Sarah’s face registered hurt and Jess felt sorry and yet there were so many emotions swirling around inside her that she wasn’t quite capable of dealing with Sarah’s feelings, too. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as Sarah did an about-face and went to the kitchen before Jess could apologize.

“Are you going to be okay?” Rick’s voice was low and concerned. “Do you want to go?”

“I just need a minute. I forgot how chaotic it is when the whole family is together.”

“They care about you.”

She opened her eyes. “I know they do. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me.” He smiled down at her. “I get it, more than you can imagine.”

Jess looked up at him and felt so thankful for him. Rick never pushed. He just accepted and supported. How could that be when he had his own issues? Issues he didn’t talk about, she realized. He knew more of her secrets than she knew of his. Perhaps that was why he was so accepting of her refusal to spill her guts.

Right now she was just grateful he was with her. She walked into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him and snuggling close for a few seconds. “Thanks,” she said, pulling back. “I just needed that for a few moments.”

“Anytime.” He moved his hand off her ribs and winced.

“Damn!” Jess grabbed his hand and examined his knuckles. “I forgot about your hand. Let’s get it cleaned up and get some ice.”

Rick didn’t protest; there was blood drying on his knuckles and the joints were slightly swollen. Jess led him into the kitchen, while the curious eyes of Sarah, Meggie, and Barb followed them. From the shouting coming from the den, Jess figured there’d just been a touchdown. Wordlessly she turned on the cold water and stuck Rick’s hand underneath the spray, washing off the blood.

“What happened?” Meggie was the first to break the silence and come over while the other two women stopped slicing the pie and watched. “Rick, what did you do to yourself?”

“Could you get a bag of ice, please, Mom?” Jess looked up at her mother calmly. Even though she didn’t want to tell the truth, she was starting to realize there might not be a way around it. Just not right this minute, though. She blinked away a few tears as she gently brushed Rick’s knuckles. This was his painting hand, she realized. She looked up at him. “Do you think anything’s broken?”

He shook his head. “Just bruised, I think.” He flexed his fingers a few times. “It all works. Just hurts like the devil.”

Sarah stepped forward. “There’s an ice pack in the freezer. That works better than a bag.” She opened the freezer drawer and took out a blue pouch. “This’ll wrap right around it.” She frowned. “I’ll get Josh. He should have a look at it, make sure you didn’t break anything.”

“Thanks,” Jess said, much calmer now. She took the ice pack, grabbed a dish towel, and wrapped the whole thing around Rick’s hand. “How does that feel?” she asked him.

“Better,” he said.

“Hey, didn’t someone say we were finally having pie? What’s the holdup?” Josh came out of the den before Sarah had a chance to fetch him, grumbling the whole way until he saw Rick standing with his hand wrapped up. “What’d you do to your hand?”

“It’s nothing, just a few split knuckles.”

Josh gaped. “You managed to get in a fistfight going to the store for ice cream? Who the heck with?”

Rick met Jess’s gaze. How could they not answer questions? And yet answering them meant giving explanations. Was she ready for that?

Rick nodded a little, urging her on. “I think you need to tell them. They need to know what’s happening, and why.”

And all Jess wanted to do was pretend it wasn’t happening. But she knew he was probably right. It wasn’t like they were going to get out of the afternoon without some sort of explanation.

“There’s something I need to tell you all,” she said, feeling a little sick to her stomach from simple nerves. “Maybe Matt and Suzie can look

after Alice for a bit?”

Meggie looked alarmed, and so did Aunt Barb. “Josh, why don’t you get the guys,” Rick suggested. “Sarah, why don’t we dish out the pie and sit down?”

Jess was grateful to Rick for taking charge. Barb went to get Mary and Jess heard her offer the kids a few dollars apiece for looking after the baby for a while. Before long everyone had pie and they were sitting around the table. But no one was eating. Jess sat at the head, and without saying a word Rick pulled up a chair and sat beside her in a unified show of support.

A long silence filled the room as Jess struggled to find the right words to say. Rick jumped in, leading off the discussion. “I busted up my hand today when I punched Mike Greer.”

Jaws dropped all around the table.

Rick looked directly at Bryce. “If he comes to you asking for an assault charge, it’s okay. But I don’t think he will. He was pretty threatening and I’m sure he’d like to keep things under the radar. Just giving you the heads-up.”

Tags: Donna Alward Jewell Cove Romance
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