She wouldn’t hear it from him, though.
“You know I wouldn’t miss Kat’s big party,” he said.
His youngest sister looked up from helping Milo and Gabi color on the white paper tablecloth with the crayons Barbara Serrano had provided before they sat down. “Excuse me—did I imagine a phone conversation a month ago where you specifically apologized and told me you wouldn’t be able to make it?”
“Things change.” He shifted. “I’m here, right?”
“And we’re all so glad,” his mother soothed. “I’m not glad you needed surgery on your shoulder but it was so nice of the FBI to give you time off for your sister’s reception.”
“Wasn’t it?” he murmured. Nice hadn’t been part of that conversation. He had been ordered off the job while his shoulder healed and his actions were reviewed.
“We should order before Elliot changes his mind and decides he’s had enough of us all,” Katrina said, and he reminded himself to hug her later.
They were debating how many pies and what toppings when Wynona suddenly looked up.
“Oh, there’s Megan and her niece and nephew.” Wynona beamed and waved vigorously. “Hey, Hamilton family!”
His heart gave a ridiculous sharp kick and he couldn’t resist looking up. Megan was walking with Luke and his children. He knew he shouldn’t notice how bright and lovely she looked, with her auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail and her cheeks a little flushed from the cool of the evening.
She smiled at the Baileys, though it became more like a grimace when her gaze landed on him before she quickly pasted her features back into a smile.
Had anyone else noticed? he wondered.
“Hey, everyone,” she said. “Great game, Miss Chloe. You rocked shortstop this week.”
His step-niece grinned. “Thanks! Cassie was the star of the game, though.”
“Great pitching, Cassie,” Elliot’s mother agreed.
“You should join us for the celebratory pizza!” Katrina gestured to a table next to theirs. “We can pull up some chairs.”
He could see instantly that idea didn’t appeal much to Luke. The other man gave the table a curt nod. “We wouldn’t want to intrude. Matter of fact, kids, maybe we should order our pizza to go. It’s been a busy day and I know we’re all beat.”
The kids looked as if they wanted to protest but finally nodded.
“You can at least wait here and visit while she brings it out to you, then,” Elliot’s mother insisted.
Luke clearly didn’t like that idea but he was apparently just as helpless against Charlene’s sheer force of will as the rest of them.
“I’ll go talk to Barbara,” he said to Megan and the children. “Go ahead and sit if you want.”
“There’s room here by Chloe and Will,” Andie said.
The children sat down and were soon talking to their friends, and Megan sat down and did the same with Elliot’s sisters. He knew he didn’t imagine the way she carefully avoided looking in his direction.
As for Luke, he stood near the hostess table talking to Barbara Serrano and didn’t even come back after making their to-go pizza order.
The man wanted nothing to do with him. Elliot sipped at his beer, trying not to look at either Hamilton sibling while he pretended to be engrossed in the conversation Marshall and Cade were having about a local auto burglary investigation.
After fifteen minutes or so, a server came out from the kitchen with a large pizza box and a bag that probably contained side items like garlic bread and salad. She carried them over to Luke, who thanked her, still unsmiling, then carried the order over to their table.
“Kids, here’s our food. Let’s go.”
Cassie and Bridger grumbled a little but slid their chairs back from the table obediently.
Luke turned to his sister. “You’re welcome to stay. I can leave you a few slices of our pizza or you can get something else.”
She hesitated for only a moment, glancing around the table until her gaze landed on Elliot.
“No. I have plenty of things to do at home tonight. I’d better run. Good night, everyone.”
“Yeah. Night,” Luke echoed.
The family left with Megan leading the way out of the restaurant, holding hands with her niece on one side and her nephew on the other.
The moment the door closed behind them, Elliot finally felt as if his lungs could expand again.
Charlene heaved a big sigh, watching after the Hamiltons. “Those poor children. My heart aches for them, growing up without a mother.”
“They seem fairly well-adjusted,” Andie said. “They have lovely manners and seem to be doing well in school and have many friends.”
“I think they’re doing great,” Katrina agreed. “I’m just sad for Luke, always living under the cloud of suspicion.”
“Maybe there’s a reason for those suspicions,” Marsh said solemnly.
“Oh, come now,” Charlene said. “Surely you don’t think he had anything to do with Elizabeth’s disappearance.”
When Marsh didn’t answer, their mother turned on Elliot. “Tell him, Elliot. Lucas was one of your best friends. I can’t even begin to count the number of times he stayed at our house. You know he couldn’t have hurt his wife.”
Elliot’s mother had been the wife of the Haven Point police chief for decades. She had to know the world was not always a safe and beautiful place. Husbands beat their wives, mothers hurt their children, strangers attacked strangers.
Sure, compared to most places, Haven Point was a fairly safe community, but it wasn’t perfect.
“It’s been quite a few years since I had a sleepover in the backyard with Luke Hamilton,” Elliot said quietly.
“But you know who he is inside.”
He didn’t. Not anymore. His friend had become a stranger since Elliot left town after high school. Most of that was Elliot’s fault. He hadn’t kept up with old friendships as well as he should have, too busy building his career and carving out his new life. But when he had come home and contacted Luke to grab a beer or something, the other man inevitably seemed to have other plans.
People drifted apart. It wasn’t uncommon, especially when geography and time intervened.
Elizabeth had been his friend, too. They had even been partners on the debate team the year he had been a senior and she had been a junior. They had both been officers in Honors Club and she had been funny and smart, the female lead in almost all the school plays and one of the prettiest girls in town.
“You heard what Bobby Sparks said after the game. That’s a tough cloud for a man to live under, all these years later,” Charlene said. “It must be so hard, not knowing what happened to her. There’s nothing worse for a family. I wish one of the departments that have handled the case could have been able to discover something—anything—that might have helped find her.”
“I can’t even begin to tell you the hours that have been devoted to the case, both by the police department and now the sheriff’s department. It’s still very much an open investigation,” Marshall said.
“With little progress, apparently,” Charlene said tartly.
“You