Hidden Legacy

“Yeah, I’m sorry if I upset you.”

Poor guy was meeting himself coming and going.

“I was just trying—”

“I could kiss you!”

Jason’s head flew up, his eyes meeting hers, his eyebrows arched in that quizzical look she remembered so well, his lips shockingly close to her own.

“I mean—”

He laughed. “I know what you mean.”

Did he?

Did she?

A nurse bustled in, laptop in hand, to check vitals and O2 sats. Jason stepped outside to give them some privacy and she was thankful for the interruption.

What was going on with her? He’d left. He didn’t want to stay in North Carolina forever and she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. And while she understood his reasons, she had to admit she’d harbored the hope that maybe she would be enough of a reason to stay.

But she hadn’t been.

Just because he was home now didn’t mean he was home for good. He would be busy for the next several years helping care for his dad. When the inevitable came and duty wasn’t tying him down anymore, would he bolt?

History said yes.

The nurse left and Jason returned. Henry had dozed off by her side, and everyone had agreed to let him sleep.

“We need to talk.”

“Okay.” Could he tell how his presence messed with her?

“Your CO detectors didn’t go off.”

Oh. He wanted to talk about that. Of course he did. It was his job. So why had her heart sunk at his words?

“I noticed that.”

“Your water heater was tampered with. The level of CO in the house was significantly higher than it should have been.”

Her heart sank further. “Not an accident.”

He shrugged. “If you hadn’t caught the intruder, it would have looked like an accident. The tampering isn’t obvious. Just a loose vent. The gas company guys apologized all over themselves. Said they couldn’t understand how it happened.”

“But they don’t know about my visitor.”

“Exactly.”

“So what happens now? Can I go home? Should I go home?”

Jason couldn’t meet her gaze.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

He shifted from one foot to the other and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Don’t get mad, but I called your brother.”

“Great. He’s probably already called Mom and Dad.” Caroline exhaled. “I didn’t want them to worry.”

“Like they wouldn’t want to know?”

She glared at him, hoping he could feel her displeasure burning from her retinas. “What did Blake say?”

“He tracked down Heidi.”

“That didn’t take long.”

“I gather they have a system of some sort.” He frowned at her. “Speaking of which, why did you call me?”

Heat flooded her cheeks. “I knew you were minutes away.”

“Why not go to your front porch and yell at the officers sitting in your driveway?”

He wasn’t going to let this go, was he? She didn’t have a good answer.

“I wasn’t thinking clearly,” she said. “I was afraid to leave Henry and I was afraid to get too far away from the bathroom.”

He studied her longer than was comfortable, and she knew he hadn’t fully accepted her response. Time to change the subject.

“So you spoke to Heidi?”

“Yeah. She said she’d call a friend. He’s not far from here and he’s going to come give your place a once-over. She doesn’t want you to stay there until he’s done.”

Awesome. Heidi’s definition of once-over probably meant pulling up the floors and tearing out the walls.

“I was able to convince her that we have things under control, but I won’t be surprised if we wind up with some random FBI agents popping in and out.”

Caroline blew out a breath. “I guess I should thank you again.”

He winked, and her breath caught. “You may not be thanking me when you hear the rest of our plan.”

“The plan?”

“I thought you could hang out with my mom and dad while you’re waiting for your house to be cleared.”

Caroline fidgeted. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? It looks like someone is trying to kill me. I should probably go to a deserted island, not hang out with your parents.”

“Nonsense.” Jason didn’t seem as worried as he should be.