Sebastian (Bowen Boys, #5)(9)

“I don’t know, Debby. What do you think?” He’d used this before on his dates when he’d tuned them out over dinner. It worked well for him so long as he tried to remember if he’d used it once already. They got sort of pissy when you repeated it several times over the salad.

“I just want him to marry me. What makes men want to run in the other direction when a woman starts talking about weddings and children?” With her, Sebastian could think of a list a mile long, but kept his mouth shut as she continued. “I mean, it’s not like we just met, for crap’s sake. We’ve been dating for almost a whole month.”

A month? He suddenly felt sorry for the guy. Debby could do a good job when she was focused, but there were times when he thought she would be better off working at a job where she had little contact with the outside world and simply lived in her own little world she had created. One that made her the queen of the universe and where no one told her no. She was scary weird. But she was good at selling, and that alone gave her job security.

The bell over the door sounded and she hopped up and ran out to the floor. He was sure that the other employee could have handled it. All his employees were very knowledgeable about the products they sold, but Debby had to be right there. Sebastian decided that he was going to have to make some serious changes soon.

“It’s your dad. He wants to know if he can come back and talk to you.” He looked at James, the other employee, and nodded. “Oh, and your mom is here, too, but she wants to just look around.”

Sebastian was nearly around his work station when his dad came in the room. Before he could ask him if everything was all right, he was pulled into a hug that nearly took his breath away. Sebastian hugged his dad just as hard and felt the tears threaten. He’d missed his dad.

“I’m sorry, son.” He patted him on the back before turning away. “I shouldn’t have…damn, I was a fool, just like your mom says to me daily.”

“No, Dad, I was.” It had been almost a week since the conversation about the girl and the computer. “I should have given you more time with the computer, and I shouldn’t have said those things to either of you. You’ve no idea how horrible I’ve felt.”

“Me too, me too. It’s been like a hole in my heart. I’m glad….” He took a deep breath. “I was wondering if you found Ama. She said that day that she wouldn’t be able to help us any, said that she wasn’t gonna come between a man and his son. She said a great deal more, but I won’t repeat it. Not that at the time I didn’t think you deserved it, but there you have it.”

Sebastian laughed. He was pretty sure she had said a great deal. And his dad was right, he had deserved it. That and more. He’d blown up at her and she’d only fought back. His mom walked in as they were both sitting down.

“I was just asking Sebastian here if he’d heard from Ama. I think he was about to tell us he’s right on top of it.” His dad looked at him. “Are you?”

“I tried to reach out to her, but she told the operator that she was fine and that I wasn’t to bother her anymore.” He flushed when he thought of what else the operator had told him and had asked him, but decided that there was no way he was telling them that conversation. “She’s living at the ‘Y.’”

He was thinking about Sandy the operator and some of the things she’d suggested he could do with her and to her when he realized that his parents were looking at each other oddly. There was something going on and he sat up in his chair and waited for them to get finished with whatever it was they were talking about. When his mom turned to him, she looked nervous.

“We need for you to find her for us, to tell her it’s okay that she helped us learn the computer like she did.” He started to tell her that he was going to do it when she spoke again. “There’s something about her that we found…she’s not like us, but she’s more than us. I can’t tell you any more than that, but she…I think she needs us.”

He looked at his dad, hoping for more to go on, but he was nodding. “I told you I tried to talk to her and she told the woman who answers the phone that I wasn’t to contact her any more. She told me that there would be police involved if I did.”

Sebastian had been and still was a little upset about that part, but he had been very threatening to her. He thought involving the police was a little much, but could see now if what his parents were telling him was true then maybe he’d frightened her more than he’d thought.

“Then we’ll go to Marc. He would be able to make sure that we get to talk to her and—” Sebastian stood up and walked to his mom. “We need to find her. It’s really important to us. To all of us.”

“What is she?” His mom looked at his dad, then back at him. Something was off here. When he started to ask her again, she shook her head.

“We can’t tell you that. Not that I wouldn’t love to share this, but we can’t. It’s dangerous. Not for you but for us if we repeat what we’ve been given.”

“Mom, that makes no sense. What did she make you promise? And what did she threaten you with?” He looked at his dad when she did. “Dad? What is it you’re not telling me?”

“I’m sorry, son. You’ll just have to trust us. She’s very important to us and…well, to all of us. We want to make sure she’s all right.”