But when she got out of her car and saw him waiting outside the restaurant, her heart skipped a beat. He wore faded jeans and a navy-blue polo that brought out the blue in his eyes and the blond in his hair. He looked happy to see her, a sparkle of light in his eyes as he grabbed her arms and pulled her in for a kiss.
It was exactly the way she'd wanted to start this breakfast. His warm kiss drove away all the uncertainty she'd felt about him the night before. Maybe he'd just been stressed out about getting caught while messing around with her at his workplace, and that's why he'd seemed so up and down.
"Morning," he said, with a smile that sent more shivers down her spine. "You look beautiful, Maya."
She flushed at the look in his eyes. "Thanks. You look rested and happy."
"That's because you're here."
"I'd like to think that's true."
"It is," he said with a little laugh. "I also went surfing this morning. I haven't been out on the water in a long time. It felt good."
"Was it freezing?"
"Not bad. I had on a wetsuit. Do you surf?"
"No," she said, thinking about her conversation with her sister the night before when Darcy had said that Jax sounded like a typical Southern California guy. "I'm not a big fan of the ocean. I like to look at it, but I don't like to swim in it. That pull you get when the water is rushing back out always makes me a little nervous. I got caught in an undertow when I was a kid. I was swept right off my feet. Luckily, my dad was able to grab me and haul me back in." She paused, thinking that was one of the few times when she'd felt her dad's strong presence in her life. There had been a lot of other times when he hadn't been there to catch her fall or even see her heading into trouble. Not that she probably would have listened if he tried to warn her about some possible problem. When he said go right, she always wanted to go left.
"I can see why an experience like that would leave you with some fears about the ocean," Jax said. "But you don't seem like a girl who lets fear stop her from doing what she wants."
"And it wouldn't stop me if I wanted to surf, but I don't. Should we go inside? It looks like there's a line."
"I put our name in a few minutes ago. It will be five or ten minutes."
"That's good. Sorry I'm a little late. I had to drive back from Carlsbad this morning."
"How did the emergency family meeting go?"
"It was better than I thought. It was just my sister. My mom called her crying hysterically after I left my parents' house. Darcy wanted to know what the hell I was doing. I explained about the food bag in the car and all that. She didn't want to think that Dad had lied about being in the car with his mother, but she did say she had an encounter with him when she was a teenager. It was the anniversary of my grandmother's death and apparently my father was drunk, which is unusual, because he never drinks anything. He mumbled guilty words about having let his mom down and making a terrible mistake."
"So, now you're both thinking he was in the car."
"I don't believe he killed her, Jax. But I think he lied. Maybe he was scared, and then it was too late to take it back. He doesn't want me digging into that night, because he's afraid I'll figure it out."
"Which you may have done already."
"When I talked to him, he wouldn't say anything about it. He just walked out. And he apparently left the house after I did, which made my mother more upset. I wish I knew where he went. I called my mom this morning, and she wouldn't talk to me. She just said he was back and until I could tell them I was done with this search for the truth, they had nothing more to say to me."
"And this doesn't slow you down at all?" he quizzed.
"It should," she said, giving him a guilty smile. "But I just can't let go of this mystery. I keep turning over new facts, and I'm caught up in it now. I did some research this morning into Julia Poplova, the woman I told