attention and get the glare of the spotlight off her for a bit. As she’d anticipated, a worried frown creased his brow. “What about her?”
“I think maybe she’s going to need some help getting through this.”
“She’s getting help. We’re all here. All she has to do is say the word and any one of us will get her whatever she needs.”
“I’m not talking about soup or some custard when she says she’s hungry. I’m talking about professional help.”
“A shrink?”
She nodded.
“That’s crazy,” he said indignantly. “Anyone would be upset after a tragedy like this. Sharon Lynn’s strong. She’s an Adams. She’ll pull herself together in time.”
Patsy was doubtful. “Will she? She’s eaten up with guilt. She told me she killed Kyle. You heard her yourself.”
“That’s the grief talking. She’ll put this into perspective. Once the other driver is convicted and locked away, she’ll see it wasn’t her fault.”
Patsy remained silent in response. Finally Justin said, “You don’t believe that, do you?”
“No, I don’t. There’s something about the way she’s staring off into space, as if she’s slowly disconnecting from the world. It worries me. Maybe it’s just grief, but it seems to me it goes deeper than that. It’s not just that she’s lost Kyle.” She struggled to put it into words. “It’s as if she’s lost her reason for living.”
“And you got all that from a five-minute visit?” Justin asked, his expression incredulous.
Patsy refused to back down, even in the face of his blatant skepticism. “Okay, it’s just my opinion and I’m not an expert. I’m just saying an expert would be able to say once and for all if she needs some counseling. Don’t trust my judgment, just ask yourself if you want to take the chance that I’m right.”
Justin sighed and ran his fingers through his close-cropped hair. “Hell, I suppose you could be right. It’s just that Adamses solve their own problems.”
“Sometimes the solution is asking for help,” Patsy said.
“I’ll mention it to the family and see what they think,” Justin promised. He reached over and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “By the way, has anyone thanked you for pitching in and taking over at Dolan’s?”
“I don’t need to be thanked. It’s my job. Dani’s staff has been great about helping with Billy so I could be there longer hours.”
“Don’t work yourself to a frazzle,” he warned. “You need to look after yourself, too.”
She gazed into his eyes and saw genuine concern there. It was the first time in as long as she could remember that anyone had been truly worried about her well-being. It had mattered to Will only as far as her ability to campaign on his behalf.
“I’m fine,” she reassured Justin. “But I’d better be getting back into town. With the hours I’m putting in at Dolan’s, I don’t like to leave Billy with a sitter in the evenings, too.”
“Mind if I come along?” Justin asked. “I promised him I’d be by to play with those toys we bought. I haven’t had a chance up until now. Frankly, I could use a break from all this.”
“He’d like that.”
“And you? Would you like that, too?”
She knew what he was really asking, but she wasn’t sure she entirely trusted his motives. Did it really matter to him whether she was beginning to care for him or was he simply trying to test her again? Even though it had been days since their last talk and despite all that had happened, she doubted Justin had forgotten all the questions he had about her past.
“Of course,” she said cheerily. “If you haven’t eaten yet, you can share a pizza with us.”
“Why don’t I pick it up on my way and meet you at the house?”
“I can do it.”
“Why should you when I can and you can get home to Billy that much sooner?”
She grinned. “Okay, when you put it like that, how can I argue? But I insist on paying for it.”
“We’ll discuss that later.”
“Justin!” She took a twenty from her purse and tried to press it into his hands. He jammed his hands into his pockets and defied her to follow with the money. She was tempted to do just that, but the prospect of finding her own hand trapped between his and his body with only a layer of denim in between rattled her too badly. That jittery temptation was proof enough that she had no business getting in any kind of intimate contact with him.
She sighed. “Okay, you win. We’ll discuss it later.”