Page 204 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

Her dark-eyed gaze flickered to his face then dropped again. “I’m fine.”

“You seem upset.”

“I said I’m fine!” she snapped, turning on her heels and stomping away.

Max shrugged and followed her. Maybe Robert had called wanting money again. That man needed something to shake him up and make him look at his life.

Everyone else was already in the dining room. Tate was swilling his liquor as usual, and Nick stood by the window talking to Shayna. Molly was chattering to Gram and Becca.

Max stood in the doorway and watched them all for a minute. His world revolved around the contact in this dining room, a small world. He remembered when he was in college and all his dreams to travel and see the world. Would his writing be better if he expanded his horizons?

He’d traveled for a year right out of high school—France, Finland, Sweden—but he’d met Laura and settled here before he’d really experienced the world. Sometimes he wondered what he was missing, what Molly was missing. One of these days he would have to make a decision about the direction he wanted his life to go. He’d been drifting too long.

Becca glanced up and their gazes collided. The reserve in her face seemed to radiate dislike. Confusion made him frown. Had he been too hard on her in the office? He thought back to their last conversations and could see nothing that would have changed their relationship to the extent he saw in her face. Maybe she was afraid he was going to tell everyone who shereally was, but he had no intentions of spilling the beans. She could tell the story herself in her own way.

He smiled to let her know she had nothing to fear from him, but she looked away, her expression still haughty. His lips tightened. Let her stew in a snit. It was nothing to him. Women were incomprehensible to him anyway so it was just as well she was pulling away.

“Come sit with us,” Gram called. “Your daughter is regaling us with tales of her escapades in town today. She’s got your gift for storytelling.”

Molly beamed at the compliment. “I’m going to be a writer like Daddy when I grow up.”

“So what happened in town today?”

“Daddy, I alreadytoldyou.” Molly folded her arms across her chest.

The expression on her face reminded him of the one her mother often wore when he was lost in his current novel’s world. Some father he was. He gave her a guilty smile. “Sorry, baby girl, tell me again.”

“You weren’t listening, were you?”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t,” he admitted meekly.

“We found a kitten nearly drowned in the water. I get to bring it home tomorrow.”

“Whoa, did you really tell me that in the car?”

Molly nodded. “Uh huh. You said fine.”

Fine. Everyone was fine when he was lost in thought. “I hate cats.”

“Becca brought her cat and you don’t mind.”

“I never said I didn’t mind.”

“Well, you tolerate her. You’ll like Boo. He’s really sweet. Yousaidokay.” Molly’s face screwed up like she was about to cry.

Max felt like the worst father in the world. He’d always told her no cats though. She should have known better than to ask.

“I told her it was all right too,” Gram put in. “We’ll keep Boo out of your way.”

“Cats never stay out of the way. They seem to know who hates them and they try to deliberately annoy me.”

Becca laughed, and he found himself turning toward her. “You tell them, Becca.”

“You won’t get me on your side. I think you’ll find out cats aren’t nearly as bad as you think. Give Boo a chance.”

“Would you just quit arguing? I’ve got a headache,” Shayna said. “Let her have the stupid cat.”

“It looks like I’m outnumbered.”

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