5
Ethan couldn’t stop looking at her. That wasn’t anything new, but the reason behind it was. He was looking for anything that might say the deputy was right. But she didn’t appear to be scoping the place out. If anything, she looked more relaxed now than she had since they’d first met.
“Are we playing games again tonight?” she asked.
Have you been playing? “I’m not sure. What do you say we just sit by the fire and…talk?”
“When you say talk, do you mean…”
“Talk,” he stated. It wasn’t going to go over well, but he needed to tell her about what happened today. Even if she was here purely innocently, she needed to know her father was concerned.
Kollette briefly had a look of disappointment, that quickly vanished. “I think that sounds nice. How about instead of coffee tonight, we try hot chocolate with marshmallows?”
“I don’t think I’ve had that since I was a kid.”
“My step-mother used to make it for me and Connor all the time.”
There was a sadness that crossed her face. “And she doesn’t make it any more?”
She shook her head. “No. She had pneumonia and because she had Lupus, it was even more of a complication. She ended in the hospital, but they couldn’t do anything. She passed a few days later.”
Ethan reached out and covered her hand with his. “I’m sorry.”
“It was almost two years ago.”
“I’m sure it was very difficult,” he said. Ethan hadn’t experienced the loss of anyone close to him.
“Guess we all handled it the same. Bury ourselves in work. My father and brother were even worse than me. Maybe that’s because all he feels like he has left is…work. And Connor, well he left his job and that probably was a good thing.”
She had opened the door to questions. It sucked that he was going to use this topic as the way to get some answers. “What type of work do you do?” He wasn’t sure how she was going to answer. He hoped she wasn’t about to lie.
“I work for my father.”
That didn’t really answer his question. So he switched it up to focus on her brother. “And how about Connor?”
“No. He didn’t want anything to do with that. Actually for years he worked undercover for the DEA, but he left after his mother died. Now he works for some family in New York or Boston. Not sure. One of those New England states.”
“What didn’t he like about the family business?”
Kollette shrugged. “I guess he looked at everyone like they could be a suspect for something instead of just a guest.”
“A guest?” Just say it!
“At the hotel. That’s what my father does. He owns a few hotels. I’m one of his managers.”
Finally. Thank you.“In Miami?”
“Yes. I actually heard from him today. Can you believe it? My phone actually rang and I could answer it.”
“I’m sure you were happy to hear his voice,” he said.
She smiled. “Not as happy as he was to hear mine. You’d never believe what happened if I told you.”
“Try me.” Because I really want to know.
“Guess he thought something had happened to me. See I didn’t show up where I was supposed to. Instead, I stopped here. But when my father couldn’t reach me, I guess he panicked. I explained to him what happened and he’s calm now.”
“So this wasn’t your original destination?” Internally he crossed his fingers that he had heard correctly.