Page 28 of Lead Me On
Her mom sniffed. “Okay, I’ll go get dinner ready. It’s chili. I hope that’s okay.”
“Thanks, Mom. That sounds really good. I’ll be there to set the table in a few minutes.”
Her mom rushed for the kitchen while Jane walked quietly to Mac’s office door and put her ear to it. Nothing. She knocked and eased it open. “Mac? Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he growled.
She sat in the folding chair at the corner of his metal desk. “Dad.”
His jaw stiffened, but he said nothing. He acted tough, but the idea of his son in jail was clearly too much for him. Mac wouldn’t go visit Jessie, but he’d sit here and worry about him all the same.
“We’ll get him out.”
“Maybe he needs to be in there.”
She thought of all the years Mac had spent in prison and touched his forearm briefly. He hadn’t become her stepfather until she was seven. She loved him, but she hadn’t spent her early years curled up on his lap, so they weren’t touchy-feely, but he seemed so lonely today. “You refused to go see him?”
His face twisted in fury. “He put himself in this position. He knows better. Goddamn it, heknowsbetter. And if he were here right now I’d knock him into the wall.”
She nodded.
“After I got out, I promised your mom she’d never have to sit in another prison waiting room again. I wanted something better for her and for you kids. I tried my best to raise him right.”
“This is his fault, not yours.”
“I let him get away with too much. If he gets out, things are going to change.”
She nodded again and put her hand over his, thinking how often he’d emphasized to Jessie that he expected more of his son than he’d made of himself.
Jane swallowed back the threat of tears. “You saved me, you know. You saved me, Mac.”
He shook his head. “I let it go too long.”
“You were a good father to me, and you’ve been good to Jessie, too.” His hand tightened to a fist. “Mom’s getting dinner ready. Are you coming out?”
“I don’t know if she wants me out there. She’s pissed.”
“You know she never stays mad long.”
Mac shrugged, staring down at Jane’s hand on his.
If Jessie went to prison, it would kill Mac. No question about it. She wouldn’t let him be broken like that, not after what he’d done for her.
She could still remember that moment when he’d come to pick her up at that Denver police station. The sight of his strong arms pushing open the scarred doors to rescue her from a terrifying night. She’d felt such relief to see him, but her fear had remained. Fear and shame and regret and defiance. Still, she’d never once thought Mac would hurt her. Her fear had been the disgust she’d see in his eyes.
“I love you, Dad,” she said, and then she left him alone with his worries because there was nothing more she could do. Not until tomorrow, anyway.
* * *
HE’D HAD NO REASONto stop by Jennings Architecture that day, so Chase had restrained himself. Restraint had seemed especially important considering his plan for that night. Following her from work would be crazy. Insanely creepy. But if he just happened to drive by Ryders again… Well, if he saw a white BMW, he’d pop in and look around.
Only because Jane had seemed awfully upset about something.
Granted, he hardly knew the woman, but hehadslept with her, which meant he probably knew her better than most other people. They were friends of some sort. Intimate acquaintances, at least. And he could go to a bar if he wanted to. It was a free world.
The fact that he had to justify it to himself wasn’t a good sign.
Still, he threw on his sunglasses and headed out. It was seven when he pulled up, the same time it had been yesterday when he’d driven by. And lo and behold, there was a white BMW parked in the lot, on the north side this time.
