“Stay there,” Matt called to him, envisioning the man breaking his hip trying to cross the curling, yellowed linoleum.
When he was closer, Mr. Mullins squinted at him. “That you, Matt Atkins?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Heard you were back in town. Guess you ain’t stirring up trouble the way you used to, are you?” He cackled dryly at his little joke.
Matt grinned. “Not if I hope to keep my job.”
“Always thought Don Killian would get you straightened out,” he said approvingly. “He was a good man. Too bad about what happened to him.”
“Yes, it is.”
“His family doing okay? I’ve thought about going by the diner to pay my respects, but I don’t get around the way I used to.”
“I’m sure they understand. They’re doing the best they can.”
The old man gave him a sharp look. “That include the boy, Jeff, I think it is?”
Matt regarded him with surprise. “Why would you ask that?”
The old man sighed and leaned even more heavily on his walker. “Because that girl he’s been hanging around with is my great-granddaughter, and she’s out of control. I hate to speak ill of one of my own, but Rosa ought to get her son away from Marisol, if she knows what’s good for him. The girl has a wild streak. Got it from her mama, who never bothered to marry my grandson. She had some cockamamy idea that marriage was the thing that ruined a relationship. If they’d let me talk to her, I could have told her a thing or two about marriage. I was with my Rachel for sixty years, and every one of those years was a joy.”
Matt could hear the concern and the frustration in his voice. “Anything I can do to help with your great-granddaughter?”
Mr. Mullins cackled again as if it were Matt who’d made a joke this time. “I ’spect you’re the last person I ought to be telling about what I think is going on with that girl. Her daddy’ll handle it, once he gets his head out of the sand. Hard to do right when it comes to discipline when he’s only in the girl’s life part-time.” He met Matt’s gaze. “What brings you by here? You looking for something in particular? That room may look like a mess, but I can tell you every single thing that’s in there and pretty much where to find it.”
Matt grinned. “I imagine you can. Actually, though, I came by because I heard you might be interested in selling out.”
“To the right person, maybe,” he said. “You don’t strike me as the type to want to fool around with a lot of dusty old treasures.”
“No, but Emma Killian might be. She was in the antiques business up in Washington. I think she might consider staying in Winter Cove, if the right opportunity presented itself.”
Mr. Mullins cackled again and gave Matt a sly look. “You saying you ain’t enough to keep her here on your own?”
Obviously the man’s frail health hadn’t hurt his ability to tap into the Winter Cove gossip network. “Maybe,” Matt said. “Maybe not. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to hedge my bets.”
“You bring her on by sometime. No point in wasting my energy discussing this with you, when she’s the one who’ll have to decide.”
Matt laughed. “Good point. Any time in particular?”
“I’m here most days. Most evenings, too, for that matter, now that the street’s getting all yuppified. Once in a while somebody with a good eye wanders in, but mostly it’s young people with too much cash and not enough sense to know they’re supposed to bargain with me. You say the Killian girl knows her stuff?”
“So I gather,” Matt said.
Mr. Mullins nodded, his eyes sparkling with anticipation. “Good. There’s nothing I like better than a lively negotiation with a smart woman. Take note of that, young man. A smart woman will never bore you. My Rachel, God rest her soul, was a live wire till the day she died. I couldn’t put a thing over on her.” He grinned. “Not that I tried, of course.”
“Of course,” Matt said. “I’ll bring Emma by the first chance I get.”
In fact, he could hardly wait. He had a hunch that his future was in Joshua Mullins’s gnarled hands. Something told him, also, that he couldn’t find a better person to entrust it to. Some men were born with wisdom about human nature. Don Killian had been one of those. Joshua Mullins had learned it the hard way, from a long life, hard work and a good woman. Matt wouldn’t mind following in his footsteps.
Emma took one look at her mother’s pale face and worried expression and knew something had happened.
“What’s wrong?” she asked when she found Rosa at the kitchen table staring into space, her expression almost as bleak as it had been in the day’s after Emma’s father’s death.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t give me that. Is it Andy?”
“Andy’s fine. He’s got a date tonight. Lauren Patterson finally said yes.” She forced a smile. “Seems to me you ought to have one, too, now that Kim’s on her way back to Washington. Where’s Matt?”
“I have no idea where Matt is, and stop trying to change the subject. If Andy’s fine, what about Jeff? Have you seen him?”
“He came by the diner earlier,” her mother conceded with obvious reluctance.
“And?”
“He’s in trouble, Emma,” she said, barely choking back a sob. She visibly steadied herself, then added, “I tried laying it on the line with him, but I don’t think I got through. Maybe he has to hit rock bottom before he’ll get it, but it breaks my heart to think of it coming to that.”
Emma would have shaken Jeff if she could have gotten her hands on him at that moment. Her mother had been doing so well lately. Now worry about Jeff was clearly pushing her back toward the depression from which she’d only recently emerged.
“Mom, we may not be able to fix this. He has to want to get better.”
Her mother regarded her with regret. “I know that. I blame your father. If he were here, he’d know what to do.”
“I don’t think so. I honestly think Jeff was already headed down this path before Dad died. You said yourself he was already mixed up with Marisol and she’s obviously part of the problem.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rosa snapped, then immediately looked contrite. “I’m sorry. If I’m being perfectly honest, I know you’re right. He and your father had fought about his new crowd of friends, which only made them more attractive to Jeff. Your brother had pretty much stopped coming around long before your father died. I tried to pretend it was just because he was in college and testing his wings, but it was more than that. Jeff’s been struggling for a long time to figure out who he is. The only thing he knew for sure was that he didn’t want to be his father, that he didn’t want any part of Flamingo Diner.”
“And Dad couldn’t accept that, could he?” Emma guessed. Her father had given in with undisguised reluctance to her wishes, but Jeff was his son. There was a difference. Her dad wouldn’t have given up on Jeff as easily.
“No,” Rosa said. “It broke Don’s heart to have his oldest son reject the business he’d worked so hard to turn into a success.”
“And now Jeff feels trapped and guilty because Dad’s gone and we’ve been pressuring him to pitch in,” Emma said thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s little wonder that he’s looked for a way out.”
“Well, he picked the wrong way,” her mother said fiercely. “And this is an emergency, not a commitment for the rest of his life. I am so disappointed in him.”
“Did you tell him that?”
“Yes,” she said with no apparent sign of regret.
Emma regarded her with surprise. Her mother was definitely getting back to her old self if she wasn’t hesitating to speak her mind. “Good for you,” she told her mother.
“I also told him I loved him and that it was time for him to make a choice about straightening out his life.” She gave Emma a worried look. “I know he needed to hear that, but what if I just pushed him further away?”
“Mom, all any of us can do is try with him. In the end, it’s going to be his decision. It’
s not like he’s misbehaving on a play date. He’s too old for you or even me to go charging down to wherever he’s hanging out these days and drag him home.”
Her mother smiled. “Doesn’t mean I’m not tempted to try.”
Emma gave her hand a squeeze. “I know. Me, too.”
When Matt walked into the diner, Andy caught his eye and beckoned him over to the grill, where he had at least a dozen eggs cooking, along with a pile of hash browns, and a couple of pounds of bacon. He was beginning to look like a pro, though the expression on his face was too grim for a boy his age.
“You need help, kid?” Matt asked. He stood back and admired the way Andy deftly flipped an egg without breaking the yolk.
“Not till you learn to do this,” Andy said with a grin that quickly faded. “I wanted to ask you about something else.”
“Okay, what?”
“This is between you and me, right?” Andy asked worriedly. “As my friend, not as a cop?”
“If that’s the way you want it,” Matt assured him.
“I think something’s going on with Jeff, something bad. Mom and Emma were talking till all hours last night. I went down to get a soda and I heard ’em mention Jeff’s name. I didn’t want to eavesdrop, but I could tell they were both upset.”
“Has Jeff been around lately?”
“I haven’t seen him.” His normally cheerful expression darkened. “I hate him,” he said in a fierce undertone. “I know he’s my brother and all, but I really do hate him.”
He waited as if he expected Matt to chastise him for his feelings. Matt merely nodded. “I can understand that.”
“It’s not like things aren’t bad enough, but he has to go and pull a disappearing act and worry Mom. What kind of son does something like that?” Andy demanded heatedly.
Matt squeezed his shoulder. “One who’s a little mixed up right now. Come on, Andy, you don’t really hate him. You and Jeff have always been tight. He helped you a lot right after your dad died, didn’t he?”
“I suppose,” Andy said grudgingly. “But where is he now?”
“He’s struggling to make sense of things.”
“Well, I’m tired of it. I’m tired of being the only one around here to help out Mom and Emma. Hell, Emma gave up everything to come home because she knew we needed her. What happens if she gets sick of this and goes back to Washington? Who would blame her? Not me. Some days I feel like I could pack it in and go with her.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about Emma going anywhere,” Matt said. “At least not right now. And your Mom is better and back at work. Even if Emma left, Flamingo Diner would do fine.”
“Not without me,” Andy retorted. “Not unless Mom hired somebody, and we don’t have the money for that right now. And I’ve got school starting. What happens then?”
“Want me to have a talk with your mom?”
“No, I want you to find Jeff and kick his butt from here to Miami.”
Matt hid a smile. “Okay, kid, I can do that, too.”
“What were you and Andy huddling about?” Emma asked when the restaurant had emptied out and she could join Matt.
“Guy stuff,” he said.
Her gaze narrowed. “He wasn’t asking you about sex, was he?”
Matt laughed. “Interesting that that’s the first thing that popped into your head,” he taunted.
Emma scowled at him. “This isn’t a joke. Was it about sex or not?”
“No, the only Killian with whom I discuss sex these days is you.”
“Very funny.”
“I thought so. Don’t worry about Andy. He’s got his head on straight, and as for sex, he’s seventeen. I’m pretty sure he knows all he needs to know.”
She sank down in a chair, grabbed Matt’s saucer and set the coffeepot on it. “You don’t seriously think he’s fooling around, do you?”
“I was at seventeen,” Matt said.
She frowned at him. “Yeah, so I heard. But you were street smart enough to avoid getting into trouble.”
“Only because your father sat me down when I was fourteen and gave me a lecture and a box of condoms.”
She stared at him. “At fourteen?”
He shrugged, looking a little too pleased with himself. “I was precocious.”
Emma let that pass. “So you think he had this same talk with Andy,” she surmised.
“I’d bet on it.”
“Thank God. With Jeff spinning out of control, the last thing this family needs would be for Andy to get some girl pregnant during his senior year. He’s finally got a date with Lauren Patterson. He’s had this thing for her forever. I wouldn’t want him to let his hormones overrule his head.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that. Lauren’s a very sensible girl. Besides, Andy has a good head on his shoulders. More than that, he’s as aware as anyone of just how irresponsible Jeff is being. I definitely don’t think he wants to follow in his big brother’s footsteps.”
“Maybe not, but every now and then, he must feel as if he’s carrying more than his share of the load. Who could blame him if he decided to reach out to some girl for comfort?” Emma asked.
“The way you reached out to me?” Matt asked quietly.
“Something like that.” She drew in a deep breath. “But I wanted more from you than comfort.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“I just don’t know what quite yet.”
“You’ll work it out,” he said confidently and without any evidence that he was in a hurry. He looked around the diner, then stood up. “I’ll be right back.”
She stared after him as he went to the front door and flipped the lock. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Closing,” he said as he turned the sign on the door to the appropriate side. He came back to the table and straddled his chair. “Let’s talk.”
She eyed him warily. “About?”
“You.”
“What about me?”
“Your color’s lousy and you’re clearly exhausted. I thought you were doing great, but now I’m not so sure. I’m worried about you.”
“Thanks so much for the confidence booster.”
“You don’t need sweet talk. You need action.” He stood up and leaned down, capturing her mouth.
She debated shoving him away, but the kiss felt too good. When her head was spinning, he stood up and studied her, then gave a satisfied nod. “Much better.”
“Better?” She felt dazed.
“Definitely better.”
“Better than what?”
“The way you looked when I walked in here. You’re working too hard, Emma. You’re pale. You’re strung so tight, I’m scared you’re going to shatter. Even just now, you looked as if you were expecting me to drop more bad news on you about Andy.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted, though her hand shook as she tried to pour his coffee. Maybe she had been anticipating the worst lately. She had reason to be jittery. A lot of the news coming her way had been pretty devastating. She was no worse off than anyone else would be under the same circumstances.
“I’m fine,” she repeated to emphasize the point.
“Yeah, I can see that,” Matt said wryly. “I know things have been rough around here, but you can’t shoulder the whole burden alone. I thought you understood that, but apparently you need reminding more often.”
“I’m not doing this on my own, not anymore.”
He scowled at that. “Who’s helping? Your mom’s back, but her heart’s not in it, not entirely, anyway. Andy’s here, but he can only do so much.”
“Is this about Jeff?” she asked. “I don’t want to go down that road with you.”
“I’m not specifically talking about Jeff. I’m worried about you and the effect all this stress is having on you.”
“Don’t,” she said. “Besides, I have you.”
His frown dissipated. “Thank you. Who else?”
“You already said it. I have Andy,” sh
e said.
“He’ll be back in school next week. What then?”
“I’ll manage. And despite what you think, Mom really is getting better. She’s been going to some meetings and she’s almost back to her old self.”
“And Jeff?”
“Let’s just leave him out of this,” she said again, aware that she sounded a little desperate. She didn’t want Matt digging too deeply into what Jeff was up to these days. Not that he didn’t already have his suspicions, but she wasn’t about to be the one to confirm them. She and her mother could handle Jeff. They had to.
“How can I leave him out of it?” Matt asked reasonably. “He’s a crucial part of the problem.”
“Come on, Matt, give him a break. This hit him hard. He’s had to give up college in his senior year. Instead of graduating, he’s back here. He had a job at the mall, but he lost it.”
“Then where the hell is he? If he made all these sacrifices for the family, then why isn’t he here pitching in?”
Emma frowned at the question. “It’s not your concern,” she said stiffly.
“I’m making it my concern.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re worn-out. You need help. Jeff is old enough to be taking up some of the slack around here. Apparently my last conversation with him didn’t make that clear enough.”
“Forget it. Mom and I can deal with Jeff. The only help I want from you is answers.”
“That’s not what you were suggesting just a minute ago.”
She decided she had to go on the offensive to divert his attention from her brother. “Dammit, Matt, what have you found out about my father’s business activities? It’s been days since Jennifer’s last disappearance. Have you tracked her down or not? Are you just sitting around waiting for Cori to call? I could do that much myself.”
The tactic failed. He merely regarded her with a tolerant expression.
“You’re not going to change the subject on me so easily,” he said. “Let’s finish talking about what you’re going to do to ease up on the pressure you’re putting on yourself.”
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