His dark eyes brightened with fire. “I can’t stop thinking about us making love. It’s not just you, if that’s what you were trying to find out.”
She hadn’t been, but she was happy to have the information. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“That works both ways.” He gripped the railing and looked at Shane rather than her. “I’m sorry about how it ended. I didn’t mean to hurt you. What I was trying to say was that you’re not going to be comfortable having an affair, and I’m not prepared to offer anything else.”
“I didn’t ask for either.”
“You will,” he said with a certainty that made her blush. Because she had been wanting more than one night. Why wouldn’t she? She was in love with him.
“Jack, I-”
He cut her off with a shake of his head. “It won’t work, Katie. I’ve tried. I was married before, and it was a disaster. I don’t want another failed marriage.”
“It’s a big step from one afternoon together to marriage,” she said, even though it was tough to speak. Her throat had gone completely dry. Marriage. The thought astounded her. She’d never considered…Is that what she wanted? To marry Jack?
He continued to stare at Shane. “I don’t believe in love anymore. Not between a man and a woman. It never lasts. It’s easier to keep things simple and casual. Neither of those are your style. You’re very complicated and anything but casual.”
She leaned her head against the fence post. She wanted to protest what he was saying, but she had a bad feeling he was telling the truth. So this probably
“I don’t know what to say,” she admitted.
“Katie, please don’t be upset.”
What, she should be happy with the news?
Before she could respond, she heard someone calling her name. She turned and saw Nora running toward them.
“Katie, hurry!” Jack’s sister yelled. “You have to hurry. There’s been an accident.”
Katie’s heart jumped into her throat. “My dad?” she asked, running toward the other woman.
“No. It’s Josie. She’s been in a car accident.”
Katie sat in the hospital waiting room sipping awful coffee and trying not the think about her sister struggling to stay alive in surgery. Conversations drifted around her, but she didn’t listen. She was still in shock.
“You okay?”
She looked up and saw her stepsister Dallas crouching in front of her. “No, but I guess none of us are. I can’t believe this happened.”
Dallas sighed and took the seat next to Katie. Her long blond hair hung straight nearly to her waist. She pulled a scrunchy out of her jeans pocket and drew her hair into a loose ponytail. Shadows stained the pale skin under her green eyes.
“Me, either,” Dallas admitted. “I’m just so grateful I was running late yesterday morning. If I hadn’t been I would have missed the phone call from the police.”
Dallas was in a master’s program at UCLA. She and Josie shared an apartment on the west side of Los Angeles.
David, the oldest of the Fitzgerald children, walked over and joined the conversation. He’d flown to the west coast with Katie. “It shouldn’t be much longer,” he said.
Katie knew he didn’t have any special information. He was just trying to make them feel better. Which was more than Aaron was doing. Her father stalked through the waiting room announcing to everyone who would listen that he planned to sue the pants off the driver responsible for almost killing his daughter. So far, Katie had managed to say out of his way.
“What about Robin?” Katie asked Dallas. Robin was Suzanne’s other daughter from her first marriage.
Dallas shrugged. “I’ve contacted the Navy. They’re getting her the message and seeing about emergency leave.”
Katie nodded. Robin was a helicopter pilot. Sometimes her assignments took her out of the country for months at a time.
“Did you see Josie before they took her into surgery?” Katie asked her sister. “Was it really bad?”
Dallas swallowed. “It looked pretty awful, but I don’t know how much of that was actual injury and how much was bruising and all the blood.” She glanced at Aaron, who was on the far side of the room, then lowered her voice. “She was kind of out of it and kept asking for Del. I didn’t know what to do.” Dallas shrugged helplessly. “Should I call him?”
Katie didn’t have an answer. Del was Josie’s ex-husband. They’d been divorced nearly two years. “Do you really think she wants him here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then let’s wait and ask her.”
David changed the subject. “What do you know about the accident itself?”
“Not much,” Dallas said. “The delivery truck that slammed into her car was going fast. I heard the police talking about checking the brakes. They think they might have failed.”
A woman in green scrubs walked into the room. She looked weary but pleased. “I’m Dr. Owens,” she said, taking a cup of coffee offered by a nurse. “Are you the Fitzgerald family?”
Aaron approached the woman. Katie cringed, wondering if her father would demand to speak to a man, but he surprised her by nodding respectfully at the surgeon. “How’s my little girl?”
“Lucky to be alive,” the doctor said bluntly. “Josie sustained serious injuries during the car accident. She was in the driver’s seat, and the impact was on the left side of the car. So she got the worst of it. Fortunately her upper body was spared major injury. All her organs are functioning well. The primary damage is to her left leg and her face. Her right leg sustained some injury, as well.”
Katie took Dallas’s hand and squeezed. David leaned close and hugged them both. The doctor continued speaking.
“Today’s surgery was only the beginning. We’ve started putting her back together, but she has a long road to recovery in front of her. There will be multiple surgeries to repair her leg and her face.” Dr. Owens paused. “When we’re done with the reconstruction, she’ll look different. Structural bones were severely damaged. As for her legs- with a lot of work she should walk again. As I said, she’s lucky to be alive. You should be grateful for that. But please understand she’ll never be the same again.”
Aaron pulled the doctor aside and spoke in a low tone. Katie didn’t even try to listen. Her mind couldn’t grasp all that she’d heard. “But she’s going to be fine, right? That’s what the doctor said?”
“Sounds like it,” David said reassuringly.
“She’s going to be in rehab for months,” Katie murmured, more to herself than anyone else. “Maybe longer. I’ve worked with these kinds of injuries. Recovery is slow and painful.”
A.J., the second oldest of the boys and Josie’s twin, looked as if he’d been the one hit by a truck. He kept shaking his head, saying he didn’t believe it. Katie wished that Suzanne could have come out to be with them, but she was at the ranch with the two youngest children.
“She’ll be fine,” Dallas said with forced cheerfulness. “Josie is tough, you know that. She won’t let this get her down. She’ll fight as long and as hard as she has to.”
“Absolutely,” David agreed. “All she needs is someone to tell her no, and she’s off and running. You know how stubborn she is.”
Katie nodded, but inside she wasn’t so sure. David and Dallas didn’t know what Josie was facing, while Katie had experienced it through her patients. Dr. Owens had been right when she’d said that Josie was never going to be the same again.
Late that night Katie was finally allowed in to visit Josie. Her sister was in ICU, surrounded by machines and monitors. Bandages covered her face. Her legs were in traction. Nearly every part of her was battered or bruised, and nothing was recognizable.
Katie took a seat in the plastic chair on her sister’s right and touched her fingers, careful not to disturb the IV in
