it.”
“You expected him to stop you?”
“Well, I had to hide Mom’s things that I kept.”
Intrigue gets the better of me. “Where do you keep them?”
