Midnight Exposure (Midnight #1)(38)

Jayne set loaded plates in front of them both.

“I cook sometimes. I make eggs and bacon every weekend.” Reed cringed at the whiny edge in his voice as he cut off a corner of French toast and stuffed it into his mouth. More eating, less talking. There was no reason for him to get to know Jayne any better. She’d be gone tomorrow. Jayne was meant to live in the spotlight, while he was destined to live in the dark.

“Fried eggs on Saturday. Pancakes on Sunday. The frozen kind. Precooked microwave bacon.” Scott shot Reed a smug look.

“There’s nothing wrong with keeping to a schedule.” A routine kept life from disintegrating into chaos and kept Reed sane. “Nothing seems to stop you from eating vast quantities of everything.”

Scott had too much food in his mouth to respond, but he gave Reed an eye roll that adequately communicated his opinion of their meal routine.

Jayne reloaded Scott’s plate before he’d cleared it. Without lifting his head, Scott grunted his thanks.

“Hey.” Reed lightly slapped his son’s shoulder, then turned to Jayne. “Please excuse his manners.”

“It’s fine. Eating is serious business for teenage boys. I have brothers. Two older and one younger. They used to eat every meal like they were never gonna see another one. I learned how to stretch a stew early.”

Scott swallowed. “Stew. Yum.”

Jayne filled her own plate. Reed covered a wince with a cough as frying pans were dumped in the sink and topped with a few squirts of dish soap. Water followed with a hiss and corresponding billow of steam. Jayne left the pans to soak and took the seat next to Reed. Her silverware clattered and she pushed the food around on her plate. Very few forkfuls made it into her mouth. “Do you cook a lot?” Scott asked between shovelfuls of food.

“Didn’t have much of a choice. My parents died when I was twelve. The four of us were on our own. My oldest brother, Pat, was twenty-two. He took over the bar. The rest of us were stuck with house duty until we were old enough to help him.” Pride and affection edged her chatter as she cut her French toast over and over into absurdly small pieces. “Pat did whatever he had to do to keep us all together. And to thank him, we gave him a lot of gray hair.”

A sense of inadequacy slid over Reed. Jayne’s brother had barely been an adult when he raised his siblings and took over the family business. Jayne was keeping house at twelve. Reed struggled to raise one child, and he’d failed miserably as a husband. Since his wife’s death, he’d avoided personal relationships and all the vulnerability and complications that went with them. Caring about people twisted him up inside, like now, when he watched a beautiful woman bravely struggling to be normal after a terrible trauma. And look how his one semifriendship, with Hugh, had turned around to bite him on the ass. Friends expected to be able to ask for favors occasionally.

Reed used his napkin to wipe an egg splatter from the sleek granite counter. “That’s young to take on three kids and a business.”

Jayne shrugged. “Well, Conor was twenty. He was pretty much raised. But Pat should still be sainted. Danny was only eleven, and the two of us were a huge pain in his butt.”

Reed’s heart clenched. Scott had lost his mother at the same age as Jayne. The first couple of years had been rough. Both Scott and Jayne had learned to live again, though. Unlike Reed.

Scott swallowed half a glass of orange juice and came up for air. “What’re your brothers like?”

“Pat’s married. I live with him, his wife, and their three kids. He’s big and patient and he works all the time. Worries about the rest of us nonstop. He’s a great dad.” Jayne’s face was animated; her eyes went liquid and she seemed to calm as she talked about her brothers. “We all work the bar, but Pat’s definitely the boss. Conor’s the quiet one. He’s also the practical joker. Danny’s the rebel. He went into the army after high school. He was injured in Iraq and went through a severe bout of depression. But we got him the help he needed—and the rest of us are on his case enough that he’s snapping out of it.”

“I wish I had brothers or sisters,” Scott said. “Mom couldn’t have any more kids.”

Unpleasant memories turned the French toast in Reed’s mouth to paste. The truth was, Madeline had had enough trouble dealing with one child and a cop husband. She hadn’t wanted any more kids. Something Scott did not need to know.

He cleared his throat. Time to put an end to this morning’s show-and-tell session. “So, the plan is for me and Scott to clear the drive today. The weather’s improving. I should be able to get you to town tomorrow. Either the phone or Internet should be up by then, too.”

Jayne looked down. She pushed her plate away mostly full. “You guys go ahead. I’ll take care of the kitchen. Then I’ll use the shower if it’s OK.”

“Of course it’s OK. There a Jacuzzi if you want to use it.” Reed stood. His arms ached with the need to comfort her. The desire to pull her close was as disconcerting as her turmoil. But after tomorrow, it would be Hugh’s job to ensure her safety. Reed would be off the hook. Better to keep his distance. Jayne’s presence threatened the invisible life he’d worked so hard to attain.

Reed backed away. “Scott, please restock the wood on the porch and load the stove before you come out.”

His son patted Jayne on the arm on his way to the mudroom. Jayne gave him a sad smile.