Something To Treasure. Virginia McCullough

he couldn’t stop.”

      Dawn winced against the memory of the shock when the car behind her inexplicably hit the back of her car at the stop sign. She tried to get away by flooring the accelerator, but the car came faster than she could move forward. The sharp turn she made to avoid—unsuccessfully, as it turned out—hitting another car caused her to careen into a mailbox. Ironically, she’d sprained her wrist, twisted her knee and banged her head during her effort to escape from the car as quickly as possible. Fear of an explosion had pushed her to act so quickly. Fortunately, the fiery demise of her car never came, although it was badly damaged. Still, as upset as she’d been, in her heart she was aware how close she’d come to a real catastrophe.

      “They can call a taxi for you at the desk,” Adele said, taking hold of her elbow so she could help her off the exam table. Dawn moved gingerly to avoid landing too hard and fast on her wrapped knee, the least of her injuries. A little light-headed, Dawn was grateful for Adele’s firm grasp as she draped her coat around her shoulders. The curtain suddenly pulled back, startling her. She rocked to one side, but was righted again by Adele’s firm hold on her. Dawn recognized the woman as the front desk clerk she’d spoken to when the police had brought her in.

      “Uh, there’s a man at the desk asking about Ms. Larsen. He’s not family, but he said he was here to see how she was. He can drive her home.”

      “Ah, Ian,” Dawn said. “I had an appointment with him and a new client. I texted him to let him know what happened.” She looked at the desk clerk. “Tall guy, unruly blond hair?”

      “Tall, but dark-haired. He said his name was Waters...no, Walters.”

      “Jerrod?” She let her aching head drop back. “Oh, no.”

      “What?” Adele studied her face as if looking for clues. “Who is Jerrod? And why is it a bad thing he’s here?”

      “He’s my new client. I texted him to let him know why I didn’t show up this morning for a photo shoot.” She looked down at herself and moaned. She had a rip in the knee of her best jeans. The sleeve of her coat had an ugly tear, as well. All that to go with her bruised face. “I didn’t want anyone seeing me like this, but especially a client. Here I am, not only disheveled, but wobbly, too.”

      “So you’ll let him grip your elbow and keep you on your feet.” Adele spoke in a firm tone. “Get real, Dawn. You’ve been hurt and someone stepped up to offer his help. Accept it.”

      What choice did she have? Besides, Jerrod was only being kind. She’d already seen his kindness—and loyalty—on display interacting with Wyatt and Rob, and his little girl.

      “Please, tell him I’ll be right out.” When the clerk disappeared, she turned to Adele. “Thanks for bringing me back to reality. I had the idea I’d walk out of here and restart my day like nothing happened.”

      “I know the type,” Adele said with a laugh. “Takes one to know one. Now, hang on to my arm so I can walk you to the waiting room and deliver you into capable hands.”

      “Yes, ma’am.”

      With Adele setting the slow shuffling pace, it took a couple of minutes to reach the exit doors leading to the intake area. She spotted Jerrod immediately.

      “There he is,” Dawn said, raising her wrapped hand to indicate Jerrod. He turned when they were a few feet behind him.

      “You’re walking.” The muscles in Jerrod’s face visibly relaxed. “That’s a good sign.”

      “I came in sitting in a wheelchair, but I’m determined to leave on my own two feet.”

      She caught Jerrod’s quick glance at Adele. Was that a not-so-subtle eye roll?

      “She’s supposed to rest,” Adele said to Jerrod.

      “I see.” Jerrod looked at Adele in the serious way Dawn already had come to recognize. “I think I can handle it from here.”

      “Quit talking about me like I’m not here,” Dawn said.

      Looking amused and a little smug, Adele said goodbye and disappeared through the doors to the treatment cubicles. Dawn sat in the nearest chair while Jerrod left to move his van to the entrance. Then, after shuffling to the van, she had no choice but to accept help to lift her hip and slide onto the seat. That brought her a little too close to Jerrod for comfort. For a few seconds she could feel his warm breath on her cheek and neck. It would have been so easy to drop her head against his chest and just rest there. Even in her hazy mind, she was aware that what seemed such a pleasant fantasy was a really terrible idea.

      On the drive home, Jerrod filled her in on his meeting with Ian. Satisfied that it had gone well, she perked up a little. So, the day wasn’t a total loss. When they pulled into her driveway, she invited Jerrod inside because it seemed like the polite thing to do, and then was surprised when he accepted. She’d imagined him eager to get on with his day. Once in the house, he shed his jacket and tossed it in a chair. Then he steered her to the couch and offered to make tea.

      “That sounds good.” She sighed as she surrendered to the puffy cushions that enveloped her. “I’ll even share the bag of sugar cookies I picked up at the bakery. They’re in the cabinet with the tea.” Her living room and dining room-kitchen were open, so she could see into the kitchen and watch Jerrod fill the kettle and find the mugs. What a relief her house was pretty neat. On another day, it could have been a whole different story.

      With thoughts of moving to the table, she tried to scoot to the edge of the couch seat.

      “You stay where you are,” he said. “I can handle this.”

      Losing steam by the second, Dawn offered no protest. She kicked off her sneakers and lifted her injured leg up to rest on the coffee table and thought about all the lost time in her day. The hours had passed quickly and now it wouldn’t be long before Gordon’s bus pulled up to the curb. Since he couldn’t come pick her up or do anything else to help her, she hadn’t sent her son a text. No sense interrupting the normal course of his day.

      Jerrod brought the tea and cookies in two trips and then settled in the chair closest to the couch. Dawn picked up the hot mug and blew across the top of the strong black tea. “I didn’t know how much I needed this until now.”

      “I know what you mean,” Jerrod said, his voice low. He opened his mouth as if to speak, closed it.

      She flashed back to his serious demeanor as he walked her to her car. Was that only yesterday? She kept quiet, but she was pretty sure she knew what was on his mind. “We were due to talk after the photo shoot. I was going to suggest coffee at the Bean Grinder.” She lifted her injured arm. “Best-laid plans and all that.”

      Seeing his expression darken, she held back the probing question on the tip of her tongue. “Okay, I’m listening.”

      With nothing else to say, she reached for a cookie, surprised by the beads of sweat forming at the back of her neck. She wrote it off to the hot tea, the pain pill, even the stress of the accident, but it was hard to ignore the tension in the air.