Silent Killer Page 0,46
were all right, but I worried all the same. I called Lorie, and she said you were out with a friend, but I had no idea you’d go out on a date. Not after what happened today.”
“It wasn’t a date,” Cathy said. “Not exactly.”
“You kissed him,” Seth said. “I saw you.”
“We weren’t on a date. Tonight was about a couple of old friends getting reacquainted,” Jack told him. “Your mother was upset and needed a distraction. She kissed me to thank me. That’s all there is to it.”
Cathy placed her hand on her son’s arm, which gained his full attention. “Do your grandparents know where you are?”
“No, ma’am. I slipped out after they went to bed.” He lowered his head. “I didn’t think Granddad would approve, but I had to make sure you were okay.”
“Why don’t you come inside, and we’ll talk,” Cathy said, then looked at Jack. “Thanks again for tonight.”
“You’re welcome. Any time.”
He guessed that was his cue to leave. Cathy needed time alone with her son, and he needed some fresh air to clear his head
As soon as Jack said good-night and headed for his car, Cathy rang the doorbell. Lorie, in her satin pajamas, opened the door, glanced from mother to son, then stepped back and waited for them to come inside.
“Want to tell me what’s going on?” Lorie looked outside to where Jack stood beside his car. He threw up his hand and waved before opening the door and sliding in behind the wheel.
After they entered the house, Cathy closed the front door behind her. “Jack was just dropping me off, and we found Seth sitting in the swing waiting for me.”
“Oh, I see. So Jack and Seth met, huh?”
“I think I just said that, didn’t I?”
“Who is that guy to you?” Seth asked. “I know he said you two were old friends, but I never heard of him. And why would you go out to dinner with him?”
Lorie’s eyes widened in an uh-oh gesture. “I think I’ll head for bed and give you two some privacy. Cathy, if you want to talk later, I probably won’t be asleep.”
Cathy nodded, and as soon as Lorie left her alone with Seth, she said, “Why don’t we sit down?”
“Answer my questions, will you?” Seth paced around the living room. “I thought after you heard about their finding that priest’s body today, you’d be all torn up because you’d be remembering the day Dad died and thinking about him and…But instead you went out on a date with a guy you knew when you were a teenager. I don’t understand.”
“Are you saying that you’re disappointed I didn’t fall apart?”
He glared directly at her face. “No, of course not. It’s just I don’t understand why you’d pick tonight of all times to go out on your first date since Dad died. It somehow seems disrespectful to Dad’s memory.”
Cathy heaved a heavy sigh. Her son’s words mimicked J.B. Cantrell’s sentiments. She didn’t like that. All the more reason to regain custody as soon as possible.
She approached Seth, who stood in the middle of the room, his gaze never leaving her face.
“I told you that dinner with Jack wasn’t exactly a date. Not the way you mean. It was just what he said. I needed a distraction, something—anything—to keep me from thinking about the day Mark died, from remembering how I’d nearly lost my mind in the weeks following his funeral and how I had a complete breakdown when Reverend Randolph was murdered.
“Jack and I were friends a long time ago. He moved away from Dunmore, and I haven’t seen him in nearly seventeen years. He’s renovating the house where he grew up, and he’s hired Treasures to act as consultants on the renovating and decorating. I’ll be seeing more of him in the future.”
“Just as friends?” Seth asked.
Good question. Did she think she could really be only friends with Jack? “That’s all we are right now, just two old friends becoming reacquainted.”
“Are you going to date him again?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. If he asks me.”
“I don’t have to like him, you know. And I don’t have to like the idea of your dating him or anybody else for that matter.”
“No, you don’t have to like him.” Cathy laid her hand on Seth’s arm. “But you don’t know Jack, so you have no idea if you’d like him or not. Once you get to know him—”
Seth yanked his arm away. “I may not want to get to know him. Doesn’t it