Hard Silence by Mia Kay

Author:Mia Kay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Jeff walked into the kitchen, his tie draped around his neck, as Cass tromped down the stairs. Her eyes went wide.

“Holy cow. Look at you.”

“I’m gray,” Jeff grumbled as he ran his hand over his shorter hair.

“You’ve been gray for a year. And it looks great on you or I would’ve told you otherwise.”

“Gee, thanks.” He rubbed his jaw and then consciously forced his hand down. He’d been doing that since he’d left the barber. It was weird, feeling skin against skin.

“She’ll like it, once she realizes who you are.”

“I didn’t do it for her. It had become too much trouble, and the beard itched.”

“Sure,” Cass snorted.

“Besides, I can’t look like that when I go back to the office so I might as well get used to it.” He wagged an end of the tie at her. “Help me with this.”

“Not a word about my dress?”

“It’s purple.”

“Plum.”

“And it’s too short, and too tight. No wonder you couldn’t walk down the stairs without sounding like a giraffe in a closet.”

“Wow, thanks. That had nothing to do with the dress. It was the shoes.”

Realizing she was almost at eye level, he looked down at her feet. Three-inch heels. “Tight hem, tall shoes. I hope you don’t have to run for your life.”

“In Fiddler?” she laughed as looped his tie into a knot. “Who does this for you in Chicago?”

“I can normally do it for myself.”

“Don’t be nervous. We can smell fear.”

“Ha-ha. Funny. Are you getting even for the giraffe comment?”

“Maybe,” Cass muttered as she tightened the knot against his throat. “There.” She stepped back and blinked. “Thomas Jefferson, you look like Dad.”

Jeff gulped. He knew he did. Hiding it under the beard and hair had made it easy to forget, to block the memories. With the beard, his mother had relaxed when he’d walked into the room—he was no longer a reminder of her long-dead husband.

Rather than standing here reliving their family tragedy, he went to the refrigerator and retrieved the flowers he’d stashed. “We’re taking Abby’s SUV since we have to drop Evan with Faye. I’m walking down in a few minutes. I’ll see you at the dance.”

“You’re taking her flowers?”

“Lilacs are her favorites,” Jeff mumbled.

“Wait ’til I tell Mom,” Cass teased as she walked past him to the door.

“Don’t you dare. I’ve got my hands full as it is.”

“Yeah, yeah...”

“Hey, Cassie?” Jeff waited until she faced him. “Thanks for everything. And you look great. Seriously.”

“Thanks.” She smiled. “See you at the party.”

When Cassie’s taillights disappeared, Jeff locked the house and walked through the gate into the pasture. The trail was easy to follow in the moonlight, but even in pitch dark he would’ve found his way. Between baseball practice and dinner, and then lunches with Abby, he’d spent more time in the valley than up here.

Yesterday he’d even carried his computer down there, and they’d shared her office. He’d worked all afternoon camped in her office chair, sipping tea and listening to music and to Toby’s nails clicking on the hardwood floors.

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