He never shared his thoughts or feelings. Other than saying he was exhausted after his shift at the hospital or when he’d been studying, Ryan hadn’t expressed much about himself. She didn’t bother to wonder if he was different with Ashley.

Ryan Fordham didn’t matter to her any longer.

It was a relief to have him out of her life, she decided. As soon as Rod Babcock gave her the okay, she was signing those papers and closing that unhappy chapter of her life. She smiled inwardly and splashed a little dressing on the salad.

She brought the dogs outside and tethered them to the gatepost. That way they’d be nearby while they ate.

“I don’t think you have to keep them tied up,” Adam said from the grill, where he was tending the steaks. “We can keep our eyes on them.”

She headed back into the kitchen for the salad. Over her shoulder, she replied, “I’m too nervous to take any chances.”

Whitney returned with the salad and the plates. She set their places and served the salad. It was going to be a typical “guy” meal. A huge steak and a side of salad. She’d bet Adam wouldn’t have bothered with the salad at all if she hadn’t been there.

He brought over the sizzling steaks. The smell made her stomach growl and had all the dogs standing at attention, their tails wagging. “Medium rare, I think. Cut into yours and see if it’s okay before I turn off the grill.”

She tested her steak. It was a little rare, but she said, “Perfect. Let’s eat.”

Adam sat down and immediately cut into his steak and took a bite. She could almost hear him sigh with satisfaction.

“I guess the food in Iraq wasn’t too good.”

“Got that right.” He took a sip of the pinot noir. “They try, but feeding hundreds of soldiers isn’t easy. There’s nothing like home cooking.”

“Was your mother a good cook?”

He shook his head. “My mother died when I was about seven. She had breast cancer back when there wasn’t much they could do. All I remember her making for me was cereal. After she passed away, my dad did his best, but home cooking was mostly macaroni and cheese or microwave dinners. What about your mother? Did she like to cook?”

“Yes,” Whitney replied with a smile. “We cooked on the weekends. You see, Mom was a single parent. My father walked out on us when I was less than a year old.”

“Do you ever hear from him?”

“No. Never.”

“Have you tried to contact him?”

“No. I figure if he didn’t care about us then, he won’t now.”

Adam was silent for a moment and they ate without talking for a few minutes. Finally he asked, “What about Miranda?”

Whitney hesitated. She didn’t want to admit that she’d ignored her only relative for so long. “I went off to UCLA but Miranda didn’t have the grades to get into the UC system. She went to San Diego Community College. I came back the first two years for Thanksgiving, Christmas and spring break. We saw each other then.”

Whitney gazed into the distance for a moment. “You know, the older we became, the more alike we looked. People assumed we were sisters. They expected us to be as close as sisters, but we weren’t.”

“Did Miranda have friends or boyfriends that you met?”

“No. She had her own apartment. It was a small place near Mission Bay. I was really envious because I had to live in the dorm, where you couldn’t think or study.”

“How was she able to afford it?”

“Her parents had life insurance. Miranda received half a million dollars when she was eighteen.”

Adam whistled. “That’s a lot of money at that age.”

“Mom wanted to handle it for her, but Miranda insisted she could do it.”

Adam chewed his steak and gazed at her thoughtfully. “She doesn’t seem to have any of it left.”

Whitney shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “When my mother became ill with cancer, there were things the insurance didn’t cover. Miranda took care of it. I tried to pay her back but she wouldn’t let me. She insisted Mom deserved every cent for taking her in when no one else would.” With a pang of guilt, she added, “That’s why I have to help her now. If I’d spent more time with her when we moved here, she might not have disappeared without telling me what was wrong.”

“How long have you been back?”

“A little over a year. I called Miranda right away. We said we’d get together but we never did. I tried-once. I invited her to dinner but she already had plans. I never called her again, and she didn’t call me.”

He cut up his last bit of steak into little pieces. Obviously, Jasper was in for a treat. “Wasn’t that strange?”

“Not really. Miranda and Ryan didn’t get along.” The admission brought back so many memories-all of them troubling. “I guess Miranda saw things in Ryan that I didn’t. I should have asked her-paid more attention to what she was thinking.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

TYLER LEANED BACK, his feet propped up on the rail, and gazed out at the harbor lights from the balcony of his condo while he sipped his beer. A cat’s paw of a breeze brought the briny scent of the ocean across his face. God, he loved this place.

He turned his head and intently watched Holly. She’d seemed preoccupied all evening. He wished she would be a little more open about what she was thinking.

“Should we eat, then hit one of the clubs?” he asked in case she was bored. The great thing about living here was being close to the best restaurants and a hot club scene.

She shook her head and sent her silky brown hair fluttering across her bare shoulders. “No. Let’s catch a bite, come back and watch a movie.”

“What do you feel like eating?”

“How about Wok ’N Roll?”

“Sounds great,” he agreed, even though the Thai café with its aquarium walls and trendy sushi bar wasn’t his favorite.

Holly stood up and pulled down the skirt of her dress with a smile that made eating Thai food worth it. “I’m going to grab my pashmina. I’m a little chilly in this dress.”

While she went into the bedroom to get her shawl from the closet she used when she was here, Tyler closed the sliding glass door to the balcony. The cell phone on his hip jingled and he pulled it off his belt. It had better not be Butch at the command post. He didn’t want to tell Holly that he had to fill in for a no-show again.

He’d told Butch to hire a few guys with minor violations on their background checks. He’d also authorized Sherry to pay them to stay on call during the graveyard shift. As he checked the caller ID, he saw “blocked” and knew it wasn’t the command center.

“Did you talk to Adam about that backup disc?”

As usual, his father was all business. No inquiries about how he was or how things were going. No question about whether he was interrupting anything.

“I spoke with Adam.” Tyler kept his tone low. He didn’t want Holly to overhear him. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he wasn’t as comfortable with her as he had been before Adam’s return. He half expected her to say they were through. They’d been together for over two years. He had no reason to think she would leave but the idea kept popping into his mind. “He says the burglars took most everything, but he’ll look-”

“I’m going to call him and tell him that I’m coming over to help search. Do you have his number? There’s no listing for Calvin Hunter. Knowing Calvin, he must have had an unlisted telephone.”

Holly walked out of the bedroom, a bright pink shawl draped over one arm. She’d put on fresh lipstick and sprayed on the perfume he’d given her for her birthday.

“I have his cell number back at my place,” he fibbed. “I’m on my way to dinner with Holly. I’ll call you with the number later.”

“Later? I’d planned on going over there tonight.”

Christ almighty. This missing info must be really important. Quinten Foley usually spent his evenings at the officers’ club with his cronies when he was in town.