Questing (Cosmis Connections, Book One) by Barbara Huffert Page B

Paul’s?”
    “You can’t really believe that’s a possibility.” He sounded unsure.
    “I guess not.” She was remembering Brett’s words.
    “Kiley, listen to me. First, I promise I will always be honest with you.”
    “All right.”
    “Good. Second, walking into Mr. Paul’s that first day may have been the best thing in my life so far.”
    “Jordan, stop exaggerating. You just said you’d be honest.”
    “I am being honest. You may not realize it yet but meeting you has had a tremendous impact on me.”
    “What? No…”
    “Yes, Kiley. You are one very special woman…”
    “But you don’t know me.”
    “Hmm. Okay so tell me everything you think I should know.”
    She remained silent for a bit. “Like what?”
    “Anything at all. Let’s see, start with something easy. How did you wind up at Mr. Paul’s?”
    “I was a dishwasher the first day. My mom wasn’t well and I needed a job. It was a month after graduation and that was the first job I tried for.”
    “Your mom wasn’t well?”
    “No, she’d just had an aneurysm. They did surgery but it wrecked part of her mind. I couldn’t give her the kind of care she needed and I didn’t want her stuck in one of those county homes so I sold the house to pay for the Villa. I found the cheapest apartment I could but there wasn’t anything left after her expenses.”
    “Kiley,” he said gently.
    “I’m okay, Jordan. It still hurts and I miss her terribly but I don’t mind talking about her. I mean, if you really want to hear this.”
    “Absolutely. I’ll listen to everything you’re willing to tell me.” He wished he were with her. He could hear the emotion in her voice. If it were up to him, he’d prefer to have this conversation with her folded in his arms. Instead, he’d have to do his best to offer support over the phone. “Please continue.”
    “Okay. I was hired as the evening dishwasher and it was a total disaster. Mom’s surgery wiped out her recent memory. She was stuck in the year I was thirteen. I’d been in the habit of visiting her around the time school would have been done. That first night, I was so worried that she’d think something bad happened, that I was lost or hurt that I was a wreck. I dropped a stack of plates and knocked a tray of glasses off the counter. Henry called me into his office and I really expected to be fired after he said I had to pay for what I broke. Instead he got me to tell him why I was so jumpy when I hadn’t been during my interview.
    “When I finished, he said he wished I’d told him about her up front. He explained that he was looking for a lunchtime hostess. He guessed that I could probably use some extra money so he asked if I’d come in early and help set up every day. Since the job was weekdays only and it paid almost twice as much as the dishwasher job did, I took it.
    “I was so scared. I’d never tried to make idle conversation with complete strangers before. It turned out that Henry explained my situation to Dee and asked her to keep an eye on me when he was busy. He was so nice to me and patient. And he even encouraged me to call and check on my mom every day.
    “For two years, she thought I was visiting her on my way home from school. I took a change of clothes to work with me so I’d look how I did in middle school. She got progressively worse and eventually gave up and died.”
    “I’m sorry, Kiley. I wish I could give you a hug.”
    “I do too,” she sniffled. “Anyway, Henry let me keep my hours even though I didn’t need them to stay the same. I help out at night and on weekends during vacations but usually I only work on weekdays.”
    “Thank you for telling me about your mom. It means a lot to have you trust me with something so personal. Do you have any other family, other than your cousin?”
    “Just Lyssa’s parents but they’re in South Carolina at the moment. My uncle is in the Marines and that’s where he’s stationed now.”
    “What about your