“It’s a little easier now that I’m healing,” Brooke said. “But I would love a glass of iced tea if there’s any in the refrigerator.”

“Sure, I’ll look.”

“Get yourself a glass too,” she said. “I’d love some company for a while.”

I checked my watch. I still had plenty of time to pick up Melanie to go to the loft, and I was a little parched. I poured two glasses of iced tea, went back to the family room, and handed one to Brooke.

“Thank you.” She took a sip.

I moved toward one of Talon’s leather recliners, but she patted the sofa beside her.

“Sit here. Let’s talk.”

I couldn’t imagine what Brooke thought we were going to talk about, but I didn’t want to be rude. She was Jade’s mother.

“So, Jonah,” she said. “I hear you used to have my best-selling poster hanging in your bedroom.”

My cheeks warmed. Not too many things embarrassed me at this late stage in my life, but Brooke Bailey had just succeeded in doing so.

I cleared my throat. “That was a long time ago, ma’am.”

She chuckled. “Ma’am? As I understand it, I’m only five years older than you are, Jonah Steel.”

Jonah Steel? I wasn’t exactly sure why she was using my full name, but I got the distinct feeling she was trying to flirt with me. I squirmed in discomfort.

“I suppose that’s true.” I took a sip of my iced tea.

“When you get to be our age, a few years here and there certainly don’t matter, do they?”

“No, I suppose they don’t.” Another drink of the tea. I desperately wanted to stand and get out of there. But she was Jade’s mother, and I couldn’t be rude.

“It’s lonely here, you know. I’m alone here all day while Jade’s at work and Talon is out at the ranch. Marjorie comes and goes, working at the ranch or running errands in town. I’m by myself most of the day.”

“Doesn’t your nurse come every day?”

She nodded. “Oh, yes. Jade and Talon have been very good about seeing that I’m looked after. But it’s not the same as having a…friend to talk to.”

“I suppose not.” I set my glass of tea down on the coffee table. “I really do need to be going.”

She grabbed my arm just as I was about to stand. “Please, don’t go. I’d really like to get to know you better, Jonah.”

Made perfect sense to me, and not in a good way. I looked into her blue eyes, so like Jade’s. No doubt, she was still a beautiful woman. One of her eyes was a little misshapen due to the accident a couple months ago, and lacerations had left her with a few facial scars, but it didn’t detract from her beauty and glow. She still had a model’s body, and she had one hell of a rack. Not quite as big as Jade’s, but more than Melanie had.

Melanie’s weren’t small, but they weren’t huge either. They were pretty damned perfect in my opinion.

“You must know how handsome you are,” Brooke said. “Your brothers are handsome too, but you… You’re rugged handsome. Dark handsome. Something in you longs to be set free. I can sense it.”

I tugged on the collar of my shirt. I didn’t like how she was presuming to read me. This wasn’t going anywhere good. I wished I could run like hell out of Talon’s house.

“I’m dying to know more about you.”

I tensed, picking up my tea and gripping the glass. “What do you want to know?”

“I’d like to know if you’ve ever kissed an older woman.”

I jerked out of my seat. Up until the last several weeks, that answer would’ve been no. I had never been with a woman who was older than I was. But Melanie was two years older. Not that she looked a day over thirty. Then again, neither did Brooke.

“Are you going to answer me?”

“This conversation is heading into an area where I’m not comfortable,” I said.

“There had to be a time when you dreamed of kissing me.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me back down onto the couch. “Now is your chance, Jonah Steel.”

Chapter Eighteen

Melanie

Spending a few hours in the town of Snow Creek shopping for groceries wasn’t as scary as I’d thought it would be. However, I did feel a little like a fish out of water. Everyone knew each other in this town. Two people walked by and called each other by name. People in the store stopped to chat.

But no one knew me. I got a lot of strange looks from the Snow Creek residents. In a small town, any new face probably raised questions.

It was a cool fall day, so after I picked up several bags full of groceries to replenish Jonah’s kitchen, I stored them in the car he’d lent me. I still had some time, so I walked around town like I had several days earlier. I forced myself to relive that day, to retrace that path. Waiting any longer would just have made it more difficult. I walked by the little eatery and the little antique shop where I’d seen a phoenix figurine, to the little hardware store that doubled as an office supply place. Where I had bought…

I still couldn’t bring myself to formulate the words in my mind.

The package still sat in my loft, next to my filing cabinet.

This was where I’d seen the mayor. Perhaps Gus and I were the last to see Bryce’s father. I walked into the store, a little bell on the door tinkling.

Gus looked up from the book he was reading behind the counter. “Afternoon, ma’am. Can I help you with anything?”

“Maybe. I was in here several days ago.”

“Of course. I should have remembered such a pretty lady. What can I do for you?”

“I believe the mayor was also in that day, purchasing some rope and duct tape?”

Gus frowned for a moment. “You may be right. I haven’t seen him in here since, though.”

I didn’t know whether I was at liberty to say that the mayor was missing. Perhaps Bryce wanted to keep that fact quiet, so until I knew for sure, I didn’t want to divulge the information. But I could ask some questions about the purchase.

“Do you have any idea why he was buying those things?”

“Are you a detective or something?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m a psychotherapist, actually. I’m a friend of the Steel family. I was just wondering why the mayor would be buying rope and duct tape.”