Stranger on the Shore by Josh Lanyon

Author:Josh Lanyon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

He was still trying to make sense of May Chung’s reaction when his cell phone rang. The number was not one Griff recognized. He was aggravated at the hope that flared inside his heart, and he answered briskly.

“Griff? This is Diana Mather.”

“Hi,” he said, surprised.

“I just had a client cancel on me and I’m free for lunch today. Would you like to get together?”

Did he have time for this? She was Pierce’s sister, so he was sort of inclined to make time, but he only had a couple of days left on the estate and he still had a lot of work to do.

“Well...”

Diana said, “It’s not going to change the course of history, but there’s something I’ve been wanting to get off my chest for twenty years.”

“All right,” Griff said. “Where did you want to meet?”

“Do you like sushi?”

“Er, no.”

She laughed. “Okay. How about Italian?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. I’ll meet you at Angelina’s on Berry Hill Road at twelve-thirty. Will that work?”

“I’ll see you there.”

He stopped himself disconnecting in time at her urgent, “Griff?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t tell Pierce we’re meeting.”

Diana disconnected, leaving Griff to stare in astonishment at his phone. After a moment, he added her into his contacts, which seemed a bit of bravado, but after all, he might get lost or get delayed.

He walked on to the cottage and found that the bridge had already been repaired and repainted. The rich really were different if they could get a response from a contractor within twenty-four hours.

He went inside, showered, dressed in his last clean pair of jeans and sat down to read Gemma’s journal until it was time to leave to go meet Diana.

Unsurprisingly, after Brian’s kidnapping the tone of Gemma’s journal had changed. One of the most surprising things to Griff, surprising because the earlier Gemma seemed such a positive, upbeat person, was that Gemma seemed to have believed from the first that she would never see her son again. That terrible certainty and sorrow made the latter part of the journal difficult to read.

Today would have been Brian’s fifth birthday. I found myself hoping no one would remember. No, that’s not true. I want them to remember, but I don’t want them to tell me all those well-meaning, inspirational, encouraging things. I can’t bear another kind word. Even Matthew doesn’t understand that hope only makes it harder in the end.

It was almost a relief to put the journal down and leave for his lunch date.

Angelina’s turned out to be a family-owned restaurant in a mostly residential area. On the exterior it looked like any cozy brick and white clapboard house. The interior consisted of three dining rooms, a fireplace and a very nice bar, all warm and pleasantly furnished in cherry wood and old-fashioned wallpaper. But the real attraction was the fantastic fragrance of basil, oregano, garlic, onion and meats braised in wine wafting through the building.

Diana was waiting for him in the bar, sipping a glass of red wine. Her hair was pulled into a casual updo that looked stylish on her.

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