Chapter 31

© Copyright 2013 by Elizabeth Delayne



Rebecca Jenkins joined her daughter in the restaurant. Leaning back in her chair, Jamie watched as her mother sat down across from her, then back at her cell phone. It sat beside her spoon on the table.

Silent.

“Waiting on a call?” Rebecca asked.

“I called them this morning, told them I was more than ready to come back. Miriam said she would get back to me.”

“It’s been four days,” her mom reached over and took her hand. “I was glad to hear you singing in the shower.”

“I’ll never forget it, Mama. The little girl’s eyes as she just looked at me. I told her to, and I didn’t even realize she was gone.”

“And it took you back to your time in Haiti.”

Jamie lifted her gaze and met her mother’s. For a moment she flashed back there, to the devestation and the loss. She had watched children die with their mothers right there, at her side, and mothers slip away. She could still hear the weeping.

It was a place she could--and would--stay, if she let herself.

“I don’t think we’re meant to get over it.”

“And to think I wanted to go into geriatrics.”

“I think losing a child or anyone from a tragic event is different than losing an older person that’s had a long, long life and ... it’s more expected,” Rebecca let go of Jamie’s hand to lean back in her chair. “It just is.”

“Well,” Jamie took in a deep breath and let it out quickly. “I’m ready to go back.”

“You miss them.”

“Yes.”

“You were talking to Tyler last night.”

“I called Felicity. She thought I should talk to him, too.”

“I wonder if it has anything to do with the singing in the shower.”

“Mama ... I’m just-” Jamie looked up as the waited stepped over and pushed herself up in her seat. The waiter took their orders, without either of them having to consult a menu, then walked away.

“I have to say, I’m really going to miss this restaurant,” Jamie murmured.

“And you were saying?”

“About what?”

“About what you’re thinking of Tyler.”

Jamie let out a breath. “I don’t know what to think. Still-and I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. Without him around. Without him clouding up my senses.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” Rebecca asked her daughter.

“It’s ... disconcerting.”

Rebecca laughed. “Jamie ... how wonderful it must be to have a cute guy make you feel disconcerted.”

“Did dad ever ...”

“Make me feel disconcerted?” Rebecca filled in. “I think I was the one who knocked him off his feet. You take a little more after your father in that way. Quiet, shy. You take your time to think about things. And maybe he did when I realized how much he meant to me. That part came as a surprise.”

“But dad wasn’t courting you on television.”

“No. But he was courting me,” she picked up her napkin and placed it over her lap, slowly smoothing out the linen as she thought back. “Just say it, Jamie.”

“Say what?”

“What’s holding you back.”

“I don’t know if ... I don’t know if I can do it.”

“Is it the show ... or is it the boy?”

“Mama.”

She looked up, met her mother’s pointed gaze and sighed.

“That’s what I thought. You can’t hide from him Jamie.”

“But what if it’s not-“

”What if it is?” Rebecca studied her daughter. “He’s a good guy.”

“He is.”

“He was worried about you.”

“I know. And he was there for me when I couldn’t turn to anyone but him, because there’s already a depth there between us.”

“There you go. No one’s going to blame you for falling, Jamie,” she leaned back, looked Jamie in the eyes. “Your Gram is close to eighty and she’s smitten with him.”

Jamie chuckled despite herself. “What if it doesn’t work out?”

“Jamie,” Rebecca leaned forward. “What if it does?”

“I -“

Her cell phone rang, saving her from stumbling over an answer ... an answer she wasn’t ready for yet. She picked it up, answered it ... and moments later closed it with a frown.

“What did they say?”

“They’ve worked it out to bring me back when they’re ready. Until then, I’m not to talk to the team anymore,” she eyed her mother. “It looks like I’m being held hostage by a network.”

“In a five star hotel,” Rebecca waved it off. “Can’t say you should complain. I’m not going to. Its been a long time since you and me have had this kind of you and me time, if we ever did.”

No, they hadn’t, not since she’d been a little girl and girl dates with her mom ... well, they had just been different. She’d lost time as a teenager and as a young adult, time she should have handled differently. She loved her grandmother, but she missed her mother. She always had.

Jamie reached across the table and took her mother’s hand. “I’m glad you’re here, mom.”



Tyler sat at the RV’s kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal as Felicity sat across from them doing the same thing their pace slow and drowsy. Thessa was sitting on the long sofa, absorbed in her Ipod and George was going over the newspaper. They’d been rushed out of the hotel and hurried off to the sit on the edge of the forest in the middle of Ozark National Forest.

It was so obvious that Jamie wasn’t there.

Without her, there was very little conversation in the morning. Well, for him anyway. He missed their coffee dates. If she even considered them dates at all.

Even worse, they had been cut off. He understood enough about the process that he knew Jamie wasn’t answering her phone because she’d been ordered not to. At least, he thought he knew her well enough to believe that.

It made him ... edgy.

Cameron came onto the bus, practically at a leap. Tyler glanced up as Cameron took the seat next to him. “I got some recon.”

“As in we’re going somewhere?” Felicity asked.

“No. Information. What else is recon?”

“Reconnaissance is how you gain the information,” she said. “I think you mean intel.”

“Whatever,” Cameron turnd his attention to Tyler. “I just got off the phone with my manager.”

“You have a manager?” Felicity asked, then went back to her cereal when Cameron sent her a pointed look.

“My manager just talked with Steve’s manager. It seems that Steve was spouting off, because they’d just finished with a competition to get rid of one of their players for this round. He was a bit upset at who they took out.”

“Jamie’s not coming back?” Felicity asked.

“Not for this round.”

Tyler frowned. “Do you know what kind of competition they finished?”

“Some type of obstacle course, team challenge.”

“Oh, that’s good. They take away their weakest player and leave us with ...”

“What?” Cameron narrowed his eyes.

Felicity shrugged. “Without Jamie.”

“But that’s just it. It wasn’t the loser they took out. It was the person who figured out the pattern. It was a big surprise, at the end. They took them out, supposedly to give them some sort of reward at a spa or something.”

“Sounds familiar.” George lowered his newspaper and frowned at Tyler. “I thought you said Jamie was ready to come back. That she was talking about coming back.”

“She did. But she hasn’t called me or answered her phone in nearly two days.” Tyler pushed his cereal away. “I don’t know.”



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