LITMIR.BIZ

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I suppose you’ve already been to Shawn’s house.”

      “Yes.”

      “And he wasn’t there.”

      “No, he wasn’t.”

      “Afraid there’s no sign of him here, although our receptionist tells me Shawn called to check his messages early this morning—without leaving a word about where he was…or when he would return.”

      Jamie appeared to tense at this information, but afterward the two of them seemed to run out of conversation. She stood halfway between the door and his desk, a slight frown on her face. Too bad Eric couldn’t tell her what she needed to know, but he didn’t have any insights to offer.

      “Well,” Jamie said at last. “It seems I’m at a dead end.”

      Eric went to pull out the chair on the other side of his desk. “Have a seat,” he said. “And maybe…” Hell, what did he mean to say? That he’d brainstorm with her, try to think where Shawn could be? Bad idea. The best thing for her to do was go back to New Mexico and forget all about his brother.

      She hesitated for a moment, but then she did sit down. Eric leaned against a corner of his desk. Jamie made a gesture that seemed to convey the futility of her situation.

      “I just don’t believe this,” she muttered. “What do I do next—where do I go from here? Before Shawn, I always knew where I was headed. I could see tomorrow and the next day and the next. But now…”

      There’d once been a time when Eric had been able to see his own way clearly. These days, however, clarity of vision was not so easy to come by.

      “He has to show up sooner or later,” Eric said. “He is half of this company, after all.”

      “You don’t sound too optimistic about that.”

      “Shawn always has kept his own schedule,” Eric had to admit. “Although he has a job title and a job description, he tends to neglect the day-to-day.”

      Jamie drew her eyebrows together. “Nonetheless, clearly he has responsibilities here. Why didn’t he tell me any of this? What was he even doing in New Mexico?”

      “Perhaps it was something of an escape.”

      Jamie gave him a hard look. “Escape. Why would he need that?”

      He’d been mulling over certain possibilities, certain explanations for Shawn’s behavior, but now he pulled back. It was useless, damaging speculation.

      When he didn’t answer, Jamie gave a weary shrug. “Very well, I understand. There are things you simply don’t want to talk about where Shawn’s concerned. But why didn’t he ever tell me about his family, about his work…about his life?”

      Why, indeed.

      Eric regarded Jamie, and she seemed to grow annoyed with his scrutiny. She sat up a bit straighter.

      “I can guess what you’re thinking. You’re trying to figure out what I’m doing here at all. Why didn’t I just stay at home and nurse my wounds in private, like a normal jilted fiancée?”

      It occurred to Eric that he felt a reluctant admiration for Jamie Williams, precisely because she hadn’t stayed at home to hide out. Clearly she was a fighter. She had courage. But that didn’t change the fact that she was his brother’s concern, not his.

      “Jamie,” Eric said, “Shawn could be anywhere right now.”

      “So I should just give up and go back to Albuquerque?” She gave Eric another sharp glance. “You’re almost starting to look relieved. You’d like to think of me boarding a plane tomorrow, heading back to New Mexico. Another of Shawn’s messes resolved—or at least out of your way.”

      Jamie Williams was a little too astute. He’d definitely been thinking along those lines. They looked at each other, and tension seemed to thrum between them. She was a beautiful, desirable woman who’d been mistreated by his brother. And, yes, he’d be relieved when she returned to her own life.

      Just then, his daughter appeared in the doorway, her arms wrapped around a stack of file folders. When Kaitlin saw Jamie, she took a step back as if suddenly unsure. Yesterday she’d obtained a certain ease with Jamie, but that seemed to have vanished. Did she have difficulty trusting anyone these days?

      “Hey there, peanut,” Eric said. “Thanks for helping Mrs. Lewis with those copies.”

      Kaitlin nodded briefly and slid over next to him. She placed the files very carefully on the desk.

      Jamie addressed Kaitlin gravely. “Why, hello there, Ms. Sinclair. I asked to speak to the president of the company, and they sent me right here to you.”

      Kaitlin seemed to consider this statement, but then dropped her gaze. A tough customer, his daughter.

      “That’s a nice outfit,” Jamie went on, apparently undaunted.

      Kaitlin fingered the material of her checked blue shirt.

      Jamie glanced toward the corner where Kaitlin’s blocks and puzzles and stuffed animals were scattered. She paused, as if debating something with herself. But then, as if she had all the time in the world, she strolled over and sat down on the floor among the toys, the skirt of her dress swirling around her. She gathered some random blocks and began stacking them one on top of the other. She didn’t so much as glance at Kaitlin, behaved as if she couldn’t care less whether anyone joined her.

      For a minute or two Kaitlin remained right where she was, pressed against Eric’s desk as if to barricade herself. But then, at last, she sat down next to Jamie on the floor, too. She gathered some blocks and began making her own stack.

      Over the next several moments Eric watched the interaction between his daughter and Jamie. Anyone else might say it was almost nonexistent. Jamie seemed intent on making her own tower of blocks and didn’t even glance over to look at what Kaitlin was doing. And that appeared to be exactly what Kaitlin needed. His daughter became absorbed in her own endeavor, trying to see just how high she could go.

      Companionable silence. That was what the two of them were sharing.

      Eric settled back, studying Jamie. She looked perfectly natural sitting on the floor next to one of Kaitlin’s favorite stuffed animals—a baby cheetah. She behaved as if she had no pressing problems on her mind, no search for a wayward groom in progress. She’d come here hoping to find Shawn and instead she was entertaining Eric’s daughter.

      Again, entertain was probably not the proper term. Jamie seemed to be creating an atmosphere where his daughter could occupy herself without worry or self-consciousness. Kaitlin placed yet another block on her towering creation, then another, making her own skyscraper.

      The last block was the fatal one. The whole pile toppled down as Kaitlin watched in dismay. So much for not worrying. His daughter looked as crestfallen as if she had demolished a real building.

      “That,” said Jamie, “was stupendous. Here—watch this.” She enthusiastically sent her own tower of blocks crashing downward.

      Kaitlin stifled a giggle, but not before Eric saw a trace of a smile. Undeniably, over the past several months, his daughter had grown too serious. Divorce was a serious matter, of course, but couldn’t he and Leah have done more to lighten the atmosphere for their child? They’d tried to do their best, to be unfailingly polite to each other in Kaitlin’s presence, to explain matters to her in clear, reassuring terms. He and Leah had also agreed that Kaitlin should see a counselor regularly to help her through this difficult transition. It had all been so well-meaning and earnest, so logical and carefully devoid of hurtful emotion. In the process, however, they’d dampened other emotions, such as simple happiness. No wonder Kaitlin tried to keep a tight rein over her feelings. She was imitating her parents.

      Now Jamie and Kaitlin went back to stacking blocks, but they made a pile together this time. Jamie set one block in place, then waited as Kaitlin set her own block on top. Back and

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