Shelter Mountain (Virgin River #2)(54)

It was eating him up.

Ten

On the drive back to Virgin River, Preacher asked Paige a lot of questions about the missing girlfriends, Jeannie and Pat. He asked, “You think they did all right when they got married?”

“They picked up on Wes so easily, I assume they had much more on the ball than I did. I met their families—parents, brothers and sisters. They seemed okay.”

When they got back, Preacher got on the Internet. It was quick, but it took him a few days to work up the courage to present his findings. When she came into the kitchen right after putting Chris in bed for a nap, he put down his chopping knife and said, “I…ah…I hope this wasn’t out of line. I found them. Your friends.” He pulled a slip of paper out of his jeans pocket—their married names, addresses and phone numbers.

Her mouth actually gaped open as she stared at him, her hand hesitatingly reaching for the paper. She stared at it for a moment, then her eyes went from the page to his face to the page, back and forth. He shrugged and said, “I was getting in your personal business again, but I just thought—”

She shrieked his name, threw her arms around his neck and hugged him so fiercely he took a step back and started to laugh. He put his arms around her and held her off the floor in her excitement. She kissed him on both cheeks, several times, making loud smacking noises. He laughed at her, hanging on, hating the thought of letting her go. He had to put her down too soon. Large, liquid green eyes stared up at him, overcome, and on her lips a phenomenal smile. “How did you do this?” she asked in a breath.

“It was easy,” he said. “I need to show you how to work that computer. I can’t believe you didn’t use a computer before.”

She just shook her head and stared at the paper. Wes wouldn’t allow her use of his computer; it would have put her in touch with the outside world too much.

“Go on,” he said. “Call ’em. Use the phone in my place instead of in here. Have a little time alone with the girlfriends.”

She got up on her toes and kissed his cheek again, laying her small hand against the other cheek. She looked at him with such gratitude, it melted his heart. Then she whirled and ran to his apartment, gripping that paper like a lifeline.

“Yeah,” he said to himself, under his breath, nodding. “Bet there’s lots of little things I can look up for her. Yeah.” And he went back to chopping.

Jack came into the kitchen, looked at Preacher and frowned. “What are you grinning about?” he asked.

“I’m not grinning,” Preacher said.

“Preacher, I didn’t know you had that many teeth.”

“Aw, Paige. I looked up something for her, got her all excited. That’s all.”

“Kind of looks like it got you a little excited, too. I think you’re flushed. And Jesus, you sure have a mouthful. You never showed me a grin like that.”

Yeah, he thought—big mystery. You put your arms around me and kiss all over me like that, I’ll show you a mouthful—of fist. But he couldn’t stop grinning. He could feel it and couldn’t stop it. Jack just shook his head and left the kitchen.

There was another by-product, as if all that affection wasn’t enough. Paige had so much to tell him. Pat was still in L.A., working part-time now in a new salon, a real upscale salon, and she had a baby daughter. She even had some celebrities as clients—little celebrities, but her reputation was growing. Jeannie was in Oregon, of all places! And she had her own shop! She’d married a guy twelve years older who’d never been married before. He flew cargo, so he went out on ten-day trips, then was home for at least two weeks. They bought her shop a few years ago and here they were, thirty and forty-two, thinking about a family if she could just get the management of the shop under control.

“She offered me a job, can you believe it?” Paige said excitedly. “She said she’d love to have me there, and would train me as assistant manager.”

“Wow,” Preacher said. “That must have made you feel pretty good. Think you could do that?”

She laughed and put her hand on his arm. “I have one or two things to get settled before I even think about anything like that,” she said.

There were all kinds of details about her old girlfriends’ lives, and she didn’t seem to leave out even the smallest one. They sat in front of the fire until very late. She said, “I don’t know how to thank you. It was so wonderful to talk to them.”

“You should talk to them as much as you can. Catch up on things.”

“It’s long distance, John.”

“Aw, that’s not a big deal. Call every day if you want. Think you’ll get to see them soon?” he asked her.

“Well, Pat’s in L.A., and I’m not going back there. The very thought gives me shivers. But maybe when things are resolved a little, I’ll check out Jeannie’s new husband, new shop.”

Paige’s attorney had filed divorce papers while Wes was still in treatment, warning her that they might not be able to serve him.

He was as protected as he wanted to be while there. But within a couple of days her lawyer called her to report that the papers had been served, accepted, and the message from Wes was that he had a great deal of remorse and wanted to be cooperative. The only exception to her terms: he wanted at least supervised visits with his son. He hoped to finally be released from treatment with a good report by Thanksgiving.