Mistletoe in Texas by Kari Lynn Dell

Author:Kari Lynn Dell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2018-08-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

Grace couldn’t stop seeing the look on Hank’s face. Not the stunned disbelief, but what came after. The realization that people who were supposed to care about him had not only kept the truth from him but considered him incapable of being trusted. Grace hadn’t fully understood how devastating that would be until she’d watched the havoc it had wreaked.

That she had wreaked.

“Hey,” Jeremiah said softly from the door of her bedroom. “Anything I can get you?”

“No. I’m…” Not fine. Bless his heart, her brother was trying, but what could he do besides let her drip all over his shoulder and shush Lucas and Matthew? He’d told them she was in bed with a migraine and needed the dark and the quiet, so they tiptoed and whispered and kept the TV turned down low, as if she could sleep, or even close her eyes.

As she stared up at the ceiling, she was gripped by an urgent need to know that Hank was safe.

Johnny Brookman was listed in the Earnest directory. Would Hank’s dad even speak to her? She’d never spoken to him, had always thought he was slightly terrifying, and she misdialed twice while punching in his number.

There was a clatter as the receiver was snatched up before the end of the first ring. “Hello?”

Grace stiffened. Damn. Damn. Why hadn’t it occurred to her that Hank might pick up? She heard rustling, like blankets being pushed aside, and then he said, “Grace?”

She let out a breath. “How did you know?”

“Dumas cell phone number.” His voice was muted, as if he didn’t want anyone to hear. “And who else would panic when I answered?”

Excellent deduction. Her heart was hammering, and her palms had gone damp. “I didn’t expect to talk to you.”

“Then why did you call?”

“I just wondered…”

When she trailed off, he finished, “If I was still breathing?”

“Uh…I was going to say safe.”

“Same thing.”

After an interminable pause, she realized he wasn’t going to continue. She should say okay, great and hang up, but now that she’d established this tiny thread of connection, she didn’t want to break it. “Why are you whispering?”

“Dad and Bing are asleep.” She heard another rustle and pictured him scooping the hair back off his face, a gesture that was already becoming familiar. “Why are you whispering?”

“Jeremiah and the boys are here.”

He breathed, slow and even, in and then out. Meditative breaths, she realized. This Hank would do that kind of thing. “I was afraid you were alone.”

The admission gave her a queer little pang. After all this, he could still worry about her? “Are you okay? I mean, after you and Gil…”

“A couple of scrapes. Nothing major.”

“That’s good.” Grace pulled the comforter over her head, closing herself in with the blue glow from the phone and the thump of her heart. The longer she stayed on the line, the more likely that he would ask the inevitable questions. How could you? What’s wrong with you?

She had answers. A pat little list drilled into her by that counselor in Oregon.

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