Along Came a Husband (16 page)

Jonas flipped back and forth through the menu.

“Erica makes the most amazing pasta,” she offered.

“Why don’t you order for me?” Jonas handed the menu back to the kid.

“He’ll take the rigatoni.”

“And a beer.”

The waiter walked away, quickly came back with their drinks and they sat looking at each other. This was getting dangerous. Spending the last night with him rearranging her gift shop and listening to him work his magic this morning in her back room had reminded her of the many reasons she’d fallen in love with the man.

“Why Mirabelle?” he asked, out of the blue. “I would’ve thought you’d go to L.A. or Seattle. New Mexico. The Midwest seems a little staid for you. How’d you end up here?”

It seemed too personal to share that she’d been looking for the right kind of place to raise a few kids. “I’m not really sure,” she finally said. “I guess I hit the road right after you died. Had no idea where I was going. First stop was Sandusky, Ohio, along the shores of Lake Erie. Then Gary, Ludington and Traverse City along Lake Michigan. Then I took a long road trip through Montana, Wyoming, Oregon.” At least that was the truth. She took a sip of wine, glanced at him over the rim of the glass, then set it down. “But you already know that, don’t you?”

Silently, he nodded.

“Turned out I liked the Great Lakes best. So I headed back to the Midwest. Not sure why. Big water, I guess. Without the saltiness of the northeast coast.”

“Wisconsin’s a bit off the beaten path.”

“I just drove, Jonas, letting my instincts lead me, until I hit water. This time the water in my way was Lake Superior. When I got to Bayfield, there was a ferry heading to Mirabelle. I got on it and never looked back.” She smiled. “Besides, except for Manhattan, where else can you live and not own a gas-guzzling, global-warming-causing car?”

Jonas smiled. It was unusual to see him so relaxed she found herself staring. “What kept you here?” he asked. “On an island? You never stayed any other place longer than a few months.”

“The people, I suppose.” She sipped her wine. “They’re straightforward. If they like you, you’re in like Flynn. If they don’t, they let you know. I can deal with that.”

“Some of them didn’t like you? Impossible.”

“Mary Miller—she owns the candy shop—still looks the other way when I walk down the street. Shirley Gilbert, the owner of the cotton-candy-pink B and B, can be rude. Outright. Even Jan Setterberg wasn’t the most hospitable of neighbors until I got to know her sister, Lynn Duffy, a little better.”

“Doesn’t make sense. How can anyone resist you?”

“You did.”

“Is that what you think? That I was unaffected by you? That I ignored you?”

“It’s not what I thought as much as what I felt.”

He looked away, seemed angry. When he glanced back at her, he’d recovered, just barely. He glanced at her arm. “Tell me what those mean. Your tattoos.”

She hesitated, unsure she cared to share something so intimate. Then again, what could be the harm? Jonas would be gone in a week, two at most. The thought made her feel fairly miserable.

“Missy? You okay?”

“They’re the Sanskrit symbols for the chakras,” she finally whispered. “The first one is the crown. Our spirituality. The next one, our third eye, represents intuition or wisdom. Then there’s the throat.”

“Let me guess.” He smiled. “Communication.”

She nodded. “Our self-expression.”

He reached out to touch the fourth symbol and then, as if he remembered his promise to not touch her, quickly pulled back. “Next is the heart, isn’t it?”

“Which needs no explanation,” she said, almost wishing she hadn’t held him to his promise. “Then the solar plexus. Which holds our personal power. The sacral chakra embodies our emotional balance and sexuality.”

“That’s odd,” he whispered. “Those two going together.”

“Is it?”

He gaze faltered for a moment. “Maybe not.”

“And last is the root. Represents our survival. Our physical needs.”

“So why those symbols and why there?”

She hesitated. “They remind me what’s important to me. Help me remember who I am.”

“I noticed you aren’t wearing your crystals anymore.”

“I need to protect myself without help,” she said.

“And I have no doubt you can.”

His eyes held her mesmerized. For a moment, she fought the connection growing between them, fearing the weakness she’d experienced all those years ago around Jonas. Fearing she might slip back in time and lose the ground she’d gained. But there was nothing weak or needy about what she felt toward Jonas. She felt strong, alive and whole. Though utterly confused.

The waiter came to their table, delivering food, and the moment evaporated as quickly as it had come. They were finishing eating when Sean came into the bar. Nodding at Missy, he came to their booth after picking up a beer at the bar. “Hey.”

“Sit,” Missy said, glad for the diversion. “Have a beer with us.”

“Nah, I don’t want to disturb your meal.” He glanced at her, studied her face, and then, reconsidering, suddenly plopped down next to her. “On second thought maybe I will,” he said, looking directly at Jonas. “Got a haircut, I see.”

Jonas nodded, almost imperceptibly before taking his last bite of pasta. Tension charged between the two men like boxers squaring off in opposite corners.

“How’s your side healing?” Sean asked, although there was no compassion in his voice.

“Fine.”

“Great.” Sean put his arm on the back of the booth behind Missy in a subtly possessive way. “So when are you leaving?”

Under the booth, Missy briefly put her hand on Sean’s leg.
Don’t. It’s okay.

“Actually, I’m kind of liking Mirabelle.” Jonas took a long pull on his beer. “Maybe I’ll stay awhile.”

She could almost hear the vibrations coming off Jonas.
My wife, asshole. Hands off.

“Won’t the FBI be wanting their agent back?”

“I’m not sure I’ll be staying with the Bureau.” He held Sean’s gaze for a moment and then briefly glanced at Missy.

What?
That threw her. Jonas without the FBI was like tofu straight up. “What would you do?” she asked.

“I’ve heard Newman’s grocery store is looking for a security guard,” Sean said, sipping his beer.

Jonas glared at Sean and then ran a hand over his face and chuckled. “Or I suppose I could bounce here at Duffy’s. Get rid of all the riffraff.”

Missy glanced between the two men. “Okay, that’s it. Far much too testosterone. I’m out of here.” She pushed Sean out of the booth and then slid out behind him.

“I’ll walk you home,” Sean said.

“I think, at this point, I’d rather be alone.”

“Wife. That’s a good one.”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you,” Jonas answered softly.

“No. I suppose you don’t.” The doctor shook his head. “I just can’t seem to figure out what she saw in you.”

That made two of them, but it didn’t mean the comment went over well with Jonas. “For Missy’s sake, I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”

Sitting back, he took a slow, measured breath and put the lid on his rising anger. He slapped a couple twenties on the table to cover their dinner and then some and stood. “Why don’t you have another beer, Doc. On me.”

Then again, maybe never.

He eased himself out of bed and went downstairs. Missy was already gone, but after last night at Duffy’s with Sean that was no surprise. Even before he made a pot of coffee, Jonas logged onto the Web site where he was waiting for Reynolds to post a notice that he had further developments. There was one message with several attachments.

Call me. Secure line.

Jonas didn’t recognize the number. He used a safe cell phone and dialed.

Reynolds picked up immediately. “That you?”

“Yep.”

“Damn, man, you’ve got a lot of evidence here. Right after I briefed Kensington on how thorough you’ve been he assembled a team. They’re working round the clock to put this together.”

Jonas swallowed and relief swept through him. This is what he needed to hear. “What about Stein?”

“Business as usual. He has no clue we’re on to him. Did you look at the files I sent?”

“What are they?” Jonas said, opening them.

“We tracked some of Stein’s e-mails.”

Jonas studied the documents. “He’s clearing things through customs.”

“That’s what it looks like. We’ve got our best agents on this. They’re clean. We might be ready to take down the whole organization in a few days.”

“No,” Jonas said. “We do that and we won’t get Delgado. Wait. Trust me. He’s personally handling this next deal. If you nail him with the goods in hand, you got him.”

“When do you think it’s going down?”

Jonas studied the details of Stein’s e-mails, the dates, the number of packages and the weights. “I’ll bet anything this happens in the next week.”

“We need a time and a place.”

“I’ll figure it out.” Jonas hung up the phone.

Easier said than done.

He made some coffee, found out cereal with soymilk wasn’t actually all that bad and paced in Missy’s kitchen, thinking. He’d been working in Delgado’s operation for years. Figuring out the place should be a no-brainer. If only he was back in Chicago, he could put this thing to bed.

Hearing an unfamiliar noise outside, he walked out onto Missy’s back deck. Ron was in his yard unfolding chairs, so he walked across the grass. “Looks like the makings for a party.”

Ron glanced up. “Missy didn’t tell you?”

Jonas shook his head, but then he hadn’t given Missy much of a chance with the way he’d been purposefully keeping his distance.

“My birthday’s today and Jan wanted to celebrate. A man doesn’t turn sixty-five every day, I guess.”

“Would you like some help?”

“If you’re offering I won’t be turning you down.”

“I’m all yours.”

Ron set him to work setting up several banquet tables and arranging chairs. Next, he helped fill coolers with an assortment of beer, sodas and water, and then he assembled the party tent for shade. Jonas was probably pushing it a bit with all the stretching and lifting, but it felt good to be active.

After he’d finished with the obvious, he turned to Ron. “Anything else?”

“We’re having it catered by Jan’s coworkers at the inn, so the food’s covered.” Ron glanced around. “I guess there’s nothing left for you to do except come on over here later on tonight and help us celebrate.”

“Me? You want me to come?”

Holding Jonas’s gaze, Ron said, “Why not?”

“Look, you don’t know me. It’s okay—”

“Missy told us who you are.”

Jonas studied him. “She told you…”

“That you’re her husband.”

She’d told Gaia, too, which had surprised him. He’d be gone within the week, so what was the point? Maybe that’s not what really bothered him about the admission. Being a husband implied a close relationship, but he was having a helluva time figuring out exactly what he was to Missy. And what she was to him.

“She told us about the Camden part of the whole deal, as well.”

“She must trust you very much.”

“Apparently. She knows Jan and I would do anything for her.”

“She’s lucky to have you.”

Ron took a dark bottle from the cooler and held it out to Jonas. “Why don’t you sit and chat awhile?”

Jonas hesitated, but a cold beer sounded good. He took Ron up on his offer. What followed was a round of twenty questions. Where’d you grow up? Where’s your dad? Close to him? It was the exact type of interrogation any man meeting a woman’s father for the first time would expect, only Ron wasn’t Missy’s dad and Jonas wasn’t prospective suitor material. Even so, there was no doubt he was sizing up Jonas.

“Okay,” Jonas said, his patience finally wearing thin. “If Missy’s told you who I am and who she is, then she’s no doubt told you that she wants a divorce. So what are you after, Ron?”

“Yeah, she told us. Is that what you want, too?”

“What I want doesn’t matter.”

Ron was silent for a moment. “You still love her, don’t you?”

Jonas snapped his head up. “To be honest, I’m not sure I know what love is.”

“Tricky, isn’t it? Well, I’ll tell you one thing. A man doesn’t walk away from a woman and get away with it for four years, only to pop back into her life again for no reason.”

“How I feel or don’t feel about Missy doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. Missy may come across as being a laid-back flower child, but once she makes up her mind about something, she’s more stubborn than a mule.”

“I’ll tell you what I think.”

Jonas hadn’t asked, but he had a feeling he was going to get an earful in any case.

“I think you’re the type of man who would do anything for the woman he loves. Including working night and day trying to support her. Trying to give her the life she was used to.”

Jonas drained his beer.

“Sometimes a woman needs to know she’s the most important thing in a man’s life. And sometimes the words mean more to her than anything else.”

“Maybe Missy never loved me.” He stood up and tossed his bottle into the recycling bin. “Maybe she was just rebelling against her family, her dad. Ever considered that?”

Ron nodded. “For about two seconds.”

“Yeah, well, she had you fooled for four years.” Jonas started walking away.

“Missy’s never tried to fool anyone about anything.”

Jonas stopped.

“I may not know a lot about you, Jonas, but I know Missy.” He shook his head. “I remember very clearly the look on her face when she told us about you dying. It was the look of a woman who had loved her husband very much.”

“You weren’t there, Ron. How can you have a clue what happened?”

“Sometimes we see what we want to see. Even if it isn’t the truth. Those are the times we need to put aside what we think and trust what we
know
.”