“You had an abortion without even telling me you were pregnant. What kind of woman does that?”
She licked her lips and straightened her shoulders. “Me. I’m the kind of woman who does that. I get it; I know how you feel about me—”
“You really have no idea.”
“Actually I do. But please hear me out, and why I need this job. It has nothing what so ever to do with our history. If you could remember that and give me a chance to explain, you might react different to me.”
He stared long and hard at her. Finally he stepped back, walked around Harry’s desk and sat down with a heavy sigh. “So you’ve said too many times for me to count. Okay, I’ll bite. Why Cassie? Why here with me?”
“Not here because of you, that part was an awful coincidence.”
“Just imagine how I feel.”
She shut her eyes and silently counted to five before she continued. She could not lose her cool with John. Not when her livelihood and therefore Tim’s security was at stake. When she opened her eyes she started again. “You remember my mother?”
“Yeah, I remember Heather. She’s hard to forget, I just didn’t know at the time you were so much like her. What does she have to do with this?”
“Harry and Heather were friends when I was young. That’s how I know Harry. He was the only one of my mother’s boyfriends who ever had even the slightest interest in me and Kelly.”
John shook his head. “No. That’s enough. I don’t want to know about Harry’s personal life. I will not work with you. Get out Cassie, you’ve already wasted too much of my time, and of my life.” John stood and headed toward the door, dismissing her.
Cassie panicked. John was going to walk out, essentially firing her by Harry’s ultimatum. She rushed forward and grabbed his arm. “John please, I’ll do anything. You can say anything you want to me, just let me work here.”
He turned to look her in the eye. He smiled. “Really? You’ll do anything? Now why am I not surprised?”
She dropped her hand. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I’m in trouble.”
“How does that have anything to do with this job?”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. If you would just sit down and listen to me for five minutes you might understand.”
He stared at her, but finally sat down.
She nodded in silent satisfaction. Score one for her; she’d gotten him to concede to at least listening. “Reynolds isn’t my married name, it’s a fake name. I know nothing about hiding so I’m sure I’ve done a thousand things wrong, but I’m hiding from someone. Harry gave me this job without filing the proper paperwork and without using my real name. That’s why I’m so desperate to work here.”
John tipped his head at her, eyebrows raised. “What the hell do you mean you’re hiding?”
“My ex-husband is…violent.” She drew in a deep breath, willing the courage to continue. “He was in prison, but got out before Christmas.”
“And?”
She dropped her gaze to the ground. “And he has threatened my life on more than one occasion. Instead of waiting around for him to finally finish his threats, I ran.”
John was silent for a full thirty seconds. She could feel his eyes burning over her. She could not make herself lift her head to meet his gaze. “You’re being serious about this?”
She swallowed over the lump in her throat. “Yes.”
“Why not go to the police?”
“What are they going to protect me from? I’ve no real proof he has plans to harm me. I have a restraining order against him, but what good is that if he intends to break it?”
“So you don’t know if you’re in actual danger?”
“I do know I’m in actual danger.”
“Then go to your sister. Doesn’t she live in California or something?”
“She lives in L.A. She’s a famous model. Everyone knows who Kelly Reeves is. She has paparazzi following her every move for God’s sake. And that’s exactly why I didn’t go to her and why she has no idea any of this is going on. Please just let me keep this job. If you’ll let me stay here I’ll do everything I can to stay out of your way.”
He stared at her. His fingers drummed the desk top. Finally he answered, “Fine, you can stay. But if this turns out to be a lie, I’ll be more of a threat than your supposed ex-husband.”
Her body sagged with relief. She nearly fell to her knees. Instead she said softly, “Thank you John. You’re a decent person.”
“Too bad you’re not.” He stood and walked out of the office.
Sarah rose and saunter over to the fridge to get a Diet Coke. She had legs that seemed to never end, and he hadn’t yet tired of watching her. Sarah came back over and sat next to him folding up her long, slinky body. They had been dating for almost a year, and he was starting to think he might actually be serious about her.
The phone rang, interrupting the show Sarah had started to put on as her tongue darted out to nip at her pop can.
“Hello?” It was nine o’clock on a Wednesday night, who could be bothering them? He didn’t recognize the number on the screen.
“John?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s Cassie. I—”
Cassie?
Calling his home? He glanced at Sarah, his heart rate speeding up. Why did Cassie’s voice always cause a physical reaction in him? He turned away from his girlfriend and said quietly, “I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now.”
He hung the phone up, pausing to slow his breathing.
When he turned, Sarah was watching him, her eye brows raised. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just another telemarketer. You know how annoying they are.”
He stood and stalked into the kitchen. Cassie must have gotten his number from the files at work. How dare she call him here? The phone rang again; he ignored it.
“Are you going to grab that?” Sarah called from the other room.
He rubbed a finger to his pounding temple. With a sigh he yelled to Sarah, “It’s the same number.”
At least he wasn’t lying to Sarah about that.
Why would Cassie call him? Could that strange story of hers be true? He doubted it. But if there was a small chance she could be in physical danger, she had no one around since Harry was away at a conference. He cursed his conscience for letting the doctor in him care.
Sarah walked into the kitchen. She leaned against the door jamb, arms crossed. “Want to go grab dinner?”
“Not really.”
“Order in?”
“I’m not hungry.”
She sighed. “What’s the matter?”
He shrugged. “Long day. I’m tired.”
She eyed him. “You said your day was fine. Now it’s not?”
“I guess now it’s not.”
“Did I do something?”
He let out a sigh. “No. You didn’t do anything. It’s something from work.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
She stood there silent. Then she nodded. “I think I’ll go home.”
“Okay.” He held the door for her after she grabbed her coat and purse. He touched her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m not real fun tonight.”
She smiled. “It’s okay John. Call me later.” Then she was out the door. She’d only be mad for tonight. She hardly ever threw a stink about anything. One of the reasons he’d managed to stay with her for nearly a year.
John muted the TV with a sigh when someone knocked on his front door ten minutes later. Had Sarah come back? He opened the door to find Cassie standing there.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He started to shut the door when her foot shot out to wedge the door open.
“John, wait! Please. I need your help. It’s an emergency.”
“Go to the hospital.”
“It’s my son. He needs a doctor.” She looked him straight in the eye, no explanation, no excuses.
He went still, the blood froze in his veins, and he was both hot and cold all at once. Cassie had a son? How old? There couldn’t be any possibility that he had a son too could there?
“Where is he?”
“My car.”
“Take him to the emergency room.”
“I don’t want to risk using our names.”
“For God’s sake Cassie—”
“He fell down, he’s bleeding. I think he needs stitches.”
“Cassie—”
“He’s just a kid, he’s innocent in all this.”
She was nearly in tears. He bit off a curse. How did she manage to draw him into her life when all he wanted was to be left alone? “I’ll meet you at the clinic.” He turned and shut the door on her.
At the clinic, he unlocked the doors and turned on the lights while Cassie brought in her son. She put him on an exam table. John’s knees almost buckled in relief. The child was only five or six, too young to be his son. He was a nice looking kid with blond hair that had a funny cowlick in the front. He had big brown eyes like Cassie.
“What’s your name little guy?” John sat on a stool and rolled over to sit directly in front of the boy, now eye level with him.
“Timothy Reeves. But everyone calls me Tim,” he said, his tone sweet and childish. John glanced up at Cassie. She didn’t notice. She was staring intensely at her son’s hand in hers.
“What hurts Tim?”
“My arm.” He pointed to his left arm. Then he asked, “Who are you?”
“I’m John Tyler.”
“Are you a real doctor?”
“Yeah, the real thing.” He smiled.
“Wow. Do you touch dead things?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“Honey, tell the nice doctor what’s wrong,” Cassie interrupted as her son started to open his mouth to speak again.
“I jumped on the bed. I fell off. I landed on one of my toys. It cut me.”
“It seemed to be bleeding badly. Maybe I overreacted, but it was hurting,” Cassie finished, her tone brusque, but her gaze tender on her son.
John removed Tim’s coat. A bandage on his upper arm showed Cassie’s attempt at first aid. Blood oozed from the edges. John cut the wrap off and gently cleansed the wound. He looked up at Cassie to tell her that her son would need stitches. Her face was as white as a bone. He remembered then that the sight of blood made Cassie squeamish.
“He’s going to need a few stitches.”
She nodded. “I figured. That’s why I came to you.”
John attended to Tim’s wound as Cassie looked on, clasping his other hand. By the time Tim was done he had five stitches, and once over his initial pain and fear, he was fascinated that he’d gotten sutures. He was a talkative little guy, curious and surprisingly tough for the cut he had.
Once everything was cleaned up, John glanced at Cassie and nodded toward his office, his message clear; it was time they talked. “Hey Tim, would you mind if I talk to your mom about some work stuff? You could wait right over there and play with the games.”
“Can I use the Legos?”
“Sure.”
“Okay.”
“Can’t this wait? Tim needs to go home.”
“I’m okay mom,” Tim piped up. She sighed and nodded. John turned and led her into his office and half shut the door so her son wouldn’t hear.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you had son?”
“I’m trying to protect him. The fewer people who know about him the better.”
“Does Harry know about him?”
“Yes,” she said simply.
John ran his hand through his hair. “You’re hiding Tim aren’t you? Not yourself.”
Cassie nodded. She seemed to wilt in front of his eyes. She looked at him wearily and groped around for a chair to sit in. She suddenly didn’t seem so tough then, or so sinister. Seeing her now, like this, as the scared mother to a little boy changed everything.
“Is there really any threatening paroled ex? Or are you hiding Tim from his father?”
She shook her head at him, her eyes wide. “You really do think that low of me don’t you? Do you think you could let the past go for just a few minutes?”
Pressure throbbed in his temples again. “Not easily.”
“Don’t take it out on my son.”
“Is this a custody dispute?”
She sighed heavily. “What I told you is true. But Tim is the reason I took such drastic measures and left. Marcus Leary, my ex, is disturbed. When I left him, we ended up in a nasty custody battle. In the end I won full custody with supervised visits. I have paperwork to prove it if you don’t believe me. The day I was awarded custody, Marcus came to our apartment and broke in. He had a gun and threatened to kill me. My sister, Kelly, was there and hid in the bathroom with Tim, calling the police. The police arrested Marcus, but not before he’d managed to attack me.”
Cassie stared hard at the floor as she spoke. She twisted her hands together.
By her fidgeting, she was in obvious distress as she described her ex. He didn’t like the image in his head of someone hurting her. Of bruises on her pale skin. He had long wished ill for her, revenge toward her, but not this. Never for her to be physically hurt by some faceless man. He squeezed his fingers into a fist. “What exactly did he do to you?” he asked gently.
Her gaze jerked up to his face. “Nothing I didn’t recover from. But the one thing I did learn from that night was how dangerous Marcus is. And now that he’s had five years in prison, I’m terrified of what he plans to do.”
“Plans to do? You sound convinced he’s after you.”
“I am. He showed up at Tim’s school and tried to pick him up. I had put the school on alert, and they called me. Marcus disappeared before anyone could catch him. I picked up Tim, called Harry, and arranged to disappear too.”
John was silent for a moment. “You should have told me from the start that you’re protecting a child.”
She shrugged. “It really has nothing to do with you. But now that you know I have a son to protect, can you see why I have to have this job?”
“For your son.”
She nodded. “For my son.”
He nodded. What else could he do?
She smiled, a genuine smile for the first time since she’d shown up in his life again. He blinked. She looked like the Cassie he used to know.
“I know how hard this is for you.”
He looked away. “No. You can’t possibly know.”
She stood. Only when she was at the door did she turn back around. “I am sorry for being here. I’m sorry I need this job at your clinic. But I have to keep Tim safe. That’s all that matters to me.”
John didn’t answer. She pressed her lips together, than nodded as she stepped out of his office, and helped Tim put his coat on. She clasped his good hand in hers and left the clinic. John let out a long breath, standing at the clinic’s front door to make sure they made it safely to her car. He had a bad feeling that their time working together had been increased tenfold by the addition of Cassie’s vulnerable son to the situation. How could he take out his hatred at Cassie if it put her kid in jeopardy? He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. It was that simple. Cassie was in his life now, and he was going to have to find a way to live with it.