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“Sam does,” I grinned evilly. “You’ll be fine.”
“But—but…” Harper looked between us. Her voice was quiet and worried. “…I want waffles.”
Laughing, I said, “You two go downstairs while I wash up, okay?”
“C’mon, pipsqueak,” Sam pinched Harper’s cheek. “Dad’s coming.”
“And no snacks,” I called as they left my room.
I ducked into my bathroom and washed up quickly. I twisted my head and decided to shave later on as the scruff was getting out of hand. “Oh, yeah, I need to call Rayna too.”
When I got to the kitchen, Sam hurriedly grabbed a napkin to wipe off the chocolate all around her mouth, but Harper was too slow. While she was busy chattering her sister’s ear off, I looked at Sam and pointed to Harper, indicating the evidence over her face.
I mouthed. “Busted.”
She laughed sheepishly and took the packet away while I got the waffle ingredients out. While I got breakfast together, I wondered what had happened last night and if Juliann was any closer to finding the culprit.
“Dad,” Sam asked. “Is Miss Rayna goin’ to come over today?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart. Why?” I asked.
Samantha blushed. “I like talking to her, that’s all.”
“You said you want to know how to talk to a boy.” Harper blinked innocently. “You said you want to ask Tyler to get ice cream.”
“Oh my God,” Sam blurted, her face redder than a fire engine. “Narc much?”
I kept a smile on my face while I was secretly dying inside. “Sam, you’re not allowed to date until you’re eighteen.”
Her face screwed up. “It’s just ice cream. I’m not dating him. Ugh. You guys are gross.”
I got the waffles done and was finishing up the eggs when Ben came in and smiled. “Hey girls, y’all doing okay?”
“It’s waffle day,” Harper chirped.
“I see, I see,” Ben smiled. “John, I wanted to tell you that the Twisted Twines order is completed. We’ve got the liquid nitro packs all ready to go.”
My stomach swooped. “When I’m done, I’ll call Hunter. Thanks, Ben, and if I’m gone, look out for Detective Juliann, okay.”
“Sure,” Ben replied.
When I finished, we ate before I sent the girls off with Sarah and Ben. I called Hunter about his order before I returned to my room. When he told me to come over as soon as possible, I appraised my pilot of the trip, showered, and shaved before dressing.
Only when we were ready for takeoff did Rayna cross my mind, and I huffed under my breath. “I forgot again.”
Uneasy with how long I would have to wait, I shut the phone off and took out some files to look over in the meantime. I got lost in numbers, charts, and projections that the flight time between San Antonio and Austin disappeared in nothing flat.
Hunter met me at the airport, with his secure vehicle, to unload the canisters and invited me to join him in his car back to his estate.
“So, how are things at home?” Hunter replied, handing me a glass of champagne. “With the miscreant?”
“It’s still an uphill battle,” I replied before telling him about the latest break-in and the clues the detective had gathered. “If there is any luck, it’ll lead back to West to prove how much of a bastard he is. Anyway, enough about me. How are you faring?”
“Me?” Hunter asked. “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“You’ve got dark circles under your eyes, and your fingers are twitching as if you’ve drank a bathtub of coffee,” I replied. “What’s keeping you up?”
Hunter sagged and rubbed his forehead, “My wife. She had a son before she met me, and the little kid has got it hard. Cancer, you know. He had not been feeling well for the past few days, and we had to rush him to the hospital last night when he got a fever.”
