Crystal bit her lip and flicked her gaze to Tara.
“It’s all right. The doctor is trying to help your mama.”
“Before. I yelled at her, but she didn’t wake up.” Crystal started crying again, her nose running.
“It’s okay, sweetie.”
“She’s diabetic,” the doctor said over her shoulder, cradling a pendant that was attached to Neema’s neck with a silver chain. “Get me—”
“I’m an off-duty paramedic,” a deep voice called from behind Tara. “How’s she look?”
Tara turned to see a barrel-chested Black man in his thirties charging toward her. “I think she’s okay, but I kept her in her seat just in case. Her name is Crystal, she’s five.”
“Crystal,” Tara said to the girl, “this man is going to make sure you didn’t get hurt, okay?”
“Don’t leave!”
“How about I comearound the other side and sit with you?”
The girl nodded.
“Hang on.” Tara rounded the car and slid into the back seat on the other side.
Crystal took her hand and Tara gripped it tightly in her own.
Watching Tara with Crystal did strange things to Jeff’s chest. The paramedic had cleared the little girl, and she and Tara now sat side-by-side in the grass on the side of the road readingThe Very Hungry Caterpillar, which Tara had found in the back seat pocket.
The magnetic quality that drew adults to Tara apparently worked on children too. Actually, that didn’t give her enough credit. It wasn’t some uncontrollable element that she had no say in. She had a way with people, a knack for making them feel welcome, liked, and important. As if they mattered to her and she cared aboutwhat happened to them.
Crystal had trusted Tara immediately. Smart girl.
Smarter than him. He constantly gave Tara less credit than she deserved. City girl? She was adaptable. Would never get dirty? Obviously not true, since she was currently sitting in the grass with Crystal so the girl could stay in sight of her mother. Not mom material? Again, the current scene proved him wrong. She hadsaid she loved kids, but seeing her with Crystal made him a believer.
His arguments for keeping his distance from Tara were crumbling one by one, and it scared the living hell out of him. But nothing changed the fact that she was still in danger, he still needed to be on his guard, and Evan was still missing.
But what about when this was all over? Did Jeff have to return to Colorado for school?Virginia had engineering programs, and great schools for Evan.
And Virginia had Tara.
Don’t be stupid. What was wrong with him, making plans based on a gut-level attraction and a single kiss? He couldn’t rearrange his whole life around a woman who might want nothing to do with him in a month. Or now, for that matter.
He had saved up all his combat pay for a down payment on a bungalow thatcurrently housed a steady stream of vacationers, waiting for him and Evan to come home. If Jeff switched universities, some of his courses might not transfer. Not to mention the overall cost of living in northern Virginia was higher, though his housing costs would depend on where he chose to live. The GI Bill housing allowance would adjust, but that couldn’t make up for everything.
Most importantof all, Evan and the means to a good nine-to-five job needed to be his focus, not his lackluster love life. Neither Evan nor Tara would get the attention they deserved if he tried to have both.
He wanted his son to have a mother-figure in his life, but Evan would have a lot to work through once they found him, and the last thing he needed was to get attached to Tara and then lose her too ifthings didn’t work out.
Jeff paced the side of the road, unable to help with anything, antsy to get moving, to get to Wilmington. To find his son.
The doctor who’d stopped to help was talking to a now-conscious Neema, who still sat in the driver’s seat. Two lines of cars had amassed behind them on the freeway, chrome and glass glimmering in the bright afternoon sunshine. A med-evac helicopterhad landed about a quarter mile ahead of them ten minutes earlier and lifted off soon after, but the road hadn’t yet cleared.
A few feet away, Tara pulled her jacket tighter around her with red fingers that matched her nose and ears. Jeff marched to the RV. The mangled rear bumper looked like hell, but he was fairly sure the vehicle was drivable if they ever got out of this traffic mess. Inside,he opened the storage compartment and pulled out two old wool Army blankets. One was slightly moth-eaten, but it would work.
Back outside, he stopped in front of Tara. “Sorry I didn’t think of this earlier. Would you like to sit on a blanket?” He held up the holey one.
“Oh, perfect. Thanks.” She gave him a broad smile and stood, brushing off her butt. “Can you stand for second, sweetie?” sheasked Crystal.
“I also grabbed these for you.” He produced the pair of gloves she’d stuffed into the glove box earlier.
