His mother might have had another more serious, even fatal, heart attack, if Jess hadn’t been there to call 911. He didn’t even want to think about it.
Jess must have sensed some of his turmoil. She rose and rested a comforting hand on his arm. “Your mom will be all right. Eleanor is tough.”
“Not as tough as we think. Or as tough as she thinks.”
Jess was much the same. He suspected she wanted to put out an aura of invincibility, of toughness and strength and independence, but he sensed a softness at her core, a sweetness she probably would do everything she could to deny.
“Can I do anything else to help get Whitaker House ready for her to come home? Did the doctors say anything about her needing special accommodations?”
“You’ve spent two weeks doing that. Having the excess clutter cleared out will make a huge difference during her recovery and rehabilitation.”
“I’m glad.” She folded up her laptop and slipped it back into a simple khaki messenger bag. “Sophie and I finished up the last few things at the house this afternoon. I also put her to work mopping the kitchen and vacuuming where she could, just so it’s sparkly clean when Eleanor comes home.”
“Thank you. That will help.”
“I won’t be around tomorrow, unless you need my help with Eleanor coming home. I promised Rachel I would spend the day with her and the kids. We’re driving to Redwood National Park.”
That would be good for her, especially after their fight the night of her birthday. They must have made up, but he hadn’t had the chance to talk to her about it.
“No. Go with your sister. We’ll be fine. Thank you so much for all your help with Sophie. You saved the day. Again.”
“I was happy to spend time with her. She’s pretty terrific.”
“She thinks the same of you.”
He almost mentioned that Sophie had given him permission to date Jess but wasn’t entirely certain she would appreciate that information.
“She told me you lectured her about her moodiness the past month and told her she should be grateful instead of resentful. Thank you for that. She was like a different person this morning.”
“Don’t be too hard on her. Being a thirteen-year-old girl is hard work.”
“I will try to keep that in mind. I don’t think fourteen through eighteen will be much easier.”
“Good luck with that.”
She smiled, though he thought it looked a little sad. She picked up her bag and threw it over her shoulder. “I should take off so you can get some rest. I’m glad your mom is doing better.”
He wanted so desperately to ask her to stay but knew he couldn’t, not with Sophie in the next room.
“I’ll walk you to your trailer.”
She made a face. “You don’t have to do that. I’m a big girl and can probably manage to walk two hundred feet by myself.”
“Humor me. Maybe I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”
She looked startled by his words but finally shrugged and opened the door. Cinder and Charlie immediately came out from the TV room, as if they had been waiting for that signal. They both hurried out into the darkness to take care of business.
The night was clear and lovely, the ocean murmuring just down the path as they walked to her trailer, gleaming in the moonlight.
“I really would have been lost without you these past few days,” he said when they reached her door. “Thank you.”
“I’m glad I was here to help.”
“So am I.”
Though he knew it would only leave him aching for more, he leaned down and kissed her. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and returned the kiss.
He didn’t embrace her. Didn’t touch her with anything but his mouth, just like the first time they had kissed. It was still one of the most emotional, intense kisses of his life. It was soft, sweet, tender, and he never wanted it to end.
They stood together for a long time, while the sea breeze swirled around them and he fell a little harder.
She was the first to break away. He couldn’t clearly see her expression in the moonlight but her eyes looked huge in her face.
She opened her mouth to speak but hesitated, swallowed and turned away.
“Good night,” she said.
Somehow he had the impression that wasn’t what she had been about to say.
“Jess.”
He knew what he wanted to say. Stay. Please stay. But the words seemed to jumble up inside him in a tangle and he couldn’t figure out how to make them work.
She took a step up into her trailer to stand in the doorway. “I’m glad your mom is doing better. I’ll try to check in with her tomorrow and then again Monday before I leave.”
She hurried inside and closed the door behind her, leaving him standing alone with only the night and his regrets to keep him company.
38
Jess
She had to get out of here. Fast.
Monday couldn’t come soon enough. Jess sat on her sofa, wishing with all her heart she had been able to drag him inside with her to spend the night.
That kiss.
She was still reeling, a full half hour after he had walked back to the house. She could still taste him, still feel the tenderness and intensity of it.
She knew she needed to leave Cape Sanctuary but had no idea how she was supposed to walk away from a man who kissed her like that, as if she were everything he had ever wanted or needed.
She was in love with him.
If she had any doubt, that kiss had sealed it. Somehow Nate Whitaker had burst past all her careful defenses like they were nothing.
When she went through basic training, she had faced one obstacle course that had kicked her ass time after time, a ridiculously complicated thing with insane jumps, climbs, nets.
Some of the soldiers she trained with didn’t even seem to work up a sweat as they made their way through.
Nate would have been one of those soldiers. Somehow, she knew it.
She thought she had been so careful to protect herself but she had fallen for him anyway.
What was she supposed to do now?
Nothing.
Jess let out a shaky breath. Nothing at all. Okay. So she was in love with Nate. What did that change? Exactly nothing. Monday, she would hitch up her trailer and drive away from Cape Sanctuary. It was her only option.
Yes, leaving him would hurt, but she would get over it, eventually.
Wouldn’t she?