Loving Laura (The Cantrelle Family Trilogy) by Patricia Kay Page A

him.
    “I’ve missed you,” Alice said.
    “I’ve missed you, too.”
    “I’ve thought about you a lot.”
    “Me, too.” He tasted the soup. Wonderful. Just like he remembered it. “Good soup,” he said, trying to dispel the heavy atmosphere. He could only handle so much drama right now. “You always were a good cook.”
    “I try.”
    “Mommy, can I have some ice cream?” piped Lisa.
    “Me, too,” added Jimmy, Jr. with a shy smile in Neil’s direction.
    Alice rose to get the ice cream out of the freezer. “You’re looking good, Neil,” she said as she brought the filled bowls to the kids.
    He shrugged.
    “’Course, you always did,” she added with a teasing grin. “I remember how jealous of you Jimmy always was.”
    “Jimmy! He was never jealous of me.”
It was always the other way around.
    “Yes, he was. He told me once that women looked at you in a different way than they looked at him.” Then she chuckled. “Of course, I was delighted they
weren’t
looking at him, and I said so!”
    “It wouldn’t have mattered,” Neil said softly. “He never had eyes for anyone but you.”
    “I know.” Once more tears misted her eyes. “I miss him,” she whispered.
    “I know you do. I do, too.” Neil thought how proud Jimmy would be if he could see how well she and the kids looked. “Has it been rough?”
    Now it was her turn to shrug. “Not as rough as it could have been. People have been so kind.”
    “Good.”
    “I’ve never had a chance to thank you for the money.”
    “I don’t want thanks.”
    “I know you can’t have that much yourself, and sending me a check every month... well...”
    “I have plenty.” He really
didn’t
want her thanks. He shifted uncomfortably, wishing she’d drop the subject. “I don’t need much.”
    “Still...one or the other would have been more than enough. I mean, after you sent the ten thousand dollars, I never expected to get the checks each month....”
    Neil frowned. “Ten thousand dollars? What are you talking about?”
    Now Alice frowned, too. “You know. The check you left for me the night you left town. I—”
    “I never left you a check.” He put his soup spoon down, and gave her a quizzical look.
    “You didn’t?”
    He shook his head. “No. It wasn’t until I got to Florida that I realized I’d meant to ask you about money. That was when I got the idea that I’d just send you some each month.” So who had given her a check for ten thousand? “Wasn’t the check signed?”
    “Well, yes, but it was a cashier’s check, drawn on the First National Bank.”
    Neil nodded. First National had been his bank. But that wasn’t unusual. There were only two banks in Patinville, and the other one, the Patinville Savings and Loan, didn’t have checking account facilities, so almost everyone, even if they saved money or borrowed money through the savings and loan, still carried an account with First National. “Did you ask the bank who had sent the check?”
    “No. I never thought to. I just assumed it was you.” Neil could see how she would think he’d sent the money. She’d probably thought it was guilt money. A stillness settled over him at the thought. No, that was ridiculous. Why would anyone feel guilty about that night? No one else was involved except Abruzzi and Neil. And Erica, he thought. Still... the anonymity of the check bothered him.
    “Alice,” he said slowly, “didn’t the Department have some sort of collection for you?”
    She nodded.
    “Who handled that?”
    “Uh, they did it through the Survivor’s Club.”
    “That’s what I thought. Did you by any chance keep the stub from the ten thousand dollar check?”
    Her eyes reminded him of shiny pewter as she stared at him, wide-eyed. “I don’t remember,” she said slowly.
    “If you had kept it, where would it be?”
    “Buried somewhere in Jimmy’s desk, I guess.” Her voice trailed off, and she bit her bottom lip. Neil could see her thinking hard. “Do