The Bitterest Pill

Fifteen

He stopped in at Daisy’s on his way home, figuring he’d catch up with Cole. He figured wrong. And Daisy was as strange and evasive as she had been the other day. Jesse could be as patient as need be, but maybe because he was tired or because this involved his son, he didn’t feel like being patient.

“Look, Daisy, what’s going on with Cole?”

“Didn’t you ask him when you saw him last night?” she asked, her smart-aleck expression and tone more in keeping with the Daisy Jesse knew and loved. “He is your son, last time I checked, and you do still live together.”

“I wasn’t home last night.”

Daisy raised an eyebrow and gave him a sour look. “Were you with her?”

“‘Her’?”

“Little late in the game for the both of us to start playing coy, Jesse Stone. You know exactly who ‘her’ means.”

“What if I was?”

Daisy said, “Forget it. None of my business.”

“Since when did that ever stop you?”

“Since right now.”

Jesse shook his head. “Little late in the game for us to start playing coy, Daisy,” he said, throwing her own words back at her.

“Ask her, Jesse.”

He supposed Daisy had a point. If he was curious about Maryglenn, he should ask Maryglenn.

“Fair enough. What about Cole?”

“Same answer. Just know he’s got my blessing to not be here. So don’t go giving him a hard time about that. You may not have raised up that man, but he has a lot of your qualities... for better or worse.”

“Thanks, I think.”

That got Daisy to smile in spite of herself.

“All right, Jesse, how many coffees and what would you like to eat?”

Molly was at the desk when Jesse came into the station. He put a large coffee and an egg sandwich down in front of her. Then he did something he rarely did. He pulled a chair over, put his own breakfast down at the desk, and ate with her.

“What’s the occasion?” she asked.

“I wanted to talk.”

“You don’t need to ply me with food to get me to talk to you. You’re my chief.”

“And your friend.”

“And my friend. So this isn’t business?” she said, unwrapping her sandwich and sipping her coffee.

“What do you do when your kids keep secrets from you?”

“This isn’t a hypothetical, I take it.”

He shook his head. “Cole hasn’t been at work for the last few days, with Daisy’s blessing.”

“Have you asked him about it?”

“Not yet.”

“Then you’ve got two choices: ask him or let him tell you when he’s ready.”

“What if he’s never ready?”

Molly laughed, almost choking on her food. “Don’t be an ass, Jesse. People have secrets, and don’t you dare bring up Crow.”

Now it was Jesse’s turn to laugh. “Never.”

“Liar.”

“Never again.”

“Better, but I don’t believe you. Listen, Jesse, as far as it goes with Cole, you can’t force things. He wants to have you be his father.”

“How can you know that?”

“Sometimes, for such a smart and perceptive man, you can be a real jackass. Cole’s here, isn’t he? He came looking for you. He hasn’t left. For twenty-plus years you were the object of his scorn, resentment, fascination, and yearning. We only ever get one set of biological parents. He’s figuring stuff out. Let him, and let him come to you. Ease off the gas a little bit.”

Jesse didn’t say anything to that, because it rang so true there was no point.

“Has your daughter ever mentioned a kid from school named Chris G., Chris Grimm? He’s a junior.”

Molly stopped chewing. “Why?”

Jesse explained about seeing the kid outside the funeral home.

“No, she’s never mentioned him, but I can ask.”

“Do that, but I’m going over to the high school to ask about him after breakfast.”

“A lot of kids are going to be absent today because of Heather’s funeral.”

“I know, but there’s something about this Chris G. kid. Looked guilty, but also like his heart got ripped out. He definitely wasn’t a Heather type of boy.”

“I don’t know, Jesse. Girls sometimes really like bad boys.” As the words came out of Molly’s mouth, she realized she was putting her foot in it.

Jesse grinned. “Oh, kind of like you and Crow.”

“I knew it.”

“Don’t you worry, Molly Crane. That secret dies with me.”

Secret... There was that word again.