Something Old - Dianne L. Christner [105]
“You bet I do. It’s not what she thinks. Thanks for sticking up for me. So …” He looked at the ceiling and sent up a quick prayer. Please, God. “Is she willing to listen to reason?”
“Maybe. You’re not going to hurt her again?”
He sighed. “No. Is Katy there? Can you put her on?”
“Just a minute.”
Listening to feminine protests, he grabbed up an armful of blankets and tossed the soft ball back onto the bed. Fortunately, Megan was trying to patch things up for him.
Finally, a familiar voice snapped angrily, “This is Katy.”
She acted like he’d called her instead of them calling him, waking him up, too. He really wanted to snap back at her for snooping in his room—for getting him sick—but he knew that when he felt better, he’d regret it. He gentled his voice. “I got your note. But I think you jumped to the wrong conclusions.”
“I thought she didn’t mean anything to you.” Now she sounded pouty. He could visualize her sulky lips, her smoky eyes. “I trusted you.” Now she sounded heartbroken, definitely vulnerable. That clenched his heart because he knew how much it cost her to reveal her jealousy.
For weeks he’d worked at earning her trust. Now if he wasn’t careful, he would lose her over a stupid misunderstanding. “Remember when I told you that Erin and Jessie became friends? That Erin was going down the same path I went? That I’d give anything to prevent that?”
“Anything, huh?”
He lay back on his pillow, disregarded her heated barb, and continued to speak softly. “I love my sister. And I worry about Jessie, too. I keep the photo on top of my Bible so that I remember to pray for them every night. It’s simple as that. There’s no attraction there. It’s you I love. Not Jessie. That’s the truth.” There was a silence, and he waited.
“You love me?” He’d told her that the night at the restaurant, too.
He quirked his mouth. “Yes I do.”
“But the inscription on the photo was so intimate. I was jealous.”
“You love me, too?”
She paused too long.
“Sorry. Dumb question.”
“I want to.”
He swallowed his disappointment. He’d just lost major points on trustworthiness. Her anger and jealousy revealed that she cared deeply for him. She said she wanted to love him. That probably meant she did love him but couldn’t trust him. If she wasn’t ready to do that, he shouldn’t push her. He might scare her away. Instead he needed to convince her of his sincerity. He needed to win her over, but not now when he felt so sick. “I wasn’t too ugly after all.”
“You’re sick?”
“Yep.”
“I warned you.”
“It was worth it.” Losing his battle against the drowsy side effects of his cold medicine and starting to shake with a fever, he pulled the rumpled covers up around his sore throat—that was getting more painful with talking—and off his bare feet. Shivering, he curled them up under the covers.
“I didn’t know you liked stars.”
He closed his eyes and managed, “Took a class in school.”
Her next sentence was long, distorted, and dreamlike, and then his mouth and hand went slack.
CHAPTER 31
Katy stood in the open doorway and glared at Jake. Then she slammed the door in his face and strode through the doddy house into the living room. Behind her, the door creaked open. She heard heavy, intruding footsteps.
“That was rude.” Jake’s voice was laced with irritation.
“Yes, I’m rude and obviously boring,” she replied. Then dropping to the sofa, she pulled a pillow onto her lap and hugged it to herself.
She felt the couch sink, and his shoulder brushed hers. “It was the cold medicine. I can’t even remember what I said to you yesterday. When Megan called, I was sleeping.”
She jerked her shoulder away from him. “We were discussing our relationship. Our crumbling relationship. I was baring my heart, and you started snoring. Or was that just an excuse not to have to talk about steamy, starry nights?”
He didn’t speak, and finally she glanced over at him. His face