Which made him subordinate staff?
“The point is,” Sutter continued, “my dad looked after everything around here. Including the colonel. Without him, the house, the yard, have gone downhill. And so has she. She’s always tended to hole up, get lost in her books, the journal she’ll probably turn into a memoir one day or her old war movie DVDs.”
Sutter shook his head in what seemed like some frustration. “She doesn’t cook, never has—so as far as I can tell all she’s been eating are cheese puffs and candy bars, and not much of those. She hasn’t kept the house up at all.”
“I would imagine your mother spent a lot of time at the hospital with your father while he was there,” Kinsey said. “Tough to keep up on home maintenance and do that, too.”
“Sure. But my dad died two months ago. When I got home, no one had checked the mail in weeks. There were condolence floral arrangements dead in their vases outside the front door. The refrigerator had rotten food in it.”
“Did she forget about those things?” Kinsey asked in case what they were discussing was the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s.
He knew what she was asking, though, because he said, “The colonel is as sharp as she’s always been. It isn’t that. She’s slowed down over the years but she doesn’t have any major physical or cognitive problems. This is more about her needing to...”
He raised both hands in frustration. “She needs to change!” he said.
His movements gave Jack just enough freedom to jump down. The adorable puppy went to the basket of toys, ignored its contents and instead began waging war against the basket itself, dragging it into the center of the room. Sutter left him to it.
“I have people coming in to clean the house, to work on the yard. I can set up automatic payment for the bills, set up a grocery delivery. But without my dad, she’ll just keep herself cut off from everything outside of her den—I think some nights she doesn’t even bother to go up to her bedroom to sleep. She didn’t let in anyone who came to pay respects after my dad passed—she wouldn’t even come to the door.”
“Everyone reacts to grief in their own way,” Kinsey offered.
“Sure, but this isn’t grief, it’s how she’s always been. Day-to-day life has never been what she deals with. Her work, the military—that’s been it for her. Except for me and my dad.”
“And now with your dad gone, there’s just you,” Kinsey said.
“And I’m on extended leave until my shoulder heals, but then I need to rejoin my unit in Afghanistan. I can’t leave her the way she’s been living.”
Kinsey nodded her understanding.
“Somebody has to convince her to take better care of herself. Maybe if someone other than me, someone with some professional medical standing, gets on her about it, it’ll bring it home to her.”
“I can do that,” Kinsey assured.
“And she needs a network of support. She has to have people in her life, whether she knows it or admits it or not. She has to have human contact and she certainly won’t go find it for herself.”
“What about an assisted living facility—”
Another firm, definitive shake of his head stopped her from going on with that. “This house has been in her family for four generations, she won’t leave it. And she’s only accepting having you here until she gets back on her feet. I offered to get her live-in help and she blew a gasket—”
“I know it isn’t much comfort but what you’re describing isn’t all that uncommon. So what exactly are you wanting me to do beyond her recovery?” Kinsey asked.
But his frustration level was too high to give her calm, concrete answers. “Anything! I want you to do anything you can to get her out of her rut, to make her let people into her life, to take care of herself!”
It was an outburst that Kinsey could tell was out of the ordinary for him. He took a deep breath and exhaled to get himself under control. Then he went on unemotionally again. “Livi said you have a lot of good ideas. And if they come from someone other than me—” He heaved a sigh that was somewhere between frustration and disgust. “She won’t take suggestions from me. I tried talking to her about this stuff again yesterday and she actually pulled rank on me and just shouted for me to quit meddling in her life.”
Kinsey didn’t suppress her smile this time. “Are you sure she won’t figure she outranks me, too?” she joked.
Sutter actually laughed. He was even more good-looking when he did.
Not that that was something that mattered. She was just glad to have eased some of his tension.
Then, in a more confidential tone, he said, “And whatever you do, you can’t let her know that we even talked about this. If the colonel thinks I put you up to socializing her or networking her or whatever, she will dig her heels in and that’ll be it.”
“So you need me to work a miracle transformation on your mother and her life before you have to leave again—and not let her know you put me up to it,” she summarized.
“Yes.”
The wheels of Kinsey’s mind began to turn.
He was recruiting her for a conspiracy. A conspiracy to get him something he wanted. To reach a goal.
Could she do the same with him?
It would mean taking him into her confidence, something she was hesitant to do. But if she did, how much closer could she get to her own goal?
The chance to build a relationship with the Camdens was the whole reason she wanted this job. If Sutter could provide her with more direct contact with them, things could move along much quicker.
Or he could just throw her out when he found out her true motives.
Was it worth taking the risk?
“What you’re asking is above and beyond the call of duty,” she reminded him, deciding to take a chance. “But I’d be willing to give it a try if you might be willing to help me with something, too.”
“Like what?”
“I’d like to get to know the Camdens better.”
“You already know Livi,” he pointed out.
“We’re acquainted, yes,” Kinsey hedged. “But I’m interested in more than that. I mean I’ve met all of them—I went to one of their Sunday dinners but just in the role of nurse to my last patient. Everyone was nice and said hello, but that was it.”
“And you want more than that?” He sounded suspicious.
“I do. You’re an insider—”
“And you want to use that—me—to get close to them and do what?”
Oh, yeah, he was suspicious all right. She could understand why. The Camdens were one of the wealthiest families in the country thanks to their massive chain of superstores. There was probably no shortage of people who wanted to get close to them to take advantage in some way. But Kinsey wasn’t interested in their money or prestige.
“I’m not after anything but the chance to get to know them. For them to get to know me—”
“Why?” he demanded.
Should she inform him of something she hadn’t told anyone except her brothers?
“I’ll tell you here and now,” Sutter said sternly, “I don’t give a damn what you might be able to do for the colonel, I won’t help you work some kind of scam or angle on the Camdens.”
“That’s not what this is about! I told you, I don’t want anything