Chapter 24

twenty-four

ANDREW

“Penny for your thoughts.”

I nearly leaped off the hard, plastic, hospital seat. Jacob had snuck up behind me while I was sitting in the waiting room. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

He didn’t look sorry for giving me a fright. “You were a million miles away.”

I slipped my cell phone back into my pocket. The text Paul had sent me could wait until later. “How’s Jesse?”

“He’s asleep and doing a lot better since the doctors gave him an IV line. If you want to spend some time with Barbara, I can wait out here.”

“I’ll give her a few minutes alone with Jesse. She’s exhausted.”

Jacob sat beside me. “It can’t be easy raising a child on your own, especially when they’re sick.”

“Or when you don’t have a home of your own or a job that pays more than the minimum wage.”

“Hopefully, there’ll be a house in the tiny home village for her.”

I nodded. When Barbara wasn’t working at a gift store in Sunrise Bay, she helped cook meals at The Welcome Center. She was always there for everyone else, and now it was time for her to be looked after.

A man and a woman walked into the room and headed straight to the water cooler. They looked every bit as stressed as Barbara.

An hour ago, Jesse had been moved into an isolation room in the children’s ward. Until the doctors knew what was causing his high temperature and vomiting, they didn’t want to risk anyone else getting sick. Thankfully, the tests had already ruled out meningitis.

I turned to Jacob. He was flicking through a magazine. “I bet you never thought you’d become Sunrise Bay’s next doctor.”

“I haven’t.”

My eyebrows rose. “In the last three days, you’ve stopped Paul’s appendix from bursting and looked after Jesse. Even Doc Martin doesn’t have as many emergency cases when he’s here.”

Jacob closed the magazine. “I was in the right place at the right time.”

“Exactly. It’s called divine intervention.”

“Are you telling me I’m supposed to stay in Sunrise Bay?”

I wanted him to stay, but he needed to do what worked best for him. “It’s not my decision to make.”

“I seem to remember there were some distinct advantages to living in Colorado.”

The gleam in Jacob’s eyes made me smile. “Are you talking about the amazing scenery and friendly people?”

“I’m talking about one friendly person in particular.” Jacob held my hand. “How would you feel about dating a man who has a lot of issues he needs to work through?”

“That has to be the worst sales pitch I’ve ever heard.” As soon the words left my mouth, I regretted them.

The gleam in Jacob’s eyes disappeared and his face became a blank mask. “I wasn’t trying to sell you anything. I was being honest.”

I gently squeezed his hand. “I know you were. I’m sorry if my comment came across as flippant. If you were talking about PTSD, I don’t know much about it, but I’d like to learn. I’d also like to spend more time with you.”

Jacob lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. “I want to spend more time with you, too.”

I took a deep breath. “Before we go too much farther, I have a confession. I haven’t dated anyone since I moved to Sunrise Bay. I might be a little rusty.”

That made Jacob smile. “You aren’t the only one. I can’t remember the last time I took someone on a date.”

“It sounds as though we’re a match made in heaven.”

“Or a disaster waiting to happen.”

I kissed his cheek. “I’m going to be optimistic and say we’ll both be happy.”

Jacob’s hand tightened on mine. “I hope so.”

We were both taking a risk, stepping so far out of our comfort zones that it made me tremble. But I’d never met anyone like Jacob and I doubted I ever would again.