After a few minutes of laughter and teasing at the table, Jesse leaned back in his chair, looked at Jessica, and asked softly,

"By the way, where are Mr. and Mrs. Hartmann? I didn’t see them when I got back last night."

Jessica looked up from her plate. "Oh, they got a call early this morning. Something came up at home, so they left right away."

Jesse frowned, "They left? Without even calling me?" He shook his head with a sigh. "Sometimes I don’t even know if they’re really my ...