Page 27 of Healing Hope
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Jess hadto go to her bedroom as soon as she entered the house to get herself under control. Maybe it was just a delayed reaction to what had happened last night or something, but her emotions were sharp today. And Paul’s words had pierced her heart. It was nice being needed, and of course she knew she’d helped last night. But he’d made it sound like she’d done more.
When she moved into a house with a family, she did what she needed to do without becoming overly attached. Yes, she went out of her way to be friendly and helpful, but emotionally she kept her distance, because she knew she would head down the road sooner rather than later. She fulfilled every need the family had, and had always walked away.
This time, though, something was different. Hope was a darling, and Jess wanted to make sure that she was secure emotionally before she left. Even though Jess was temporary help, she knew Hope looked at her as more. And that worried her. When Jess left the home, she wanted the family to be solid. She didn’t want to undermine the foundation.
They needed to find a regular nanny. And soon.
Paul was also tugging on her heartstrings. The man was solid and stalwart, so much like his daughter, but he needed something too. She could see it in his eyes. This was a hard time for them both and she could see the father and daughter relationship changing before her eyes. They were connecting and growing.
And on a more basic level, Hope was making her feel something she hadn’t felt in a long time. The urge to nurture. The little girl had taken blow after blow, but still managed to get up and care about others. If something bad had happened to Sophie, it was hard to tell what it would have done to the girl. No, Jess knew what would have happened. It would have broken the little girl into pieces all over again.
Jess was invested in Hope’s heart. She had a feeling she’d only heard a portion of the girl’s history, which made her even more impressed that Hope could open up and let in love again.
Paul was there for her, though. Anything that little girl needed, her daddy would get it for her.
And he’d been a beast in that bedroom, fighting for his daughter. Yes, he was former military, but he’d definitely settled into the corporate manager type persona. La Jolla Rehabilitation Center was a huge operation, and she was sure he had a board he had to account to and other doctors he had to coordinate with, to say nothing of the military and all the families of the wounded.
The administrator of a hospital was a prestigious position.
But he’d shown last night that he could still throw down like a true military grunt. She wasn’t even sure what branch he’d been in… and now that she thought about it, there was nothing in the house she’d seen that showed what branch he’d been in. Most guys loved crowing about their service.
For a moment, though, he’d whaled on that guy like he was going to pound him into next week. And it had been impressive. Now that she thought back, she’d seen a vitality to his face, like he was enjoying kicking the crap out of that guy. And maybe he had been. Maybe since he’d been injured he hadn’t had the chance to do that. Just open up and let all the emotion and anger and wildness go.
Crossing to the bathroom, she ran the tap and splashed some cold water on her face. When Paul had walked out of the house in the old t-shirt and sleep pants, his dark hair rumpled, his beard mussed, something in her heart had contracted. Jess had to make herself sit in the chair and wait for him to cross the patio to her. Otherwise she would have jumped up and gone to him to make sure he was okay. Throughout the night and morning she’d gotten up every two hours to go check on him, and she really hadn’t minded.
She was losing her objectivity.
Granted, things weren’t normal in this house or with these people, so her reactions could be expected to be blown up, but seriously.
Looking into her own eyes in the mirror, she could see the tiredness in them, and the unsureness. She didn’t like seeing that look there. It wasn’t her.
12
“What do you mean, you can’t find him?” Paul growled. “The guy is almost six and a half feet tall, and he’s probably sporting some color on his face from where I punched him repeatedly.”
He hoped the guy did, anyway. If he hadn’t even given him a black eye, he’d have to turn in his man card, or something.
Detective Hall sighed. “It’s not as easy to find someone as you think. I know your family was traumatized, but unless he commits another crime and the cop that arrests him is sharp enough to connect him to the BOLO I put out, we may not ever find him again. I’ve gone through all the surveillance in the area I could find. I’m sorry, Mr. Jameson, but that’s what happens in police work. And we called the number for your ex’s family, but the number is disconnected. There’s nowhere else to take this case.”
Paul wanted to yell in frustration. “So, he gets away with trying to kidnap my daughter. And assaulting me.”
Hall sighed again, and Paul knew it was not the other man’s fault, but it was a bitter pill to swallow.
“Until he gets caught in the commission of another crime, yes. I’m sorry. I’ll call you if I learn anything.”
And he hung up.
Paul could have yelled he was so angry, but that wouldn’t do anything other than scare the girls.
If this actually was the guy that Tara had been waiting for to get out of prison, there should be some kind of record. There was also a box of her old shit in the garage. Maybe he needed to go through it looking for names. The guy was supposed to have been locked up for like, ten years, or something. Was this a completely different guy?
Maybe Hope would remember.
Paul caught up with a few messages from Petrilli and Jane, as well as one of his doctors that had a problem with Petrilli and Jane, then sat in his chair for a moment, staring out the window.
The California sun was sinking in the sky, and the day felt surreal. Like he’d been in a time warp or something. He wished he could time warp back to two nights ago. Things would have been different.