upset about his mother’s arrest.”
“True enough. If you want the truth, he acts like Frannie’s arrest upsets him more than Lloyd’s death. He’s furious that his mother has been charged with the murder and that she’s being held without bail.”
“Have you talked to him about his feelings?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m a guy, in case it escaped your attention.”
“It hasn’t,” she murmured, an odd note in her voice that sent heat curling through him.
He cleared his throat. “I’m no good at the whole ‘let’s talk about our feelings’ thing. Not that I haven’t tried, though. Yesterday I took him out on my boat, thinking he might open up out on the water. Instead, we spent the entire afternoon without saying a word about his mom or about Lloyd or anything. Caught our limit between us, though.”
Why he shared that, he wasn’t sure and he regretted even opening his mouth. What kind of idiot thought a fishing trip might help a troubled teen? But Julie only gazed at him with admiration in the deep blue of her eyes.
“Brilliant idea. That was probably exactly what he needed, Ross. For things to be as normal as possible for a while. To do something he enjoys in a safe environment where he didn’t feel pressured to talk about anything.”
“I used to take my brothers when we were kids. I can’t say we solved all the world’s problems, but we always walked away from the river a little happier, anyway. Or at least we stopped fighting for a few minutes. And sometimes we even caught enough for a few nights’ dinners, too.”
She smiled at that, as he found he’d hoped she would. “You know, Ross, if you think it might help him cope with his grief, I would be happy to talk to Josh in a more formal capacity down at the Fortune Foundation.”
He mulled the offer for a long moment, then he shrugged. “I don’t know if he really needs all that.”
“I’m not talking long-term psychotherapy here. Just a session or two of grief counseling, maybe, if he wants someone to talk to.”
Ross thought of Josh’s behavior since Lloyd’s death. He had become much more secretive and he seemed to be bottling everything up deep inside. Every day since his father’s murder, Josh seemed to become more and more tense and troubled, until Ross worried he would implode.
He had seen good cops take a long, hard journey to nowhere when they tucked everything down inside them. He didn’t want to see the same thing happen to Josh.
His nephew wouldn’t share what he was going through with Ross, but maybe a few sessions with Julie would help him sort through the tangle of his emotions a little better. He supposed it couldn’t hurt.
“If he’s willing, I guess there’s a chance it might help him,” he answered. “You sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all, Ross. I like Josh and I want to do anything I can to help him through this hard time in his life. I would say, from a professional standpoint, it’s probably better if he gets some counseling earlier rather than later. Things won’t become any easier for him the next few months, especially if the case against Frannie goes to trial.”
“It won’t,” he vowed. He was working like crazy on his own investigation, trying to make sure that didn’t happen. “I can’t believe such a miscarriage of justice would be allowed to proceed.”
“You were a police officer,” she said. “You know that innocence doesn’t always guarantee justice.”
“True. But I’m not going to let my baby sister go to prison for something she didn’t do. You can be damn sure of that.”
Her mouth tilted into a soft smile that did crazy things to his insides. “Frannie is lucky to have you,” she said softly.
He deliberately clamped down on the fierce urge to see if that mouth could possibly taste as sweet as his imagination conjured up.
“We’ll see,” he said, his voice a little rough. “If Josh is willing, when is a good time for me to bring him in?”
“I’ve got some time tomorrow afternoon, if that works. Around four, at my office?”
“I’ll talk to Josh and let you know. I don’t want to force him to do anything he’s uncomfortable about.”
“From the little I’ve learned about your nephew, I don’t think you could force him to do anything he didn’t want to do. I’m guessing it’s a family trait.”
He actually managed a smile, his first one in a long time. He was suddenly enormously grateful for her compassion and her insight. “True enough. Thank you for all your help. I’ve been baffled about what to do for him.”
He didn’t add that he felt as if was failing Josh, just as much as he had failed Frannie for the last eighteen years.
“You’re doing fine,” she answered. “Josh needs love most of all and it’s obvious you have plenty of that to give him.”
She touched his arm again, as he realized was her habit, and Ross felt the heat of it sing through his system.
He wanted to stay right here all afternoon, to just let her gentle touch soothe away all his ragged edges, all the tangles and turmoil he had been dealing with since Lloyd’s murder and Frannie’s arrest.
What was it about her that had such a powerful impact on him? She was lovely, yes. He had known lovely women before, though, and none of them exuded the same soft serenity that called to him with such seductive invitation.
“Sorry that took so long. We can leave anytime.”
At Josh’s approach, Julie quickly dropped her hand from his arm and Ross realized they had been standing there staring at each other for who knows how long.
Josh shifted his gaze between the two of them, as if trying to filter through the currents that must be zinging around.
“Um, no problem,” Ross mumbled. “I guess we should go, then.”
They said their goodbyes to Julie, and he couldn’t help noticing that she looked as rattled as he felt, something that probably shouldn’t suddenly make him feel so cheerful.
Julie studied the boy sprawled in the easy chair in her office.
For the past half hour, Josh had been telling her all the reasons he wasn’t grieving for his father. He talked about Lloyd Fredericks as if he despised him, but then Julie would see flashes of pain appear out of nowhere in his eyes and she knew the truth of Josh’s relationship with his father wasn’t so easily defined.
“I’m not glad he’s dead. I know I said that right after he was killed, but it’s not true. I guess I didn’t really want him dead, I just wanted him out of my life and my mom’s life. It’s weird that he’s gone, you know? I keep expecting him to come slamming into the house and start picking on my mom for whatever thing bugged him most that day. Instead, it’s only Ross there and he never says much of anything.”
“It’s natural for you to be conflicted, Josh. You’re grieving for your father, or at least for the relationship you
