Quite the Catch (3 page)

“Hey,”
he said. “I’m freaking out a little. You’re treating me like family or a guest
and I don’t even know where in the hell we’re at. Before I take pain meds and
get zonked, I’d like to know how I got here and why you brought me.”

Tina
put the soup bowl on the nightstand. “I guess it might seem a little weird. Here’s
my side of what happened. I had promised my grandfather I’d scatter his ashes
on the river, but it rained most of the time since he died three weeks ago. Today
was the first day it seemed possible so I talked Charley into letting me take
the boat down the river to keep my promise.”

He
might have amnesia but he wasn’t stupid. “Who’s Charley?”

“He’s
my cousin. Anyway, I scattered Gramps along the way and then just kicked back
to enjoy the day. After I floated under the old railroad trestle bridge, I
heard voices. I thought it was a bunch of guys out hunting until I saw one man
running. The rest of them chased him and I watched. You were the man running. They
started shooting at you about the time you started across the trestle and they
were catching up, fast. You bailed over the side and down into the river. I
thought you’d been hit and figured you were a goner.”

Joshua
thought he would remember such a dramatic sequence but he didn’t. “Did I jump
or fall from the bridge?”

She
hitched her shoulders in a shrug. “I think you jumped. That’s what it looked
like. I saw you come up, fighting against the current, and I tried to row
against it to pick you up.”

“Why?”

Her
blue eyes darkened and she met his gaze without blinking. “Charley asked if you
were my catch of the day—not quite. I’m not the kind of person who’s going to
sit in a boat and watch someone drown,” Tina said. “Or die from hypothermia.”

He
shook his head, skeptical. “Why would you help a stranger? Especially one
running from armed men? I might be a fugitive or a criminal.”

The
corners of her mouth twitched, then transformed into a smile. It lit her face
with radiance and turned pretty into beautiful. “You might be but I don’t think
so. I’m a keen judge of character, most of the time. I worked as an ER nurse in
Dallas for six years and I’ve seen some pretty gnarly people. And after
awhile
, you get a knack for knowing.”

Joshua
took a deep breath and blew it out. “God, I hope you’re right, but I don’t
know.”

When
he shifted position, pain radiated outward from his side and every aching
muscle
twinged
. Although his slight moan came out
soft, Tina heard it. “You will,” she said. She picked up the bottle of Vicodin.
“You need to take a couple of these and rest.”

“Sure.”
After he’d sat up and had some soup, he’d felt better for a few minutes but
now, his brief burst of energy ebbed away, as awareness of his many pains
returned with vengeance. “I don’t feel very good.”

“I
didn’t think you would. Let me check how your temp’s doing.”

Tina
thrust the digital device into his ear and this time when it beeped, she
grinned.

“You’re
back to normal,” she told him.
“Ninety-eight point six.
In the morning, after you’ve rested, we’ll see if you’re up to taking a shower
and I’ll clean your wound again. It’s
gonna
’ take a
few days at least, of taking it easy, to recuperate.”

His
sense of time, like everything else, seemed skewed.
“Morning?
What time is it now?”

“It’s
after dark,” she told him. “It’s around eight thirty.”

“How
long have I been here?”

She
titled her head to the right. “About six hours, I think. Go to sleep if you
can. It’ll help more than anything.”

Joshua
shut his eyes and willed the pain to stop. It didn’t but a wave of fatigue
threatened to swamp him. He yielded to it as the powerful pain reliever spread
through his body. A stray thought struck him and he opened one eye. “Is this
your bed? I don’t want to take your bed. I can sleep on a couch or something.”

“It’s
not,” Tina said. “My room is upstairs but I’ll be looking in on you a lot, so
if you wake up, I’ll probably be here.”

He
would rather she sleep and told her so. Tina laughed. “I worked night shift for
years and I’ve never quite adjusted to sleeping at night. I wander a lot
anyway.”

Drowsiness
clouded his mind but he managed to ask another question. “You told me the
truth, right? About seeing me jump and all? You’re not really my girlfriend or
something, playing some elaborate joke on me?”

“Yes,
I told the truth,” Tina said with quiet dignity. “And no, I’m not your
girlfriend. I never laid eyes on you until today. I’m just a good Samaritan type
trying to help someone in need.”

“Okay,”
he said. As he drifted off to sleep, he mumbled, “That’s too bad. I could do a
lot worse.”

Once
he realized what he’d said, Joshua wanted to take it back and erase it from her
memory. He couldn’t believe he’d said such a bone-headed thing, even though he
meant it. Tina possessed a lot of what he liked in a woman, a quiet beauty,
charm, and capable hands. She nurtured, and although a lot of guys didn’t care
for that, Joshua appreciated it. On some deep level, down somewhere he couldn’t
remember, he thought he needed some tender care. He’d meant the statement as a
compliment but women could be tricky. She might take it wrong and be insulted.
Maybe she’ll take it the way I meant it, in
a good way.
Or maybe she didn’t even
hear it. That’d be best.

He
gave up that hope when she sighed, soft and low. Joshua kept still, eyes shut,
and pretended to be asleep. Tina tucked the blankets around him and brushed
back his hair from his face. “So could I,” she said aloud. “So could I,
Joshua.”

Then
her lips touched his forehead in a light kiss. Yeah, it was the kind of kiss
you’d give a little kid or an old man, but he liked it anyway, probably too
much. He wouldn’t have read anything into the gesture if she hadn’t spoken but
because she had, he did.

Chapter Three

Tina
kissed Joshua—something she would never have dared to do if he’d been awake. She
shouldn’t have yielded to the temptation but a warm rush of caring prompted the
action, a chaste kiss on the forehead. Although she tried hard to chalk up her
feelings for being a nurse, she knew better. This man with no memory and
trouble on his tail appealed to her. Her last relationship with one of the
doctors at the hospital ended when his fiancée from Connecticut arrived, and since
then she hadn’t bothered. Her long shifts and tense duties in the ER hadn’t
been open
to
much of a relationship and once Gramps
became ill, her focus had been on his health.

Get a grip, Barlow. Don’t get
emotionally into this guy. He’ll heal and leave. That’s all.

Trouble
was
,
she wanted more.

After
Joshua settled into a light sleep, Tina took his dishes to the kitchen. She ate
the rest of the soup and cleaned up. The shower she’d promised him sounded good
so she gathered her stuff and took one in Gramps’ bathroom. She thought she
should stick close and if she used her bathroom upstairs, she wouldn’t hear
Joshua if he called out for any reason. Instead of putting on her comfortable
flannel nightgown, she pulled on leggings and a T-shirt. Then she curled up
into the big easy chair near the windows and grabbed a clean quilt from the
cedar chest. If she happened to fall asleep, she’d sleep here, close.

Insomnia
wasn’t a word she wanted to use. She still blamed her absence of sleep on
working the night shift, and her time served as Gramps’ caregiver. Since his
death she’d dozed at odd times, usually when she would rather not. Tina fell
asleep over her e-reader, watching television on the rare occasions when she
tried to catch a program, and twice out on the deck.

Now,
however, when she preferred to stay alert, she became drowsy. The room remained
a little warm for her taste and the easy rhythm of Joshua’s breathing relaxed
her. Although accustomed to living alone back in Dallas and here since her
grandfather’s passing, having someone in the house seemed cozy and comfortable.
When her eyes became too heavy to hold open, she put aside her reader and
yielded.

Shouting
woke her, loud and masculine. For the first few moments, Tina failed to comprehend
where or what the noise might be, then she remembered. She tossed aside the
quilt and made the few steps to the bed. Joshua, though sound asleep, thrashed
with enough force that all his blankets were in a twisted knot at the foot of
the bed. He lashed out with
both arms
, throwing
punches and kicking his feet. He yelled, cussing and complaining. Fresh blood
seeped from the gauze she’d wrapped around his injured side. She had to wake
him but she didn’t want to get hit.

“Joshua!”
she called. He failed to respond so she repeated his name until he stopped
flailing and opened his eyes. Before he had fully awakened, he swung a punch
her way and she caught his fist between her hands. He blinked and she thought
his awareness returned.
His response
might be progress
, she thought.
Maybe
he remembered his name, maybe more
.

Breathing
hard, he stared up at her with confusion,
then
pushed
up onto his elbows to rest higher against the pillows. He winced and she knew
how much the movements must hurt his battered body. Tina sat down on the edge
of the bed and reached for his wrist to check his pulse. It raced as she’d
expected. She took his hand and held it.
“Nightmare?”

After
a few seconds, he nodded. “Yeah, I had a hell of one.”

“Are
you okay?”

“Damned
if I know. Yeah, I guess.”

Tina
put her free hand on his chest. Beneath it, his heart pounded hard. “Take it
easy and calm down. Whatever you dreamed, it’s not real.”

He
drew several long, deep breaths. “Yeah, well, the thing is, I think it was.”

Understanding
dawned. “You dreamed about something you think really happened?”

“Yeah,”
he said. After a pause, he added. “I think I’m a cop.”

She’d
thought so too, from the time she pulled him into her boat. “I’d say it’s
likely but why?”

“In
the dream, I strapped on a sidearm and wore a badge,” Joshua told her. “Did I
have anything like that when you picked me up?”

“No.”

“What
was I wearing?”

“Jeans,
a green T-shirt with a flannel plaid shirt over it, running shoes, tube socks...”

Joshua
interrupted her.
“Boxers or briefs?”

The
question surprised her but his faint grin indicated he was joking. “Briefs,”
she replied.

“Where
are my clothes? Maybe there’s a clue in them.”

Tina
shook her head. “I’m sorry but there wasn’t. You had no billfold, identification,
keys, or anything else in your pockets. The clothes are ruined, by the way. I
cut them off to save time so I could get your body heat back up.”

With
that in mind, she straightened the tangled covers and pulled them over his nude
body. His cheeks flushed for a brief moment but he said nothing.

“Do
you want to talk about the nightmare? Sometimes it helps.”

He
shuddered. “I don’t know. Not much of it makes much sense.”

“It
might if you talk it through.”

“I
don’t know.” He scrunched the covers higher on his chest. “Is it too early for
coffee?”

A
glance outside revealed the first light of dawn on the eastern horizon. “No, I
can make some.”

“That’d
be great,” he said. “Thanks.
And Tina?”

“Yeah?”

“Something
to wear would be great.
Sweats or shorts, maybe a T-shirt.
I don’t know what I normally wear but I’m feeling a little uncomfortable
naked.”

Tina
nodded. “I already thought about that. I’m pretty sure you and Gramps are close
to the same size. With sweatpants it won’t matter much anyway. Let me grab a
pair and a shirt.”

When
she dug into the old dresser drawer, Tina found a brand new pair of navy
sweatpants that Gramps had never worn. She searched deeper and found a light
blue T-shirt, a package of never-opened briefs, and a plain white T-shirt. “Here
you go,” she said as she handed them to Joshua. Most of these are new. If you
want to get dressed, I’ll go make coffee.”

“Thank
you, I appreciate it.”

“Sure.
I’ll be back in a few minutes. Holler if you need any help.”

Joshua
glared. “I’ll manage.”

As
the fragrant aroma of coffee permeated the kitchen, Tina heated two sausage
biscuits in the microwave. Like most guys, Joshua probably wanted to eat. She
plunked them on two plates, added a package of chocolate chip cookies, and
poured two mugs full of coffee. Then she arranged it all on a tray, added sugar,
and two spoons. From the bedroom, she heard a lot of banging and low-volume
cussing. Before she had time to lift the tray, Joshua entered the kitchen with
slow steps, dressed in the sweats and a white T-shirt. By the way he moved,
Tina could tell how much pain he must be suffering.