“Not fair,” she said with a huff. “Don’t talk to me about what’s ‘fair,’ Grayson.”

Knowing he was fighting a losing battle, he got up, put his mug in the dishwasher and went upstairs to pack. He brought enough clothes to stay a week. After that, he’d either have to do some laundry or come home.

When he was packed, he logged on to his computer to book a ticket on the two o’clock flight to LaGuardia and took a quick scan of his email. He read a message from Noah about where they needed to go if they chose to be tested and wrote down the address of the clinic that was on the way to Burlington. A short time later, he went downstairs, carrying his suitcase and the backpack containing his laptop and ongoing-case files. “I’ll call you,” he said to his mother as he wrapped his scarf around his neck.

She nodded.

Grayson hated to leave with unusual tension between him and his mother, but he also refused to be talked out of going with Emma and Simone. He had nothing keeping in him in Butler at the moment and every good reason in the world to go to New York.

Chapter 18

Love is a hole in the heart.

—Ben Hecht

Emma moved through the motions of packing for herself and Simone, who’d woken grumpy and unusually out of sorts. Her elbow hurt, and that made everything difficult for both of them as Emma helped her through a shower, getting dressed and packing her belongings.

Molly came to the door to the room Simone had stayed in. “I could use some help bagging up the cookies I made yesterday, if anyone is interested.”

“I’ll help,” Simone said, immediately cheered by the sight of someone other than her mother, especially if that someone was Molly, whom she adored. “If I can do it with one arm.”

“Your one arm gives me one more than I’d have without you.”

“Thanks, Molly,” Emma said with a grateful smile. “We’ll be out of your hair very soon.”

She put an arm around Simone. “You’re not in our hair. We’re going to miss you girls.”

“Can we come back sometime soon?” Simone asked.

As Emma said, “Simone!” Molly said, “Sure, any time.”

“I’m trying to make her civilized,” Emma said.

“She’s very civilized,” Molly said with a warm smile for Simone.

“Yeah, and she ought to know,” Simone said. “She has ten kids.”

“Many of whom are highly uncivilized most of the time. I know civilized when I see it.”

Emma and Simone laughed at that.

“Let’s go bag up some treats for the plane,” Molly said.

“Thank you,” Emma said silently to Molly, who nodded. She’d probably overheard Simone being cranky and had come to the rescue.