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If I hadn’t been paying attention, I could have missed the small note of concern in his voice.
He cared. He needed approval.
“They like you.”
Now he grinned.
But our levity couldn’t last.
The closer we got to central Inverness, the more Jackson shut down. His expression flattening. His movements becoming more tightly controlled.
I texted his mother the name of a café at the end of Bank Street where it met Ness Bridge, and she replied that they’d see us there.
Jackson found a parking spot, turned the engine off, and exhaled. “I need ye to stay in the car. Which is a real problem because I can’t leave ye alone. This was a mistake.”
I dropped the seat belt I’d just unclipped. “What? Aren’t I supposed to be your get-out clause?”
He didn’t answer, just glowered in frustration out the window.
Something was wrong.
What had changed? I pieced back through the trip. Then my brain homed in on the new information. “Your mom said ‘they’. Is that the problem?”
He twisted in his seat. “There are things I haven’t told ye, almost as bad as the shite I did share.”
“Tell me now?”
“The other person she’s referring to is her husband. The man she married after she left my da.”
“What kind of man is he?” For Jackson not to like him, he had to be bad.
“He’s TJ’s father.”
I stared, trying to start a sentence and failing.
His mom had married the father of her daughter’s murderer.
“Were they united in their grief?” I managed.
“No. Nothing so simple. Remember I said someone was feeding my mother lines when she was yelling at Lisa Marie to take TJ back? That was the father speaking. They’d been having an affair almost as long as I’d known the son.”
I pressed my fingers to my mouth. I didn’t like the way this was going. A picture started forming, filling in the blanks Jackson had left. His mother was harassing him to see her, but it was more than him hating her choices.
“Please don’t tell me they support TJ,” I whispered.
Slowly, Jackson inclined his head, his lip curled. “It’s insane to say, but throughout the search for Lisa Marie and the subsequent court case against TJ, my mother still blamed my sister. Sheblamedher for getting herself killed, and used words like ‘crime of passion’ and ‘a terrible accident’ and ‘she drove him to it’. It isn’t just the influence of her new boyfriend. She made a choice and stuck to it.”
“No wonder you’ve refused to see her. I’m sorry I encouraged you.”
I reached for his hand. He didn’t pull away.
“I own my decisions. She has something to say to me, and she won’t stop until she’s heard. I need to do this.”
“Then I’m coming with you.” Before he could protest, I finalised the argument. “We’ve come all this way, and I’m not letting you out of my sight. Let’s get this over with.”
Chapter 27
Jackson
