Page 54 of Entangled

“Now go ahead, El.”

“Thank you.” I throw Jace a smug look before continuing. “I guess there’s really no nice way of putting this but I’d like to know what happened between my parents, what led to their uh—their deaths.” I look down into my bowl, swirling my spoon a few times before bringing my eyes back to his. “I was actually wondering if you remembered anything weird or I don’t know. Anything from back then.”

Jack gives me a sympathetic look. “That was such a long time ago. Let me think…” He takes a sip of his wine, eyes becoming distant with memory. “I remember Anna, Jace’s mom, saying that Nadia seemed distracted or distant those last few months. She wasn’t coming around as much as usual. Had only dropped you off a few times while she went to run errands but…” He shakes his head. “I don’t remember much more than that. I’m sorry. I wish I did.”

“No. No.” I give him a small smile. “That’s more than I remember, so thank you.” Taking a sip of my wine, I steel myself against the next question. “And my father… was there anything—I mean, what do you remember about him?”

“Cane…” He sighs and sets his glass down. “The whole town was shocked when it happened. Cane was just about one of the nicest people you’d ever meet. Now don’t get me wrong, no one wanted to have to face him in the courtroom and he was a tough bastard to play football against.” He gives me a sad smile. “And I speak from personal experience on that one since we played on the same team in high school. But that… no one ever saw that coming.” He shakes his head again. “The apple couldn’t have fallen further from the tree where Cane was concerned.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just that he never showed any sign of being like his daddy before that night.”

I cock my head at him, brows pulling down in confusion. “I don’t understand. My grandfather? He died when my dad and Yvie were little in an accident, right?”

Jack pauses, giving me a considering look before speaking. “Elise and Yvie never spoke about him?”

“No.” I shake my head. “I think they were happy to leave everything to the past and in their defense, I never asked too much about it before now anyway. What happened with my grandfather?”

“It could be Yvie doesn’t remember. She and your dad were both pretty little when he passed.” He looks down at the table for a moment before bringing his eyes back to mine and holding up a hand. “And I don’t mean to speak ill of the dead but from what I know… your grandfather was a mean son of a bitch. Drunk more often than not and gambled away every dime that came his way. He eventually rolled his truck driving home drunk one night and I believe that came as somewhat of a relief to your grandmother. There were rumors she often took the brunt of his temper.”

I stare at him in shock for about ten seconds trying to contain my reaction and then I can’t help it… I burst out laughing.

“I’m s-s-sorry.” I gulp, trying to quell the laughter at the sight of Jack and Tiff’s shocked faces. “I’m sorry.” I take a deep breath and see the grin pulling at Jace’s lips across from me, causing a whole new round of giggles to grip me. “It’s just—” Jace starts laughing softly across from me, drawing Jack and Tiff’s confused eyes as I fight to get the words out. “The Y chromosome really didn’t fare well in the Delacroix line, did it?”

I reach out for my wineglass, taking a sip to stop the inappropriate reaction as Jack’s surprised eyes come back to land on me and turn amused.

“No.” He gives a harsh chuckle. “No. I suppose it didn’t.”

Swallowing down my wine, I lean back in my chair with a sigh before lifting my eyes to Jace’s across the table. Voicing the question that’s been churning around in my mind for a few days.

“I’ve been thinking. They were a ways out there. No neighbors, really. No one to hear what happened.” I wait for him to give me a nod of agreement before continuing. “I remember the police getting there and waking me up. But if I didn’t call the police and they couldn’t have called the police then…”

His eyes spark. “Then who called the police?”

“Exactly.”

“You should talk to my mom!” Tiff exclaims, causing me to jump and turn my head to her. “I watch true crime and they’ve got to have those records somewhere still. You should talk to her and see if you can get the old police files.”

My lips twitch up into a grin at the sight of her overly enthusiastic face. “That’s actually a really good idea.”

“Well look at that,” Jack interjects, getting up to grab the bottle of wine from the kitchen counter. “Dinner and a mystery. Next time we should just invite the whole town over for the show.”

Tiff throws him a winning look. “I’m all for it if it means I get to drink wine!”

***

I sneak a peek at Jace next to me as he walks me up to the door after dinner and find his eyes waiting to greet me.

“Thanks for coming tonight.”

“It was nothing.” I shrug, climbing the porch steps as he stops, staying at the bottom. “I had a good time actually, despite my… earlier reluctance. Your dad is great.”

“It wasn’t nothing to him.” He rests one foot on the bottom step and looks down for a beat before bringing his eyes back to mine. “Or me. So consider yourself invited on a weekly basis from here on out.”

I cock a brow at him. “I might just take you up on that, considering my inability to feed myself.”

“Please do.”

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