She shot to her feet in outrage, her forehead creased with angry lines. “Like what? What do you think happened? Oh my god!” Her eyes widened a fraction too much. She looked at him and hesitated. “Do you think … do you think someone paid me for something? For somefavors?”
“No!”
“No?” She crossed her arms. “People don’t throw dollar bills unless they want something?” She hurled his words back at him.
“I didn’t meanthat.”
“People like you make me sick, Stone.”
“People like me?” Where the hell was this coming from? “What do you mean people like me?”
He sensed that there was more going on underneath the surface than he would be able to chisel away at. He might not even get to find out what had happened, not today, and perhaps not within a week, but find out he would, one way or another. Today had been an eye-opener, that much was true.
She was on edge, and his questioning was only making things worse. “I’m sorry,” he said again. It didn’t even feel that strange to him that he had apologized twice already.
“You should be.” She folded her arms even tighter in a defiant pose. “What you’re implying is offensive,” she hissed, in a barely controlled burst of anger.
“Journalists can be sneaky, and they have their ways and means of buying information. I was worried that someone had come to you trying to bribe you, with money, for information on the wedding, and with Tobias being away, and you looking after Jacob, it’s easier for people to get to him.”
She looked up at him as if this was new to her. “There are lots of sick people out there, Izzy. You of all people should know that, especially after what happened with Jacob before.”
“I hadn’t thought of it like that.”
“That’s where I was coming from.”
She pressed her lips together, as if she was considering what he’d just told her. “I’m sorry I bit your head off.”
His reflex action was to make a joke based on her reply, but he stopped himself in time and accepted her apology gracefully. “Don’t worry about it.” After a while, “Trust you to jump tothatconclusion? Whatever had you thinking I might think someone was paying you for services?”
She shrugged. “I expected wild and crazy from you, doesn’t everyone?”
That hurt. It hurt more than he cared to show her. So his lips spread out into a fake smile. “You know me.”
She smiled too.
“For a moment I worried a new boyfriend might have crept into your life, a journalist in disguise who was after information.”
“Pfffft,” she made a derisive grunt. “I don’t have a boyfriend, new or old.” He thought he heard her mumble, ‘too much hassle’, but he couldn’t be sure. Either way, her response warmed his heart more than a hug from her might have, and he felt proud of himself for slipping that into the conversation so easily.
“It’s not the first time you’ve gotten something wrong, Stone.”
“It isn’t?”
“Just so you know, the only reason I came to that burger place last week was because of Jacob.”
“Jacob?”
She shrugged. “We were talking in the pool, that day before you forced us all to go to that burger place—”
“I didn’t force you. It was a suggestion.”
“Anyway,” she continued, “Jacob mentioned—he didn’t actuallysayanything about a baby—but he seems to think that he’ll soon have a sibling, and he seemed worried that when the new baby comes, Tobias won’t have as much time for him.”
“That’s what the kid thinks?” Poor kid. He could relate to that, to wanting to please his brother, wanting his approval. Of course it was different, Tobias was his brother, and his relationship to Jacob was different, but he could so relate to what the kid was feeling.
Izzy nodded. “He thinks Tobias won’t love him as much as he’ll love the new baby, whenever they might have one, which,” she angled her head, thinking, “might happen soon, because Jacob seems to think they’re trying for a baby.”
“He said that?”
