would I tell?” she asked innocently.
“If anyone calls from my office in Biloxi, you tell them I went camping in the backwoods, okay? And if Ben Fortune phones again, stick with the story that you don’t know where I am.” Some of his half siblings had tried to get in touch by mail and phone, but he’d ignored their requests.
Nash heard his mom let out a sigh. “I still don’t understand why you can’t be honest about what you’re doing at work.”
“Because I’m not supposed to be doing it.” He’d told her this before when he’d explained why he was spending time in Austin.
“This is on your own time. Why would anybody care?”
“There’s a hierarchy. The chief told me to drop this, so he’d be very unhappy if he knew I didn’t.”
“I get that. Are you sure you don’t want to look up your father while you’re there?”
“I’m sure.”
“I told you before, he’s not as terrible as the media makes him sound.”
His mother had her memories, but Nash knew the facts. Gerald Robinson had supposedly walked away from the Fortune money and built himself up from scratch. But he’d had many indiscretions along his road to success. Most of them had made their way into the media. Nash still couldn’t believe his mother wasn’t bitter about what had happened to her. Gerald had been married when he had an affair with Marybeth Tremont, but she’d had no expectations going into the affair. He’d given her that old line about his wife being a gold digger and not understanding him. But a man who cheated was a man who cheated. However, Gerald’s indiscretions were the reason Nash had so many half brothers and sisters he’d never met.
His mother’s voice came through the speaker again. “Is what you’re doing dangerous?”
“No, it’s not dangerous. I’m just rounding up background information and this is the best place to do it. With the Robinsons living here, I can nose around, listen to gossip, maybe even get close to them without anybody knowing who I am.”
“I want you to be careful,” his mother warned him.
“I’m always careful.”
He thought he heard her snort before she said, “You know Oklahoma isn’t quite as far from Austin as Biloxi is. If you wrap up early what you’re doing, you can fly home and visit.”
He didn’t get home as often as he thought he should. But there were memories there he didn’t want to revisit. Still, his mother was right. If he did wrap this up quickly, he should fly to Oklahoma for a visit.
“Let me see what happens here, Mom. I took a month of vacation.”
“You know, when I tell you to be careful this time, my advice isn’t simply about being careful physically.”
“What are you worried about?”
“I’m worried if you do run into a half brother or sister, or your father, you’ll leave Austin, stay removed from people who are your family and have many regrets. But I’m also worried that if you somehow make contact, you’ll get hurt.”
“I won’t get hurt. I don’t have any expectations. This is an investigation about wrongdoing...and fraud, Mom. That’s it.”
“If you say so.”
His mother often used that phrase when she didn’t agree with him. He knew it and she knew it.
“Are you going to stop for breakfast instead of just drinking coffee?” she asked.
She also knew him too well. “I actually did have breakfast this morning. The bed-and-breakfast served cinnamon rolls.”
“And? How were they?”
“Cassie gave me one to bring along for a snack.” He said the words without thinking, and the picture of her unwinding her cinnamon roll and licking the icing from her fingers made him almost break out in a sweat.
“Cassie?”
Uh-oh. He should have been watching his tongue. This investigation really did have him rattled. “She owns the bed-and-breakfast.”
“Is she old and gray?”
Again, as if a photo flashed in front of his eyes, he saw Cassie’s pretty face, her long brown wavy hair, her chocolate-brown eyes. “She’s probably about my age, but do not make anything of it.”
“Didn’t you say the bed-and-breakfast offers breakfast and dinner?”
“It does if anyone signs up for it.”
“You’re a growing boy. Take advantage of it.”
What his mother was really saying was that he should sit down for meals, get to know people and not isolate himself. Isolation not only kept his job safe but his heart, too. You couldn’t spill something you weren’t supposed to when you weren’t around anyone to spill it to.
“I know you,” she went on. “You’ll do what you want to do in spite of what I say. But I love you anyway. I’ve got to go now or I’ll be late. You take care and stay out of trouble.”
His mother still spoke to him as if he were sixteen. But they’d been through his lifetime together, watching out for each other. He loved her dearly. “You have a good day, Mom. I’ll let you know if I can come for a visit.”
His mother ended the call. When he thought about their conversation, he remembered her advice.
Should he have dinner with Cassie tonight?
Cassie was grateful when Trina and Joe Warner checked in. Sometimes guests didn’t even bother to cancel their reservations when they weren’t going to come, so she was never sure if a reservation would be kept. Not until her guests actually arrived.
Trina and Joe were in their early sixties, retired and on a road trip to visit family in Oklahoma. After check-in, they’d freshened up, then had come downstairs to join her as she cooked them dinner. Actually, she was cooking enough for four. It was possible that Nash might want to warm up something when he returned to the B&B.
Nash Tremont. She’d been thinking about him too much today...the way his brown hair dipped over his brow, the way his Stetson had set at just the right angle as he’d left this morning. What was it about the man that seemed to make her giddy?
The Warners had plenty to chat about and Cassie could easily see that many guests who stayed at a bed-and-breakfast enjoyed meeting people from different locales. She filled them in about Austin sites until dinner was ready. Tonight she’d cooked a beef-and-beans enchilada casserole along with cornbread biscuits and a salad.
She was pouring the Warners glasses of iced tea from an antique pitcher she’d found in a consignment shop when Nash came in. He frowned when he saw her and the couple at the table.
