“Yes,” he said softly, “I do.”
Something in his eyes made her wonder if she’d said too much. Being cautious was probably not the way he thought of her. She’d once acted rashly, impulsively and the consequences be damned.
“Well, back to the housing market,” she said brightly. “Do you have any advice? Should I think about buying?”
“How do you feel about your job?” he asked.
She was surprised. “Well, I don’t really know. I talked to the superintendent of schools on Monday, looked my office over on Tuesday and met the department secretary on Wednesday. She looks as if she moved in when the facility was built. I have no idea if I’ll last longer than my three-year contract.”
“You got a contract?”
“Yes. It’s an administrative position. Instead of tenure, we agree on a specified time to put my ideas into action and see results.” She shrugged. “If things don’t turn around as fast as the school board thinks it should, they have to buy out the contract to get rid of me.”
“Mmm, maybe you’d better wait before buying a house, at least until you have a few months under your belt.”
“That’s what I thought, too.” She sighed. “Finding a small house to rent is more difficult than I thought it would be.”
“That’s why I bought a place. I thought I’d be here for at least ten years, but then we ran into problems in the southwest region again. I’ve used a lot of vacation time to work on the cabin, though. It’s coming along. I’ll get a lot more done now that I’m stationed here.”
“How long do you think you’ll be in this district?”
“I plan to retire here.” His charming grin popped up. “Unless they want to put me in charge of the whole DOT. I don’t see that happening.”
“Why not?”
“There’s too much politics going on at the state level. I’d tell some big shot where to get off and probably be out the door in record time.”
“I’ve always found you to be very tactful,” she assured him.
He was silent for a minute, then his eyes met hers. “With some people, it’s easier to be gentle than with others.”
Gentle.
The word lingered in Zia’s mind at the grocery where she bought fruit, bread and peanut butter and at the Laundromat where she washed and dried the clothing she’d worn that week.
Later, as evening painted the sky in soft hues, she sat on the side porch of the hotel and ate a solitary meal, the word echoing in her head like thunder reverberating off distant mountain peaks, plangent and haunting.
Jeremy was referring to women, she decided. Actually he was gentle with all who were smaller, weaker than himself. Look how wonderful he’d been with his stepcousins, rescuing Tony and Krista from that horrible foster father when they were children. Both had grown up to be fine, decent citizens, thanks to his influence as well as his uncle’s.
Whoever caught his heart would be loved and cherished forever. A lucky woman.
She tried to put the luncheon conversation out of mind, but words and phrases kept popping up like new bits of scenery with each curve in a winding road.
She suddenly wished Jeremy was with her. She wanted to ask him about…about life and love and what it all meant…
“Miss Peters?”
She jerked at the sound of her name. A young man stood at the corner of the porch. The night clerk, she realized.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“You have a call. Shall I transfer it to your room phone?”
“Yes, please. Thank you,” she added, hurrying inside.
A second later, the phone rang. She sat on the bed and picked up the receiver. “Hello?”
“Zia?”
“Yes. Who’s this?”
“Heather. I tried to get you on your cell phone but couldn’t get an answer.”
“It’s on the charger,” Zia explained, her mind racing.
Heather. Her mother’s longtime friend. There was only one reason she would be calling.
“What’s happened?” Zia asked, steeling herself for bad news.
“Your mother is ill. An infection of some kind. The ambulance is taking her to the hospital in Boise. Jeff is with her. He asked me to call.”
“An infection?” Zia questioned. “Where?”
“It’s in her gall bladder and liver. Apparently it caused the bile duct to close and destroy most of her liver before they realized what the problem was.”
Zia tried to take in the information, but a sense of panic was setting in fast. “What are they going to do at the Boise hospital?” The city was an hour away, and there was a small county hospital in their hometown.
Heather hesitated before saying, “Stop the infection, first of all. There’s internal bleeding. They’ll have to take care of that, too. The liver damage is pretty serious. I, uh, I think you’d better consider coming home.”
Zia had already determined that. “I’ll be there by morning,” she said. “Have you called anyone else?”
“No, you’re the first one who came to mind. Do you want me to call your dad?”
“I—I don’t know. No. I’ll call him tomorrow…when we know more.” She pressed a hand to her forehead. “Jeremy. I can contact him. We need to call Tony and Julianne. Krista and Lance are still on their honeymoon. They’re someplace in Europe. Let’s wait on them.”
“Right. Jeff gave me Caileen’s address book. That’s where I got your cell number. When I didn’t get an answer, I remembered you were staying at the hotel. Caileen had mentioned the name at lunch the other day.”
Heather, a paralegal from juvenile court, and her mother had been having lunch once a week for as long as Zia could remember.
“When I called the hotel, the clerk said he’d seen you outside when he came on duty,” Heather finished.
“Thank God,” Zia murmured. “I’ll call Jeremy and start packing. Is there anything else I need to do?”
“Not that I can think of. I’ll call your cell number if anything changes. Jeff asked if I could be the message hub in case you guys have trouble getting through at the hospital.”
“Thanks, Heather. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
“Drive carefully. We don’t need you in an accident.”
“Yes, I’ll be careful.”
After hanging up, Zia clicked on Jeremy’s number, but either his cell phone was off or he was out of range. She left a voice mail for him to call her right away. Then she grabbed her largest case and tossed the contents of the bureau into it, mostly jeans, T-shirts and underwear. Since her overnight case held her makeup and toiletries, she closed it and set it next to the larger piece.
In less than fifteen minutes, with jacket and purse in hand, she was ready to go. Dusk had deepened to twilight as she tried Jeremy again.
Still no answer.
After putting her luggage in her car, she went to the hotel desk and explained to the night clerk about the family emergency and left her cell number with him in case anyone needed to get in touch.
“You’re keeping your room?” he asked.