CHAPTER SIXTEEN
BY FOUR IN the morning, the police were gone, and a trembling Robbie sat curled up under a blanket on the sofa with Tara and BooBear, after talking to his dad on the phone.
“Why would that man want to come into our ’partment?”
She stroked the boy’s hair. Her first thought had been that someone was still after her. But that made no sense. It was just residual jumpiness.“I don’t know, sweetie. Maybe he was hungry and out of money, and thought we might have food.”
Robbie’s brow furrowed. “Some people can’t buy food?”
Now was not the time for a lesson in socioeconomics, but she figured a hungry man was far less scary than the other options. Jenna or Mick might handle it differently, but Tara was the one here now and she had to deal with it her way. “Sometimes.Maybe they lose their job, or get sick and can’t work, and they don’t have friends or family who can help them.”
“Could that happen to us?”
Shit. How could she have missed that trap? “No, your mom and dad have saved up lots of money, so even if they don’t have a job, you’ll be fine. And you have of friends and family who would take care of you.”
He pursed his lips and finally nodded. “Maybewe could give some of our money to the hungry people.”
“That’s really nice of you, honey.” His sweet innocence made her long for her own. “You can talk to your mom and dad about it after they get home.”
“Okay.” He yawned and rested his head on her shoulder.
If only she could move on from her fear as quickly. Her brain spun. The police hadn’t found anyone hanging around the building, so theman had been scared off for now, but what if he came back?
If he was a burglar, he wouldn’t. He’d move on to a different location or call it a night.
But if they wanted her… She shuddered.
No. That made no sense. Where was the incentive? Greg was in jail now. She’d already given the police a description of her and Jeff’s attackers. Why would they risk coming after her now?
The policeofficers had mentioned that there’d been a rash of break-ins in the area recently. Jenna and Mick lived in a nice part of town, but that didn’t make them exempt from crime.
Usually the simplest answer was the right one. Occam’s Razor and all that.
The guy had been nothing more than a common thief, and she hadn’t had enough time to fully process that she was no longer in danger. She let outa long sigh and sank into the sofa, too exhausted to think straight. No way would she abandon Jenna and Mick when they needed her most just because she was still feeling twitchy.
When Robbie started snoring softly, she carried him and his teddy bear to bed, then returned to the sofa. If she could get herself to relax, she might manage to get a few hours of sleep before the boy was raring togo again.
Was Jeff getting any sleep? She imagined him in one of those bedside recliners that was probably too short for his long legs. Instinctively, she knew he wouldn’t leave Evan’s side. Not after so many agonizing months apart.
He had his son back! How about that for something good to focus on? With a smile, she unlocked her phone, navigating to one of her favorite gift sites. Thirtyminutes later, her special delivery was on order and guaranteed to arrive within two hours.
With heavy eyelids, she spread out on the sofa, pretending the cushion at her back was Jeff’s warm chest as he curled around her body and they fell asleep together.
It was still dark through the blinds when Jeff stretched his aching neck on Sunday morning, a huge yawn overtaking his face aftergetting a few hours of sleep in a squeaky blue recliner. The private room in Peds had a cot, but the recliner was a better fit.
The scent in the air made his nose itch. Pediatrics might be cheerier than the rest of the hospital, but it still smelled like urine and disinfectant. He’d never understand how people could work in a place like this, but thank God for them. The hospital staff had beenalmost as attentive to Jeff as to Evan.
Beyond the walls of the room, carts clattered, voices murmured, a child cried. Inside, the headache-inducing fluorescent light bar over the bed buzzed like a fly, the HVAC hummed at a low frequency.
It was a testament to his own exhaustion—and Evan’s youth or the pain meds—that either of them had been able to sleep.
Standing at his son’s bedside, Jefftook a gulp of water from a bottle he’d bought last night, and swished it around his mouth in a vain effort to erase his morning breath. Evan looked like a tiny angel on the big mattress, swathed in blankets to keep him warm. Jeff wanted to scoop him up and hold him tight and never let him out of his sight again.
The surgeon had used pins to repair Evan’s humerus and splinted the arm. He’d geta cast once the stitches came out, and his doctors expected a full recovery.
Jeff smoothed back the silky brown hair that fell over Evan’s forehead. His son’s good arm was looped around the stuffed dog Jeff had found in the RV, and one foot stuck out from the sheets, as if to show off his new Spider-Man socks.
The socks and a bouquet of colorful balloons had been delivered within hours afterJeff texted Tara about Evan’s condition. She was so fucking perfect it hurt.
