LITMIR.BIZ

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      “You’re very handsome, you know,” Betty interjected, silencing him and making Tessa laugh as EMTs came in and took over for them.

      “I hope she’s going to be okay,” Tessa said, holding Jonas’s hand. “Will you excuse me for a moment? I need to use Kate’s bathroom,” she said to Jonas, and squeezed his hand before she walked away.

      Jonas chatted with Betty and a few other neighbors who had come out to see what was going on while the EMTs prepped Kate for transport.

      “Tessa is such a special girl,” Betty said. “She’s always so good to Kate, and even brought us homemade soup when my husband was sick last winter. She even cleaned house for me.”

      “Really?” Jonas asked.

      “You’re blind?” Betty asked curiously.

      “Yep.”

      “Well, I can tell you that she’s gorgeous, inside and out. I hope you appreciate that,” Betty told him.

      “I’m starting to,” he said more to himself than to anyone else.

      Jonas thought the older woman might ask about his intentions, next, but was glad when one of the other neighbors engaged Betty in conversation.

      He knew Tessa was gorgeous. As for the rest, he was trying to match his earlier assumptions about her with everything else he was learning, and was coming up short. All he had to base his ideas of her on were media reports, her background check and her father’s opinion.

      But he had his own opinion, as well.

      Could he have been wrong about her motives?

      “Hey, what are you doing here, Jon?” Jonas heard a familiar voice ask.

      “Brad?” he guessed, not sure he was identifying the voice right.

      “Yeah, it’s me, buddy. How are you?”

      Brad was a firefighter/EMT that Berringer Security had helped out a while ago. Brad’s sister had been bothered by an old boyfriend, and Chance had helped keep an eye on her and made it clear to the ex that he needed to go away for good.

      “I heard you lost your eyesight. Tough break. Job go bad?”

      Jonas decided to skip over that, and got to the heart of it, hoping he could use this connection to their advantage.

      “Yeah, something like that, but it’s temporary. I think my vision will be back soon,” he said. “Listen, we’re kind of in a bad spot here. I was hoping we could ride along with you. My friend is this woman’s caretaker, and is very concerned, but we don’t have a vehicle.”

      “The blonde? She’s your client?”

      Jonas could hear the high five in Brad’s tone.

      “Yeah. She’s mine,” he said, maybe a little more possessively than he meant to. “I’d appreciate it, though I know it’s not usually allowed.”

      “I can make it happen. It would be good for the patient to see someone she knows as she comes out of this, too,” Brad said.

      Jonas thanked him and returned to tell Tessa, who hugged him tight, much to the tittering approval of the older women looking on.

      “Thank you, Jonas. Thank you so much for your help with Kate,” she said, hugging him again. Her concern and her gratitude were so authentic, he felt like a total jerk for ever doubting her motives about anything, and doubly so for lying to her about why he was with her.

      If Tessa knew that her father had ordered him to be with her right now, he had a feeling she wouldn’t be as thrilled with him. But he was also under orders not to tell her. James was right, that if she knew, she would not only be upset, she would reject his protection, and he couldn’t let that happen.

      As they started following the EMTs out as they wheeled Kate along, Jonas heard his name called from behind. Betty, the woman who had thought he was handsome, met him as he turned around.

      “Here, handsome, you forgot these,” she said conspiratorially, pushing the small bag he’d dropped out on the porch—the condoms—into his hand. “Being blind is no excuse for not being careful,” she added.

      He choked out a thanks, and felt his face turn hot as he turned back to Tessa, who was laughing. Hard.

      “Jonas, if you could only see your face,” she said, breathless with laughter.

      He smiled, optimistic for the first time in a while. “Soon enough, I think. Soon enough.”

       6

       11:00 p.m.

      TESSA WAS EXHAUSTED, happy, relieved, hopeful and worried all at the same time as she walked out of Kate’s hospital room. Everything was fine, and after being treated, her friend had returned to being her old self in no time.

      In fact, Kate had shooed them out of the room after properly interrogating Jonas as to his intentions, and receiving only stuttering replies. Tessa hadn’t minded at all, since she was a little curious about Jonas’s intentions, as well.

      He seemed to go in and out of high and low moods all night, as if he was waging some internal struggle he couldn’t tell her about. She assumed it had to do with his sight more than anything to do with her, but she hoped that maybe he was seeing that she wasn’t the conniving manipulator that he thought she was.

      That was the worrying part. Jonas had politely excused himself so that she could have a moment alone with Kate before they left. Kate had held her hand tight, looking somewhat worried herself.

      “You love him, Tessa?”

      The words had hit her like a straight-on lightning strike, and her first impulse was to deny it.

      “I care about him. It’s too soon for anything else, Kate.”

      “Oh, that’s ridiculous. I knew I loved my Hank within five minutes of seeing him and knew that I’d marry him within ten.”

      “Jonas and I have had a rockier start. I’m not sure he even likes me that much.”

      “How on earth could you think that? The man is out in a terrible storm, at your side,” Kate said. “Men don’t do that for women they don’t like.”

      Tessa sighed, and related the earlier conversation, and how Jonas believed that she had only wanted to use him against her father.

      “You were a child when you did those crazy things,” Kate objected. “It has nothing to do with the woman you are now.”

      “I hope he realizes that. I think there’s more going on, though I’m not sure what it is.”

      Kate squeezed her hand. “Well, I think he has more feelings for you than he realizes, but only time will tell. A woman has to protect her heart.”

      “Thanks, though it might be a little late for that,” Tessa said, feeling tears burning hot behind her eyes, but not wanting to upset Kate after her ordeal. “But I’m a big girl.”

      “And you deserve a good man. I hope he’s smart enough to figure that out,” Kate said.

      “I hope so, too. You be well. I’ll be back tomorrow to help you home,” Tessa said.

      “You get some rest. Betty offered to do the same. You focus on your young man and making things work. I’ll be fine.”

      “Thank you, Kate. I’m so glad you’re okay. You really scared me.” Tessa hugged her and still planned to be there the next day.

      It was what happened between now and then that had her in knots.

      Jonas had waited outside the room, quiet and pensive. He didn’t say a word as they turned to the elevator, but then were waylaid by one of Kate’s nurses.

      “Hey, I have something for you,” she

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