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president, I handle everything when he’s unavailable, so of course I returned Dr. Bartlett’s call yesterday. It sounded urgent.”
    “Are there other people in the office?”Marie asked. “If you’re here, who’s running things now?”
    “We do have staff. And I have my laptop. Other than rescheduling a few face-to-face meetings, most of my work can be done remotely.”
    “Let me ask you something,” Joe said, fiddling with his reading glasses. “Does your father know you’re here?”
    “No, he doesn’t,” she answered after a long silence, and Rick got the feeling shedidn’t want to answer the question. The granddaughter they didn’t know showing up in Boston unannounced when their son couldn’t even be bothered to return a call was interesting, but he really hoped she wasn’t up to no good in some way. “The doctor couldn’t discuss your situation with me because I’m not on the form, but my father is unavailable, so I decided to come in person.”
    Unavailable. She’d used that word outside, too, and he wondered what it meant. Most people would say he was on vacation or at a remote fishing cabin or chained in a basement somewhere. The use of unavailable seemed deliberate, meaning she didn’t care for them to know what Davey Broussard was up to.
    “I feel bad that you came all the way out here,” Marie said. “Dr. Bartlett overreacted and shouldn’t havecalled.”
    “Needs to mind his own damn business,” Joe muttered.
    Rick cleared his throat. “Maybe he did overreact this time, but it’s not a bad idea to go over your legal papers and discuss your options once in a while.”
    “We can talk about all that tomorrow,” Marie told them. “Right now I want to hear about my granddaughter.”
    Rick did, too, actually. He watched her slowly relaxas she told them about growing up in San Diego. She’d graduated second in her class and gone to the University of Denver for her degree. Then she’d joined her father’s company and worked her way up to second in command, poised to take the reins when he retired. She’d never been married, but she owned a lovely condo and drove a convertible Audi.
    He wondered if Joe or Marie would press forthe details she’d left out. There was no mention of her mother or siblings. Had she wanted to join her father’s company or was it simply expected of her? For almost an hour he stood there while they talked, but she never said anything that wouldn’t be out of place in a professional bio.
    “I’m so glad you’re here,” Marie said after a while, resting her hand on Jessica’s arm. Rick watched theyounger woman’s gaze settle on the touch, her smile a little on the shaky side. “I should start supper. Is there anything you don’t like? Or do you have any food allergies?”
    “I... No. I like most foods and I’m not allergic to anything that I know of.”
    “Oh, good. I have a lasagna in the freezer. I can pop it in the oven so we can get you settled in while it cooks.”
    “Oh, I appreciatethe invitation, but I really should go and get settled into my hotel. Is there a time we can get together tomorrow to talk?”
    Rick and Joe exchanged amused looks when Marie held up her hands and shook her head. “Oh, you don’t need a hotel, honey. We have a guest room upstairs. It has its very own bathroom and everything.”
    “That’s really generous, but I already have a reservation.”
    “No sense in wasting money like that,” Joe argued.
    “I’ll be working a lot, too. Just me and my laptop, you know?”
    “You can work here,” Marie said. “We have really good internet so Rick can talk to all of his girlfriends on Facebook.”
    “Hey!” He laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t have girlfriends on Facebook. And that’s not why we have internet.”
    “Imagine what people would thinkif my granddaughter stays in a hotel,” Marie pushed.
    “None of your friends know you have a granddaughter,” Jessica pointed out.
    Joe snorted. “Trust me,