shook his head. What he needed was a credible person who would confirm he was looking for a place in Mistletoe to do business in who Amanda knew. He could always cancel his search when his real interests were completed.
“Oh, sure. Samantha Wilson is perfect. She… Well, I guess technically she’s a half-sister-in-law. That’s a mouthful for a label, isn’t it? Almost everyone in my life has taken on a new portion of a title. Half.” She shook her head sadly, the light in her eyes dimming as she dropped her gaze to the table.
“It’s not fair. I get it. I was thinking about this since we parted ways the other day. I think we need to focus on when you found out the information about your parentage. Are you comfortable with that?” Tommy had certain questions he had to ask and talking about her parents was the only way to get it.
Amanda pressed her lips into a thin smile and lifted her chin, nodding tightly. “Sure, of course. Whatever you think is necessary.”
For a split second, Tommy wanted to grab her hand and run away with her, get away from their responsibilities and pain, all the issues that chained them to their lives.
Instead, he swallowed and opened the notebook to a blank page and got into position to write. “Okay, so you said that you just recently found out about who your real father is. What happened? How did you find out?” Tommy tilted his head to the side. He’d left his hat in the truck, but he wouldn’t mind having the protection the brim would give his expression, if she said something he wasn’t prepared for.
“My mom threatened to share something that would ruin the town. At a family meeting between the Wilsons and the Deans, Cari spilled some stuff that she’d known about when Jennifer left and, well, it just kind of escalated. I knew something wasn’t right. But that clinched it. So, I got a test to prove paternity.” She shrugged. “I think I kind of always knew, you know?”
“Who does this affect, besides you?” Tommy furrowed his brow and fidgeted with the pencil between both hands. If a woman called to threaten an entire town, how deep did this secret actually go?
Amanda tousled her hair back off her shoulders. “Well, there’s me. All the kids in both families. Then my dad and, of course, Mrs. Wilson. She told me to call her Elizabeth, but it feels weird to say it.”
“When did she do that?” Tommy scratched some nonsense on the paper. He would go over the information later to take notes on in the correct dossier he had for the case.
“She came out today. It was… surreal, I think.” Amanda leaned her elbow on the table and studied Tommy. “Do you think it’s dumb that I feel better after talking to her?”
“I don’t think anything is dumb, if it makes you feel better. What did she say that made you feel this way?” Tommy leaned forward, listening intently – not just to uphold his charade but to also make sure he heard and absorbed everything she said.
What she said mattered, and not just because he needed to know for the investigation, but also because he cared. And that alarmed him, he just couldn’t focus on that right then. He’d have to inspect his feelings about her later. When he wasn’t staring her down in a session.
“She said she’s always wanted a daughter. That none of this is my fault and that I shouldn’t feel like I don’t fit in. Now I have two families. That kind of thing.” She blinked back tears and lifted her hands, wiping the escaped tears from their course down her cheeks. “I can’t believe my real mother never made me feel the way this woman did. It was always about her and what she wanted, obviously. A woman who would cheat on her husband with another married man obviously doesn’t have a lot of morals in the first place, but you’d think she would worry somewhat about her kids, you know?” She shook her head. “Whatever. It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine.” One of the things Tommy had learned from his research on therapy was to make sure and not let the patient push their trauma under the table. He shook his head and rested his hands flat on the surface of the table. “Amanda, you don’t ever have to apologize or rationalize the way you feel to me. About anything.”
She returned