wanted a dog, but I found Pepper, cryin’ outside in the front yard. He was wet and hungry. No one claimed him so we kept him.” Mandy perched on the side of the bed and bounced a few times. “Do ya want to play a game?”
Pepper rubbed his body against Dane’s chest, then nudged his hand. “How about after breakfast?” Dane glanced at his watch and saw that it was early. “Is anyone else up?”
“Oh, yes. Mommy’s takin’ a bath. She likes to do that sometimes instead of a shower. She’s been in the bathroom a loo-oong time.”
Dane decided if he ever wanted to know what was going on in the family all he had to do was ask Mandy. “Let me get dressed and see if I can get some coffee started. Maybe you can help me.”
“Sure.” She jumped to her feet and scooped Pepper up into her arms. “I’ll be in the kitchen. I don’t know if we have any coffee. Mommy doesn’t drink it.”
“She still drinks tea?”
“Yep.” Mandy said, walking slowly from the den.
That was one of the many differences Zoey and he’d had. One of the first things he’d requested when he’d returned to civilization was a large mug of brewed coffee. Before the plane crash, he’d drunk at least five cups a day. After the crash, he hadn’t been able to remember what he liked for a long time. Even if he had, coffee hadn’t been on the menu in the Indian village where he’d stayed.
Dane used the bathroom off the den, quickly shaving and showering. When he entered the kitchen, he found Zoey putting a kettle of water on the stove. Mandy sat at the table, eating a bowl of cereal with bananas. When she saw him, she beamed at him, revealing her missing front tooth.
“We have to put Pepper out in the backyard when we eat. He likes to get up on the table and stick his nose into my food. No matter how many times we put him on the floor, he gets back up. Mommy finally gave up tryin’ to teach him not to get up on the table.”
Zoey turned from the stove, a flushed cast to her cheeks. Her long blond hair was tied back in a ponytail while her brown eyes stared at him with a wariness that he’d seen a lot in the last months before his disappearance.
“I have some instant coffee somewhere in here.” She opened several cabinet doors and found the jar.
He winced.
“Instant is all I can offer you.”
“Maybe I can go to the Quick Mart on the corner and get some real coffee.”
“Sorry. I don’t have a coffeepot anymore.”
“What happened to it?”
“I gave it away after—” A frown flitted across her features.
“Never mind. Instant will be fine.”
“I’ll get a pot today at the super center.”
“That’s okay. I can take care of it. I don’t want to put you out.”
“Nonsense. You’re our guest—” She swallowed her next words. “I mean—”
Dane held up his hand. “I understand, Zoey. Really. This isn’t a normal situation. I don’t want you to go to any trouble.”
“It’s no trouble. I’m going to the store anyway.” She snatched up the kettle as it began to whistle and poured hot water into two mugs.
Her hand shook. They sounded like polite strangers instead of husband and wife, she thought, and stirred the coffee granules into his mug, then gave it to him.
“I’ll go with you to the store. There are some things I want to pick up.” Dane took a sip of his coffee and kept his expression neutral.
Zoey dunked her tea bag into her hot water, then spooned in some honey. “We’ll go after breakfast.”
“Mommy, Daddy was gonna play a game with me.”
“He can later. Blake has a soccer game this morning and I want to get the shopping done before the game.”
Mandy drew her brows together and formed a pout. “We always have to go to his games. Can I stay at Nana’s with Tara?”
“I guess so if it’s okay with her,” Zoey said, bringing her mug to the table and placing it on the mat across from Dane’s.
“Call her. Call her!”
“Not until you’ve cleaned your room and made your bed, young lady.”
Mandy hurriedly finished her cereal in two bites and raced from the room before Zoey could say anything.
Dane chuckled. “I didn’t know it was possible to eat so fast.”
“Mandy does everything on fast mode. She’ll be back down here in a few minutes, declaring her room is clean. Of course, when I go up to inspect it, most of the items on the floor will be shoved under her bed. She’ll moan and groan, but finally pull them all out and put them where they belong.”
“If she knows you’re gonna check, why doesn’t she put them away the first time?”
Zoey shrugged. “I think she’s an eternal optimist. She’s just sure one day I won’t check.”
“She sounds like she’s gotten more than her looks from you.”
“I’ve tempered my optimism with realism. When life slaps you in the face, it’s hard not to.” Zoey sipped at her tea, glad to have something to do with her hands. “Would you like some cereal? I know you like a big breakfast, but the only morning I have time to fix one is Sunday before we go to church.”
“I’m not used to having a big breakfast anymore. Where’s the cereal?”
“You mean cereals.” She pointed to the cabinet next to the refrigerator. “When you have three hungry children, we go through several boxes in a week. I do have some that aren’t laced with tons of sugar.”
“Actually sugar sounds good. I’ve missed it.”
An uncomfortable silence fell between them as Dane prepared his bowl of cereal topped with a banana. Zoey wanted to ask him about his years in the jungle, about his lost memory, but after the night before, she knew he wouldn’t say anything to her until he was ready, if ever. She didn’t want him to reject confiding in her a second time. Her battered emotions could only take so much.
Dane settled again in the chair across from her and dug into his cereal. When he was halfway finished, he looked up and speared her with his intense gaze. “Where’s Blake? I’d hoped to see him this morning.”
Zoey glanced at the clock over the desk. “He should have been down by now. I’d better go see what’s keeping him. He’s supposed to go over to Nate’s this morning before the game. I need to check on Tara, too. She should be up. I usually hear her by now.”
Zoey hurried up the stairs, stopping by Mandy’s room to see how she was progressing with her cleanup. With a quick look under her daughter’s bed, then the closet, Zoey shook her head and said, “You’re gonna have to try harder if you want to go to Nana’s this morning.” There was a part of her that hoped Mandy didn’t accomplish her task, the part that didn’t want to be alone with Dane, the part that was confused and not sure what to do.
“Oh, Mommy. Everything’s off the floor.”
“Yeah, and this time stuffed in your closet.”
“But it’s not under the bed.”
Zoey put her hands on her hips and fixed a stern expression on her face. “Young lady, you know what a clean room is supposed to be like.”
Next Zoey went to Blake’s room and knocked on the closed door. When she didn’t hear anything, she knocked again, louder. Suddenly the door swung open. He was still dressed in his pajamas with his hair sticking up at odd angles as though he had just