Page 341 of A Matter of Time

“I knew you would. That’s what I told them. Dane’s fixing it now.”

“Good”—I sighed deeply—“because I just wanna sleep with you.”

“Baby—”

I felt the sting of the tears behind my eyes. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, love.”

I smiled up at him, letting out a deep breath of contentment. “I can’t wait to go home.”

“Okay, baby,” he said, and he put his head down on my chest, over my heart.

I trailed my fingers through his hair as I looked out the window. I watched the snow gather on my window. Gray, cloudy days being my favorite, I was comforted by the darkness.

Sam gave me a choice. I could either be carried down to Caleb’s room or I could ride in a wheelchair. I rode, and when I reached his room and saw him, I was so relieved I started shaking. Caleb had been grazed by a bullet that had hit his leg, but other than that, he was in great shape. He actually looked much better than my own bruised and battered appearance.

“I was so worried about you,” I told him, holding his hand, trying not to cry.

“I know.” He sighed, hugging me tight. “You care so much about me.”

And I did. We were friends, and family, sort of. I stayed with him as long as Sam let me. I found it sad that Caleb didn’t have anyone to sit with him. Sam assured me that it was not going to be me.

Sam had brought me clothes from home since my old ones had been collected as evidence. I appreciated finally getting out of the drafty hospital gown and back into my jeans. My wardrobe always diminished when I wound up in the hospital, and I was really sort of sad about the last pair of jeans; they were perfectly worn in.

Two officers came and took my statement at the hospital, asking me to walk them through everything that had happened from the time I was grabbed to when I arrived at the police station in the kidnapper’s car, now identified as a 1980 Dodge Mirada. It had been reported stolen weeks before.

I explained about where I’d been taken by the carjackers, but since I really didn’t want the men who saved me to get in trouble, because they’d saved me from the kidnappers, I lied and said I couldn’t remember what they looked like. It wasn’t as long of an explanation as I’d thought, and it was helped by the fact that they already had Caleb’s.

Once we were home and Sam had the car parked on the street in front of my apartment, I swung the door open to get out.

“Don’t move, J.”

So I waited for him to come around, and when he did, I leaned down into his arms. Gently, he set me on my feet.

“I can walk,” I assured him.

“Nope, we’re not doing that,” he said, scooping me up into his arms.

I squirmed to get him to drop me. “I’m not broken. You should put me⁠—”

“I’m carrying you up to that apartment,” he told me, “and if I put you over my shoulder, you’re gonna be sick. So today you’re going to let me carry you like this.”

“But, Sam, I⁠—”

“No, J. Just stop talking.”

I sighed, realizing he was going to have his way since there was nothing at all I could do about it.

He rubbed his chin through my hair as he carried me up the front stoop and through the door that led into the foyer of the building. I let my head drop onto his shoulder and felt him tighten his hold.

“Caleb’s gonna be all right, isn’t he?”

“That’s the fifth time you’ve asked me.”

“No, I know,” I said. “I was just worried about him.”

“You’re the one that got hurt, J. He should be worried about you.”