The Chance (Thunder Point #4)(44)

Ten

April brought yet more sunshine to Thunder Point and Laine felt her life was more stable than it had been in too long.

She was enjoying working as a consultant for the sheriff’s department, researching their investigations to advise on driving their prosecution to the federal level. She was also doing the odd job for the Bureau. The sheriff’s department work was more satisfying than consulting for the Bureau, but it occurred to her that she could make a painless career doing background checks for schools, industry, law enforcement, et cetera. The problem for Laine was that she kept tripping over infractions. Serious and felonious breaches. A routine check for admission to the police department turned up a felon who failed to disclose his long and rather colorful record; a teacher application to a public school showed a history of sex crimes in another state. She was like a bloodhound—she could smell it. Her instincts had become razor-sharp. She knew she was useful in this new capacity and that worked for her for now.

She was also getting back in shape. The dojo she had joined was an excellent workout facility and she had a private instructor and well-known acupuncturist—her shoulder and elbow hardly bothered her these days. The town of Thunder Point was her new playground; she had friends and fun—two things that had never registered high on her list of priorities. And she had Eric, the kind of wonderful, smart, passionate man she never expected to have in her life.

But she hadn’t seen Pax or his family since Christmas. Missy was getting ready for her spring concert. Sissy was practicing for a dance recital. She had the time and the money to get home to check in with them, feel the hugs of the little girls and experience that odd connection with Pax that only twins had. They’d often talked about it, the way they knew when they needed each other, and speculated on how logical it was for identical twins and how illogical for fraternal, who were mere siblings. And yet...

“What about Senior?” Pax asked.

“I’d rather skip that, if you don’t mind. Unless he insists on being present for the concert or something.”

“I’ll mention to Genevieve that you’re still avoiding him. I’ll ask her not to call him. The truth is, I haven’t seen much of him lately. I talk to him every week, just long enough for each of us to say we’re fine and nothing is new. And our schedules are... You know how they are. I think it’s very unlikely he’d make a surprise visit while you’re here. In fact, if I were an investigator, I’d suspect him of laying low since that row at Christmas. He offended everyone, not just you.”

“I drew a line in the sand,” she said. “We don’t communicate again until he apologizes and stops ridiculing me. He went too far.”

“He did,” Pax agreed. “And if by some wildly unlikely coincidence he shows up over here or we run into him, we’re all going to be grown-ups and no blowups. Right?”

“Right,” she agreed. “I never meant for this to hurt you. I can live with whatever you want. If you want us to have a little family party, a reunion, I can go with that. But I’m not giving him my new phone number.”

“You weren’t wrong. He was out of line. But listen, all I want is to be a good brother, a good husband, a decent father to my girls. And I know you don’t think Genevieve is quite good enough for me, but she is my wingman.”

In spite of herself, Laine actually sucked in a breath. He was so devoted to Genevieve. But she was supposed to be his wingman!

“My other wingman,” he said patiently. “I rely on my wife to not only support this fellowship, this career choice that keeps me awake at night and gone on weekends and birthdays, but I’m counting on her to let me know when my girls need their father. And she’s made it clear—if I start to show signs of being the kind of father Senior is, with unreasonable expectations of our girls, I’m in serious trouble.”

“I give her a lot of credit for that,” Laine said. Laine had always felt their mother was too patient with Senior, excusing his impossible-to-please attitude toward Laine. Janice had occasionally said, “Shut up, Paxton!” But not often enough.

“I’ll be there Wednesday,” she said. “I’m only staying two days. Please let me have a sleepover with the girls. I’ll be unbearably nice to Genevieve.”

“You’ll stay with us, as usual,” he said. “No tattoos for the girls.”

Then she broke it to Eric. “I miss them so much,” she said. “I’m okay being away from them when I’m deep in some case, but when I was working four or five days a week I just couldn’t stand it if I couldn’t be with them on my days off. If it wasn’t such short notice, I’d ask you to come along. Next time, I promise.”

“What about your dad?” he asked. “You going to talk to him? Make up with him?”

She turned away from him.

He turned her back. “Level with me. What would your mother think of this situation?”

“My mother always said we were too much alike, equally stubborn and pigheaded—two people who had to be right. And when I lost my mother, I lost the buffer between us. I told you that when I was visiting Pax over the holidays, my father was even more cruel than I can remember. God,” she said, looking down. “It embarrasses me to even tell you this....”

“You can tell me anything,” he said.