Her fingernails drummed the window pane. Nothing bad could really have happened to him, right?
She heard a thump. Another. She glanced down. Daniel's scruffy golden Labrador was pacing outside her window. The puppy placed her padded paws on the glass pane and wagged her eager tail.
"Mitten!" Jessica crouched to the puppy’s eye level and smiled back at her eager, panting face. Mitten knocked her head into the window with another thump. "Where did you come from, girl?"
If Mitten was here, Daniel must be close by. Jessica’s gaze strayed to the silver collar around Mitten's neck. "If you find Mitten, please call Daniel Hennessey. Please also scold Mitten for running away." She had imagined calling the number many times while making Mitten’s acquaintance from the sidewalk with the glass between them.
Hi Daniel, it's Jessica Mendez. You probably don’t remember me from high school. Let's get coffee. I already know how you take it. Black, no sugar. Exactly like I do. That makes us soul mates, right? Well, that and your smile with those dimples and God, your eyes that I can tell are green from across the street and your ridiculously hot body. Do you stencil your abs? Since when are ab lines visible beneath T-shirts? What? A stalker? Me? No, I don't stalk you, silly, I can't leave this bookstore or they’ll demolish it for a timeshare office. How could I possibly stalk you?
Cue the hysterical laughter.
Mitten barked.
"Shhh, it’s okay, girl." Jessica ran her hand along the glass, tracing the slope of Mitten's head on the other side. She often wished she could touch Mitten for real. That was another thing she’d imagined over and over. Opening the front door, stepping outside and scooping up Mitten, right before running into Daniel’s arms for a back-bending embrace. Not suffocating Mitten between them was always a problem in this particular daydream.
She pulled her bottom lip, wondering what she could get away with. The PI across the street was asleep behind the wheel in his car, head tilted back and mouth open. Maybe she could open the door the tiniest bit so Mitten could squeeze into the bookstore. Dognapping Mitten. That was one way to make an impression on Daniel.
Mitten whined softly.
"I haven't forgotten you." Jessica ran her fingers along the glass. She imagined running her fingers through the soft, golden coat, scratching the back of her ears. Mitten wagged her tail and turned away. She pranced up and down the sidewalk, her delicate paws pressing into the snow. Jessica giggled at the show. Then, Mitten froze. Her ears bared low against the sides of her head. She lowered herself to the ground.
Jessica followed her line of sight…across the street to a squirrel at the base of a tree clutching a nut in its tiny claws.
"Mitten," she whispered, tapping the window. "Don't do it, honey. No, no, no, look at me. Squirrels are carriers of disease."
Mitten growled louder and bared her teeth. Then she darted across the street just as a Jeep turned right from Sierra Drive.
Jessica bolted to the door, her hand on the knob. Before she had a chance to think, she was sprinting into the road, the chilly wind cutting through her thin pajamas. She bent down and scooped Mitten into her arms and made it safely across the street just as she heard the squeal of tires. The puppy was as soft and downy as she'd imagined, although her paws were wet and cold. A heavenly smell of baked bread and cinnamon wafted from the bakery. God, she’d missed that smell.
Scent, sound, and sensation all swirled around her. Then the fuzzy slippers she wore caught and spun in the snow. She clutched Mitten tighter as she felt herself going down, felt a sharp blow to the back of her head.
And everything went black.
***
Daniel checked her vitals. Her pulse was thready but her breathing was even and regular. Her pupils dilated when he shone his light in them, but their response was slower than he would have liked. Mitten was going apeshit, barking and turning in circles.
"You're on my list, Mitten," he said sternly. He'd gone crazy looking for her after she had bolted between his legs the second she locked eyes on the travel crate. He'd run after her, not thinking he'd have to chase the damn dog to hell and back. Even though her legs were no bigger than his pinky, she was fast. He’d finally gone back for his paramedic’s van thinking he’d cover more ground and had made it downtown just in time to see Mitten jump into Jessica Mendez’s arms as the Jeep rounded the corner.
In the past year, Daniel had jumped out of planes, skied the most dangerous slopes in the world, and zip-lined over a volcano. He'd trached an asthmatic with a ballpoint pen, delivered a baby in the back of a Pinto, and splinted his own broken ankle halfway up a mountain while on a solo hike. But nothing had scared him more than the sight of Jessica running into the street.
Thankfully the Jeep’s driver had stopped an inch short of her and Mitten. But she—fuzzy white slippers, red plaid pajamas, and all—fell on her ass and took a knock to the head, clutching Mitten the entire time.
"Is she going to be okay?" The teenager who had been driving the Jeep shuffled from foot to foot like he was barefoot on hot coals. "I didn't even hit her. I swear. Is the sheriff coming?"
"Maybe," Daniel said by way of answering all the teenager’s questions. He ran his fingers along the ridges of her spine and sides of her body, checking for broken bones, cracked ribs or anything out of place.
"Aw, man." The kid's faced scrunched up like he was going to crap his pants.
"Don't worry about it. You did good."
"My mom's going to kill me."
"Better than taking your ride away, right?"
"She'll do that, too," he mumbled.
Daniel made out other voices in the crowd forming around them.
"She left the door wide open—look at that!”
"David says she won't even open the door more than a few inches when he brings her dinner because she’s so worried about that PI taking the store. I don't know why not—David's such a goliath no PI would dare go past him."
"What a damn fool dog."
While he usually would have defended Mitten to the death, this time Daniel was inclined to agree. Her behavior could have gotten Jessica killed, and now that he was satisfied Mitten’s savior hadn’t broken any bones, he was feeling guilty because she was going to wake up with one hell of a headache and maybe even one hell of a concussion.
He stood and lifted her in his arms. Her body was surprisingly light, and when her head fell against his chest, he impulsively hugged her tight. She felt soft and snuggly, despite the dampness at her back from where she’d fallen into the snow. Her fuzzy slippers dangled off her toes and she shivered as a biting wind whipped against them.
"You waiting for someone to take a picture and stick you on the cover of a romance novel?" someone asked from behind.
Daniel shook himself out of his thoughts. How long had he just been standing here holding her? He needed to keep her warm. Usually he transported people with the help of his partner, but Jessica was light enough that he could manage alone. Carefully, to avoid jostling her neck or bumping the contusion on her head, he carried her to the back of the paramedic van, opened it up, hoisted her onto the gurney, and strapped on the C-spine. She still hadn't opened her eyes, but was mumbling something about fists and the sky, obviously still at an altered level of consciousness. Luckily, she wasn't bleeding—but who could tell what internal injuries she had?
Daniel stared into the heart-shaped face he’d known forever. He rarely saw her at school since they had different classes, but when he was younger, he went to the Books and Crannies story hour for kids just like every other kid in Snow Creek. Jessica had been a know-it-all, always talking about the things she read in books and all these places none of them had ever been. She scolded him when he bent back the spines or put the books away in the wrong place. But there was something about her that had actually made him want to sit down and listen to her tell a story.
He’d been in the bookstore a few times since but she never seemed to be around, and he’d seen her in the hallways at
school but she was always turning a corner and on her way somewhere else. She was elusive, mysterious and—while he was normally the kind of guy to go after what he wanted—something about her had said keep away, and he’d felt the need to respect his instinct.
Her parents’ accident, and the closing of the store, had made him tight and achy in ways he hated to think about.
Shit—the store. He closed up the back of the ambulance and glanced across the street at Books and Crannies. It's door was wide open and the wreath that he’d hung on it last week had been flung to the snowy ground but luckily, the detective parked across the street hadn’t noticed yet.
“Kid,” he said, crooking his finger at the Jeep driver. “Can you hold the fort in her store until I get back? I'm taking her to the hospital."
“Uh….”
“Don’t let me down,” he said sternly. If she had a concussion, he couldn’t let her sleep it off. He gave her a gentle shake in his arms. Jessica inhaled sharply and her eyes flew open. They were a dark, inviting velvety brown.
"How’s your head?" he asked.
Jessica broke out in a wide smile. “Oh wow. I must be dreaming,”
Daniel grinned back at her without even thinking. Her voice was husky in a way that made him think of other things she could say to him. Then her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled his head down for a kiss.
Daniel was known for being quick on his feet, sharp in a crisis—that's what made him such a good paramedic. But the moment their lips met, that all flew out his head.
Her mouth was insistent, exploring. Urgent.
He’d had his share of great first kisses, but this was like no other, waking something in him so his hands wanted to roam everywhere in a tear-off-her-clothes frenzy. He staggered back, their lips still joined.
She pulled away first, her brow furrowed and confusion in her eyes. Her hands traced the planes of his face, as if she couldn’t believe he were really there. Shit, he didn’t know if he was really here or asleep and having a hot dream.
"You’re so real.” Her gaze lifted up to his eyes, and in an instant, the confusion on her face transformed to mortification. “Oh my God.” She struggled to get out of the cot, and before he could restrain her she’d flipped the cart and fallen, her head striking the van floor.
Shit.
Jessica groaned and clutched her scalp. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Damn. A second syncopal episode was never a good thing. Possible diagnoses ran through his head: concussion, stroke, aneurysm. Even at her young age, something like a heart attack, disguised as a simple fall, could drop a person.
He got her strapped back in, leapt out of the back of the van, grabbed Mitten, and jumped into the driver's seat. He kept a close eye on her vitals as he rang the North Star Hospital and let them know they were on the way in, Code Three. Snow Creek had modest facilities, dealing mostly with ski injuries, but they were equipped to deal with even the most serious knock to the head.
His dog yelped from the passenger seat over and over like a siren. He stepped on the gas and soon was pulling into the emergency room driveway. By the time the two charge nurses came out with a cart, he had Jessica rolled out of the back.
"Aren't you supposed to be off?" the nurse asked.
"Yeah, but I ran into this situation before I could hand over the van to my coverage. Jessica Mendez," he said, throwing down her vitals.
One of the nurses gasped. “Was it the developers?”
“Impact to the head.” He recapped the situation. God, he hoped that kid was still at the store.
The nurses wheeled her away. He didn’t want to turn her over. What if they didn’t prioritize her or take care of her the right way? No, that was dumb. He’d been working in this town for a year and had seen their skills first hand. Still, he couldn't get rid of the sick feeling in his gut as he watched them cart her away.
He fought the urge to follow her past the sliding glass doors. As a paramedic, his job ended at those doors. He turned and ran his hands through his hair. Only Mitten's yapping from the van brought him back to his senses. He narrowed his eyes at the dog.
"This doesn’t change anything. You're still going to the kennel, crate or no crate. But first, we gotta check on something.” He headed back to the store, and even though it was against protocol, he flipped on the sirens.
One thing Daniel had was good instincts. And right now they were telling him he was too late.
Chapter Two
Jessica woke with a groan and stretched her arms overhead. What a nightmare! Mitten had been there–she'd gone outside and…oh my God, she'd kissed Daniel. It hadn't been like their other dream kisses. This one had felt real and warm and—
Jessica bolted up in bed, her eyes wide, and winced at the pounding in her head.
She was in a strange twin bed shoved into the corner of a small hospital room with soft light streaming in from the corner window.
What the...?
"Welcome back—again."
Her gaze shot across the room. Daniel Hennessey sat in a frayed loveseat. He was wearing a black knit shirt and jeans, just like those he'd been wearing in that dream-not-dream-kiss. Mouth molestation was more like it. His St. Christopher's medallion hung around his neck and rested against his sternum. He always wore that medal—patron saint to ward against accidental deaths or bad travel and all that—but she rarely saw him in jeans, since he almost always wore the tightly woven nylon pants of his paramedic uniform. His dark hair was tousled like he'd run his hands through it too many times, and his green eyes were fiery under the angry slash of his eyebrows.
“You almost got yourself killed.”
Jessica’s jaw dropped. In all her daydreams, their first conversation had never gone like this. Her mind raced through earlier events and she felt indignation roiling inside her. “Is that how you thank me for saving your dog?” she asked. “Because it sucks.”
He had the decency to look properly chastised. “Thank you for saving Mitten. I love that furball. But your safety is more important than my dog—and God, Jessica, I don’t know how to tell you this but—”
“You know my name?”
“Uh, yeah.” He looked confused. “We’ve known each other since we were kids.”
“Oh,” she repeated. He remembered her.
“You don’t know me?” he asked, with a confused furrow of his brow.
She wanted to laugh wildly but swallowed it down. Daniel Hennessey believed in a universe where she didn’t know him. It was hysterical.
“My name is Daniel Hennessey,” he said. “We went to school together.”
Oh God, was he really introducing himself?
“I know about your situation with your parents’ store.”
She groaned and clutched her head, effectively silencing him. As much as she wanted to lock the hospital room door and trap herself with him, she had to get back. “You’re welcome. For Mitten. Now I gotta run.” She swung her legs off the bed but winced as her head throbbed again. What was she even doing here? She vaguely recalled slipping, falling. How long had she been out?
“Hey, take it easy.” Daniel stood and walked to her. Then his hands dove into her hair. "Do you feel any tenderness?” He reached to her bedside and pressed a call button, then returned his fingers to her head.
Her body sparked as his fingers massaged her scalp. The reality of him was so much better than she’d imagined. First, there was how he smelled, like leather and spice and a hint of soap. Then there were the details she'd missed from behind the door of the store. An L-shaped scar the size of her fingernail winked out from the stubble of his chin. Blue rims circled his emerald green irises.
She winced as his thumb passed over a tender spot by her right ear. He withdrew his hand and tucked her hair behind her ear with a sigh, then nodded with satisfaction. "You'll live for now, but you’ve got to take it easy.”
“I will totally take it easy.” Life as a hermit was not exactly taxing. “As soon as I get back to
the store.”
“Jessica…there’s no easy way to say this.”
She loved the way he said his name but…wait. “No easy way to say what?”
He licked his lips. “The buyers took possession already. I left someone in charge, but he’s just a kid, and he freaked out when they threatened to have him arrested. It’s my fault.”
Daniel was still talking, but Jessica couldn’t hear him above the roaring in her ears. She fisted the sheets at her waist, trying to sort through the sounds he was making. "I was only out for a second.” She’d lost the store—she’d lost everything that mattered to her family. It was too much, too sudden.
"You’ve been out for a while. You blacked out twice, and they had to make sure you were okay with an MRI and—”
She doubled over like she’d been punched. He strode into the hall and returned with a lady with a white coat.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Jessica asserted, putting up her hands, but the doctor insisted she sit still. Jessica waited numbly as the doctor shined a light in her eyes and checked her body.
“You’ve got a goose egg,” the doctor said. “But no signs of a concussion. Still, your fainting really concerns me. Do you have a history of low blood pressure?”
“No,” Jessica said.
“Could there have been something else—perhaps a stressful event—that preceded the fainting?”
Jessica thought back to the kiss and found she couldn’t look at Daniel.
“She hit her head again,” he chimed in.
“Ahh.” The doctor sighed as if that explained it. “I’d like to keep you overnight if—”
“No,” Jessica said firmly. “I need to go.”
The doctor fixed her with an authoritative look. “I’m willing to discharge you if you promise someone will keep an eye on you over the next twenty-four hours, in case we’ve missed something.”
“Sure, whatever.” Jessica numbly thanked the doctor and signed a release form, going through the motions as the unthinkable went through her brain. The doctor finally told her she was free to go and left her alone with Daniel, but Jessica couldn’t make herself get out of bed.
Love on Main Street: A Snow Creek Christmas Page 21
