Page 130 of Eight Years Gone

She sighed. “Sure.”

“Goodbye, Grace.”

She didn’t bother returning the final pleasantry as she hung up, not entirely sure what to think.

Dennis hadn’t confirmed that she had another brother, but he certainly hadn’t gone out of his way to put her mind at ease.

She blew out a long breath as she looked at the ceiling. “This wasn’t helpful at all.”

Glancing around the room once more, she headed downstairs as quickly as she’d come, digging in her purse for the keys to lock up.

She reached for the doorknob as her phone alerted her to a text. Grabbing her phone from her pocket, she read Jagger’s message.

Hey, sexy.

Not wasting another second, she stepped into the hall, securing the deadbolt before she responded.

Hey, handsome. How’s California?

Not too shabby, especially since I’m heading out on the first flight tomorrow. If all goes well, we’ll be eating dinner together in person.

She closed her eyes, relieved that he would be back soon—that she would finally be able to tell him everything and pick his brain. That’s great!

I’m going to get things finished up out here so I can get home to you. Are we still on for FaceTime at 6?

She glanced at her watch, heading for the elevators. She needed to get on the road before the traffic became impossible. I wouldn’t miss it.

I miss you.

She stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for the garage. I miss you too. I love you.

I love you too.

Shoving her phone away as the doors opened not far from where she parked her SUV, she quickly walked to the driver’s side, eager to get back to Preston Valley for her FaceTime dinner and to put several miles between herself and her father’s life.

Thirty-One

Grace sat on the living room floor, writing on a long sheet of the craft paper she kept on hand for Braden’s visits.

Braden’s love for drawing was coming in handy as she added every date and occasion where Jessica Sawyer’s name had appeared in her mother’s journals.

Over the last three days, delving into her parents’ lives had consumed her. Needing to discover the truth about her potential younger brother had taken on a life of its own.

Seconds after she ended her FaceTime dinner with Jagger last night, she’d grabbed all of her mother’s journals, bookmarking dates and any mentions of her long-ago babysitter, plus any disagreements between her mom and dad.

At some point after midnight, she’d gone on the hunt for Braden’s roll of paper in the guest room, deciding that writing the dates and corresponding information in a timeline format might give her a clearer picture of when everything had gone so wrong—when a potential brother may have been conceived.

Yawning, exhausted after little sleep and another long day at the shop, she gained her feet as she wore gray yoga pants and a comfy blue sweatshirt, standing over the compiled information, focusing on a time when her mother had been extra busy commuting from the suburbs to Preston Valley to help Aunt Maggie, and Jessica had been a regular in their lives.

“Is that when it happened?” she said in the quiet of the house, looking again at the time frame that seemed to make the most sense.

“It would’ve had to have been here,” she mumbled to herself as she bent down, circling a potential couple of dates with a red marker. “Right?”

She impatiently swiped at the hairs escaping her messy bun off her cheek. “Mom said the little boy looked to be about two. But what if he wasn’t?”

Sitting down as the doubts crept back in, she read through the pages of the journal again, making certain that she hadn’t missed anything.

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