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“No, I don’t have to.”
“For God’s sake, Joe, take the call. I’ve disrupted your and Ryan’s lives enough as it is.”
I grabbed my phone out of my pocket. It was a number I didn’t recognize, with the Grand Junction area code.
“Hello, Jonah Steel.”
“Jonah?”
The voice was soft, kind of parched. But it sounded an awful lot like…
“Melanie?”
Chapter Ten
Melanie
Just hearing his voice smoothed soothing lotion over my tired body and menaced mind. “Yes. It’s me. Melanie.”
“Are you all right? You haven’t been returning my calls. I’ve been worried about you.”
“I’m fine, Jonah.”
“You don’t sound fine. Where are you?”
“I’m in…the hospital.”
“What happened?”
“It’s a long story. But I’m going to be okay.”
“Are you at Valleycrest? I’m coming to see you.”
“No, it’s late. They won’t let you in.”
“They’ll let me in, by God.”
I sighed. I wanted to see him more than anything. I needed to see him, to know that he still existed in the world. Even if he could never return my feelings, I needed to touch his hard body, like a pillar of rock in the whirling tornado of my life.
“Yes,” I said, barely whispering. “Please come.”
“I’ll be there in an hour.”
I rang for my nurse and let her know I was going to have a visitor. Of course I got the standard lecture on hospital rules, but she finally relented and said she’d show my guest to my room when he arrived. I closed my eyes, picturing Jonah’s strong countenance.
I needed his strength right now. I needed him.
* * *
“Melanie?”
Something nudged my arm. I opened my eyes, and a blur stood in front of me.
Jonah.
My Jonah.
I opened my eyes wide. He was not my Jonah. At least not yet. It wasn’t like me to be so presumptuous. But after the near-death experience I’d just had, I didn’t want to waste one more moment not telling him about my feelings.
