She wanted to say no, but her stomach growled and the aroma of the pizza made her feel almost dizzy with hunger. “Um...sure. If you’ll give me a chance to shower. Come on in.”
She stepped aside, avoiding his eyes as he walked in. The clutter was familiar to her—a product of three vet students keeping late hours, with little time for housework—but she could only imagine what someone with live-in maids would think of it.
Deanna and Leesa boarded horses at a stable north of town, so there were bridles hanging from one of the kitchen chairs, and a roping saddle sat on a rack in the corner, with a giant purple bunny propped on its seat.
“Nice rabbit,” he said solemnly.
“We all love the state fair, so we spent a lot of time there over Labor Day weekend. I blew my money on corn dogs and mini doughnuts. Leesa couldn’t stay away from the carnival games.”
He laughed. “Good shot, is she?”
“College marksmanship team, first runner-up. I defy you to find her bed under all of the stuffed animals she won.” Kate tossed him the TV remote and waved a hand toward the Formica kitchen table and, beyond that, the swaybacked couch. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be out in a minute.”
She made it back in ten—feeling infinitely better in clean clothes and a touch of makeup. Miraculously, Jared had found a couple of plates and napkins in the jumbled cupboards, and was now idly lounging in one of the chairs at the table, flipping through her pharmacology textbook.
He looked up with a gleam of appreciation in his eyes. “You sure clean up well. Fast, too. I was betting on an hour. Hungry?”
“Starved.” She watched him pull the pizza out of the oven and turn the dial to Off. “I’m still not sure what this is about, though.”
He slid a couple of slices of pizza on each plate, then set the rest back in the oven to stay warm. “It’s an apology.”
“Whatever for?”
“So far, I’ve been a jerk.” He tipped his head slightly. “I dumped on you at the party, and obviously ruined the night for you, because you left in a hurry. And yesterday I stole all of your study time before that test.”
Fragrant steam rose from the spicy pepperoni and thick, gooey mozzarella as she lifted a piece for a first bite. At the explosion of flavor in her mouth, she closed her eyes in sheer ecstasy to savor each nuance. “This is heaven.”
“This is Luigi’s. Heaven is a few miles farther.” He waited until they’d polished off the entire pizza and four cans of soda, then he retrieved a bakery box from the fridge and lifted the lid with a flourish. “Chocolate-raspberry cheesecake, courtesy of the Lincoln Deli.”
“Ooooh.” She stared at the creamy, otherworldly dessert in awe. “How did you kn—” She caught herself and sighed with bliss. “Deanna.”
She served up fat wedges of the cheesecake, but guilt made her stop before taking a first bite. “I didn’t leave that frat party because of what you said. I left because...” She swallowed hard. “I was embarrassed. It had to look like I was hitting on you—and right after your girlfriend left. But honest, that wasn’t what I intended. And I sure hadn’t realized who you were, either.”
“Who I was?” His voice took on a sharp edge. “Oh, right. The senator’s son. That makes a difference.”
“Well...yes.”
He pushed away from the table. “I think I’d better be going.” His voice was flat, unemotional, but the pain and frustration in his eyes spoke volumes.
“Wait—what did I say?” Mystified, she stared at him. “I think you misunderstood.”
“Oh, I understood, all right.” He grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and jerked it on. “I’d thought—I’d hoped—you were different. But it’s always the same. It’s all about the money. The status.”
“You think that it matters to me?” She stared at him, wishing she could take back her words. “I was only trying to be a friend at that party, because your girlfriend turned into a banshee in front of all those people. And the only problem with your so-called status was that I thought people might think I was pursuing you because of it.”
Her voice started rising, but she flat-out didn’t care. “Although in retrospect, I really don’t give a dang what those shallow sorority twits think about me, anyway.”
“You still don’t get it.” He stopped at the door, one hand on the knob, and looked over his shoulder. “Yeah, there are plenty of people like Hilary. They come from money, they want more of it, and when it’s gone, you may as well just turn to dust for all they care. Six months ago we got engaged. At the frat party? She returned my ring and let me know that she’d found someone else. Who, by the way, belongs to a prominent banking family in Saint Paul. For her, it’s all about money.”
Kate drew in a breath. “Oh, no.”
“And then there are the others, who just assume the worst when they find out about my background. They want nothing to do with someone who will automatically be pretentious, arrogant, and shallow.” He gave a short laugh. “Sort of a reverse bias, like yours.”
Stung, she rose and braced her hands on the table. “Assumptions like that sure must limit your social life.”
He shrugged. “Just think about Hilary, and tell me that I’m wrong.”
PRESENT DAY
Kate made the trip to the hospital at roughly the speed of light, trying to concentrate on her college memories and not on what might have been happening in the ambulance far ahead.
She’d arrived to learn that Jared was alive—though barely. Her staggering relief at that news had sent her buckling into the nearest chair, caught somewhere between joy and fear.
Seconds later, a nurse had hurried over
