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“It’s at eight.”
“Do you want me to call out for a couple of hours so I can drive you?”
“I’ll be okay.” Truth was, she worried that the moment she stopped regularly driving, she’d have trouble finding the energy to start again. She slid off the stool, trying to keep it from looking like she had to drag herself around. Her body felt…heavy. That was the only way she could explain the lethargy she felt. It didn’t help that food failed to taste good and most things left her nauseous, but she wasn’t pregnant.
At least, so far, she hadn’t had a positive test.
Kenna took a package of two steaks from the freezer drawer at the bottom of the fridge freezer and put it in the sink.
“Sure you don’t want me to go with you?” He knew there was plenty she wasn’t telling him. But it wasn’t as if she planned to keep the results of any tests from him.
“I’ll call you as soon as I’m done.” She moved to stand in front of him, sliding her arms around him. She lifted up on her toes and kissed him. “Promise.”
He slid his arms around her. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”
“I don’t need fine. I need answers.”
“I know.” He kissed her again. “Gotta go or I’ll be late for a meeting.” But he didn’t move or let go of her. “Love you.”
That meant,I’m so glad you’re here now,I’m still glad we got married,let’s go on vacation,I don’t want to go to work because I’d rather stay here with you, and a whole lot of other things. Enough to make her smile. She dragged her hands up his chest to his cheeks and kissed him, replying the same without words.
“Someone has to be the breadwinner.”
Kenna gasped, laughing when she caught the playful look in his eyes. He knew well enough she didn’t need anyone to take care of her. After all, they’d combined their finances as soon as they got married.
“Speaking of.” He bent to grab something from his work backpack. “Don’t tell anyone I gave you this.” He handed over a manila file stuffed full of papers and newspaper clippings. “It’s a cold case. A legend in the Phoenix FBI office, or a myth. Everyone seems to have a theory about what might’ve happened.”
“What’s the case?” She set the file down, working out when she would have time later to look at it between her appointment and grocery shopping. Princess Jolene needed more treats, and Kenna needed more of the energy drinks she’d been living on these days.
“Right around July 1972, a Mafia boss, Lorin Barone, who was the subject of an investigation, disappeared. On the same day, one of our agents, Walter Collins, who was the lead in investigating him, disappeared as well. Along with a hundred thousand dollars in gold that was never found. No one knows what happened to them or where they went or where the gold is. They just vanished.”
Her brows rose. “Thanks.”
Jax chuckled. “Have a good day, dear.”
She rolled her eyes and hung around in the kitchen while he headed out to work. Her phone was where she’d left it on the end table in the living room, where she’d been listening to the Bible while Jax took his shower and got ready. Maizie had called once already this morning. Kenna finished getting ready, poured coffee into a thermal cup full of ice, and armed the alarm before she went out to her car.
She opened the garage door and turned the air-conditioning to full blast while the interior cooled off. It might be morning chill, but this was Arizona summer. Being outside after nine in the morning was like stepping into a furnace.
She called Maizie on the way out of the drive and sipped her coffee as it rang, heading to the entrance of the complex. The two pillars that flanked the drive in and out had a security guard shack on the left side and plenty of palm trees on either edge.
Maizie said, “Hey.”
“Morning.” Kenna rested one hand on her lap on the straight roads, giving each a break in turn. “You didn’t tell me earlier…how was your night?”
“I got my English paper done.”
“That’s great. What about history?”
Maizie made a noise. “Let’s not belabor the point here.”
Kenna chuckled. “Summer classes are a good test of whether you’d like college in the fall.”
“Or if I’m going to be a model student or a slacker,” Maizie said. “I’m still getting used to the name Maizie Jaxton coming up on the card reader when I sign in to class.”
“I know what you mean, though I don’t know if only changing my driver’s license and my name at the bank is making it worse or better.”
“What about the doctor’s office?”