All He Really Needs(29)

Sydney hesitated, her mind flooding with all the negative things Griffin had said about his mother. But he was the one who’d said he planned to go talk to her. Surely no harm could come from her just giving Caro a glimpse of his cards.

“He wanted to talk to you about the missing heiress. We’ve hit a little roadblock in the course of our research and he thought you would be able to help him narrow down the search.”

“He did?” Caro sounded surprised, but she recovered quickly. “Well, of course he did. I was at the house all morning. I wonder why he didn’t come.”

Sydney nearly harumphed. Caro wasn’t the only one with questions. It wasn’t that Griffin had to tell her where he was going to be every second of every day, but his disappearing act was getting old. As his assistant, it was her job to know his whereabouts, and frankly she was getting tired of feeling left in the dark.

“I wish he had just called. I’ve already left the house and won’t be back until this evening.” Apparently, Caro felt the same way as Sydney. The other woman sighed and then continued in a confidential tone. “We could have talked this morning and been done with it. As it is, it could be sometime tomorrow before he catches up with me. Valuable time is wasting and he’s off doing God only knows what.”

Sydney hesitated a moment before asking, “Then you would be willing to answer any questions he has? You’d be willing to help him find his sister?”

“Willing? Well, of course I’m willing. What sort of mother do you think I am that I might not be willing to help my sons complete this quixotic quest my husband has sent them on?”

“That’s very generous of you. I’ll make sure I pass on the message to Griffin.” When she could reach him. Where was he?

“Or…” Caro let the word dangle there suggestively. “If you happened to know what he wanted to discuss with me, you could join me for lunch and simply ask me yourself.”

“I…” Oh, God. How was she supposed to answer? “I…” On one hand, Griffin was nowhere to be found and, as his mother had pointed out, they were on a time crunch here. On the other, Griffin must have had his reasons for saying he was going to his parents’ house and then not going.

Maybe the same reasons he didn’t share his schedule with her and made bizarre phone calls that he didn’t want her listening in on. If he were a different kind of guy, she might think he was stepping out on her. Maybe she was being naive. Sure, Griffin was a playboy and a charmer, but in the time they’d been together, he’d seemed to curb his outrageous flirting. Plus, the sheer scorn in his voice when he discussed his father’s philandering made her think he just wasn’t a cheater.

What would it hurt for her to go see Caro Cain and just talk to her? Maybe it would even be for the best. After all, Griffin obviously didn’t have a great relationship with her. Perhaps a neutral party could more easily get an honest answer from her.

“I would love to meet you for lunch,” she found herself saying.

She quickly jotted down the address, even though she and nearly everyone in Houston knew the location of the River Oaks Country Club.

As she packed up her bag, she even told herself she was doing the right thing. She didn’t really believe Griffin would do anything to hurt Cain Enterprises. Not intentionally. But clearly he was not objective here.

Sure, there was a line when it came to respecting a boss’s decisions. But if he wasn’t available to make the decision, that line was blurry. And if he wasn’t being one-hundred percent logical and responsible, then maybe the line even wiggled a little bit.

*

By the time Griffin pulled up in front of his parents’ house, he still hadn’t decided what do to about Hope2O. He was so lost in thought he almost didn’t recognize the Jaguar XK parked at the curb. Only when he saw the sticker for the rental car company did he remember that the same car had been parked there nearly three weeks ago when Hollister had made his big announcement. Which meant Cooper must be visiting. Of all his father’s possible visitors, only Cooper was enough of an adrenaline junkie to rent a Jaguar every time he came to town.

Ever since their father’s first heart attack, Hollister had been sleeping downstairs, in the room at the front of the house that had once been his office. Now, all the furniture had been replaced by a hospital bed and enough medical equipment to sustain a surgical ward in a third-world country. Griffin knew this because he’d actually visited clinics in Africa that got by with less.

Today, he peeked into the room and saw that his father was sleeping. He briefly considered waking his father up, but instead he quietly closed the door just as a nurse bustled around the corner. She was one of three who cared for Hollister around the clock. Patting her mouth with a napkin, she said, “I’m sorry, sir. I was just taking a lunch break.”