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“Tell me about your renovations again. I don’t want to talk about my family or work.”
“Have you eaten?”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t hungry at the party.”
She talked while she made him scrambled eggs and toast, telling him everything that was happening downstairs.
“You’re excited. I can’t remember the last time I felt that emotion,” he said when she handed him a plate of food.
“Sure you can. When you first walked over that land the lodge now sits on,” Mandy said, returning to the kitchen for her tea and toast.
“I remember that day,” he said. “I walked for miles and saw exactly what I wanted to do with that land.”
Mandy watched as he took a bite of toast.
“It was like I finally found something I really wanted in my life. Something just for me.”
They ate and talked, and for the first time he opened up about his life and what it had been like to grow up a senator’s son.
“It wasn’t all bad. Some parts of it were really good. The parties, and the girls.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “But it was like living in a goldfish bowl.”
“Will you tell me about your sister, Ted?”
He ate the last of his food, then cradled his mug as he leaned back on the sofa again.
“Emily was six years younger than me. With three older brothers, there was always a chance she would be spoilt.”
“That’s a given.”
“It was, but for all that, she was sweet and funny, and I… I loved her very much.”
Mandy put down her cup and moved to take the seat beside him, holding out her hand. He took it, sliding her fingers between his. She could give him comfort. The comfort of one friend to another.
“She was kidnapped one day right outside her school.”
His jaw was tight, and she knew the memory was causing him pain.
“I’m so sorry, Ted. Don’t tell me if it hurts too much.”
“I sometimes worry that I’ll forget her.”
“Never.” Mandy laid her hand on his heart. “She’s always in here.”
“The kidnappers said to bring the money to a place. They wanted Dad to take it. He did, but she wasn’t there. When the cops found her, she was dead.”
She’d lost someone she loved, so Mandy knew what he was feeling. But her father hadn’t suffered like his sister had.
“I went a bit crazy, knowing how scared she must have been. How much she wanted to come home but couldn’t. I blamed everyone, especially Dad and Mom. Then I left. I kept moving, needed to put distance between myself and them. Finally, I arrived in Ryker Falls. Something about this place got to me from the start, so I stayed.”
He looked down at her, and the devastation in his eyes made her heart ache. Lifting an arm, he pulled her close so she was pressed to his side.
“Maybe you need to understand nothing could have been done to save her, Ted. And stop punishing yourself and your family.”
His sigh came from his toes. “Maybe.” He touched the beads on his wrist. “This was hers; I’ve never taken it off.”
“I’ve seen you touching them.”
“I don’t know why I do that. Habit maybe,” he shrugged.
