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.“When what?” he prompted.“Never mind.”He looked at her, obviously curious about her sudden retreat, but Alyssa and Mackenzie entered the kitchen at that moment and saved Jaclyn from having to confront the question in his eyes.“You said we could call Daddy tonight,” Mackenzie said.Ordinarily Jaclyn would have asked the girls to wait a few minutes until she’d finished the dishes.But she needed the distraction, so she picked up the phone and dialed.“Did you see if Alex wants to talk?” she asked.Mackenzie nudged her sister.“Go tell Alex we’re calling Daddy.”Alyssa headed to the living room.Mackenzie took the phone, and Jaclyn and Cole returned to the dishes.After a minute, Mackenzie came into the dining room, where Jaclyn was balling up the tablecloth so she could take it to the laundry, and announced that her daddy wasn’t home.“Can we call Grandpa and Grandma?” she asked.“They might come get us.”Jaclyn doubted they would.They hadn’t been to Reno yet, and she didn’t really want them to start coming now.Her life was much more pleasant since she didn’t have to deal with them directly, but she hated to disappoint the children.“They go to bed pretty early,” she said, stalling while she tried to make up her mind.“Not this early,” Alex said, coming around the corner with Alyssa.Evidently Alex had changed his mind about calling Feld.Since the divorce, his moods shifted quite often.One minute he was angry with Terry, the next he was upset at her.“You want to talk to Grandpa?” she asked.He shrugged.“I guess so.”Hoping it might do him some good to touch base with his grandfather and receive whatever reassurance Burt might offer, she swallowed a sigh and agreed.“Okay.Come here.”This time when she dialed, she handed the phone to Alex and waited to hear what Burt would say.Cole stood at the entrance to the kitchen, looking mildly curious, one shoulder propped against the doorway.The girls wiggled expectantly at her side.“Hi, Grandpa, it’s Alex…I know, it’s been a long time.I miss you, too.Where’s Daddy? How come he doesn’t come get us…What?”Alex looked at her, and Jaclyn knew her name had been mentioned.She doubted it was in a positive light.With Burt, it never was.“I don’t know.She just never has.Dad always comes to get us…I guess I could ask, but…I know…maybe she will…hang on.”Pulling his ear away from the phone, Alex turned to her.“He wants to see us,” he said.A trickle of unease crept down Jaclyn’s spine.“Great.When’s he coming?”“He says it’s your turn to drive us out there.”Her turn? Alex made it sound as though she was under some sort of obligation, but it had always been up to Terry to do the driving if he wanted to see the kids.She glanced at Cole, wishing for a moment of privacy, and he seemed to understand because he stepped into the dining room.“Honey, I would if I could,” Jaclyn said, lowering her voice.“But my car is old and not very reliable.I don’t think it would be wise to drive so far out of town.We could get stranded in the desert.”“You drive your car to work every day.”“Right, but work is only fifteen minutes away.If I break down, I can always call someone.Out in the desert, there won’t be anyone to call.I don’t have a cell phone, and I’m not sure there’s coverage out there even if I did.”“So?”“It’s too dangerous, Alex.Aren’t you listening to me? We’d have the girls with us.The tires on the car are nearly bald, and it’s been running hot—”“You always have some excuse.I haven’t seen Dad for a month, but you don’t care!”Jaclyn was conscious of Cole standing in the other room.He’d given her some space, but she seriously doubted he was out of earshot.Her house wasn’t big enough to avoid his hearing Alex’s high-pitched voice.Why did this have to come up tonight?“It’s not my fault that you haven’t seen him, Alex, and you know it,” she said.“Then, whose fault is it? Dad’s?”Yes! Jaclyn wanted to scream the word, but she was the adult in this situation and was determined to act like one.Tempering her response to something kinder, she said, “I don’t want to place blame.It just hasn’t worked out.”“Come on, Mom.The car will make it,” Alex pleaded.“I promise you, honey, I’d take you to Feld if I could, but I can’t.What if something went wrong? We’d be in real trouble.”Alex narrowed his eyes at her and spoke into the phone.“You were right.She won’t do it.She won’t ever let us see our dad!”Jaclyn opened her mouth to refute the unfair claim, just as Cole stepped back into the kitchen.“Tell your grandpa to wait up,” he said.“You’ll be there in a couple of hours.”“What?” Jaclyn gaped at Cole.“We’d better start out before it gets too late,” he told her.“You’re driving us there? To Feld?”He shrugged.“Why not? My car will make it.”“But it’s a long drive.We won’t get back until late tonight, and then there’s the problem of getting the kids home tomorrow.”“Won’t Terry bring them?”“I don’t know.He’s not even home so we can ask him.”Alex put on his “please, please, please” face.“Can’t you guys just stay?”“Where?” Jaclyn asked.“With Grandma and Grandpa,” Mackenzie supplied, as though the answer should be obvious to everyone.Jaclyn tried not to blanch openly.“No, guys, listen.Staying overnight is too much to ask of Cole.”She expected Cole to concur by claiming he had something to do come morning, but he didn’t.He studied one child’s hopeful face, then each of the others before turning to Jaclyn and cocking an eyebrow in challenge.“Feld has a motel or two, if I remember right.I’m sure we can manage a couple of rooms for the night, if you’re up to it.”“Are you serious?” she asked, knowing everything rested on his answer.She couldn’t say no now, not without adding credibility to Alex’s charge that she was being less than cooperative when it came to letting them see their father.Cole grinned and mussed Alex’s hair.“Go pack your bags,” he said.“All of you.I’ll run by my place and be back to pick you up in twenty minutes.”CHAPTER NINEFELD.God, he was going back.Cole couldn’t believe it
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