Christmas In Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 4) (22 page)

Kallie diverted her eyes. Perhaps she had overstepped, Tj realized.

“I really want to move to a place better suited for Brady when he comes to visit,” Kallie explained. “And I know the judge will take my living situation into account when I go back to court to ask for custody. I just haven’t been able to find anything in my price range.”

“How much do you pay now?” Tj asked.

Kallie mentioned a number.

“Okay, let me check around. I know a lot of people. Maybe someone has an apartment over their garage or a small rental in town.
A lot of landlords are willing to take a smaller rent in exchange for having a conscientious renter.”

Kallie smiled. “Thanks
; that’s so nice of you. And I’ll let you know about Christmas. I hate to even get my hopes up, but the fact that Jordan is making headway with my monster-in-law is so promising that I can’t help but feel hopeful. I didn’t get to see Brady at all last Christmas.”

“I’m hopeful as well
.” Tj squeezed Kallie’s hand across the table. “If Brady is able to stay, we’ll make sure he has the best Christmas ever. And even if he isn’t, I want you to come to dinner with the family.”

“I
’m going to cover dinner in the Grill on Christmas Day so Polly can be with her kids.” Polly was one of the Hideaway’s full-time chefs. The Grill actually employed four chefs in order to cover all of the days and shifts. Kallie was the restaurant manager but often filled in cooking when one of her staff was off and she couldn’t get someone else to cover. “I volunteered when I thought I wasn’t going to have Brady and I hate to go back on the offer now.”

“Of course
,” Tj said. “It was nice of you to offer. If Brady stays, we’ll work around your schedule. Do you have plans for today?”

“I get off at two.
I want to do some shopping; I haven’t had a chance to buy Brady’s gifts yet. Jordan and I plan to take Brady to the play this evening, and we might go to dinner afterward. I know Jordan was going to talk to you about bringing Ashley and Gracie to dinner as well.”

“Actually
, Kyle said something about taking the entire cast to Rob’s. He rented the back room. You and Jordan should plan to bring Brady. He’ll have fun playing with the other kids.”

“I’d like that. Thanks for inviting us.
” Kallie looked at the clock on the wall. “I should get back. The lunch crowd will be coming in at any moment. I’ll see you tonight.”

After Kallie returned to the kitchen Tj called Kyle to let him know that she’d invited Kallie and Brady to dinner. She also asked him about looking around for a small house for Kallie to rent. He said he’d do some checking and let her know. Tj promised to show up early at the community center to help him set up for his big opening night.

She called Hunter when she got off the phone.
He’d left a message earlier that he might have a lead on the letter Jordan had received. Hunter would be at the hospital all day, but if he wasn’t actually with a patient he could usually go to his office to take a call.

“Hey
, Hunter; I’m calling you back. What’d you find outabout the mysteriou
s
A
?”

“The letter was sent to Jordan through a routing center
that forwards mail to members of the military who are located in sensitive or secret locations. The letter is read and approved before being forwarded to eliminate the threat of terrorists using the mail as a way to communicate with their operatives. The original return address on the letter was traced back to a woman by the name of Abigail Porter. It seems Abigail and Jordan know each other—or at least they knew each other at one point. It seems she’s married to Jordan’s college roommate.”

The woman must be the love of his life who marrie
d his best friend, Tj realized. “How did she know what happened?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to her. I figured if Jordan knows this woman he m
ight want to speak to her himself.”

“Yeah, you
’re probably right. I’ll track him down and tell him what you found out. And thanks. How
did
you figure this all out?”

“I’d love to take
the credit, but Kyle’s actually the one who did the backtracking. I asked him to follow up on it after we talked.”

Tj smiled. “Don’t worry
; you still get the credit for following up. It sounds like I owe you both.”

“Maybe
, and I’d like to cash in on my goodwill credits on a date. A real date. You and me. No kids, no friends, just the two of us. What do you think?”

Tj hesitated.

“If you don’t want to I understand.”

“I do want to,” Tj
said, “as long as you realize it’s just a date.”

“How about tomorrow
?”

“
That’s night two of the play,” Tj reminded him.

“Okay
, then how about next week? You pick the night.”

“Okay. I’ll let you know.”

“Wow
, look at the crowd,” Tj said to Kyle and Jenna later that evening. The three of them stood behind the curtain, looking out as they waited for the show to start. Tj could see that Jordan, Kallie, and Brady were sitting with her dad, Rosalie, Ben, Bookman, and Doc. Helen and Bonnie were sitting with Bren, Pastor Dan, and Hannah in the front row, but Dennis was nowhere in sight.

“Where
’s Dennis?” Tj asked.

“He didn’t come. He’s really been struggling since he
hasn’t been working. Captain Brown has been trying to get the county to let him come back, but they’re still hesitant.”

“This whole thing is ridiculous,” Tj sympathized. “Dennis would never kill anyone.”

“You and I know that, but the problem is that there wasn’t a single person at that dinner who would kill anyone and yet someone did. No matter how you do the math, it still comes up looking like, of the possible choices, Dennis is the only one who makes sense.”

“Yeah, I guess I can see that. Still
, it really is too bad he didn’t come. He’ll regret it later when this all gets cleared up.”

“I tried to tell him that
, but he wouldn’t listen,” Jenna said. “I thought Jake and Hunter were coming tonight, but I don’t see them.”

“They are. Grandpa and the guys are saving them seats
because Hunter had a last-minute emergency.” Tj pointed out two empty seats between Ben and Rosalie.

“I hope the cast doesn’t forget their lines,” Jenna said nervously. “Standing in front of such a huge crowd has got to
put a lot of pressure on a kid.”

“They’ll do fine,” Kyle
assured her. “Even if they flub up a bit, the audience is made up of loving parents and grandparents. It’ll be fine. By the way,” Kyle looked at Tj, “I think I found a little house for Kallie to rent. It’s in town near the school and has a huge backyard. There are two bedrooms and a nice, large living area. It’s currently for sale, but there’s an offer in on it, and I happen to know that if the offer is accepted, the new owner will be willing to rent it to Kallie for what she can afford.”

“Are you the
potential owner, Kyle?” Tj asked.

“Am I that transparent
?”

Tj stood on tiptoe and kissed
him on the cheek. “You’re a real peach, my friend. Kallie will be thrilled, but I don’t think I’ll mention it to her until you know for sure that it’s going to work out.”

“I made the owner an all
-cash offer. I don’t see any way he won’t go for it. I should hear back by the end of the evening, and since it would be all cash, the escrow should go quickly. If Kallie doesn’t want it for some reason, it would still a good investment; I should be able to make some money off it if I resell it in a few years.”

“You’re really getting this rich landowner thing down.” Tj was impressed.

“I took a course in real estate investing on the Internet,” Kyle admitted. “It’s really just common sense, but I picked up some good tips on how to value property. Zachary left me enough money so that I don’t need to do anything but sit back and spend it, but I’m too young to take myself out of the game altogether. Besides, the more money I make, the more I can donate, which is something I’ve found that I very much enjoy doing.”

“Well
, I for one appreciate your efforts, and I’m sure Kallie will too.”

“Hunter just walked in with Jake,” Jenna said, “and look who he
has with him.”

Dennis walked in with Hunter. Everyone scooted down to make room for the unexpected addition. “I wonder how Hunter managed to talk him into coming.” Jenna sounded amazed.

“Hunter can be very persuasive,” Tj answered. “I’m glad he came. It would have been sad for him to miss the girls’ debut.”

“
Did Jordan tell you how his conversation with the woman who sent the letter went?” Kyle wondered.

“Yes
, and thank you for tracking her down. I guess this Abigail felt bad about the way they’d left things years ago. She’d known Jordan had feelings for her, so she knew her engagement to his best friend would hurt him, and she knew he was shipping out the next day. The more she considered the situation, the more certain she was that she might have chosen the wrong friend to marry, so she went to the port to talk to him. She found him in the bar, but he was already talking to my mother. He didn’t see her, so she left.”

“So if Jordan hadn’t been with your mom
when Abigail went looking for him, the courses of both their lives might have been altered,” Jenna commented.

“Maybe. I suppose if they
’d talked and come to the conclusion that they should be together, then yeah, both of their lives might have worked out differently.”

“Wow
.” Jenna sighed.

“Anyway,” Tj continued, “s
everal months later Abigail saw my mom in a local store and recognized her. When she realized my mom was pregnant, she went back to the bar and asked the bartender about my mom. My mother was a frequent patron of the bar, so the bartender knew her name and where she lived. He verified that my mom and Jordan had rented one of the rooms in the adjoining motel on the night in question, so Abigail put two and two together.”

“So she suspected you
r mom’s baby might belong to Jordan all along?” Jenna asked.

“She did.”

“Why did she wait so long to say anything?”

“She didn’t know for certain that my mom’s baby was Jordan’s child
, and the bartender told her that my mom was married, so she figured it was best to leave well enough alone. After my mom and her third husband were killed in the auto accident, Abigail happened to see a newspaper article about it. There was a photo of Ashley and Gracie, with a caption that said something about them being orphans, which was actually untrue because it wasn’t their father who died with my mom but her new husband. Anyway, when Abigail saw the photo of Gracie she realized Jordan was probably her father.”

“So why the secrecy?” Kyle asked. “Why didn’t she just tell Jordan what she knew?”

“She admitted to Jordan that she didn’t want him to know she’d come to see him that night. It had been years, she was happily married with children, and she assumed he had moved on. She was afraid if he knew that she had reconsidered their relationship, it might affect whatever peace he’d made with the situation.”

“Yeah, I can see that
.” Jenna nodded.

“So she sent the anonymous letter
, which led to this point in time,” Kyle summed up. “How did Jordan seem after speaking to the woman?”

Tj shrugged. “He’s not an easy person to read
, but he’s been smiling and playing with Brady the whole time we’ve been talking, so I guess he’s okay.”

“
We should stop chatting and go make sure everyone is ready,” Kyle commented.

“The girls have been so excited
, I hope everything goes okay,” Tj added. “I think I’m more nervous than they are.”

“It’s going to be great.”
Kyle put his arm around Tj’s shoulder as they walked toward the dressing room.

“Better than great
.” Jenna looped her arm through Tj’s free arm. As the three of them walked toward the dressing room and the cast, Tj realized that there really was nothing better than good friends coming together like a huge extended family.

“Oh my God, I am so excited.” Kallie seemed to be about to jump out of her skin with joy as Tj drove her to the house Kyle was in the process of buying. Not only had Kyle managed to get the house for a good price but Jordan had been able to work it out for Brady to stay with his mom until after New Year’s, so the boy was going to be able to get a peek at the new house as well.

“Kyle said it’s a really great house,” Tj confirmed. “And it
’s close to the school, which will be important because Jordan seems certain he can help you regain custody before Brady starts kindergarten next year.”