At the end of the first week of recruit class, Hale’s Haven held its kickoff, cleanup weekend beginning Friday morning. Firefighters and police officers who were off shift worked from nine to five, as well as some veterans in the area. Academy people and those who were on day shift would put in a few hours at night.
Now, at five o’clock, Megan Malvaso smiled at the assembled group. “Wow. What a great turnout. There were a lot of people here today, but I’m surprised to see so many of you giving up your Friday night.”
“Did we have a choice?” Zach Malvaso whined. Jack knew he was one of the camp’s biggest supporters and spent a lot of free time here, fixing things up.
Casey Malvaso rolled her eyes. The dynamic between the married couple was fun to watch, though there was a time when it was excruciating to observe their dealings with each other.
Megan continued, “You all know Parker Erikson and Lisel Woodward, the duo who are heading up the camp this year.”
Both women, dressed in plain shirts and work pants, waved. Jack knew they were as lovely inside as out.
Giving the crowd a huge smile, Parker stood. “Everyone’s invited across the lake to our house for dinner at eight p.m., so you only have a few hours of actual cleanup time. We’ll begin again tomorrow, early morning. We promise to tire you out this weekend.”
Lisel stood beside her. “We’re having people for dinner tomorrow at six, when we quit for the day. Across the lake, too, in case you don’t know.”
After the applause for their hospitality and some shout outs, Megan went on. “I’m in charge of the campers for the summer.”
Mitch, standing by her, shook his head and assumed a look of feigned annoyance. “Still!”
As if he didn’t work as hard as she did.
“And Jack Harrison’s with us tonight. He runs support groups with kids and is often around to participate in activities.” She winked. “You should have seen him on the ropes course last year. He was amazing.”
A second round of clapping flabbergasted him. He’d helped a lot of these people, but still…
“These are your work assignments.” Megan passed out clipboards. “If you don’t feel comfortable with what you’re doing, come see me.” She shot a glance at her husband. “Don’t worry, dear, I’m not making you climb any heights.” She cleared her throat. “You’re a bit past that.”
People laughed. During times like this, humor and happiness ran high. Jack wondered how Tess would get along here. She’d come in as he did, but he’d purposely not searched for her in the crowd. Since they’d agreed it might be unethical to get involved—after all one of the recruits had written that she was a bitch—he best stay away from her. He’d dealt with the incident by saying the instructors had the best interests of the recruits at heart but they each went about it differently.
When the clipboard reached him, Jack found he was working with Gabe Malvaso, Rachel Wellington and Larissa James on the caretaker’s house, aka where Mitch and Megan lived for the summer. During the rest of the year, others used it for special weekends and events in the fall. The place needed a good cleaning after being closed up most of the winter. Others would work on the outside, emptying the gutters and washing windows. He checked to see who they were. Shit. Tess. And yay! Tess. Obviously, he was conflicted about more contact with her.
“Again, thanks so much for this.” Megan’s eyes got misty. The camp was named in honor of her dad, Patrick Hale, who’d died in the line of duty. She’d been one of these kids they were trying to help.
Jack meandered down to the water and met up with Noah Callahan. The chief said, “I was hoping to catch you. How did the Recruit Concerns class go this week?”
Sighing, Jack looked out at the lake. The sun was low, sparkling off the water, so he had to shield his eyes from the brightness. “Awkward about covers it. They wouldn’t talk at all the first day. I had to order them to write out concerns they had, then I read them aloud.”
“Did you expect that kind of reticence?”
“Pretty much, after observing them at the beginning of the week. Today was better. One kid asked about confidentiality. We spent the better part of the ninety minutes deciding what that meant. I let them come up with what they wanted, first, and I accepted everything. All I had to add was the part about hurting themselves and others.”
Like the friend he was, Noah clapped him on the back. “If anybody can make this work, it’s you.”
“How you doing, Chief?”
“Good. Closer to retirement, I think.”
“Have you talked more with Eve about it?”
“Same old, same old. She wants me to retire. But she isn’t pushing me.”
“Remember what I said, no option is going to be a hundred percent.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He turned to face the camp. “Can you believe we did this?”
“Sometimes I can’t. You have a lot to be proud of.”
“I’m not responsible for Hale’s Haven.”
“You are in many ways. Without your support, the camp wouldn’t have been built or grown so fast. Don’t downplay your importance, Noah. Take joy in it.”
“You’re right. I will.”
“How many kids this year?”
“Four sessions. About thirty kids each session. Then, there’s Junior Hale’s Haven.” The overnight camp was set up for kids seven to seventeen. Junior camp was for the three-to-seven age group. Jack had spent time there last year and changed a few diapers.
“I heard Lela and Beck took over the junior camp.” Two years ago, Beck Sloan, a retired army colonel turned firefighter, had suggested they include kids of veterans at Hale’s Haven. It had been such a success, they’d made it a permanent part of the program. Other war heroes who’d returned home had volunteered.
“People just step up, you know?” Noah mused.
“Give them an opportunity and they do.”
Someone across the way yelled, “Jack, you ready to clean up?”
“Oh, Lord, my favorite task. See you later, Chief.”
When he reached the caretaker house, Rachel Wellington handed him a pail and sponges. Jack liked the tall, lithe woman. “Hey, Jack. I’m so glad to see you again.”
“Same here.
”Which do you want? The kitchen, bathrooms or living space?”
“Anything. Doesn’t matter.”
“Take the kitchen.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He squeezed her arm. “How are things going?”
“Good, I’m back full-time. Anabelle went to kindergarten, so it seemed right.” Jack had helped her decide when to return to the line and encouraged job sharing—which Noah agreed to—in the department so women like Rachel could work part-time.
On his way to the kitchen, he stopped to say hello to Larissa. “Hi. I’m surprised to see you here.”
She looked cute with her hair up in a ponytail and a shirt that sported an ambulance on the front. The slogan read Nobody Calls Us `Cause They Did Something Smart! So, she had a sense of humor. He liked that in women.
“I wanted to help,” she said sweetly. “Maybe we can get more of the EMS workers in the city to support the camp.”
“Good idea. Be careful what you say out loud, though. If you suggest something, Megan will put you in charge of it—forever.”
She laughed and so did he. “Good to see you.”
When he reached the kitchen, he whipped off his overshirt, so he wore only a black T-shirt with jeans. He was already hot, so he opened the kitchen window. He filled a bucket and began with the exterior of the cabinets. The outside people had set up a radio, and it blasted some god-awful heavy metal. So he blanked his mind and scrubbed and washed, scrubbed and washed. When he went to the sink, the music changed, thank God, to oldies. But when Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” came on, Jack swore under his breath and scrubbed the sink with excessive force.
A ladder had been propped up right outside the window. As he turned on the faucet, he saw shapely legs come down it. He knew, intimately, who they belonged to. They’d been wrapped around him in the not-too-distant past. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he watched Tess hit ground level, go to the cooler and bend over to get some water. Fuck! He tried to avert his gaze, but he couldn’t. She had a fine ass, all toned. And fine breasts, too. Fine…
“Jack?”
Shifting on his feet, he turned to find Larissa behind him.
“I came to get some water.”
“I think the fridge is running. I haven’t gotten to clean it yet.”
Jack watched her cross to the appliance. “I’ve been meaning to ask you how your EMS classes are going. You’d voiced some concern before the course started.”
“I haven’t taught a class yet.” She faced him with a bottle in her hand. “When I was introduced, though, some of the guys were rolling their eyes at me. Cory Cameron was with me, and showed me respect so they did too.”
Cameron got around!
She sipped the water delicately. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something, too.”
“What’s that?”
Her smile was thousand watt. “Have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
Do it, he told himself. Take the advice you’d give anyone else in his situation. He made himself say, “I’d love to.”
Before she left, she squeezed his arm. He circled back to the sink to find Tess at the bottom of the ladder, staring through the window.
o0o
The Erikson house on Hidden Lake was a showcase. Dusk had settled, and lights around the water’s edge glowed like yellow beacons. Tess had never been here before, and she admired the structure: three levels, beautiful décor—from what she could see of the inside—and the sprawling multileveled decks. Parker had inherited it from her grandparents, Mitch told her, and Cal had moved in after they were married. The Eriksons were showing off their daughter, Madison, to the Malvasos.
Her cousin held out his arms. “Come on, baby, come to Zach.”
The dark haired, blue-eyed clone of Parker shook her head. “No!”
“You’re losing your touch,” Jenn teased her brother.
Jack joined Zach at the front of the group. He’d thrown on a gray Columbia sweatshirt, but she remembered all too well what he looked like in a damp black T-shirt. “Nah! Come to me, sweetheart.”
Madison’s face wreathed with a grin, and she reached out both arms. Jack took the child. “You got taste, little one.”
“I don’t understand. I have a way with women.”
So did Jack. Tess could testify to that fact.
“Not this time.” Jack kissed Madison’s head, and Tess’s stomach tightened.
“Want to go for a walk with me?”
She gripped him around the neck. “Me no walk.”
“How about if Uncle Jack carries you?”
“`Kay.” She laid her head on his shoulder, cuddling into the warm-looking fleece.
“It’s amazing,” Cal said, sliding his arm around his wife. “Maddie always goes to him like that.”
“Does he spend a lot of time here?” Zach asked.
“Some.”
“That must be why she went to him and not me.”
“Come on, I’ll soothe your battered ego.” This from his wife, who dragged him toward the bar set up outside.
Tess said to Jenn, “It’s wonderful to see him so happy.”
“It took a long time for the two of them to get together.” She turned to Tess. “Now we gotta find a guy for you.”
Tess tried not to look after where Jack had gone. Luckily, someone came up to her. “Want to go down by the water, Tess?”
She smiled at Cory. His blond hair was windblown and his face ruddy. “Yeah, sure.” Maybe he’d take her mind off Jack, whom she’d heard earlier make a date with the beautiful Larissa James. Untying her HDFC hoodie from around her neck, Tess shrugged into it and followed Cory down the decks and out to the water. The place had a dock, at the end of which was a covered little gazebo. He said, “Let’s go down there.”
They took the twenty-foot span slowly. Tess enjoyed the rhythm of the lap of the water on shore, the crickets chirping and the scent of the lake.
When they reached the end, Tess laughed. “You get me out here to sit in that swing with you?”
“Yep.”
She chuckled and sat.
He dropped down on the padded wicker, and their legs touched. “Nice and cozy.”
“Uh-huh. Your intentions seem suspect, Mr. Cameron.”
“Oh, they are.” He slid his arm around her. Then he kicked the swing, and as they went back and forth, they talked of the work they’d gotten done at the camp and how great the concept was.
When they stopped talking, the silence was comfortable. After a while, Cory turned slightly and took her chin. She gazed up into his blue eyes. He must have seen permission in hers, because he leaned over and brushed her lips with his. It was fun, until she started to think about Jack, kissing her senseless in the Inn last week. And in her bedroom weeks ago.
Cory grasped her arms, and she tried to participate. Still, none of the fireworks came.
After he wound down the kiss and drew away, he smiled. “That was nice.”
“It was.” Only nice. Why the hell kiss somebody if it was only nice? But maybe she wasn’t giving him enough of a chance.
They heard a bell and someone call out “Chow’s on.”
“Hungry?” she asked Cory.
He stood. “Yes, but I plead the fifth on for what. Come on, we’ll go eat.”
They hiked back up to the decks again. She and Cory got separated in the crowd headed to the food in the house. Tess eventually ended up in line without him…two people behind Jack. Geez. He turned around when the queue stalled. His expression, when it was directed at her, was glacial.
She gave him a quizzical look. He angled his head toward the back. The buffet was on the bottom floor, and darkness lay beyond the setup. When she didn’t move, he slipped out of line, took her arm and led her away from the others, down a corridor. They ended up in a large bathroom; he closed the door and locked it.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” she said, motioning to the place where they always seemed to find themselves.
He didn’t joke.
“What’s wrong, Jack?”
His hand came out and he brushed her lips with his thumb. It was calloused, rough, and the gesture made her head spin. “Did you kiss him?”
Had his tone been jealous or angry, she would have fought him. But it was sad.
The room suddenly seemed small, intimate. “Jack, don’t.”
“I want to know.”
“Yes.”
“How was it?”
“What do you want me to say? That it was milquetoast compared to your kisses? That I wished like hell it was you?”
A smile broached his mouth. “That’s a good start.”
Lifting her chin, she said as haughtily as she could, “You’re going out with Larissa. I heard her ask you for dinner.”
“I’m going because you don’t want a relationship with me.”
“I said it was unprofessional. And, again as I also said, I’m not sure I could ever trust you again.”
“That’s bullshit. You know now why I didn’t contact you. Don’t make me explain it again.”
“I know what you said Jack, but the explanation doesn’t make what you did hurt less.”
Moving in closer, he grasped her upper arms. Squeezed her gently. “I obviously handled that wrong. I’m sorry.”
“I know you are.”
His gray gaze darkened, making it the color of dangerous smoke. “I hate seeing you with him.” His voice was raw.
“We have to forge a life without each other.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded unconvincing.
“Yeah, look how that’s working out.”
She stepped back. “I should go.”
He didn’t stop her.
Until she reached the door. Then he was behind her, slapping a hand against the wood when she tried to open it. She pivoted.
“He won’t be the last guy who did this,” Jack said, just before he took her mouth in a voluptuous, bone-melting kiss.
They didn’t get caught in the bathroom this time.
Except by their own feelings for each other.
o0o
“You look lovely tonight, Larissa.” Jack smiled over at the woman he had a date with on Saturday night. She was dressed in a sleeveless blue sheath, the kind Elizabeth used to wear. Her blond hair was up in a knot again, this time with loose tendrils around her face. She’d be any man’s dream date.
Too bad she wasn’t his perfect woman. Short choppy dark hair and liquid brown eyes kept superimposing themselves over Larissa’s features. Though God knew Tess wasn’t perfect.
“Do you think we should have gone to the picnic at the Woodwards’ house?” Larissa asked.
“No. I’m fine missing it.” And missing Tess, and whoever she was with tonight. Probably Cameron. Because of her, because of them, he was determined to enjoy dinner and the company.
“I like this place.” The Hidden Cove Hideaway was an historic building at the edge of town that had been converted to a bed-and-breakfast. Its cozy winter atmosphere had been replaced by an outdoorsy spring one: windows were open and wildflowers perched on tablecloths, which now sported yellow napkins instead of black.
“I like it, too. Its restaurant is five-star, and New Yorkers often come out here.” The place had guest rooms, as well, so it was good for a hideaway, as the name suggested.
Larissa sipped the merlot they’d ordered. “Did you pick it because it’s out of the way?” At his quizzical expression, she said, “So no one would see us.”
“No. I told you I don’t think spending time with you outside of the Academy is a conflict of interest.”
“Good. Let me say one thing about the Recruit Concerns class. I don’t care what the kids tell you about me. And if you have any pointers for what I can do better after the class is over, please let me know so I can improve.”
“What a refreshing attitude.”
One Tess didn’t possess.
They picked up the menu. “Hmm,” Larissa said after she perused it. “Do you like chateaubriand?” The dish, using the best cut of beef, was served with an assortment of vegetables and potatoes for two.
“Absolutely. Rare?”
“The only way to cook it.”
“Then, it’s settled.”
After they put in their order, he cocked his head. “Tell me about your background.”
“A middle-class life in upstate New York. I went to school for premed, then decided that being a doctor wasn’t what I wanted. I liked medicine, though, so I became certified as an EMT, then an EMS instructor with advance training.”
“You had a happy childhood?”
“Yes, I did. Fun teenage years. Good college experience. I’m one of the lucky ones.” She smiled. “What about you? Are you from Hidden Cove?”
“No, Brooklyn. Middle-class family, too. I went to college at seventeen and graduated at twenty-one. Dad wanted me to be a lawyer, but I’d been enthralled by the FDNY all my life, so I went to John Jay for fire science. FDNY members were instrumental in our instruction, and the fire department psychologist took a liking to me, probably because I was so interested in his job. I got into the department right away. After a couple of years of firefighting, I decided psychology was my calling, so I went back to school for my PhD.”
“I, um, heard you’d been married. And your wife died.”
“Yeah, it was a fluke.” The old pain surfaced. “It’s rare for women to die in childbirth in the modern world. Unfortunately, Elizabeth had a bad heart, which no one had caught before she delivered, and the stress was too much.” He shook his head. “She had the best care, too, because her father was an ob-gyn and she was treated at his practice by a highly regarded female doctor.” He shrugged. “Life and death can be bizarrely random.”
“So you came out here to Hidden Cove?”
“For my last semester of grad school. My grandmother had moved here from New York. After I finished school, the psychologist at the Hidden Cove Academy retired. I was young, but I’d interned out here with him and the guys liked me. Elizabeth’s parents were good about it, too, frequently coming from the city to stay with the kids.”
Reaching over the table, she took his hand. “I wish you hadn’t had such a tough life.”
“Thank you. I’m happy now with my work and my twins.”
He told her about the kids over dinner. They talked of her marriage, and her husband’s death. He hadn’t known she was a widow.
“We have a lot in common,” Jack remarked when she finished.
“Yes, we do.”
The night was still balmy when he drove her home after dinner and escorted her to her porch. “I had a wonderful time, Jack. Would you like to come in?”
“I enjoyed myself, too.” Which was true. “But we have to be at the camp early tomorrow morning. Rain check?”
“Sure.” She stood on tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Good night. See you tomorrow.”
Jack waited until Larissa was inside before he left the porch and got in his truck. He liked Larissa’s company. And the evening had been blessedly absent of tension and resentment.
A nice change.
If the entire night hadn’t been characterized with a lack of passion, the date would have been perfect. But hell, maybe that would come. Couples his age didn’t experience a white-hot attraction for each other right away. With most people it took time. Maybe he’d see where a relationship with Larissa led.
o0o
Tess had refused to look for Jack at the home of Ian and Lisel Woodward. They lived in the accessible condo where Ian was residing when he met the Broadway star. “You’re house is great, Ian,” she said from the kitchen where she’d gone to help get out dessert. They were eating outside.
“It’s small now, with the baby, so we’re moving. We’ve built a house just inside Hidden Cove, closer to Evie and the Academy. We’re keeping the condo, though, as a summer place for us and the Callahans.”
“I can see why. If you ever want to sell it, let me know.” She was thinking ahead these days? When had that happened?
“So, you’re staying in town?” His eyes twinkled. “I thought you might.”
“You were very convincing. And then, of course, Sabina’s medical issues made me realize I wanted to be here, for a while at least.”
“Good for you.”
Lisel came in carrying a two-year-old girl, dressed in pink pajamas. “Oh, wow, aren’t you beautiful.” Her blond hair and gray eyes bore a strong resemblance to her dad’s.
“Thank you.” Lisel hugged the baby close. “Say hello, Evie.”
“`ello.”
“This is Tess.” Lisel kissed the baby’s head. “We’re going to say good night to everyone before we go to bed.”
“I’ll walk out with you,” Tess told her. She picked up a cookie tray that she’d arranged.
“Dad-dy!” Evie yelled when Lisel started to walk away. The girl squirmed and twisted to see her father.
“Okay, sweetheart.” He nodded to the chocolate ice-cream rolls. “Bring that out, love, and I’ll carry the tyrant here.”
The tyrant was all smiles when she sat on Daddy’s lap. Ian looked up at Tess. “This is what I meant when we spoke last week. The fire department is not my life.”
“I can tell. I envy you.”
“Do you? Then, go after it.”
Which was why, when Cory Cameron asked to take her home, then suggested she come to his apartment for a nightcap, she accepted. Tonight, she’d take a chance.
o0o
The last day of the work weekend was gloomy and overcast, the complete opposite from the previous one. Workers prayed it didn’t rain. Just in case, Mitch and Megan were making lists for tasks they could do inside.
The rain held off all morning. Jack was in the middle of hauling brush to the road at the entrance to camp when the downpour began. With it came a cold breeze off the lake, chilling the air.
“Shit,” he said, pulling up the hood on his sweatshirt. He started down the path to the open pavilion where they met in the morning and for lunch. The rain was slanted and spit right in his face. His feet slipped on dirt which was quickly becoming mud, and he fell on his butt. A greasy brown mess splattered on his face and chest. “Fuck!” he said aloud.
From the corner of his eye, he saw someone carrying an umbrella leave the enclosed social hall off to the left. She picked her way over to him. “Hey, you okay?”
Jack smiled up at Stacey Sterling Evans. “Yeah, if a bit wet and sore.”
“We’ll go down to the pavilion together under the umbrella.”
Managing to get to his feet, Jack ducked under the canvas. “Hey, Stacey. How you feeling?”
“Super. The second trimester’s a lot easier than the first.” She placed her hand on her just-bulging belly. “Twins, like yours.”
“Ah, you’ll have your work cut out for you.”
“I can’t wait.”
They headed down the path. The ground was getting muddier and muddier. Stacey went ahead of him when the space to walk narrowed. Something began to niggle at Jack. “Hey, Stace, I think we should stop. Wait this out in the infirmary right over there.”
“You’re probably right.” When she started to turn, though, her foot slid out from under her.
She pitched forward.
Jack grabbed her around the waist to keep her upright.
He stumbled backward, and let Stacey go so she wouldn’t fall with him.
He hit the ground with a thud, and blistering pain shot through him.
In seconds, blackness came.
o0o
Tess huddled by the infirmary with the rest of the workers. Zach and Casey Malvaso and one other paramedic were inside with Jack. Word had spread he’d fallen and hit his head because he saved a pregnant woman from toppling over. Thank God Stacey Sterling was all right. And how like Jack to have kept her safe at his own expense. But his type of injury sent Tess into a tailspin.
Next to her, Mitch slid an arm around her. “You okay?”
The rain stopped as suddenly as it had come, and a bright sun peeked out of the heavens, warming everyone but her. “Yeah, sure.” She wasn’t, but she refused to take the attention off the people involved in the accident.
“Hell of a thing, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know Stacey.”
Mitch smiled. “She’s a recent addition to the fire department family. You’ve met Nick Evans, right?”
“Yeah. He’s a firefighter. He must have been scared to death when he found out what happened.”
“She was a mess. Did you hear she slid on her butt all the way down to the pavilion so she wouldn’t fall, but she had to get help for Jack?”
“No, I didn’t know that.” Tess had trouble following the course of events. He hit his head hard was at the front of her mind. “What, um, what were they doing together?”
“They were both working near the entrance to the camp. Stacey came in to cook and serve, to do her part for Hale’s Haven, while Nick was cleaning gutters.” Mitch nodded off to the side, where Stacey cuddled into Nick’s chest, her eyes wide and frightened. “She went out to get him, under the umbrella. When she slipped, he caught her, but they pitched backward. He let go and she stayed upright, but he went down.”
Tess bit her lip.
“What’s wrong? I know you don’t like Jack, but…” His voice trailed off. Mitch slapped his forehead with his palm. “Hell, honey, I didn’t make the connection. But you did.”
Tess cleared her throat to keep the emotion at bay. “It’s never far away, anyway.”
“Joey’s head injury in the skiing accident was a lot worse than what happened to Jack just now.”
“You don’t know that, Mitch.”
“I watched when they brought him in. He was already coming around.”
“The same was true for Joey. They said it was just the bump on the head that killed him.”
Tugging her close, he kissed her head. “We’ll wait it out, kiddo.”
As she had with Joey. She’d never forget her blinding panic on that freezing slope while she waited for the medic crew to get to her brother. He’d hit a tree because he was goofing off. Tess saw the whole thing because she’d gone down right behind him. Then, at the hospital, the hours had ticked by at a snail’s pace and she went from hope to devastation every few minutes. She’d been alone when she got the brutal news. At twenty-seven, she could barely cope. And she’d never been the same again.
Again, time crawled by. Finally, Casey came out of the trailer. “He’s gonna be all right, everybody. We cleaned the wound, stitched it up and gave him a shot for pain. We’re taking him into town for X-rays.”
A sweep of profound relief made Tess weak in the knees. She had to grab on to Mitch to stay upright.
Casey skimmed those gathered to hear news about Jack. Her gaze landed on Tess and she threaded her way through the crowd. “Tess, Jack wants to see you.”
“Tess? Why?” Mitch asked.
“I have no idea. He just does.”
Not looking at her cousin, Tess followed Casey into the infirmary cabin. Jack was stretched out flat on a cot. He was covered with mud, and the place smelled of it. She gave him a weak smile.
He said, “Can you two leave me alone with Tess?”
“What for?” Zach asked.
Casey pulled at his sleeve. “None of our business. We’ll be outside. Call us when you’re done.”
“Thanks.” When they left, Jack said in a gravelly voice, “Come here, Teresa.”
Her eyes misted. She’d been really worried about him. She crossed to the cot and knelt down beside him. He took her hand. He said, “Hi.”
“Hi.” She kissed his grimy knuckles. “You’re a hero, you know?”
“I was scared for her, Tess. I was afraid she’d fall on her stomach.”
“So you sacrificed yourself.”
“Hardly. I hadn’t planned to slam down backward.”
With a shaky hand, she smoothed his muddy hair from his face. “I…I’m so glad you’re all right.”
“I thought you’d be worried, so I asked for you.”
“It was public. My cousins can’t figure out why.”
“Yeah, about that. I want to tell them about us.”
She should try to convince him that there was no us. But when she saw him, bruised and hurting, she couldn’t lie to herself. She cared about this man.
“I—”
“Don’t decide now. I’ll text you when I get home from X-raying my head. You can come to my house.”
“Tonight?”
“Um-hmm. Make something up about why you’re going out. We’ll talk about all this then.”
This time, Tess let her heart decide. “All right.”