here, so I’ve only been back at the restaurant full time for a few days.”
“You’re back at the restaurant?” Tina looked surprised. “I thought you were writing books.”
It took monumental effort to keep my smile in place. “Yeah, well, that’s a work in progress. So ... um ... I hear you used to work for my grandfather.”
She nodded. “It didn’t work out because I have bad circulation and my feet always swelled after a shift. Your grandfather was helpful, though, and went out of his way to help me find another job.”
“He might’ve mentioned it. In fact ... .” Whatever I was going to say died on my lips as a toddler moved from a spot behind Tina and plopped on the ground. The little boy had a clump of grass in his hand. He looked to be having a grand time with it, barely noticing me.
“Mommy, look. Look!”
Tina smiled fondly at the boy. “Yes. Grass.”
That’s when things coalesced for me, the thing Grandpa didn’t want to spread around becoming clear. “Oh, geez,” I muttered. “That’s Roy’s kid, isn’t it?”
Her lips curved down. “How did you know that?”
“It makes sense.”
She looked as if she wanted to bolt. I didn’t blame her.
“We need to talk.”
She didn’t look convinced. “What if I don’t want to talk?”
“You’re either talking to me or the cops. Which do you prefer?”
She sighed. “I guess I prefer you, but that’s not saying much.”
In her position, I’d feel the same way.
25
Twenty-Five
Tina blanked her face. “I don’t know what you mean.” She refused to make eye contact.
“Roy is his father.” I gestured toward the toddler. “That’s why my grandfather was going out of his way to protect you. He didn’t want news getting out.”
Tina hesitated and then nodded. “Your grandfather is one of the few people who know.”
“This is a small town,” I pointed out. “People had to ask where you got him.”
“Dakota.” Tina smiled fondly at the boy, who offered her a wide grin as he grabbed more grass in his grubby hands. “That’s his name.”
“Obviously his last name isn’t Axe.”
“No.” She turned solemn. “He has my last name.”
“And nobody ever asked about him?”
“People asked. I just said it was a guy I met at a bar in Gaylord. People accepted that. We have a lot of unexpected pregnancies here. I’m hardly the first single woman to show up with a baby in Shadow Hills.”
I remembered that well from high school. “I think twenty people in our graduating class were pregnant before the commencement speech.”
“Which is why so many people are desperate to get out of here.” The look she gave me was long. “You got out, but you came back. That has to be a first.”
“The story is long and boring. You don’t want to hear it.”
“I could say the same about my story.”
“Except Dakota’s father was found dead behind the restaurant several days ago,” I pointed out. “There are no dead bodies in my story ... at least none that aren’t fictional.”
“Yeah.” She exhaled heavily and then pointed toward a pair of lawn chairs in the shade of a large maple tree. “I’ll tell you the story, but I don’t want it getting out. It’s not about me. It’s about Dakota. People would treat him differently if they knew.”
“Because Roy is somehow worse than some random bar hookup?”
“You met him. Of course he was.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
She grabbed Dakota around the waist and carried him to the shade. Once there, he seemed perfectly content playing with the grass and leaves, occasionally lifting his treasures to show his mother. Tina made a big deal out of each thing he showed her, making me believe she was a good mother. I wanted to protect her.
“In a nutshell, your grandfather helped me get the job with Roy, and I was really grateful. It was the perfect job for me — until he started making suggestions.”
My lip curled. I could just imagine the suggestions Roy made. “Everyone in town knows he was a dirty pervert. There’s nothing you could say that would surprise me.”
“But I didn’t know that,” Tina admitted ruefully. “I guess I was just out of the loop. I thought he was a nice old man because your grandfather is a nice old man.”
I had to bite back a laugh. If my grandfather heard himself being referred to as “old” he would have a meltdown. “Yeah, I’ve never heard anyone refer to Roy as nice.”
“I just didn’t realize. He started pressuring me within weeks of me taking