He kissed her then, unable to help himself. Right there, on the front porch of the Triple R, where anyone could see. When they finally broke apart, they both were breathing heavily.
“Whoa, cowboy,” she said, smiling.
“I’ve missed you,” he replied, aching to kiss her again. “Let’s go inside.”
She slipped her slender hand in his. Together they walked through the front doors.
“It’s sure quiet in here today,” she commented. “Are you the only one home?”
He liked that she used the word home. It wasn’t yet, but he knew it could be if he wanted. The entire family had been hinting about that. “Right now, yes. But Ace knows I’ve been planning to spend some more time in Tessa’s studio, so it’s all good.” As long as Payne didn’t mind. No one had exactly been clear about that.
Once they’d reached the room, he turned on the light and stood in the doorway for a moment, marveling at how it seemed untouched by time.
“Someone cleans in here regularly,” Fiona said when he spoke that thought out loud. “Otherwise there would be dust everywhere.”
She had a point. He wondered if Payne took on that particular task himself or if he had household staff do it.
They spent the next hour going through photo albums, most of them of Tessa’s children, Payne and a beautiful border collie who must have been the family pet.
After they’d gone through the tenth album, Jake pushed to his feet and stretched. “I think I’ve had enough photo albums for now. Maybe we should check out some of the more artistic shots she took.”
“Where?” Fiona asked, sweeping a wayward strand of hair back from her face as she too stood.
“I think she filed them in those large portfolio things.” Moving toward them, he eyed the assortment of cameras. One of them, a big, bulky, rectangular thing, didn’t look like a camera at all.
“Look.” Jake pointed. “Is that...?”
“A Sony BMC-100. One of the very first personal camcorders.” Fiona moved closer. “Look how freaking huge it is!”
Jake carefully picked it up. “Heavy, too. If I remember right, these guys recorded to those old clunky video tapes.” He pushed a button, and a compartment on the side slowly opened. “There’s still one in here.”
“I wonder if there’s anything on it?” Fiona smiled. “Wouldn’t it be awesome to be ab
le to actually see your mother’s face and hear her voice?”
“It would.” Carefully, Jake closed the camcorder door. “Though if she were the one using it, I doubt she’ll be on any of the recordings. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to look. I wonder if Payne happens to have an old VCR sitting around so we could watch it. I’ll ask Ace later.”
A quick tap on the door had them turning in unison.
“Hey,” Ainsley said, smiling tiredly. “I got Payne released and he’s home. He’s exhausted, so he’s gone to his room to try and get some rest.”
“That’s understandable,” Jake said, relieved. “I’m so glad you were able to get him out of there.”
“It wasn’t easy. I had to do some serious convincing. I mean, come on. He’s elderly, no prior record, and it’s not like he’s a flight risk or danger to society. Luckily, the judge took all that into consideration and set a reasonable bail amount.”
Jake didn’t want to ask what she thought was reasonable.
“Do you happen to know if there’s a working VCR in this house?” Fiona asked, explaining why.
“Seriously, a video tape?” Ainsley appeared intrigued. “That’d be cool if something really was on it. I know Payne has a DVR, but maybe he might have hung on to one of those old VCRs. Ace would probably know for sure.”
By the time Ace returned home, both Ainsley and Grayson had gotten excited about the tape and wanted to find a VCR. The instant he strolled through the door, Ainsley immediately grabbed him, demanding to know if he had any idea where they might find one.
“A VCR?” he asked, incredulous. “Why on earth would anyone need one of those? Did you find an old stash of videotapes or something?”
As soon as they explained, his eyes lit up. “I’d love to see that. Honestly, though, I don’t remember her ever using a video camera.”
“Probably because you were so young,” Ainsley shot back. “Duh.”