“He took care of me and there aren’t many people who would do that for someone they barely know. He knew I didn’t have anyone else to call, so he bought a thermometer and quite possibly all the cold and flu medicine the pharmacy had on hand. He slept in an armchair in my room so he could keep an eye on me.”
Sloan looked shocked. “He stayed with you?”
“Yes. He had work to do, of course. But he did it from my room. He was good to me when I had no one else. Pretty pathetic on my part, huh?”
He clenched his jaw and looked away. “You should have been able to call me.”
“I didn’t tell you to make you feel guilty.” She just wanted him to see James as someone other than the bad guy.
She figured she’d made her point, though. She leaned back against the wall, she didn’t have a headboard.
“I suppose if you’re going to insist on all these changes—”
“I am,” he said firmly.
“We could go to your place while everything happens. But I’m going to pay you back. It just might take me a while.” She bit her lip.
He hesitated, looking like he was about to say something.
“What is it?” she asked. Now that they’d hashed things out, she felt exhausted. She just wanted to get to Sloan’s place, crawl into bed, and sleep.
“About these debts . . .”
She sighed. “I know I should have told you.” She pulled at a thread on her faded bedspread. She wasn’t certain if it had once been yellow or green, but she called the color it was now puke-brown. “But I was ashamed of how much of an idiot I’d been. It was my problem, not yours, and I needed to figure it out on my own.”
“But you’re not on our own now, are you?” He placed one hand over hers, stilling her nervous movements. He used his other hand to tilt up her chin. “How bad is it?”
“Bad,” she admitted. “Do we have to talk about it now?”
“No. So long as you realize we will be discussing it at some point soon.”
Yeah, she’d figured that.
“And that you won’t be dealing with them alone.”
“They’re not your problem,” she said hotly.
He raised one eyebrow. “They are when they affect you. Particularly when you have to take a second job and wear yourself to the bone until you get sick.”
“It’s not that bad,” she muttered.
“And about this other job . . .”
“I’m quitting,” she told him. “It was the perfect second job, but I just don’t think I should work there anymore.”
He stared down at her. “I have my own selfish reasons for not wanting you to work there, so I can’t give an unbiased opinion. However, my reasons aside, I also don’t want you working such long hours, or at night.”
“You know, I’m starting to wonder if maybe I underestimated how protective you could be.”
He just grinned.
She wasn’t reassured.
15
Before Sloan could knock on the door, it opened. James stared at him. For a moment, he thought about turning around and leaving. Even though he’d had a month since seeing James at Kinley’s apartment to figure out what to say, he still wasn’t prepared.
“Come in.”