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He began walking, leading her down yet another uniformly painted hallway. “I’m just impressed by you is all.”
“What did I do now?”
“Most people in your shoes would want to say, I told you so.”
Jessica shook her head. “No way. I don’t give two shits who was right. I only care about the end result. Okay, not entirely true. There are a few circumstances where I’d say that, but never to anyone I want a good, working relationship with. I genuinely don’t care if I turn out to be right. What other people do or how they chose to be petty, that’s their choice and it speaks to where their priorities are. I only care about making this stop, you know? I try as best I can to keep my ego out of my work because it’s not about me. It’s about helping other people. And, if I’m honest, I also know that my last name works against me. People who know about my family before they meet me have certain ideas about what I’m like.”
“Like you said, that says more about them than you.”
Samuel kept glancing at her with this strange look. Like he hadn’t really seen her before. But none of this was new to him.
Whatever.
She just wanted to sleep.
“Where are we staying?” she asked.
“There are studio apartments here. I believe the original intent was to also make this place a bomb shelter if need be. So there are a number of apartments, though only a few are furnished.”
“Fascinating.” She’d want more answers, but later. “Are you going to stay? Or do you live close by?”
“I moved to the area, but I suspect my place is being watched.”
“Oh, yeah… That makes sense…”
Samuel’s tone changed and his voice dropped nearly a whole octave. “Your heart? Is it really okay?”
Jessica resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Yes. The plan really is to wait and see. When they went in to repair the ricochet damage, I guess something didn’t heal quite right. It’s all speculation unless they go in there, and I really don’t want to sign up for exploratory surgery I don’t have to have.”
“You’ll tell me if you aren’t okay? If something’s wrong? You won’t try and push through?”
She huffed, initially annoyed. But, would he ask these things if he didn’t care?
That made her mentally pause.
Samuel paused in front of a door that looked exactly like all the others.
“Here we are…”
He swung the door open and flipped on the light.
The room was square-shaped with a dividing wall halfway down the middle separating what appeared to be a kitchenette space from a queen-sized bed. Curtains could be pulled aside to offer some privacy, leaving a small sitting area and desk.
“Wow.” Jessica stepped through the door and peered around. “This is nicer than I was expecting.”
The door clicked shut behind her.
She glanced over her shoulder at Samuel now leaning against the wall and all at once the memories of last night surfaced.
If only she wasn’t dead on her feet.
Samuel scratched his jaw and stared at—her shoulder? He wouldn’t quite meet her gaze.
“Would it be okay if I stayed with you?” he asked. “I’m not after anything, I just have this reoccurring fear in the back of my head that it was all a dream and I’ll wake up…”
Jessica crossed to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Yes. Please? I don’t want to be alone, either.”
Chapter Nine