“Well, hopefully you’ll won’t get a chance to find out.” She points to the phone in my hand. “Use that thing and call!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Zack
Thursday, May 16
I’VE ALMOST MADEit out of the bedroom without waking Jess, but then my keys jangle against the stainless steel tray on my bureau when I pick them up.
“Are you going for a run?” Jess asks in a sleep-muzzy voice.
“Sorry—I didn’t mean to wake you.” The keys rattle a little more as I put them in my pocket.
“What time is it?”
“Early.”
She reaches for her phone on the nightstand and brings it in front of her face. “It’s just five forty-five.” She raises up on an elbow and squints at me in the semidarkness. “And you’re already dressed for work?”
“Yeah. I’m going by the hospital to talk to Margaret’s cardiologist. He makes rounds early.”
She sits up, flips on the bedside lamp, and scowls. “Why would you dothat?”
Her tone needles me. “Quinn can’t do it because she has Lily, and children her age aren’t allowed in the post-ICU rooms. It’s a way I can help out.”
She pushes her hair out of her face, settles back against the headboard, and folds her arms. “You’re more involved with Quinn than you are with me.”
I draw a deep breath.Love is patient, love is kind, I remindmyself. “Look—Lily and Quinn and Margaret are in a difficult situation right now. I can help out, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
“But, Zack, going to the hospital at this hour and talking to her doctor—it’s too much. It’s overinvolvement. It’s—it’s inappropriate.”
I feel my face turn to granite. My sister used to call me Stoneface Zackson, because my face gets kind of hard and unmoving when I’m upset. My voice gets hard, too. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
“So you’re just going to ignore my feelings and do it anyway?”
“I care what you think and feel, Jess, but I can’t let your insecurities run my life.”
“My insecurities?” Her eyes go wide and hurt.
I sigh. I know better than to speak so bluntly, but it’s hard to constantly tiptoe around her. “Sorry. I should have worded that more sensitively.” I grab my phone and my watch and start toward the door.
“Wait—you’re right, Zack. I do feel insecure. Truth be told, I feel threatened as hell.”
It’s a new move for her, admitting she’s vulnerable. I turn back and circle the bed to kiss her good-bye. “You have nothing to feel threatened about.”
“I know I don’t. I’m being ridiculous.” She clasps her arms around my neck. “I enjoyed last night.”
“I did, too.” We’d made love for the first time in a long, long time. Having dinner with friends had been good for us—we’d laughed and talked and had a few of drinks, and things had loosened up between us. And then, as soon as we stepped through the door of the condo, Jess had pressed herself against me and unfastened my belt.
“I want you,” she’d whispered, her mouth against my lips, her fingers moving on to my zipper. “Right here. Right now.”
We’d stripped off each other’s clothes in the living room, then I’d carried her to the bedroom. It wasn’t tender makeup sex; it was hard and fast and primal, more about physical release than emotional connection. When it was over, I’d held her close and listenedto her talk about houses in Seattle. She always likes to talk after sex, but all I really wanted to do last night was sleep.
“I’ll see you this evening,” I tell her now.
“What time?”
“I don’t know. I’ll call you.”
