Covering the mouthpiece, she whispered to him. “Kate’s grandma is inviting us over for dinner. Any chance you’d be interested?”
“Can she cook?” he teased.
“She’s a really good cook!” Kate told him.
He winked. “Then I’m in. I never turn down a home-cooked meal.”
Remembering the lasagna he’d paid her to make, Jane smiled and returned to her conversation. “We have someone visiting us who’s hankering for some old-fashioned home cooking. Is it okay if we bring him along?”
“Him? It’s a man?” Betty asked. “Who is it? That P.I. from work? Or one of the volunteers?”
Jane tried not to chuckle at the fluster behind those questions. “No. Someone else. His name is Sebastian Costas.”
“You’ve never mentioned a Sebastian before. I’d remember that name. Costas-is he Greek?”
“You haven’t heard of him because we just met last week. And, yes, I think his name’s Greek.”
“It is,” Sebastian confirmed.
“What’s Greek?” Kate asked.
Sebastian explained while Betty continued questioning Jane. “Is this a romantic interest? Because it kind of sounds that way. It sounds as if you’ve finally met someone.”
Jane told herself she should’ve known she’d be grilled. Betty had been urging her to start dating for the past three years. But she wasn’t making any commitments. She knew it was silly, superstitious, but she was afraid she might jinx her own happiness if she did. “Maybe.”
“Then of course you can bring him! I’ve been praying you could-” She stopped. When she struggled to go on, Jane realized it was because she’d suddenly choked up.
“I’m going to be okay,” she said gently. “Even if I spend the rest of my life alone, I’ll be okay.”
“I know, it’s just…you’ve been through so much.”
That reminder brought one other consideration to mind. “Will Wendy be coming tonight?”
“She might be. I always invite both of you. Someday she’ll understand that it’s useless to hold a grudge and she’ll let our family be whole again-or as whole as it can be.”
Jane appreciated the sentiment and the effort her in-laws made to close the rift. But did she really want to have dinner with Wendy? This had been such a good weekend…
“Grandma has a great big dog,” Kate was telling Sebastian, her face as animated as Jane had ever seen it. “I want you to meet him. And Grandpa bought me a trampoline. I can do some tricks. You’ll see.”
With a sigh, Jane decided it didn’t really matter whether Wendy was going to be at the Burkes’ or not. “We’ll be there,” she said. “What time?”
The tension in the room was palpable. Sebastian had noticed it from the moment Jane’s ex-sister-in-law trooped in with her boys. Wendy sat across from him now, wearing a stony expression as she picked at her food. Occasionally she looked up long enough to glower at Jane.
Jane sat stoically beside him, giving Wendy a brief but hopeful smile whenever their eyes met. Sebastian understood that she felt guilty for what she’d done. He thought she should feel guilty; she’d made a serious mistake. But it bothered him that Wendy continued to withhold her forgiveness when Jane was obviously so eager to receive it. She’d been paying penance for five years. What more could she do? She regretted her actions. Besides, she hadn’t meant for anyone to be hurt, she wasn’t the one who’d killed Noah, and she’d been going through an extremely difficult time when she’d gotten involved with him. How did Wendy know her husband wasn’t equally to blame-or, for that matter, even more to blame?
Sebastian answered politely as the older Burkes asked him the usual questions-where he was from, what he did. They seemed intrigued by him, but all he could think about were the daggers Wendy was staring at Jane.
“So how did you meet?” Wendy asked, breaking her “I will ignore Jane and anything to do with her” rule, which she’d upheld to this point.
“We’ve been working on a case together,” he said.
“What kind of case?”
“A kidnap case,” Jane inserted, gazing down at her plate.
The clipped response told Sebastian Jane didn’t want to elaborate. She was trying to protect Kate from hearing how bad the man they’d been chasing really was. And they couldn’t discuss murder at the table. Not with this family, who’d had firsthand experience. But it was Kate who jumped in. “Don’t worry, the girl’s home safe,” she piped up.
Sebastian smiled at the relief in her voice, but Wendy scarcely acknowledged her niece. “How does an investment banker get involved in a kidnap case?” she asked.
“I have a personal interest.”
“The victim was your daughter?”
“Not exactly.” He gave her a pointed look. “But close.”
She seemed to take the hint that he wasn’t prepared to discuss his connection to the case in front of the kids. So she waited until Kate and her sons had finished eating and dashed off to play video games in one of the back rooms before she brought it up again.
“I’m curious about your reason for coming all the way from New York,” she said as they sat in the living room with an after-dinner drink.
Maurice and Betty tensed at her determination to unravel the mystery, but Sebastian conjured up a friendly expression and spoke before they could intercede. “The man Jane’s been trying to find killed my son,” he said bluntly.
Her eyes widened.
“So you’re not the only one who’s lost someone you love,” he added.
His voice held no sympathy, nor did it conceal the irritation he was feeling. She rocked back in surprise and Jane’s jaw dropped, but Sebastian took this in while keeping his eyes on Wendy. “Tragedy happens,” he said. “It hits some people harder than others, but don’t think for a minute that you’re alone.”
She dropped the thin veneer of politeness she’d assumed so far. Seeing Jane with a man seemed to bring out the worst in her; he could tell she’d been dying to express her disapproval from the beginning, which was why he’d given her the opportunity. “Maybe that’s true, but how do you feel about the man who killed your son?” she challenged, sending another glower at Jane.
Jane flushed crimson. “Sebastian, it’s okay,” she said. “Wendy has every right to feel the way she does.”