The Newcomer (Thunder Point #2)(49)

Close? Mac thought. When was that?

“Eve, tell me about yourself,” Cee Jay said.

“No,” Eve said. “Tell me about yourself. You look pretty good. Jewelry and everything. What kind of job do you have?”

“Oh. Um. Well, I’ve been living in Los Angeles so I’ve been doing some modeling, some work as an extra on movie sets, that sort of thing. Nothing very impressive.”

“It must pay very well,” Eve said. Mac thought, That’s my daughter—already investigating. “The only other thing I want to know is why.”

“Why?”

“Why you got up one morning and decided to leave us. Without telling us you were going. Without saying goodbye. Without ever calling or sending a card or visiting.”

Cee Jay looked shocked. “Eve, I’m sure your dad told you about—”

“I want you to tell me. Why didn’t you at least visit us?”

“Your father asked me not to,” she said.

Mac scowled. “That’s not true,” he said.

She turned and looked at him. “You served me with divorce papers that severed my custody and visitation.”

“They know that, Cee Jay. Five years after you left, I filed for divorce and custody, and you signed off. They know. They’ve always known that we hadn’t had a conversation for ten years.”

“So then?” Eve said. “Why?”

“I’m sure you’re very angry with me, Eve, but I came home to tell you about—”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Eve said. “I want to know why!”

“Eve,” Mac said in a warning tone.

Her voice was more compliant when she looked at him with pain in her eyes and said, “That’s all I want from this, Dad.”

“I understand. Please, be polite.”

She looked back at Cee Jay. “I politely request that you tell me why. I don’t want to talk about it, I just want to know.”

Cee Jay sat a bit straighter and her mouth was not set in a happy line. Her lovely arched brows furrowed unhappily. “I don’t expect you to understand, but I was very young. I had too many small children to care for without any help, without the love of a husband, without enough money to keep the house decent or enough food on the table. I broke, that’s all. I broke and ran, afraid I was losing my mind. I’m sorry. I know it was wrong, but I wasn’t strong. And now I’d like to reconnect and make up for all I missed.”

Eve stood up. “Thank you.” She walked toward her bedroom.

“Eve!” Cee Jay stood. “Won’t you give me another chance?”

With tears gathering in her eyes, Eve shook her head. Then she proceeded to her room.

“Can I be excused?” Ryan asked.

“Me, too,” Dee Dee added.

Mac nodded, knowing they were going to go hide or at least lay low. He was going to have so much to explain to them, damage to try to repair.

Cee Jay turned blazing blue eyes on him. “What have you done to them?” she snapped. “They hate me!”

“I have to admit, I’m surprised,” Mac said, running a big hand down over his jaw. “I knew Eve was angry, but I didn’t realize... Look, Cee Jay, Ryan and Dee Dee were very young when you disappeared, and they don’t remember the day you left. But Eve remembers every detail. I had to get her in counseling—she was a wreck. But you have to be realistic—it’s not as though they didn’t notice their mother wasn’t here or that you didn’t call or write or visit. I didn’t have to point that out to them.”

“You poisoned them against me!”

“What?” he said on a laugh. “You didn’t ever think of calling, or ever sending a birthday or Christmas card? Did it never occur to you that not visiting once in ten years would do the job of making them angry with you? You think they needed input from me? Oh, Cee Jay, how delusional can you possibly be?”

“You bastard! You’re happy they reject me!”

He took a threatening step toward her. “I’m probably going to spend the better part of the night, maybe the next several days, trying to convince my daughter your abandonment was not her fault, that it was no one’s fault. I might be headed for more counseling, which is tough on a deputy’s salary.” Then he stopped, looked her over and said, “Modeling? Movie work?”

“I’m done talking to you,” she said, turning to leave.

Mac looked at her attorney, lifting his eyebrows in question. She gave a little shrug. “Right now Mrs. McCain’s sole job is trying to reunite with her family.”

Mac’s expression was deadpan. “It’s not Mrs.,” he said for the second time.

Cee Jay was out the door, down the walk and in her car quickly, her attorney following. Mac stepped outside, Sidney on his heels. Nothing was said while Cee Jay started her classy car and pulled away from the curb. He squinted toward the car, memorizing the license plate. There had been no exchange of business cards; Ann had never offered one.

Then he turned to Sidney. “That went well,” he said.

* * *

Lou McCain went into Cliffhanger’s, meaning to have a quiet drink at the bar while she waited for Mac to be finished with The Visit. Given it was a Wednesday at six, the place was kind of busy and, as luck would have it, there was only one seat available at the bar...right next to Ray Anne, real estate agent extraordinaire and Lou’s long-time nemesis. And while Lou was in a pair of jeans that she’d dressed up with a jacket, Ray Anne was decked in a royal-blue silky suit, short skirt and very high heels.