Read Killer Heat Online

Authors: Brenda Novak

Killer Heat (36 page)

BOOK: Killer Heat
5.91Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Tears rolled into Francesca's hair. Jonah wasn't around. She couldn't tell him, had to go through this alone. She was just trying to come to terms with that when a police officer approached the back of the ambulance. “She able to talk?”

“Not really,” the EMT responded. “Why?”

“I've got a Jonah Young on the phone. He wants to speak to her.”

The EMT shut one door of the ambulance and was about to shut the other. “He'll have to do it later. She's got a few broken bones and might have suffered some internal injuries. We need to get her to the hospital.”

“Wait!” Francesca tried to sit up and fell back. From then on, it became even harder to drag words to her mouth. “Let me…talk…to…him.”

She knew she'd said it, but didn't know how her words were received. She seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness. It was the pain, the drugs, the shock. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, she felt a phone pressed to her ear and heard a voice she immediately recognized.

“Francesca?”

“Jonah…I—I'm…sorry. I…want…to be…with you…for ever,” she said, and then she slipped into a black void. When she came out of it again, it seemed as if hours, maybe days, had passed. But Jonah was there.

“Hey, how do you feel?” he asked, hovering over her hospital bed.

She managed a half smile. “Better now.” Her voice was hoarse from disuse. “Am I…am I going to live?”

“You're going to be as good as new,” he promised, and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

Epilogue

“W
hat about these flowers? Aren't you going to take them?”

Leaning on the crutches that made her mobile despite a broken leg, Francesca hesitated near the hospital bed where she'd spent the past few days and glanced at her mother. Every other bouquet she'd received was waiting in the back of Jonah's Jeep Cherokee—the small teddy bear and single rose from Heather, the tiger lilies from her parents, the wheelbarrow plant from Hunsacker and Finch, the vase of wildflowers from Jill and Vince, and several dozen red roses from Jonah. But these flowers were from Adriana, who'd sent them instead of calling or stopping by.

“I've got a free arm, I can grab them,” her mother said and started to reach for the vase, but Francesca stopped her.

“No, leave them.”

Her mother turned to her in surprise. “You don't want them?”

“Not now.”

Her mother peered more closely at her. “You're not making sense, honey. It's not like you can get them later. They'll be dead and gone.”

Maybe the flowers would be dead and gone, but
Adriana would be living her own life, taking care of her family, just as she should be. And, for the time being, Francesca needed to know Adriana was giving her the chance to love Jonah without thinking about their friendship. This alone proved she was the type of friend Francesca had always thought. “What they represent won't be gone.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that love
is
enough—when the time is right,” she added with a smile.

Her mother probably would've asked her to elaborate, except that her father wheeled himself into the room. “Hey, how's my girl?”

Francesca hobbled over to give him a hug. “Fine, Dad. We were just on our way.”

“Jonah's got the car downstairs by the lobby doors.”

Jonah had been by her side night and day since she was injured and yet she couldn't wait to see him. “I'm coming.”

Her father let her go out ahead of him, but then caught her wrist. “About Jonah…you sure you want to risk your heart again?” he asked softly. “I'm positive.”

He chuckled. “Well, if he can make you smile like that, I'll have to trust you, won't I?”

She bent to let him rub his knuckles against her cheek. “Thanks.”

His thick, callused fingers curled through hers. “Francesca?”

“What?”

“I'm proud of you,” he said.

ISBN: 978-1-4268-6881-8

KILLER HEAT

Copyright © 2010 by Brenda Novak, Inc.

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, MIRA Books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

MIRA and the Star Colophon are trademarks used under license and registered in Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.

For questions and comments about the quality of this book please contact us at [email protected].

www.MIRABooks.com

BOOK: Killer Heat
5.91Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

The Spook's Battle by Joseph Delaney
Deadline by Barbara Nadel
Eat Him If You Like by Jean Teulé
Never Been Loved by Kars, C.M.
Voices in the Dark by Lacey Savage
They Were Born Upon Ashes by Kenneth Champion
My Deja Vu Lover by Phoebe Matthews