“What?” Jane was trying to decipher the pieces of the bewildering statement. “I have no idea what you meant by all that. Would you care to explain?”
“No, not particularly.” Lisa suddenly laughed. “I got the satisfaction of offering an apology without being heaped with blame. I feel better. And I’m still pissed off at you about Caleb, so I don’t really want you to feel better. I figure we’re through here.” She hesitated. “After you tell me if everything seems well with Caleb?”
“I wouldn’t know. It sounds as if you might.” But she couldn’t leave it with that if this bewildering call from Lisa had anything to do with Caleb. He was Lisa’s entire world. “I’m sure he’s fine. I’ve never seen a time when Caleb wasn’t fine and in complete control of everything around him. I’m certain you haven’t, either.” She turned back toward Eve. “I have to go now, Lisa. If there’s anything I can do for you, let me know.”
“I will. I’m working on it.” Her voice was cheerful again. “Goodbye, Jane.” She cut the connection.
“Sorry, Eve.” Jane slipped her phone in her pocket. “It didn’t seem to be anything important.” She frowned. “Or maybe it was. Sometimes it’s hard to interpret Lisa. I believe there was an apology involved somewhere along the way, and I have no idea why she would feel it necessary.” She shook her head wryly. “For such a brilliant woman, she can be very convoluted.”
“Woman,” Eve repeated and shook her head. “I always remember her as the teenager whose life you saved all those years ago. It’s difficult to think of her as a grown-up.”
“Sometimes it’s difficult for her, too,” Jane said dryly. “And it’s not as if she wasn’t there to help me later when I was in trouble. I would have died in that desert if Lisa hadn’t stepped in. Tit for tat. I definitely considered the score even by the time she took off and decided to go climb some mountain in Chile.”
“Maybe not quite so even,” Eve said quietly. “As I recall, your trouble all had to do with Caleb, and Lisa would have done anything for him regardless of whether you were involved. Has that changed?”
She shook her head. “He’s everything to her. She skips all around the world learning skills and getting involved in all kinds of causes, but they always keep in touch.” She frowned as she suddenly remembered Lisa’s last question about Caleb. “I’m sure that wouldn’t have changed. They take care of each other.”
“Relationships do change.” Eve glanced away from her. “Michael told me that Caleb didn’t come down to the dig a few weeks ago as you said he would.”
“Once everything quieted down in Maldara and you told me there was no longer a threat, he wasn’t needed. So I called and told Caleb not to come.” She stared Eve in the eye. “I didn’t lie to you. I know you feel safer about Michael when he’s with Caleb. Who wouldn’t? Caleb is fairly fantastic as far as the protective factor is concerned. He’s the Hunter, the man every agency and organization tries to hire when they come up with zeros. I would have brought him here if it was necessary.”
“I know you would,” Eve said. “But you were relieved not to have to do it, weren’t you?” She answered herself. “Of course you were. Caleb can be very…difficult. But he’s also completely charismatic. You’ve always had a love-hate relationship with him.” She hesitated. “You’ve been in and out of each other’s lives for years. Lately I thought that there was something very…strong. I admit I believed that you had a chance of working it out. It must have taken a lot for you to give him his walking papers.”
“You might say that.” Even though Caleb sometimes pretended as if their breakup had never happened, Jane thought wearily. “But I assure you that he took it very well. When I told him I wasn’t going to see him again, that it wasn’t working for me, he didn’t even try to argue with me. He just smiled and said he understood and would give me a little time.”
“And did he?”
“Yes. I saw him very seldom after that, and never alone. Though he’d occasionally drop in at one of my gallery exhibits.” But she’d always been aware that he was somewhere out there, waiting. And the nights after he’d found a reason to see her, as he had at that gallery exhibit, she’d lie in bed burning, aching, remembering what it had been like to have him in her body. She could feel that burning now just at the memory. Lord, she didn’t really want to talk about Caleb right now, but this was Eve and she wouldn’t shut her out of anything. Eve wouldn’t have mentioned Caleb if she hadn’t been concerned about her. “I admit he has a tendency to drive me crazy,” she said lightly. “Let’s just say we don’t want the same things in life. The sex was great, he’s super intelligent, he’s amusing, but I was never sure how he actually felt about me. He certainly never told me, he never mentioned anything beyond what we were together in that moment. No future, very little past, just the present.” She shrugged. “I always felt as if I were caught in a whirlpool and I never knew where it was going to take me. Or where he wanted it to take me. And being around him was so intense on so many levels, it got so that I wasn’t certain if I really cared what he felt for me.” Her lips suddenly tightened. “But I do care. I’ve seen what you and Joe have. I can’t live with the way Caleb makes me—” She broke off and then said, “It’s just better if we keep distance between us.” She smiled. “And it isn’t usually hard to do. My work keeps me very busy. And some government agency or mega corporation is always begging Caleb to go on the hunt for some scumbag no one else can bring down. So don’t worry about me.” They’d reached the car, and she smiled at Joe as he turned toward them. “Sorry I kept Eve. I had to take a call.” She gave him a hug and a kiss before he got in the driver’s seat. “Bye, Joe. Enjoy your evening.” She glanced teasingly at Michael in the backseat. “If you can manage to do it. Michael’s been saying that he’ll have no trouble beating you at chess now that he’s had all that practice every evening with me.”
“I’ll manage to survive.” Joe grinned. “If I have trouble, I’ll just start teaching him the Chinese board game Go. That should keep his ego in check.”
“Go?” Michael leaned eagerly forward, his arms draped on the back of the front seat. “I’ve heard it’s super complicated. Why don’t we start out with that one?”
Jane groaned as she reached over and gave Michael a hug. “I don’t know if I’m up to a complicated Chinese entry into our game nights. Go back to chess, Joe.”
“Too late,” Michael said with satisfaction. “Either come with us or you’re toast for the next week or so.”
“Well, you seem to be cheerful enough about it,” Jane said. Come to think of it, he had perked up and been cheerful for the few hours they’d been at the tearoom, she thought. “I detest blackmail. I believe I’ll leave your chastening up to your dad.” She tilted her head and asked softly, “Everything okay, Michael?”