He’d brought the checkbook with him as he left the office to track down the cordless that was not on its base on his desk. He went back to the kitchen to look again.

“Hey, Dad.” Jessie jerked open the fridge.

Shaun jumped. “I thought you were at work.”

She smiled as she opened the orange juice. “I don’t leave for another five. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s alright. Hey-you haven’t seen a big leather binder, have you? About this big.” He held out his hands, indicating the size as he scanned the room again.

When Jessie nodded, relief was followed quickly by fear. She wouldn’t open it, would she?

“You have?”

“Yeah, I think so. It was here on the phone desk last week, on Mom’s study Bible. I put them both in her office.”

Shaun bounded upstairs. “Left-hand side of the credenza,” Jessie called after him. Shaun let out a shaky breath as he pulled out the binder from beneath the tattered Bible. He’d have to be more careful. This couldn’t happen again.

“Sorry about that,” Jessie said when he returned. “Is that for A &A? I thought you guys had an accountant now.”

“We do. But this isn’t for A &A; it’s for our personal account. I just don’t like those smaller checkbooks – too easy to lose.” They laughed at the irony and Shaun took the binder back to his office, locking it in its proper place before rejoining Jessie in the kitchen. “So Mom comes back tomorrow. I was thinking we could do a family dinner; you could bring Adam.”

Jessie’s face went dark. “No, thanks. Adam and I already have plans.”

“Come on, Jess. It’s your mother. She’s been gone for three weeks.”