Broken Wings (A Romantic Suspense)(29)

“How you want ’em, over easy or scrambled?”

“However Ellie wants them.”

“Over easy.”

Jack pulls out my chair before he sits down and starts piling his plate high, rubbing his head as he does. He pours cranberry juice from a pitcher and then fills my glass. There’s coffee, orange juice, and milk, too.

“Don’t mind if I go overboard. I don’t have guests for breakfast very often,” Uncle Rod says, setting a plate of eggs before me. “It’s my favorite meal of the day, because I get to eat it first.”

I stab a slice of French toast with my fork and pull it onto my plate, smear butter on it, and wait. He’d have to be blind not to realize that I crawled into Jack’s bed, yet he says nothing.

“Long driving coming up,” he says. “Two days to Arizona if you stop overnight.”

“Yeah,” Jack sighs.

“You sure this is a good idea? Might still be time to turn around and—”

“No,” Jack says firmly. “Ellie, what do you say?”

“I’m going to Arizona. You kidnapped me.”

My uncle smiles. “Eat, then. Just don’t overdo it. You’ll want to leave your car here. Take mine.”

“Why?”

“He’s right,” Jack sighs. “They’ll be looking for us by now. Somebody has realized you’re gone, and even if they haven’t, they know I’m gone. I was supposed to be at work at my father’s company today. Also yesterday. I hope I didn’t get that lady in trouble.”

“What lady?”

He shrugs. “Dad sent some woman to be my assistant. I left her in charge. I’d have had no idea what I was doing anyway. It was just another check box on my résumé for when I run for office. Stick a key in my back, wind me up, and watch me go.”

He stabs a piece of sausage and chews it angrily then downs a cup of coffee in three big gulps.

“What’ll you do if they come looking for us here?” Jack says.

My uncle shrugs. “Tell them you stopped by and I didn’t see anything amiss. They won’t come out here anyway. Jessica has probably forgotten I exist by now. She doesn’t care about anyone if she can’t get money out of them.”

He glances at me like he expects me to say something. I turn the stem of my fork in my fingers and fight a twisting feeling in my stomach. Mom had every reason to leave me after the accident, move on with her life, all that. She was always there for me.

Now, though, I wonder. She never had a problem spending my money—there’s plenty in my inheritance, enough that it grows, even, from investments. I never spent much but Mom has always had the most stylish wardrobe, fanciest shoes, jewelry. Her family was always in my house, spending time with her while I sulked in my bedroom.

Jessica and Fitzgerald were my sole contact with human beings for most of the last ten years of my life. Could I have been so hungry for company that I didn’t think to look into what she was doing with her time and my money?

“How long did Jessica date my dad before they announced the engagement?”

Jack’s voice shakes me out of my thoughts.

“Oh, um, not long. Like, six months?”

“They knew each other, though.”

Of course they did. We were all part of the same social circles; Jack and I went to the same private schools together even if we didn’t really talk until that night at the stupid dance when he dragged me onto the dance floor when I was off to the side, sulking.

My uncle and Jack look at each other like they know something, but keep eating without saying anything.

“Why do you ask?”

Jack sighs. “Just thinking about some things.”

I look back and forth between them. “You two talked last night. Then you ask me this.”

“Ellie, do you remember why we went out to dinner with your dad that night?”

“No. I don’t remember much of anything. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Jack nods. “I’m sorry. Forget I asked.”

My uncle doesn’t look at either of us, he just chews on his bacon. Between bites he says, “Back when I talked to him last, your father, I mean, he said something about arguing with Jessica about your training. Do you know what he would’ve meant by that?”

“I told you, personal training. Mom had me doing this exercise program and eating a special diet, and she signed me up for singing classes.”

My uncle nods sagely then puts a stack of pancakes on my plate. “Eat. You’re too skinny.”

“You sound like an old housewife,” Jack says with a snicker.

“My brother said that, too. She is too skinny, look at her. Don’t you think?”

Jack looks over and gives me a sort of distant smile. “I like her just the way she is.”

Then it hits me. I’ve been sitting here this whole time, no hood, no hair over my face, eating, talking… Like I’m normal. I forgot. I start to shake and drop my fork, breathing harder.

“Ellie?”

“You okay, honey?”

I take a deep breath and close my eye.

“I’m fine, I just… Let’s eat.”

We eat the rest of the meal in silence. Uncle Rod made too much of everything, but that’s okay. He wraps it all up in waxed paper and plastic and puts it away while I sit at the table, rubbing my stomach. I haven’t eaten that much in years.