Jack chuckled. “About the time I married you.”
“Good answer.”
“You still interested in that shower?” Olivia asked in a sultry voice as they neared the house.
“You bet I am.” Her question added an extra bounce to his step.
Olivia broke into an unhurried trot. “Wanna race?”
Jack declined. “I think I’d better conserve my strength—for later.”
“Excellent idea. Otherwise I might wear you out completely and I wouldn’t want to do that.”
Jack cast her a teasing, sexy look. “Oh, but I was hoping you’d at least try.”
Olivia couldn’t keep from giggling like a schoolgirl. One of the great gifts of her marriage was laughter. Jack tended to see the humor in situations, even serious ones, and he could be a very clever mimic. “I don’t know what I ever did without you, Jack Griffin.”
“I don’t, either.”
“We don’t have anything planned for this evening, do we?” he asked.
“Well…” Olivia hated to break this to him. “Actually, we do.”
“We do?” Jack whined.
“Grace and Cliff invited us to dinner to give Cal a nice send-off to Wyoming.”
“He needs us to send him off?”
Olivia would rather stay home, too, but she’d promised her friend. “I told Grace we’d be there.”
Jack gave a deep, resigned sigh. “What’s Grace cooking?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“I’m going to need lots of incentives. Like her rib roast and those mashed potatoes she does.”
They reached the house and Olivia jogged up the steps only to find Jack surging ahead of her. “Jack,” she cried when he entered the house. He hadn’t bothered to wait for her, either. “Where are you going?”
He looked back, raising his eyebrows. “To turn on the shower, of course.”
“Of course,” Olivia echoed. “I’m right behind you.”
Nineteen
Ever since the phone call from Anson, Allison had been waiting, waiting for him to contact her again. It’d been almost three weeks, and she was afraid she wouldn’t hear from him a second time. As graduation grew closer, she hoped and prayed that the investigators would uncover something, anything, to prove his innocence.
“Dinner,” her mother shouted from the kitchen. Allison reluctantly left her bedroom. After her parents had remarried, they’d insisted on eating as a family every night. Sometimes, like this evening, Allison considered it a major pain, but mostly she enjoyed it. Silly though it sounded, eating together had brought them all closer. With everyone’s hectic schedule, the habit had fallen by the wayside, and Allison hadn’t thought she’d really missed it. But if sitting down with her family at dinnertime helped keep her parents’ marriage intact, she’d do it.
Her mother had cooked Eddie’s favorite meal tonight, spaghetti and meatballs. That should make her little brother happy, since food, computer games and basketball were his three passions. She remembered how much Anson liked Eddie and had even played basketball with him a few times.
Without being asked, Allison set the salad on the table and brought out two bottles of dressing from the refrigerator door. Her mother thanked her with a smile.
Her father sliced the French bread while Eddie sat at the table waiting. Typical boy attitude. Like it was his right to have everyone wait on him.
After saying grace, they passed everything around and Allison served herself some salad and just enough spaghetti to deter any comments or questions. Her appetite hadn’t been good since Anson’s disappearance and she’d lost several pounds. Again and again she’d reviewed their brief phone conversation. He’d told her so little, for fear of putting himself at risk. The less she knew, the better. Allison understood that. Still, she couldn’t help worrying about him.
“How was school?” her mother asked.
Eddie shrugged, digging into his meal with unrestrained gusto. He was already taller than Allison and still growing. “Bor-ing.”
“Allison?” Her mother turned to her.
“Okay, I guess. I got accepted into the University of Washington.” The letter had come that afternoon.
Her father set his fork down and stared at her. “You’re only thinking to mention that now?”
She nodded carelessly. “I knew I’d get in.”
“Such confidence,” her mother said, looking at Zach with a smile.
“Congratulations, Allison.” Her father raised his water glass, and the others joined in the toast.
Really, Allison couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Both of her parents had attended UW and it was expected that she would, too. She’d encouraged Anson to apply for a scholarship there, and if he’d stayed in school, if he’d pursued it, she was positive he would’ve been accepted.
No one seemed to realize how intelligent Anson was. He picked up languages easily, as she’d mentioned to his mother; he’d also helped Allison get through her chemistry class. Without him she would barely have passed. All that stuff came to him with very little effort.
“What about you, honey?” her mother asked, directing the question to Zach.
“I attended the Rotary meeting this afternoon and sat with Seth Gunderson.”
Allison’s ears perked up. She kept a file with whatever she could find out about the Gundersons, the restaurant and the fire. Obviously, she didn’t possess the resources or the finesse of the authorities, but she collected every bit of information she could.
“How are Seth and his family doing now?” her mother asked.