“No,” he said tersely. “I have to admit I was…hurt.”
“But you finally reconnected with my dad?”
“Yes.”
“But not my mother. I wonder why? He knew where we were.”
“Well, he decided to keep that to himself, I guess.”
“But you were friends.”
“This was after your parents had divorced. Maybe Tim didn’t want me to see her again. I don’t know why.”
“You seemed like you were very close to her.”
“I was very close to both of them,” he said firmly. “Like I said, I had offered your father a job in my firm.”
“And then he killed himself.”
“Yes, yes he did. Awful. Terrible. I…I could barely believe it.”
“And then my mother came to town to arrange things. And you didn’t see her then?”
“She never contacted me.”
“And you didn’t stay around to see her when she came in?”
He shrugged and wouldn’t meet her eye. “I was still in the middle of building my business. Traveling the globe getting clients and expanding my staff and resources. It was a whirlwind for nearly two decades. I was never in one place more than a week or so back then. Thankfully, my pace has slowed.” He grinned to himself more than to her. “After all, I’m not as young as I used to be.”
“None of us are. Those of us who are still living anyway.”
“Yes, right, of course. I should be grateful for all I have.” His heart did not seem to be in the statement.
When the Aston Martin pulled up to the valet stand, Lineberry said, “Care for a nightcap?”
“Where?”
“My home is near here.”
Pine hesitated. “Shouldn’t we be starting back?”
“Well, if we get tired, we can always stay over. I have a guest room.”
She stared rigidly at him. “I didn’t bring anything for an overnight stay.”
“I have things you can use.”
Pine looked away, clearly uncomfortable with all this.
He said, “You could ask me some more questions, if you’d like. And I’ll do my best to answer them.”
Pine turned back to him. “Then let’s go.”
Chapter 61
LINEBERRY’S “LITTLE PLACE” in Buckhead turned out to be a two-story penthouse suite in a nearly brand-new skyscraper. It had its own private, secure elevator that opened into the vestibule of the apartment.
“Okay, this is another wow,” said Pine as he escorted her into the living room that had sweeping views of Georgia’s capital city. She walked over to the wall of windows and looked out.
“But no drapes or anything? That can’t be too private.”
“It’s specially treated glass. I can see out, but no one can see in.”
“Oh, well, that makes sense. But I doubt it was less expensive than drapes.”
“You would be correct,” he said with a smile. He had taken his jacket and draped it over one of the armchairs. “What would you like to drink? I have a full bar.”
“Actually, do you have any more of that Amarone?”
“I do indeed. I could tell you liked it back at the restaurant. Come on, I can show you the wine cellar.”
He led her down a long, wood-paneled hall and then turned right. Confronting them was a wall of stone with two immense wooden, glassed arched doors built into the middle of it.
He hit a switch on the wall and the lights behind the doors came on. He opened one of the doors and motioned her in. He followed and closed the door behind them.
Pine shivered a bit.
“About fifty-eight degrees and a constant level of humidity,” he explained. “I have some rare bottles in here, and it wouldn’t do to let them go bad by having the wrong climate.”
Pine could see that both the bricks overhead and the ones making up the floor looked reclaimed, the wood beams dark and aged. The built-in cabinetry had evidently been done by master craftsmen, with every cut, joint, and curve perfect.
“This is gorgeous. I feel like I’m back in medieval times.”
“That’s remarkably close to the effect I told the company who did this to go for.”
He slid open a rack of wine and looked over the bottles laid there.
“I think this one will do.” He pulled it out and held it up. “It’s not the same vineyard as the one we had at the restaurant, but I believe this bottle will have even more pop!”
“I trust you.”
“Do you?” he asked.
“Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?”
“No, but from the moment I met you when you came back to Andersonville, I detected a level of uncertainty.”