by Pat Warren
Chapter 2
She felt ridiculous.
Settled on the corduroy couch in the office she’d passed earlier, Fallon felt embarrassment flush her face. “I don’t know what came over me,” she said in explanation, in apology.
“I thought you were going to faint there for a minute.” As he sat on the edge of the couch, holding a cold cloth to her head, Michael’s face wore a worried frown.
“I never faint,” she insisted. What must he think of her? Lord, what a way to begin an interview.
“How long since you’ve eaten, dear?” Opal stood by the two chairs that faced a sturdy, slightly scarred desk, leaning against the nearest one.
“I didn’t have anything today. I was in a hurry.” Feeling mortified, she tried to sit up. “I’m not used to your heat here, I guess. We’re into fall back home.”
“It’s unseasonably warm for September this year,” Michael said, removing the cloth from her head. Part of the problem was the proper little high-necked, long-sleeved blouse she was wearing. He thought about telling her to undo a couple of buttons, but decided she wouldn’t like the suggestion.
“Still, I’m going to get you a nice cold glass of orange juice and some crackers.” She glanced at Michael. “I wouldn’t be surprised if her blood sugar’s down.”
“That won’t be necessary, really.” Fallon swung her legs to the floor, sitting all the way up. “I’m fine now.”
As if she hadn’t heard, Opal left the room, a woman with a mission.
Michael stood. “Let her fuss. She enjoys it.” He’d been studying her sporadically for the last quarter of the game, noticing the tension in her flushed face, the interested way she shifted her gaze from one player to the next. He’d gotten the fax and knew who she was. Her shadowed expression had revealed very little, but her green eyes were huge and vulnerable. He’d been surprised at the shock of physical awareness he’d experienced when he’d held her in his arms. “You must be Fallon McKenzie.”
“Yes, and you must be Michael. Again, let me apologize for causing so much trouble.”
“No trouble, honestly. If you’re sure you’re all right?”
“Absolutely.” She brushed her hair back with both hands, noticing that they were less shaky. He was studying her so intently that she was finding it difficult to normalize her breathing—whether because of the episode outside or his nearness, she couldn’t be sure. Despite her confusion, when he’d carried her in, she’d felt a quick, sensual tug such as she hadn’t known in years.
Opal brought the juice and crackers on a tray and Fallon had to admit, the cold drink tasted wonderful. Sipping, she looked around, noticing that his office was functional, with no frills. The floor was red Mexican tile, lending a bit of color to the room, and wooden blinds painted white hung across the wide window. The Serenity Prayer was framed and hanging on one wall, a soothing seascape on the other.
Michael walked over to the credenza and grabbed a white terry-cloth towel, mopping his brow with it. It was warm outside today, but then, he’d been running around for an hour. The young lady whose color was finally returning had been standing in the shade for only about ten minutes. He turned and saw their resident cat, a yellow tabby, jump up and settle on her lap.
He pulled a chair around and straddled it, then sat facting her. “I should introduce you to Thomasina.”
It was relaxing to stroke the cat whose yellow eyes closed in ecstasy as Fallon scratched behind its ears. They’d never had pets when she was a child; they’d moved around too much when her father had been alive, and animals were strictly forbidden after Roy had come on the scene. Now, she wondered why she hadn’t bothered to get one since living alone. “Odd name for a cat.”
“Yeah, well, it was originally Thomas, as in tomcat. Then one day she presented us with a litter of six kittens.”
She didn’t want to smile or to be charmed, but she did—and was. Maybe because she’d been through such an emotional wringer over the past couple of days, to say nothing of the last dozen hours, and welcomed a moment of levity. Her eyes rose to his face and she saw his own smile deepening his dimples.
With no small effort, Fallon brought her attention back to why she’d come. “I hope you don’t mind, but I have to ask. What’s basketball got to do with helping runaway kids?”
“Quite a lot.” The question didn’t surprise him. He’d heard it before. “For one thing, sports help get rid of excess energy that might otherwise explode in a fight. We also take a group bowling weekly and have regular softball games.
“But there’s another, more important reason. I use sports to teach kids about life. Not everything goes your way in a game every time, no matter how good you are. Michael Jordan missed some shots, lost some games. Not everything goes your way in life, either. Michael Jordan lost his father to a senseless act of violence. All his money and fame couldn’t prevent the loss. It’s an important lesson to learn, for kids and adults.”
“I see.” Fallon agreed with his philosophy, but she thought it was time to get to the point. “I don’t want to take up too much of your time.” Carefully, she disengaged the cat and reached into her leather bag, passing him the photo. “Is this the girl who came here calling herself Laurie?”
Couldn’t miss the resemblance, Michael thought immediately. The girl was younger, of course, her face more immature, less interesting than her older sister’s. But they both had the same slender build, the almost-delicate bone structure beneath flawless skin and a sensuous shape to their lips. Then there was that thick chestnut hair — Laurie’s quite long, while Fallon’s was chin-length. And green eyes the shade of moss growing on the black rocks along the coastal waters. “Yes, this is Laurie.”
Thank God. A genuine lead at last, Fallon thought. The moment he’d described the opal ring on the phone, she’d been fairly certain.
Michael handed back the picture and let his eyes roam her face. “Your sister’s lovely, but you’re beautiful.”
His comment had her frowning, not wanting to acknowledge the attraction she hadn’t been expecting. She hadn’t interrupted her life and come all this way for a flirtation. “I’m here to find Laurie and nothing else.”
“Don’t worry,” he said easily, again flashing that dimpled smile. “I won’t let the fact that I find you attractive keep me from helping you.”
Fallon hoped he meant it. “Tell me about the night she was here, please.”
Michael draped the towel around his neck and leaned back. “I told you most everything I know on the phone. She was here scarcely twelve hours. I haven’t seen her since.” He saw Fallon flinch and softened his tone. “Did you find out why she ran away from home?”
“Not specifically. We’ve conjectured a great deal, my mother and I.”
Not the stepfather, he noted, and wondered why she hadn’t mentioned him. “And what have you come up with?”
Not nearly enough. That evening after she’d talked with Michael by phone, she’d quizzed her mother, asking if Laurie had ever mentioned a blond friend named Emma or a desire to visit California. But Jane Gifford had been as puzzled as she.
Roy, on the other hand, had jumped in enthusiastically, calling Laurie a selfish, inconsiderate girl without a responsible bone in her body, a sharp contrast to his alwaysperfect son. Danny had graduated from high school with a 3.9 grade average. Danny had been appointed to the U.S. Air Force Academy with a full scholarship, sponsored by Roy’s pal, Fred Englehardt, a state senator. Danny had never given them a minute’s trouble, whereas Laurie was barely pulling in C’s and always finding herself in hot water.
She’d never heard Roy rave on so. If it hadn’t been for the sight of her weeping mother, Fallon knew she would have let loose with how she really felt about his tirade.
Fallon put Laurie’s photo away and glanced up at Michael. “We haven’t come up with much. I learned yesterday that Laurie wanted to attend a private school in another town for her last two years. The students there have to pay tuition, r
oom and board. Roy Gifford, our stepfather, decided the cost was prohibitive. Still, I can’t believe that alone would make her leave.” If she’d known about Laurie’s request, perhaps she could have helped pay the cost. If she had allowed her sister to visit that last weekend, they could have worked something out.
Michael watched her from under lowered lids, noticing the conflicting emotions playing across her features. This was one troubled woman, and he wondered if her problems stemmed from her sister’s leaving or from something else.
Fallon rubbed at the headache now pounding above her eyes. “Laurie had only attended a week’s classes in the new semester. I talked with her high-school counselor, her teachers, several of her classmates, plus the druggist where she worked part-time. She’d mentioned nothing to any of them and, although a couple mentioned that she’d seemed quieter and more withdrawn since starting the fall term, no one thought she had serious problems.”
“Was she the sort of girl who confided in people and, if so, who would that person be?”
Guilt and regret had Fallon’s cheeks flushing yet again. “At one time we were close, or so I thought. But I live in Denver, some sixty miles from her, and I don’t get back as often as I probably should. And Mom, well, she’s not a good listener.”
Which was truly an understatement. Fallon had never blamed her mother for marrying Roy Gifford after her father’s death. Her father, Jim McKenzie, had been a handsome, robust, fun-loving Irishman, well liked by all who knew him. But he’d been a dreamer, a man who went from one low-paying job to the next, dragging his weary wife and two daughters along from city to city, always certain that one day his ship would come in.
But it hadn’t, and Jim had been killed in a head-on collision, with no insurance on the car or himself. Unskilled, Jane had limited job choices and they barely got by.
So the following year, when Jane met Roy Gifford at a Parents Without Partners mixer dance and soon after decided to marry him, Fallon had hoped their lives would improve. And they had, to some degree, although neither she nor Laurie had ever truly taken to their stepfather.
“What about her friends?” Michael asked, drawing her out of her reverie. He had a feeling that her sister’s running away was causing Fallon McKenzie to face a few none-too-pleasant facts.
She shrugged tiredly. “I talked with her best friend, Tina, and all I got out of her was that Laurie seemed unhappy and told her she planned to leave. No details. I also checked with her bank and she’s withdrawn everything from her savings account—a whopping hundred and sixteen dollars.” Fallon sighed tiredly. “How long can she last on that?”
He detected a small tic in the delicate area beneath her left eye. It was probably because she was exhausted and worried. He could also hear the self-recrimination in her voice. “Don’t wrap yourself in guilt. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t care about your sister. It’s often difficult to spot a troubled teenager even if you live with one. Did either your mother or stepfather mention noticing anything different about Laurie recently?”
“I’m not sure what you mean by different.”
“Oh, like any sudden weight gain or loss, a disinterest in school, difficulty in sleeping, maybe a new boyfriend. Did she seem withdrawn, argumentative, more emotional? These things can indicate a change in her life, such as drug use or possibly sexual experimentation.”
“No, absolutely not.” Fallon shook her head adamantly. “My sister’s not like that. She wouldn’t touch drugs and the only dates she’s been on have been in groups. Football games with the crowd, ice skating, that sort of thing.”
She was certainly in denial, Michael thought. He wondered what it would take to make her see. “Any teenager in today’s world can be tempted, Fallon.” Actually, it had always been thus, he wanted to add, but thought better of it.
“You’re wrong. Not Laurie. She’s sweet, shy, innocent. I... I don’t know why she left, but I feel strongly that if we—no, when we find her and I talk with her, everything will be all right and she’ll want to go back home to the people who love her.”
Even after all these years of dealing with runaways, Michael found himself amazed at the simplistic solutions people thought would fix a problem that had mushroomed to one of major proportions by the time a kid ran away. Maybe Fallon just had trouble remembering her own teen years. Or had she never rebelled? “Laurie’s younger than you by, what, six or seven years?”
“Eight, actually.” Fallon tucked her hair behind one ear, wondering when this day would end and why it couldn’t end happily. She wasn’t a Pollyanna, believing that she would fly in and find Laurie on the first street corner, as Roy had accused her of being. Yet now, tired, hungry and hurting, she found the task overwhelming.
Michael rose and went behind his desk, found a bottle of aspirin in a drawer and handed it to her, noticing she hadn’t eaten the crackers. “Here, this might help.”
She smiled her thanks, thinking him very perceptive. Either that or she really did look as bad as she felt. She quickly swallowed two pills with the last of her juice, then looked up at him. “How on earth can I find her? I... Please, can you help? I’ve visited San Diego before, but I don’t know the city well. I don’t know where to begin. I’ll pay you.”
Shaking his head, Michael sat back down. “I don’t accept money to find runaways. That’s not how it works. In order to know where to begin, I need to know more about your sister—her habits, her likes and dislikes, her dreams. Those things are the key. Why don’t we start with her childhood, your family life, anything you think might help us?”
Us. Oddly enough, the fact that this stranger had joined with her in her seemingly hopeless search lifted her spirits. So she told him about Jim McKenzie, who’d run out of dreams and died much too soon, and Jane, who hadn’t been able to cope alone with two young girls. And she explained about Roy, and why her Mom had been attracted to him, trying to stick to the facts only. And about their stepbrother who was so perfect, such an overachiever that both she and Laurie had felt unable to compete.
“It was hard not to like Danny, especially then. He was four when Roy married Mom—this adorable blond, blue-eyed little boy with a sunny disposition. He was quite naturally the apple of his father’s eye and soon, Mom’s little darling, as well. She’d had a stillborn boy between Laurie and me and had hoped for a son.”
“And did you take to Danny, too?”
“Yes. I was ten, so there was really no competition between us. Laurie’s the one who had the problem with Danny. She’d been the youngest and cutest and suddenly, she had to share the limelight with a kid who could do no wrong. So she tried getting attention with one escapade after another to get Mom and Roy to notice her. Unfortunately, she only made them mad.”
“You think it was years of jealousy over Danny that caused Laurie to run away?” Michael asked.
Fallon’s frown was thoughtful. “I really don’t think so. Finally, he’s out of the house and not competing with her on a daily basis. He left for the Air Force Academy in mid-August on a scholarship. Why leave now?” She noticed that Michael listened with that same absolute concentration she’d observed during the basketball game. She waited while he digested all she’d told him.
“I have the feeling that you’re leaving out a couple of things,” Michael finally said.
Perhaps it was her fatigue, or maybe her natural reluctance to reveal any more personal information to a relative stranger, but suddenly, Fallon felt she should know more about this man who’d so far been asking all the questions. She’d seen him with the teens and felt he had their respect, probably hard-won. She’d briefly glimpsed the facilities of Michael’s House and come to the conclusion that, on the surface at least, he had a decent operation, here.
And she wasn’t too tired to notice that he was enormously attractive and very self-assured.
But it was that very self-assurance that put her off a bit. She’d been up against that sort of confidence in men before, and found the inevitable a
rrogance behind it difficult to handle. Perhaps Michael wasn’t altogether like that, but she needed to learn more about him and this place.
Michael saw the hesitancy on her expressive face and waited. He was nothing if not patient.
“Forgive me if I seem wary, but this is all pretty new to me. I’m admittedly not an expert on teenagers. I’d like to know something about your credentials, about what makes you qualified to work with these kids, before I tell you more about my sister and my family. I feel awkward discussing private matters with you on such short acquaintance without some background on you and your staff—how you’re funded, what sort of programs you offer and where the kids go from here.”
He nodded, not in the least offended. “You have a valid point. I’ve got a degree in clinical psychology and—”
“I don’t see a certificate on the wall.” Pointedly, she glanced around again. “This is your office, right?”
He gave her his slow smile. “It’s in one of the drawers. I can dig it out, if you like. I find that a number of framed diplomas hanging on the wall puts people off, especially the kids, and doesn’t prove much except that you took the courses and graduated. I don’t feel I have to prove anything with certificates because this place speaks for itself.”
She had yet to decide if that was so. He was almost obsessively low-key, with the discreet sign outside and his diplomas stuck away in drawers. Curious.
“I have on staff a visiting doctor, twenty-four-hour nursing available and access to free legal advice.”
“Yes, I met Dr. Ramirez when I arrived and, of course, Opal.”
“Right. I have a full-time bookkeeper and Donovan, my right-hand man who’s mostly a jack-of-all-trades. We hold classes all day long taught by qualified instructors, some giving lectures, others with hands-on work. We discuss addictions of all kinds, sex education, health care, the basics of job hunting and applications. We cooperate with local schools, with foster homes and GED certification programs. Nearby is a local Alcoholics Anonymous, Alanon and Narcotics Anonymous that hold daily meetings. We conduct large group discussions and smaller, round-table talks where they can bring up any subject and it’s all confidential. We’re in touch with runaway hotlines across the country and help reunite when that seems appropriate. For the others, we tell them it’s a jungle out there and we teach them how to survive.”
