After she thanked Mr. Kiplinger again, shook his hand and watched him drive away, Sara went to the main house to the door leading into the kitchen. She hoped Ethan was nearby. She could have phoned him, but she wanted to tell him the news face-to-face.
When Ethan answered the door, he looked awful. He was dressed in pajamas and a robe with a tissue in his hand. “You might not want to come in,” he told her. “I caught some kind of bug.”
His face was flushed and his eyes were a little glassy. “Do you have a fever?”
“I haven’t taken my temperature,” he mumbled.
“I think you should. Have you eaten yet today?”
“No, I was in bed till a few minutes ago.”
“Did Jase leave?”
“Before dawn. He doesn’t know I caught a cold. I wasn’t going to have him postponing his trip because I started sneezing.”
“Why don’t you go sit in your favorite chair and I’ll make you some breakfast. You need to push liquids.”
“Why would you do that?” he asked brusquely. Sara suspected that, though he was bristly on the outside, Ethan Cramer wasn’t that way on the inside.
“Because you’re Jase’s father,” she replied. “And, no, I’m not doing it so you’ll let me stay in the cottage longer. The insurance company settled with me, and I’ll be moving out as soon as I find a place.”
“Moving out? What about you and Jase?” Ethan looked absolutely in shock.
“Mr. Cramer, I don’t know if Jase wants me here any more than you do.”
After a quick assessment of her, he gave a resigned sigh. “That’s a bunch of nonsense. I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but he’s been a bear for the past week. Maybe you should think about fixing it. I’ll be in the parlor. My head’s pounding so hard, I can hardly stand here and talk to you.”
Sara didn’t know where the parlor was, but she’d find it as soon as she’d made Ethan’s breakfast.
The Cramer kitchen was well stocked, and Sara easily found a frying pan, the toaster, the teapot and a hand juicer. In twenty minutes, everything was ready. She carried the tray down a hall, hearing a TV in one of the side rooms. She hadn’t been in this part of the house the night of the soiree. Following the sounds, she spotted the doorway and found, indeed, she was in a parlor. There was a piano, bookshelves, a wing chair and a recliner. Ethan was in the recliner, his legs up, his head against the chair back.
His eyes flew open when he heard her enter the room. “Needed the TV louder than the pounding in my head,” he explained, though he really didn’t have to.
“You really should call the doctor and make an appointment. This could be more than a cold.”
“Nonsense. It’ll pass. I just need to break the fever.”
“Hopefully breakfast will help. I made herbal tea so it doesn’t dehydrate you, and if your stomach’s not upset, you should drink all of the orange juice.”
He switched off the television. “My stomach’s fine. But I am cold.”
The room was anything but cold. She picked up a throw that was spread over the back of a wing chair and handed it to him. She didn’t think he would take to a lot of coddling.
He spread it over his robe. “Don’t stand there holding that tray all day. The food will get cold.”
Yes, it would. “Do you want the whole tray or a dish at a time?” She was already setting the tea and juice on the table beside him.
“Just add the toast to the plate with the eggs. That will be fine.”
She did that and handed him the plate and a fork. “I hope you like scrambled.”
“I like eggs any which way.”
“Do you want me to stay while you eat or come back for the tray?”
“I don’t expect either.”
She smiled and sat in the wing chair. “Then I’ll keep you company while you eat.”
After he ate in silence for a few moments, he said, “You know, I was wrong about you.”
“Because the insurance company cleared me?” This was a man who respected honesty, so she wasn’t going to beat around the bush.
“No. I’d figured out before today that you wouldn’t set a fire.”
Curious, she asked, “How did you come to that conclusion?”
“I saw how upset you were when Amy was missing. She really is your world.”
“She’s everything that matters most.”
“I guess it’s important to tell kids how you feel...show them how you feel. You do that with your daughter. And I see Marissa doing that with Jordan, too.”
“They won’t know if we don’t tell them and show them.”