Dangerous Depths (37 page)

At least it wasn’t cancer. Tess consoled herself with the thought. Her sister was the one thing stable in her life, even if she didn’t get to see her as often as she liked. Tess patted Stevie’s hand. “You need to sleep for a while. I think I’ll go see Abby and Rory.”

Stevie’s eyes popped open. “Did you see Chase?”

“Briefly. He was his usual charming self, though he did agree to pasture Wildfire for me. Are you sure you don’t mind me bringing him home for a while? It seemed reasonable since I was going to be living so close.”

“I don’t know why you resent Chase so much.” Stevie’s lids drooped again.

You mean other than the fact he took my place?
Tess didn’t say the words. She tiptoed from the room and closed the door behind her. Backing away from the door, she bumped into Chase in the hall. She skidded on the tile and began to fall, but he steadied her with a hand on her arm. Jerking away, she crossed her arm and glared up at him. “Why didn’t you tell me she was so sick?”

His blue eyes held disdain. “If you’d been any kind of sister, you would have seen it for yourself, just like the rest of us did. But you were too busy running to take time for family.”

Though his words stung, she lifted her chin and managed not to flinch. “It’s not like I was goofing off, Chase. Do you have any idea how many fires I’ve fought, how many lives I’ve helped save this year?”

“Tess Masterson, super hero. You
still don’t get it, do you, Tess? Sometimes the bravest thing we do is get out of bed in the morning and do our duty by the ones we love. It’s easy to run away from responsibility.”

“I never ran away!” Conscious of her sleeping sister, Tess lowered her voice. “You won, isn’t that enough for you, Chase?” She stomped past him and headed for the front door. She heard his boots clicking on the tile as he came behind her.

Quickening her pace, she flung open the screen door and ran to her Jeep. She clicked the lock as he put his hand on the door. He pounded on the window, and hoping to irritate him, she flashed a victory smile as she drove away in a plume of red dust. Why did he bring out her childish side? She should be bigger than that, able to rise above his jibes. Another reason to hate him.