Chasing Home: A Sweet Small-Town Romance (Echo Creek Romance) by Kacey Linden

Author:Kacey Linden [Linden, Kacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Page Nine Press
Published: 2018-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

He debated leaving the bags on Rory’s porch, ringing the doorbell, and running for his life, but he wasn’t twelve anymore and that felt a bit like cowardice. At his age, he ought to be able to handle a little embarrassment in the service of a friend.

His initial, tentative knock, however, failed to produce any results, so he was forced to knock harder, and finally to yell through the door.

“Rory? It’s Jake. Are you okay?”

The door jerked open.

Sean and Trey stood together in the doorway, still in their pajamas, looking hopeful.

“I’m hungry,” Trey announced, as though Jake’s appearance ought—in any reasonable person’s mind—to herald the arrival of food.

“Where’s your mom?”

“She’s sick,” Sean said solemnly.

“Did she say it was okay for you to open the door?”

The boy began to look evasive. “No,” he admitted, “but it’s okay to open it for friends.”

“And I’m hungry,” Trey repeated.

It was well after noon. “Have you had lunch?” Jake asked carefully.

Sean shook his head. “Mommy is sleeping and we couldn’t wake her up.”

That was all it took for the carefully constructed armor around Jake’s heart to crumble to bits. He couldn’t have walked away after that if the ranch were on fire. “Okay,” he said, controlling the urge to burst through the door and make sure Rory was genuinely only sleeping. “Maybe we should see if we can find you some lunch.”

He walked in, shut the door quietly, and removed his muddy boots in the entryway before following the boys into the living room. Rory lay on the couch beneath a pile of blankets, her eyes closed and her face flushed with fever.

She was breathing, even if it was a bit too fast, so he forced himself to walk on through into the kitchen and set the bags Darcy sent on the island.

It wasn’t hard to satisfy the boys—peanut butter crackers, cheese cubes and apple slices were enough to keep them munching happily while he returned to the living room to check on Rory.

He didn’t want to wake her—heaven knew what she’d think if she woke up and found him in her house—but he thought someone ought to check her fever so he laid the back of his hand gently on her forehead, wishing hopelessly that he had the right to be the one to care for her. He wanted to be the one she called when she was in trouble, if only she could find a way to forgive him…

He’d barely had a chance to register the burning heat of her skin when her eyes flew open.

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