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“I didn’t realize. He turned up with food, and I didn’t want to be rude. Not to mention that he wasn’t in town when the first incidents happened.”
“So he says,” he grumbled.
My breath caught. “Is he lying?”
“We’re not sure yet.” He looked uncomfortable. “But take anything he tells you with a grain of salt. He’s still a person of interest as far as I’m concerned.”
“Okay.” I rubbed his shoulder in a way that usually calmed him down. “I’ll be more careful.”
“Good.” He glanced down at Tess, who was clinging to his side, well aware of the tension between them. “Tess and I would like to invite you over for dinner later.”
A knot in my chest loosened. Despite putting on a good act, I hadn’t wanted to be alone tonight. If I visited with them, I could stay until after Tess’s bedtime. “I would love to.”
31
NATE
On Friday,I collected Tess after school, and she lazed on the couch with a book while I once again read the threadbare report on the evidence collected from Grace’s house. There had been no fingerprints, but the presence of smudges indicated that the perpetrator may have worn gloves. Whether that had been a precautionary measure or simply because it was cold, I didn’t know. There had been no other useful information gathered. The only fingerprints on the dresser itself had been Grace’s, and when Grace had gone through the contents of her jewelry box and cabinets, she’d let us know that nothing else seemed to be missing. All of which meant that we had absolutely zero to go on. We couldn’t arrest Ezra or rule him out, and unless we found something else or Grace’s thief acted again, we might never know for certain who’d taken the ring.
I huffed in frustration and rubbed at my buzzed hair. Damn it, why couldn’t we have gotten a lucky break? It would be so nice to have a great big sign pointing to the culprit, but unfortunately, real life was rarely that tidy.
“Everything okay, Dad?” Tess asked distractedly.
“Fine,” I replied. Even if I explained the whole situation—which I wouldn’t do with my eight-year-old daughter—she had her head buried too deeply in her book to take any of it in.
The doorbell rang, and I went to answer it. Tess didn’t budge from her comfortable position.
“Hey, Maddy,” I said as I opened the door and smiled wearily at my ex.
Maddy scanned me from head to toe, and her fair eyebrows knitted together. “You look like shit.”
“Well, thanks, darling.” I knew I sounded sarcastic, but I couldn’t help it. It wasn’t even as if I could retort that she’d seen better days herself because honestly, Maddy looked good. She’d been a pretty girl, and she’d grown into a stunning woman. Ever since she’d gotten together with her fiancé, Steve, she practically glowed with happiness. Seeing that had been a punch in the gut initially. Not because I was jealous of their relationship, but because I’d realized she’d never looked like that with me. I hadn’t made her happy.
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I meant, Nate. Is something wrong?”
I sighed. “Just some things going on with Grace. Someone is stealing from her. It might be more than that, but we’re not sure yet.”
“Ah.” Her tone said she understood. “Of course it has something to do with Grace.” Her eyes narrowed. “But you’re not telling me everything, are you?”
I hesitated, unsure whether to confess the thoughts I’d been having about Grace to my ex. It probably wasn’t something she wanted to hear, but if Grace was going to become a bigger part of my life, Maddy would need to be on board with that. We had the co-parenting thing worked out pretty well, and I’d like to keep it that way.
“Grace and I might be going through some changes in our relationship,” I said slowly.
“You are, huh?” She put her hand on her hip and arched an eyebrow. “Does Tess know?”
“Not yet.”
“Hmm.” She somehow managed to make the sound disapproving. “Have you considered how it will affect her if it doesn’t work out? You know she dotes on Grace.” She grumbled something else that could have been “More than I’d like her to”, but it was impossible to be sure.
I rubbed my temples. They were already beginning to throb. Maddy tended to have that effect on me. “We won’t tell Tess until we’re sure it’s going to last. Come on, Mads. Grace and I have known each other forever. You know we wouldn’t cross that line unless we thought it was worth the risk.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’ve had a thing for her for a long time. I think you’d take any chance you got.”
“What?” I asked, poleaxed. “No, I haven’t. This is new. Except for once or twice in high school, I only ever saw her as a friend.”
“Uh-huh.” She held my gaze for a long moment. “Whether you’re lying or not, you’ve always put Grace on a pedestal. Even when you claim to only ever have thought of her as a friend, no other woman could live up to her in your eyes.”
“That’s not true.” My denial was automatic, but I realized it wasn't entirely truthful when I paused to think about what she’d said. Yeah, maybe I hadn’t seen Grace as a romantic option, but I’d definitely compared women to her, and they’d come up short. “Oh shit.”
