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Lexi held her finger tips to her eyelids as if she could shove the tears back inside.
Maggie’s breath hitched. No matter how angry she was, her daughter was in terrible pain. “Oh, honey. It’s OK to cry. I miss him, too.”
“No you don’t. Am I going to jail?” Lexi whispered.
Maggie pressed her hand to her forehead, a massive stress headache developing.
“He just wants the cigar back. But I’m the one you really have to worry about. I know why you did this, but it’s still not OK. You’re grounded for a month. And you’ll have to do something for the officer during that time, like, I don’t know, mow his lawn.”
“Mow his lawn? I don’t even know how to do that.” Lexi sniffed.
“You’ll learn. I’m sure he’ll teach you how. Or I will as soon as I figure it out myself. And of course, you’ll return the cigar.”
Lexi wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Will you go with me?”
“I will. I want to see you apologize to him in person.”
Although there was every chance he’d never want to see either of their faces again, Lexi had to try to make amends.
“Jack, it’s me.”
He hadn’t spoken to her in months, but Kimberly Craig’s voice over the phone still made him break out in a cold sweat.
“Is everything all right?”
She only served to remind him that he should be at home in Virginia. Too much time had already passed, and he cursed the fact that he was still too weak to return. He expected Kim’s e-mails, but she’d never called him here before.
“I should be asking you that. When are you coming back?”
“I don’t know when I’ll be back.” He paced the floor, running a hand through his hair.
“Help me understand. The department cleared you. You’ve been exonerated. What are you waiting for? Robert wouldn’t want this,” Kim said.
But he couldn’t be convinced of that. The one thing he did know was that Robert would want to be with his family. But nothing could fix that now.
“Running away won’t solve anything,” Kim continued.
She didn’t have to tell him that—he lived with the nightmares that had followed him here.
“How are the girls?” Jack changed the subject.
Kim loved talking about Alison and Amber as much as Robert had. For the next few minutes, he heard about Girl Scout meetings, swim meets, and piano lessons. While he thought he’d been updated with Kim’s regular e-mails, their activities made his head spin. And Robert was missing all of it.
“What about your therapy? Have you found anyone there?” Kimberly asked.
She’d been a great believer in it, even forcing Robert to take marital counseling classes though no one who knew them thought they were needed. Kim and Robert were a match made in heaven.
Therapy hadn’t worked for him if Dr. Logan had been any indication. He had no interest in rehashing the past and working through his feelings, all that crazy, touchy-feely kind of talk. He’d get through this on his own, as he’d always done before.
“No. Working on it, though.”
“Working on it? How can you move forward if you—?”
Jack’s doorbell rang.
End of round one. Kimberly two, Jack zero.
“I’ve got to go, Kim. I think it’s my neighbor at the door. She’s got something I need.”
