Chapter 38

Jamie limited himself to one glass of beer that evening because he knew he'd be driving in a few hours. At six, once he was sure everyone was home, he dialed the house in Arlington. Amanda answered.

"Hi, Mom; I just wanted to let you know I'll be there in time for breakfast tomorrow; Bob's offered to cover the Buccigrossi wedding for me. I've had something to eat and I'll get a few hours of sleep before I drive, but look for me about eight tomorrow."

"All right, Jamie."

"Is Abby busy?"

"No. Here she is."

"Hi, J-Man. How was West Point?"

"The couple were a dream to work with, and I got some great shots of them against the backdrop of West Point, which is gorgeous in the summer anyway. Their names are Chrissy and Sean and I told them all about you and how we met."

"Did you? So they aren't just clients, they're friends now."

"Yes. I even told them who I really am; I don't usually do that, of course, but they're officers, military intelligence officers even, so they know how to keep secrets. They're getting married near Fort Riley, Kansas, over Labor Day weekend and they asked me to give them a quote on doing the wedding."

"Really. Wow. Well, you must really have impressed them, but then you are the J-Man, J-Man. Lee told me about the job in Kansas City. Get some sleep, Jamie, and don't be in too much of a hurry to drive down here."

"I'll be careful. See you tomorrow, Princess."

"Night, J-Man."

At three o'clock the next morning, Jamie slipped out of Bob and Myrna's house, threw his luggage in the car, and got on the road.

He pulled into the driveway of the Elmwood house just after eight o'clock and parked behind Amanda's Tahoe. He had hardly shut the engine off before Bobby and Emily came dashing out of the house to greet him.

"Jamie, Jamie, Daddy said you're going to be here for the whole weekend. Can you take us to Goofy Golf?" Emily asked.

"I think that can be arranged."

"Maybe Phillip an' Kendra an' Abby can go too," Bobby suggested.

"We can certainly ask them. Come help me get my stuff out of the car, okay?"

His willing helpers carried his gear into the house, where he sniffed the air and said, "Don't tell me, let me guess, Abby's making pancakes and bacon, right?"

"Yeah; she told Mom she was the breakfast cook and Mom said that was just fine."

"I certainly did. If the girl wants to cook breakfast for this horde of locusts, who am I to argue?" Amanda said, as she and Jamie shared a quick hug. "All right, you two, let's take Jamie's gear up to his room."

"So he can go see Abby and kiss her," Bobby said. "Ugh."

"You just wait about five years, little brother; you'll change your tune."

"Oh, not five years, Jamie! Let him wait until he's at least fifteen," Amanda pleaded.

"Remember Phillip? He had a girlfriend when he was twelve."

"Yes, and Lee had one when he was about eight, but that doesn't mean Bobby has to start that early."

"What can I say, Amanda? The men in this family are just irresistible to women," Lee said.

He came over to shake Jamie's hand and said, "Abby told us about the West Point shoot. You're picking up business in Kansas now, are you?"

"It's a possibility. Even if I don't do the wedding, I made some new friends. Tell you all about it at breakfast."

Abby had just flipped yet another perfect pancake onto a stack when Jamie came in, brushed her braid aside, and kissed the back of her neck. "Hmmm. Vanilla," he said. "Forget the French perfume; I like Abby, who smells like vanilla. Morning, Princess."

"Morning, J-Man."

He put his arms around her waist and put his chin on top of her head. "We have some talking to do, Princess."

"I know. Breakfast first, though."

"Breakfast first."

Bobby and Emily wanted to go to Goofy Golf as soon as it opened at nine, but Lee vetoed the idea. "Jamie didn't have to agree to take you at all," he told them. "He just drove in from New York, and you ambushed him as soon as he got out of the car. If he agrees, you can go after lunch, or after lunch tomorrow, since they don't open until one on Sunday afternoons."

"How about tomorrow afternoon, guys?" Abby suggested. "And this afternoon, we'll take you to the community pool. I'll call Kendra and see if she and Phillip want to go too."

"Yay! We get to go swimming and to Goofy Golf!" Emily said.

"Weren't you planning on going to Saturday evening Mass, though, Abby?" Amanda asked.

"Yes, ma'am, but that's not until 5:30. We'll still have time to go to the pool for a few hours before I have to come home, shower and change for church."

"All right, but feel free to tell my children that you have other plans any time you want."

"I will, I promise."

Since Abby had cooked breakfast, Amanda shooed her and Jamie out of the house as soon as they'd eaten. "Go for a drive, a walk, anything," she said.

"I've done enough driving in the last two days to do me for a while. Let's walk," Jamie said.

They left the house hand in hand and walked toward a small park about halfway between Lee and Amanda's current house and the Maplewood Drive house, the same park where Jamie and Phillip had played many games of basketball with their friends or even against each other when no one else was around. At a quarter to nine on a summer Saturday morning, it was deserted except for a few adults and their dogs. They found a bench away from the playground equipment and sat down. Jamie kept hold of her hand, running his thumb over her much smaller fingers.

"Kansas City," he said. "The office is in the federal building, which is an eighteen-story steel and glass blot on the landscape that was built in 1965. It's right downtown, which means downtown traffic getting to and from work unless I can find a place close by. The money will go farther, though, which is good, and I can pick up freelance photography jobs as long as I clear them with my bosses. It's only about three hours from Lincoln. I've lived in Virginia or New York all my life, so I'd have to get used to living in the Midwest, not that I think it would take much. I do a fair amount of surveillance photography now; there, I'd just be doing more, and there's potential for advancement, for promotion into a less specialized position, which I think I'd like. It's a long way from Arlington, and that will take some getting used to, because even I was at Pratt, I could hop on a train and be home in half a day. I came home pretty often, too; at first. I was thrilled at the idea of being away from home at eighteen, but that didn't last long. I even missed my brother, who was at UVA back then, and that means I was really desperate, because we knocked heads constantly when we were teenagers."

"I think most brothers as close in age as you and Phillip are do; you should have heard some of the fights Larry and Dan, my two oldest brothers, got into. They're two years apart just like you and Phillip."

"Yeah. Do you think we have a future, Princess, or is this just a flash in the pan? It's been less than three days, after all."

"I think the potential for something lasting is there. I've never felt this way before about a guy, that's for sure."

"That's good to hear. If I take this job, we'll be separated during the summer, which I am not looking forward to, believe me, but once school starts, we can see each other fairly often."

"Yes."

"But then you'll graduate next May and come back here to work for the Foundation."

"Maybe, but maybe not."