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“Teenagers.”
“Look, Owen. I can’t go with you. Not now. I’m sorry about…your friend. But I have responsibilities here.”
Wondering if he were crazy to make the offer, Owen forged on before he had time to consider whether it made any sense. “Do you know where she is?”
“I’m pretty sure I do.”
“Okay. So here’s the deal. Go pack your stuff, and we’ll pick up your sister. She can go with us.”
Her eyes widened at the suggestion. “I don’t think she will.”
“This guy she left with. I take it you’d rather she hadn’t left with him?”
“She doesn’t really care what I think.”
“Then call it an intervention.”
“That is crazy.”
The cell phone in his pocket rang. He flipped it open to Cline’s somber voice. “Hey,” Owen said. “How is he?”
“I went to the hospital. Natalie is over the top.”
“I’m heading back, Cline. If she calls again, tell her I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?”
“Okay,” he said.
Owen hung up and looked at Willa. “That was my brother. Charles’s wife, Natalie, she’s having a tough time. I really have to get back. Are you coming or not?”
Indecision wavered across her face. The soft drone of an airplane engine broke the silence. She glanced up at the sky, then stood suddenly. “Give me a couple minutes. I’ll be right down.”
CHAPTER FIVE
THIS WAS NUTS.
No other way to look at it.
Willa jammed clothes into the tired blue Samsonite suitcase she’d inherited from her mother, not giving herself time to think about what she was doing. To do so would be to call a halt to the whole thing.
Maybe it was crazy, but this man who claimed to be her father could die at any minute. And if he did, Judy might be right. Maybe she would spend the rest of her life wishing she’d had the chance to meet him. To look in his eyes and see if there was truth there.
She picked up the phone on her nightstand and dialed Judy’s number. This time she wasn’t so lucky. Jerry answered with a growl.
She started to apologize for calling in the middle of the night, decided she didn’t want to be that nice to him and said, “May I speak to Judy?”
There was a rustling sound and then a clunk, as if the phone had been dropped.
“Hello?”
“You were asleep,” Willa said.
“Um, yeah. It would seem you’re not into that tonight.”
“Sorry. It’s just that I’ve decided to go.”
“To Lexington?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, glory be.” More awake now.
“It’s probably going to be a mistake. But Owen got a call that Charles—this man who says he’s my father—he’s in the hospital. It may be serious. And Katie’s run off with Eddie. I don’t know, it just seems like maybe there’s some kind of timing in all this.”
“If you’re calling to see whether I’ll take care of the diner, don’t bother asking. Of course, I will.”
Willa sighed in relief. “Judy, you’re the best.”
“I’d like regular updates, of course.”
“Absolutely. Okay. I’ll talk to you soon.” Willa hung up. She had to find some way to pay Judy back.
She latched the suitcase and lugged it down the stairs. Owen met her at the bottom.
“I could have gotten that for you,” he said.
“It’s not that heavy. I’ll be right back.”
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