“She’s up there with her head buried under her arms right now. And sending you that bank statement didn’t ease her fear.” Evie clenched her fingers to prevent running them through her own out-of-control mop. “If it’s rural solitude she requires...” She shook her head. Sometimes her need to help raced ahead of her ability to do so.
“No people, no traffic, no startling noises.” Jax waited for her to finish her sentence.
Evie wrinkled up her nose. “The schoolteacher’s house on Shady Lane. It shouldn’t be left empty. You can pay rent to Loretta’s trust. I don’t know if any of the furniture is still there. She’d need household items... can Ariel cook for herself?”
“As well as I can with a properly-stocked kitchen.” Jax slapped the van’s open window. “Can you get that driver back? Will he make an hour drive?”
Already regretting her suggestion, Evie stuck out her hand for his phone. An hour wasn’t much time to organize food, furniture, and linens—while quelling her family’s curiosity.
Planting Ariel on land a development company wanted to claim was like throwing gasoline on hot charcoal. They’d need strong safety measures.
While Jax worked out his logistics with his team, Evie began calling her family.
Twenty
Scrutinizingthe cottage Evie’s family had hastily cleaned and arranged for his sister, Jax wished Ariel would allow him to stay with her. But his sister’s text had been adamant in wanting a place all to herself.Arielandadamantwere not words that normally went together. He’d left her at the condo, waiting for a car, while he and Evie had sped ahead in his Jag.
“It would have helped if we knew what she liked to eat,” Evie complained from the tiny kitchen, where she was poking around, verifying basic necessities had been provided.
“She eats whatever is available, as long as it’s edible. Your family did a fantastic job. They need to pull together an invoice and let me pay them for their time and trouble.” Jax examined the pantry. They’d even included some of their homemade jams and canned fruits and vegetables. Ariel ought to be able to figure it out—if she didn’t go comatose from over-stimulation.
“Does she have that meditation music on any device? The place lacks anything resembling electronic equipment. And there won’t be any internet until the cable is turned on.” With her hair and clothes rumpled and dusty from the warehouse and arranging the cottage, Evie appeared oddly more grounded than usual.
Once he got to know her, her first impression of ditziness wore off.
“She can hide under that stack of quilts if there are too many unfamiliar noises. She’s had over twenty years and lots of therapy to teach her how to neutralize overstimulation. Everything is difficult for her, so I try to help, but we’re not magicians. We cannot provide sanctuary in a box.” Jax checked out the window to see how his team was faring on installing security.
“I’ve asked Priscilla to stop by.” She nervously checked the linen closet. “I can’t claim to understand what Pris sees in other people’s minds, but maybe she can make a connection we can’t. I want your sister to not hate it here.”
“What difference does it make to you?” he asked callously, because she was makinghimnervous with her flitting about, throwing up concerns he couldn’t fix.
Evie threw a pillow at his head. “Because caring for others is what people ought to do. Although that seems to have been bred out of those of you raised in rarified atmospheres.”
“I care for Ariel.” He just couldn’t fix his sister. Jax flung the pillow back.
A black Lincoln slowly trundled around the bend in the lane, so he didn’t finish the stupid argument. Good thing, because he didn’t have a defense in mind. Ariel was about the only person he cared about. He wanted to please Stephen, but that was more about himself than his boss.
Hearing the car, Evie headed for the kitchen. “I’ll go out the back. Ask your guys to pick me up down the lane, please.”
The house echoed emptily the instant she closed the door. Sharing space with Evie’s energy ought to be exhausting, but her absence left him hollow, as if she filled up his empty spaces.
He sent his team after Evie, wincing as the dust rolled up from their van to coat the shiny black car approaching. He’d have to tip the driver well.
After paying off the limo, Jax waited outside on the porch while Ariel inspected what he hoped would be her new home. The cottage didn’t begin to compare to the sprawling luxury she’d been living in—or even the comfort of the condo she’d rejected.
He heard her footsteps on the wooden floors recede and return. When he heard nothing more and she didn’t invite him in, he winced. Silence could mean anything. He didn’t possess interpretative powers.
A moment later, his phone pinged.
THANK YOUappeared on his message screen. He really wanted to go in and verify that she was okay, but she would have invited him if she wanted a visit. She’d obviously had as much stimulation as she could manage, so he resisted doing more than sending her a heart emoji.
Needing a bag to punch or a hole to dig after this emotionally taxing day, Jax reluctantly drove back toward the craziness of Evie’s household. He could almost relate to Ariel’s plight. The sight of official cars still parked at the pond gave him an excuse to pull over the Jag.
Sheriff Troy met him halfway. “Divers found rags and some foot bones. We’re bringing in a bulldozer. We won’t have ID without DNA. As Loretta’s guardian, you need to sign the paperwork to see if she’s a match.”
Shit, damn, friggin’ hell. What could he tell Loretta?Howwould he tell her? He was a lawyer, good with paperwork, not with kids. He needed Evie. Loretta needed Evie, just as they’d told him. Repeating a litany of obscenities, he drove into town and parked in Evie’s empty drive.
Entering through the back door, Jax found Mavis and her sister, Felicia, in the kitchen, concocting dinner. They ignored him. He tracked Evie to the dining room, where she was unburying the table from accumulated junk. At sight of him, she set everything down and unexpectedly hugged his waist.