The Protector
Page 31
“Yeah. I think so. It feels nice.”
“Do you want a lift home later today? I can plan to come back in.”
“I’ll call if I do. Before I make plans I want to hang around and see when Ash is going to get released.” He didn’t want to ask but he needed to. “Is Gage here?”
“Working on his follow-up piece,” Jack confirmed.
“If you see him, please ask him to come up.” Cole knew he needed to talk to the man professionally but also for much more personal reasons.
“I’ll ask him to come up.” Jack nodded to Rachel. “Take care of her.”
“I plan to,” Cole reassured, feeling it as a promise.
Forty-five
Are you falling asleep before midnight?” Cassie leaned over the edge of the couch to look down at Jack. He was stretched out on the floor, his head resting against a pillow near the center of the couch, his eyes closed. She was now wide awake and headache free. He wasn’t in so good a shape. “The new year is eighteen minutes away.”
“Come kiss me awake in seventeen minutes.”
She blinked at that lazy suggestion, gave a quick grin, and dropped Benji on his chest.
He opened one eye to look up at her as he settled his hand lightly on the kitten. “That’s a no?”
She smiled. She was looking forward to dating him, but she was smart enough to know he’d value more what he had to work at.
He sighed. “That was a no. How much longer am I going to be on the fence with you?”
“Is that a rhetorical question or do you want an answer?” If this was the right relationship God had for her future, time taken now would improve it, not hurt it. She was ready to admit she was tired of being alone.
He scratched Benji under the chin and the kitten curled up on his chest and batted a paw at his hand. “Rhetorical. I’d hate to get my hopes up.”
She leaned her chin against her hand, looking down at him. “I like you, Jack.”
“You just figured that out?”
“I’ll like you more when you catch my mouse.”
“The only way we are going to catch T. J. is to turn this place into a cheese factory and help her get so fat and slow she can no longer run and hide.”
“Or you could move your left hand about three inches to the right and catch her.”
Jack opened one eye and glanced toward his left. The white mouse was sitting motionless beside the plate he had set down earlier. Jack closed his eye again. “Let her have the cheeseburger. You put mustard on it.”
“You’re horrible.”
He smiled. “I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Jack leaned over, caught Cassie’s foot, and tumbled her to the floor. “Oops.”
“That wasn’t fair. You scared my mouse.”
Jack set the kitten down on the floor. “Benji, go get her mouse.”
The kitten took off after it.
“You’re teaching her to be a mouser.”
“Working on it. Come here. You owe me a kiss for the new year.”
“Do I?” She reached over to the bowl of chocolates on the table and unwrapped a kiss. She popped the chocolate kiss in his mouth. “I called your bluff.”
He smiled and rubbed his hand across her forearm braced against his chest. “That will last me until next year.”
She glanced at the muted television. “That’s two minutes away.”
“Two minutes to put this year behind us.” He slid one arm behind his head, adjusting the pillow.
She patted his chest with her hand. “That shouldn’t take long.” She felt him laugh. “It ended up being a very good year,” she offered.
“Next year will be even better.”
“Really? Promise?”
“Absolutely.” He reached behind her ear and a gold coin reappeared. “What do you think? Heads you say yes when I ask you out, tails you say no?”
She grinned at the idea. “Are you cheating again?” She took the coin. “This one isn’t edible,” she realized, disappointed. And then she turned it over. “A real two-headed coin?”
“A rare find.” He smiled. “Like you.”
“That sounds like a bit of honey.”
“I’m good at being mushy.”
“Oh, really?”
He glanced over her shoulder. “Turn up the T V. There’s the countdown.”
She grabbed for the remote and hit the wrong button. The television came on full volume just as the fireworks went off. Benji went racing past them spooked by the noise to dive under the collar of the jacket Jack had tossed on the floor. The white mouse scurried to run into the jacket sleeve.
“Tell me I didn’t see what I think I just did.”
“I won’t tell you,” Jack agreed, amused. He watched the jacket move and raised an eyebrow. “Am I supposed to rescue the kitten or the mouse?”
Dear Reader,
Thanks for reading this book. I deeply appreciate it.
Fire has always fascinated me, even more the men and women who fight them and why. It’s a special person who stands guard to protect the public. I’ve had the honor of knowing such men and they are guys you can count on when trouble comes. In Jack and Cassie’s story, I hope I captured a slice of their lives and was able to convey the deep friendship that ties them together.
Jack’s story also offered an opportunity to ask a profound question: Who is Jesus? Cassie Ellis has found the real meaning of Christmas and Jack is still searching to understand. To Jack, Jesus seemed to be the serious myth that people believed in at Christmas, Santa Claus the childish one. Watching Jack with Cassie, with Jennifer and Rachel, as he searched for an answer, was a chance to see a man honestly asking why and not shying away from making a life-changing decision.
By the way, about Rachel…Cole and Rachel were an added bonus. I had no idea this man existed until I wrote the opening chapter of this book. I’m looking forward to telling Rachel and Cole’s story in The Healer.
As always, I love to hear from my readers. Feel free to write me at:
Dee Henderson
c/o Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
351 Executive Drive
Carol Stream, IL 60188
E-mail: dee@deehenderson.com
or on-line: http://www.deehenderson.com
First chapters of all my books are on-line; please stop by and check them out. Thanks again for letting me share Jack and Cassie’s story.
Sincerely,
The publisher and author would love to hear your comments about this book. Please contact us at:
www.deehenderson.com