The intoxicating smell of deep fried tortillas and meat reached Jaci’s nose the moment she stepped in the house. Her stomach gurgled in appreciation, and she dumped her bags on the couch.
“Mama,” she called, hurrying to the kitchen, “are you making flautas?”
There her mom stood, a decorative apron on over her work clothes. She put down the spatula to hug Jaci. “Feliz cumpleaños, hija.”
Jaci looked at the salsa and chips and guacamole and tacos and little meatballs and empanadas all laid out on plates. “Did you take the day off work to make all this?”
“Only the afternoon.”
Jaci hugged her again. “I love you.”
Mrs. Rivera wiped her face, leaving a smudge of flour behind, and returned to the skillet. “Come. Eat. Amanda too,” she added, spotting Amanda as she came in behind Jaci.
“Yes!” Amanda grabbed a plate and began spooning food on it. “I love your birthday, Jaci.”
For once Jaci agreed. She piled on a heaping of meatballs, knowing Cesar’s bus would arrive any moment and he would eat the rest.
The evening turned rather festive, with music and sombreros and too much chocolate. By the time she and Amanda went up to her room, a warm contentment had replaced the angst in her heart.
“Okay.” Amanda threw open the door to Jaci’s closet. “It’s time to get you packed.”
“I’m ready.” Jaci gestured to the suitcase she’d hauled up the stairs.
“None of this is fashionable enough for Europe,” Amanda said, eyeing the items with one eyebrow arched sharply upward.
“Half of them are your clothes,” Jaci said.
“Yeah, and I gave them to you because they were out of style. Pack what you want. I’ll pack clothes for both of us.”
Jaci’s phone rang, and she nearly fell in her effort to twist and grab it. She’d already heard from Seth and a few aunts and uncles. With any luck . . .
Yes. Ricky’s name scrolled across the screen. Taking a deep breath, she sat down at her desk and answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” he said, sounding breezy and carefree. “How’s your day been?”
“Great,” Jaci said. She glanced at Amanda and mouthed, “Be right back.” Then she left the room, closing herself in Seth’s room. “Just hanging out with Amanda.”
“Happy birthday, Jace. Sorry I couldn’t be there.”
She gritted her teeth, not wanting to bring up the sore subject. Because he could be here, really. His job at the auto shop was pretty flexible and he wasn’t in school. “Yeah,” she said instead. “I miss you.”
“What are you and Amanda doing?”
“We just ate a bunch of really awesome Mexican food. Now she’s making sure the clothes I have are suitable for Europe.”
Ricky paused before responding, and she knew from the hesitation that he hadn’t warmed up to the idea of her leaving yet. “Where are you going again?”
“I told you already. Switzerland.” Jaci traced her fingers over an embroidered flower on the quilt on Seth’s bed. “Zürich.” He’d already asked this a dozen times. His inability to remember struck Jaci as a refusal to accept that she was actually going.
“And you really feel like that’s necessary? Things are so bad at home you have to leave the country?”
Her guilt over not revealing the truth was easily replaced by irritation. “I’m barely coping. I need this. Which you would know if you were here.” Oh, ouch. She winced. She hadn’t meant to blurt that out.
“Defensive much?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”
“But it’s what you’re thinking.”
His words hung in the silence between them, and Jaci tried to think of a way to deny it. “I’m okay. I’m fine. You do what you need to do. I get it. And I’m going to do what I need to do.”
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They hardly sounded like reconciliatory words. She softened them the best she could. “You understand, don’t you? I mean, that’s why your family left Idaho, right? Because Sara needed a change.”
“I’m sorry, Jaci. Sorry it’s so hard for you right now.”
She closed her eyes, accepting the solace his words offered. “I just feel so lost. Really struggling with who I am. Everything.”
“I get it,” he said. “Just don’t lock me out this time, okay?”
Never. Never again would she push him out of her life. “I won’t.”
“You could come to Kansas. I can fly you out, you could be here tomorrow.”
She squeezed the phone in her hand. How could she say no to that? But her father was waiting. The plans were set. “I would love to. But not now. I’m ready for this trip.”
“Okay. If I don’t talk to you before then, call me when you’re at the airport. Let me know how things go.”
“Thanks, Ricky. Thanks for understanding.” Jaci disconnected the call, relieved that hadn’t gone worse.
She returned to her bedroom and found Amanda zipping up the suitcase.
“You’re all packed,” she announced.
“Really? Wow. I should hire you.” There was one more person she was supposed to talk to. Jaci bent and opened the side pocket of her carry-on luggage and pulled out an envelope.
“Everything good with Ricky?”
Jaci lifted one shoulder. “So-so. He’s not happy I’m going, I’m not happy he’s not here, we’re both uneasily trying to support the other.” Ha. That about summed it up.
“Why don’t you tell him the truth?”
“You think that would make it better?” Jaci lowered her voice. “Besides, I wasn’t even supposed to tell you. I’m worried that the more people who know . . .”
“No secrets from me,” Amanda said, giving her a stern look.
“I know.” She opened the envelope. It contained her boarding pass. Her tickets. And a business card. She dialed the number on it.
“This is Mr. Hamilton. How can I help you?”
“It’s Jaci. Rivera. I’m on my way over.”
“Jaci,” he said, his voice taking on a fondness that she usually only expected from her father. “I’ll be waiting.”
“Okay,” Jaci said, exhaling loudly as she pocketed her phone. “I’ll only be gone an hour, at the most.”
“Don’t want me to come?” Amanda said.
“No. In fact, turn up the music and make lots of noise so my mom doesn’t know I’ve left.”
“Will do.”
----------------------------------------
Jaci pulled into the driveway in front of the rambling ranch style house in Idaho Falls and put her car in park. So this was where the detective lived. This was where Ricky stayed for a couple of nights after Jaci kicked him out of the house. She smiled at the memory, warming at the thought of Ricky’s kisses, the way he had held her and touched her only moments before she evicted him.
She got out of the car and walked up the brick pathway to the front door. A motion-detection light flashed on, basking the walkway. Brick steps lead up the porch, and she passed a tricycle and toy cars. She rang the doorbell and waited.
A moment later the door opened, and Detective Hamilton stood there. The detective had been put on the kidnapping case two years earlier, when Jaci, Amanda, Sara, and Callie were kidnapped and held for ransom. She’d never seen him dressed down in jeans and a T-shirt, but there he stood, looking as normal as her history teacher. As if that image weren’t enough, Jaci started when she saw a small boy in his arms. The towhead child reached out a hand and babbled at her.
He ushered her into the house, closing the door behind them.
A blond woman appeared in the doorway, drying her hands on a rag. Her eyes landed on Jaci. “Hi, I’m Kristin. I’ve heard lots about you.”
Jaci could only imagine. She bobbed her head, hoping she wasn’t blushing. “Hi.”
Kristin disappeared back in the kitchen, and Detective Hamilton cleared his throat. He put the little boy down, and the child proceeded to army crawl on the floor.
Jaci watched him go. “So what do you do for a living? If you’re not a PI anymore?”
“Oh, I still am. I’m just very picky about what jobs I take on. And Kristin works as an interior designer. We’re doing just fine.” He met Jaci’s eyes. “Still flying out on Sunday?”
She nodded, wetting her lips with her tongue and pressing them together. Detective Hamilton was the only person her father had maintained contact with through the years.
“Here.” The detective stood and walked over to a bookshelf. He retrieved a large manila envelope and brought it back to her. “Keep this in your carry-on. Deliver it to your father.”
Jaci held the envelope in her hand, measuring its weight. “It’s nothing illegal, is it?”
The detective gave her a stern look. “No. I don’t operate outside the law.”
Unlike her father. The words hung unsaid. “Except when it comes to my father.”
His expression softened. “I understand him. If I can help him, I will.”
She tapped the envelope against the palm of her hand. “Am I allowed to know what’s in here?”
“Keep it sealed. I want your father to know he received everything I put in there. It’s legal documents. Maybe something he can use to get back to the U.S.”
Her father seemed to be enjoying his life of hunting down the bad guys. If he could live in the U.S. and continue that work, he probably would. But he couldn’t. The best he could hope for was some kind of amnesty. The worst he could expect was prison time.
“What have you told your mom about this trip?” the detective asked.
Jaci shook her head. “Not much. I tried bringing up my father after I left the hospital, but she didn’t want to hear anything about him. I don’t know if it’s anger, denial, some combination of both—anyway, I was afraid if she knew the real reason I was going, she wouldn’t let me. It was hard enough getting her permission as it was.”
“But Amanda knows.”
“Yeah.” Jaci shrugged. “She had to be in on the plan.”
“Which is what?”
“I don’t really know.” She studied the envelope as if she could read the contents. “I guess we’ll see.”
Detective Hamilton didn’t say anything, and Jaci finally looked up to see him watching her.
“What?”
“You really think your mom’s not going to find out?”
Again she lifted her shoulders. “If I’m already in Switzerland, it won’t matter. I just want to see my dad.”
And maybe discover another piece of herself.
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