Birthright

she stepped outside.
    She could smell sweat, insect repellant, earth.
    She’d had no idea it would all progress so uniformly. So many squares and rectangles taken out of the ground. And trenches being formed foot by measured foot.
    There were tools in piles, shovels and trowels, wide brushes. Canvas duffels were tossed here and there. Someone had laid a clipboard over a camera. To shade it, she imagined. Near every segment were jugs and water bottles, and shirts that had been stripped off lay baking in the sun.
    “What’re they doing over there?”
    Callie looked over to where Jake and Dory stood close together. “Jake’s flirting with the sexy project photographer.” Then she shrugged, surprised that it no longer brought a green cloud of jealousy over her vision when she noted the easy way he touched Dory’s shoulder, her arm.
    “He’s probably explaining what he wants out of thepictures, which angles.” Absently, she rubbed at a shallow scratch on the back of her hand. “They’ve been finding potsherds in that area.”
    “I’ll have to take a look before I go. So . . .” She turned her attention back to Callie. “You went to see Roger yesterday.”
    “That’s right. So what? I liked him.”
    “So do I. Very much. Afterward, you took him somewhere.”
    “I brought him out to see the dig. What difference does it make?”
    “There was someone in the store when you were there.”
    “Yeah, she had some books she wanted to sell.” Callie bent down for her jug of iced tea. Since she’d misplaced her cup, she drank straight from the jug. “She said she was the guy who dug up the first artifact’s sister-in-law. Why is this interesting?”
    “She recognized you.”
    “What, from TV?” It only took a beat for it to sink in. “That’s just not possible. No way she talked to me for two minutes and pegged me as Jessica Cullen.”
    “I don’t know how long it took, but she started putting it together. Noticed that Roger closed the store after she left. And happened to see him go with you later. From what I can gather, she mentioned it to someone else, and that someone else had seen you come out of my office with Suzanne. Saw Jay there. It’s a small town, Callie. People know people, and people remember. The talk’s already getting up some steam that you’re Suzanne and Jay’s lost daughter. I thought you should know so you can decide how you want to handle it. How you want me to handle it.”
    “For Christ’s sake.” Callie dragged off her hat, flung it onto the ground. “I don’t know. ‘No comment’ is not going to work. ‘No comment’ just makes people think they know just what you’re not commenting on.”
    “Word gets out to the media and it’s inevitable. You’re going to need a statement. The Cullens are going to need a statement. So are your parents. And you’re all going to have to decide what tack you’re going to take.”
    She stared across the dig. Jake had moved on, she noted, crouched down to where Frannie worked with Chuck. Jake’s hand rested lightly on the small of Frannie’s back.
    Bill was with Dory now, running his mouth. From the looks of it Dory wasn’t nearly as pleased with his company as she’d been with Jake’s.
    She wished she had nothing more pressing to think about than the small dramas of her team. “I don’t want to talk to the media. I don’t want to put my parents through that.”
    “You’re not going to have a choice, Callie. This was a big story at the time. And Suzanne’s a local celebrity. You need to prepare.”
    “Nobody prepares for a clusterfuck. You just get through it. Does Suzanne know?”
    “I’ve got an appointment with her in an hour. What she doesn’t already know, I’ll tell her.”
    Callie picked up her hat, jammed it back on her head. “I need that list. The names of her doctor, the nurses, whoever shared her hospital room when she delivered. I haven’t wanted to push her about that.”
    “But you’d like me to.” Lana nodded. “No problem.”
    “Get me Carlyle’s son’s address and phone number. I might have a way to convince him to talk to us. I need to call my mother, give her some warning. My mother,” she said when Lana remained silent. “I’ll leave Suzanne to you.”
    “I understand.”
    “It helps to have someone who does. Roger seemed to. He made it easy on me.”
    “He’s a special man. And maybe, I don’t know, genetically something like this is less emotionally fraught for a man