“Ladies,” Ray greeted, steering Nest toward their table. “Say hello to Nest Freemark, an old friend of John’s. Nest, this is Carole Price, our director of operations here at Fresh Start, and Stefanie Winslow, the boss’s press secretary and all-around troubleshooter.”

Nest shook hands with each in turn, noting the looks of surprise that appeared on both faces when Ray mentioned her connection to Ross. It was becoming clear that when John Ross had ceased to be a Knight of the Word, he had turned his back on his past entirely. The women smiled at Nest, and she smiled back, but this whole business of her relationship with Ross was growing awkward, and she wished he would just hurry up and get back so that she could get this visit over with.

“Sit down, Nest,” Carole Price suggested, pulling out a chair. “I can’t believe we have someone here who actually knows John from … well, from when?”

“A long time ago,” Nest answered, trying not to sound evasive. She sat down. “It was my mother who knew him, really.”

“Your mother?” Carole Price prompted.

“They went to school together.”

“Good heavens!” Carole Price seemed amazed. “Even Stef doesn’t know much about our boy from those days.”

Stefanie Winslow shook her head in quick agreement. “He never talks about himself, about what he was doing or who he was before we met.” Her smile was dazzling. “Tell us something about him, Nest. Before he gets back. Tell us something he won’t tell us himself.”

“Yeah, go on,” Ray Hapgood urged, drawing up a chair across from her.

What Nest Freemark wanted to do most right then was to get out of there. The room felt impossibly close and airless, the fluorescent light hot and revealing, and the presence of these people she didn’t know a weight she could barely shoulder. What was happening inside her was indescribable. The uneasiness had taken on a life of its own, and it was careening about in her chest and throat like a pinball, shrieking unintelligibly and battering her senses. It was taking all her energy to keep it from getting completely out of control, to prevent it from breaking free in a form she could only begin to imagine. She had never experienced anything like it before. She was frightened and confused. She was wishing she had never come looking for John Ross.

“Come on, Nest, tell us something,” Stefanie Winslow urged cheerfully.

“He was in love with my mother,” she blurted out, saying the first thing that came to mind, not caring if it was true or not, just wanting to shift their focus to something else. What in heaven’s name was wrong with her?

There was a flicker of uncertainty in Stefanie Winslow’s eyes. Then Ray Hapgood said, “Her mother died some years ago, Stet This was a college romance, I’d guess.”

“It was,” Nest agreed quickly, realizing what Stefanie Winslow must be thinking. “It happened a long time ago.”

“Let’s get you some coffee, Nest,” Hapgood announced. “I don’t want Della on my case for not keeping my promises.”