Anything for Her(69)

“No. Jed takes after our...his father. Anna and I...who knows? Except her coloring comes from Mom. Her eyes, too, I guess.”

“You don’t think you might have the same father? It seems as if you have the same bone structure.”

“I doubt it.” But he studied the photo again for a moment before carefully tucking both back into his wallet and restoring it to his hip pocket.

She might have argued had his tone not been so final. Because he knew something about one or the other of their fathers? Because he didn’t want to know? Or because he hated the idea that his mother might keep going back to the same man even more than he hated the idea of serial affairs?

“Do you have a picture of your brother?” he asked. Which she supposed was a natural question.

“I...actually do,” she admitted. “His prom picture. What an awful moment for all of us to be frozen in time.”

She went to get it from her purse, locked behind the counter. There wasn’t any reason she shouldn’t show it to Nolan, was there? She couldn’t think of one. She also kept a picture of her father in her wallet and couldn’t think of any reason not to show Nolan that one, too.

He took them from her with such care, it was obvious he thought she was giving him a gift in sharing them with him. That made her ashamed. He hadn’t hesitated to take out the pictures of his sister and brother, while having to pry every nugget of information about her family from her.

He studied both photos for a long time, as if fascinated. “You do look more like your mother,” he said at last. “Except for the coloring. Both you and your brother—Jason?—got that from your dad.”

The bell over the door rang and she turned her head to see that a couple of women had come in. They weren’t regulars. She stood and called, “Hi, I’ll be right with you.”

Nolan returned the pictures to her with what she thought was reluctance. “I’d better get back to work, and let you do the same.”

“Thank you for bringing lunch,” she said.

“I wanted to see you.” He glanced toward the women, who had their backs turned, and kissed Allie. “I’ll call,” he said roughly.

She tried to smile. “Please.”

“Allie, I wish I thought...” He shook his head. “Never mind. This isn’t the time.” He nodded toward the customers. “I’ll clean up. Go on.”

She did, but was very aware when he left a minute later without saying anything else to her. The panic that felt like a small bird trapped in her chest was with her every time she saw him lately, and every time he left and she had to wonder if she’d given away anything new this time.

Fairfield. She had admitted to that, but couldn’t see how it mattered. Although Mom wouldn’t be happy.

Quite suddenly she had a headache. Her stomach felt queasy, too, and she began to regret the soup.

I don’t know if I can keep doing this.

But she’d continue to feel as if she was being torn in two as long as she and Nolan were together.

She saw her mother’s face. Heard her say, You’re the one person in the world I’ve always been able to depend on.

And then Nolan, implacable, asking, Where in Oklahoma?

Allie had to close her eyes against the pain that stabbed her temple.





CHAPTER TWELVE



SO NOW HE knew where she’d gone to high school, Nolan thought on the drive home. Assuming she’d told the truth. He’d seen the alarm in her eyes when he pressed for specifics. Would he find there even was a town of Fairfield near Tulsa? And, goddamn it, what was he going to do if there wasn’t?

Or, for that matter, if there was. Fly there next weekend and show her picture around town? From what she’d said, she had moved away over ten years ago, and she might not have lived there that long. She kept repeating that her family had moved a lot.

He wondered if there was a way he could track Allie’s brother. Wright was a common enough last name, but hadn’t Allie mentioned that the guy was still in the Tulsa area? If so, that would be a place to start.

Nolan made himself go back to work when he got home, but brooded all afternoon. He had to lay off when it was time to pick Sean up after basketball practice. Seeing him walking out of the gym with a cluster of other boys, laughing and talking, stopping once to half wrestle with one of them, that was a bright spot in Nolan’s day. Sean had started getting phone calls at home over the past week or two. And he was talking about teammates in the casual way that suggested they were becoming friends.