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"Dillon's very sensitive."
Affectionately, Cathy touched Jade's tangled hair. "He would have to be to overcome your fear."
"Since his wife and child died, he's been grappling with his own dragon. I've been as good for him as he's been for me. That's the best thing about it."
With a skeptical eye, Cathy took in her deshabille. "You're sure that's the best thing?"
Jade laughed out loud, a throaty, sexy laugh that would have been foreign to her yesterday. God, it was great finally to be a full-fledged member of the human race. No longer alienated by fear and repression, she was now in on all the grown-up jokes.
Cathy must have read the answers to her myriad questions in Jade's shining eyes. Her own glistened with tears. "You look positively radiant, Jade."
"I'm happier than I've ever been," she said without qualification.
SR
They never made it to the Waffle Shack that morning. Jade and Cathy arrived at the construction site within
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forty minutes of Dillon's departure from their house. Loner circled the Cherokee, barking, glad to see them. As they were trying to calm him down, Dillon emerged from his trailer.
Jade's heart skipped a few beats at the first sight of her lover after their brief separation. Lover. The word was a strange addition to her vocabulary. She repeated it several times in her mind, trying to accustom herself to its sound and implications. Pride and possessiveness bloomed inside her chest. Joy bubbled from a wellspring of newfound love. Then he said, "Graham's not here, Jade."
Her ebullience fizzled. "He's not here?"
"Oh, dear God," Cathy murmured. "This is my fault. I shouldn't have overslept."
"Boys wander off. I'm sure he's fine."
Jade could tell by the furrow between Dillon's brows that his words carried little conviction. "Where could he be?" "I don't know. I took his normal route on my way out
here and didn't see him anywhere along the way. I was expecting him to be here when I arrived. He wasn't. Loner's food bowl was empty, so I don't think Graham's been here at all. The first thing he does when he gets here is feed the dog whether he needs to be fed or not. I drove to the other side of the site, where they've been surveying, but there was no sign of him."
Jade hugged her elbows, although the sun was well up by now and the day was much too warm for her to have chills. "Maybe he went fishing," she said hopefully.
"Maybe. I was on my way to check his favorite spot on the channel when y'all drove in." He squeezed her upper arm reassuringly. "Stay put. I'll be back in five minutes." He drove away in the company pickup.
"Let's go into your office to wait," Cathy suggested. Jade allowed herself to be led into the portable building, but after they got inside she couldn't sit still. She paced in front of the windows, glancing out every few seconds in the hope of seeing Dillon returning with Graham.
"Could his note to you have been forged? Do you think it was written under duress?"
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"Of course not," Cathy said. "Graham slipped the note under my bedroom door and left an open box of PopTarts on the kitchen table. I think he was on his way out here to see Dillon and you, just as his note said."
"Then where is he?"
"He got distracted and stopped somewhere."
"He's not supposed to stop unless he has permission to." "Children sometimes forget. Sometimes they flagrantly disobey. "
"Not this time," Jade said stubbornly. "Besides, Graham isn't a child." A new thought struck her. "Do you think he was upset because I stayed out all night with Dillon?"
"I seriously doubt it. Graham fell in love with him long before you realized you had." Jade cast her a sharp glance. "What surprises you, Jade? That Graham loves the man, or that you love him? Or are you surprised that I knew what was happening between Dillon and you before either of you were aware of it yourselves?
"It was obvious from the day I met him how Dillon felt about you, and equally as obvious that you were failing in love with him. As perceptive as he is, don't you think Graham would have seen the signs, too? He's crazy about Dillon. I'm certain he's delighted that you finally got together. "
Jade was distracted by a noise outside. "He's back." She ran out the door just as the telephone rang. "Cathy, get that, will you?"
Graham wasn't in the truck. "I didn't see him anywhere," Dillon told her. "I drove along the banks of the channel. There was no sign of him or his bike. " Jade crammed her fist against her lips. He drew her into his arms. "Don't panic. He's somewhere, and we'll find him."
"lade," Cathy called from the open doorway. "The telephone is for you."
"Take a message." "It's Neal Patchett.
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Dillon drove with only one consideration-speed. "Those sons of bitches. What did they do, snatch him off the side of the road?"
"I don't know. Neal didn't say." Jade's eyes were fixed on the road. "All he said was that Graham and Myrajane Griffith were at his house having a conversation he thought would interest me."