Anything for You (Blue Heron #5)(101)
He nearly fell out of his chair getting up. “Yeah, absolutely, I can do that. Sorry you had to wait so long.”
Jessica Does struck again.
The lump in her throat didn’t matter. What mattered was Davey. That was all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
THANKS TO A CAR accident on Route 17, it was after six when Connor’s cab pulled up in front of Jessica’s house.
She hadn’t answered a single text or voice mail.
He paid the driver, got out and went up the walk to her door. Ricky, her neighbor, was waxing the Camaro, and Connor lifted a hand in greeting.
“There you are, dude,” Ricky said. “You hear?”
“A little. What happened?”
Ricky scratched a tattoo on his bulging biceps. “Kitchen fire. I hear the smoke detectors go off, I rush in there. Fire’s already out. The kid has some burns on his hands, but he’s okay. Jess, though...kinda hysterical. It’s good that you’re here, man.”
Connor wasn’t so sure. “I’m glad you were around, Ricky.”
“Me, too.” He grinned and went back to worshipping his car.
Connor knocked on Jess’s door. She opened it right away. Stood there in yoga pants and a cardigan, feet bare, hair wet.
Her eyes were red.
Her face, however, was completely expressionless. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“You smell like beer.”
“Yeah, uh... I spilled some during the presentation.”
“Have you been drinking?”
“Yes. At the presentation. Jess, are you all right? How’s Davey? And why the hell didn’t you call me?”
She grabbed him by the shirtfront and yanked him inside.
“This was your fault,” she whispered. “You’re teaching him to cook? To cook, Connor? Jesus!”
“Okay, okay. Let’s just talk. What happened?”
“Keep your voice down. He’s sleeping. He’s on Tylenol with codeine for his burns.”
Connor flinched. “How bad?”
“Bad enough. Second degree, on his hands and face.”
“Oh, Jess...”
“Shut up. How dare you go behind my back—”
“Hi, Connor.” Keith Dunn walked into the kitchen.
“Hi, Mr. Dunn.”
“Jessica, honey, I’ll just...take a little walk, how’s that?”
“Great. Thank you.”
Her father gave him a possibly sympathetic or possibly murderous look. It was hard to tell. The effects of all that beer hadn’t worn off.
The kitchen curtains were gone, and there was a black streak up the wall.
Connor suddenly felt sick, thinking of Davey alone in a fire. “Can we sit down?” he asked.
“Absolutely not.”
“Jessica, look. I was trying to do something with him, to...”
“To get him to like you.”
“Yes. Exactly. And to get to know him.”
“And to hook him up with a girlfriend?”
“Oh, Miranda?”
“How do you know her?”
“I went to see him at the candle factory. She was there.”
Jessica wrapped her sweater around her more tightly. Everything about her was clenched.
“You shouldn’t have been sneaking around with my brother,” she said. “You should’ve asked me about teaching him to cook. He’s not capable of that.”
“Look every cook has a fire at some—”
“Connor, his IQ is roughly 50. He could’ve died because of you.”
Connor closed his eyes. “Please, can we sit down and talk about this?”
“No.”
“Jess, he did good, right? He put out the fire. He didn’t panic. This house is still standing.”
“He put the frying pan in the oven because you told him not to use the stove when he was alone in the house. You don’t get it. If you tell him, ‘Davey, don’t eat cookies in bed because you get crumbs on the sheets,’ he thinks it’s perfectly okay to eat cake in bed, because you didn’t say cake. He can’t make the same connections you and I can. You had no right to assume you know what’s best for him!”
“Okay, you’re right about that. But Jess—”
“And this stuff about a girlfriend! You don’t even know Miranda!” Her whisper yelling was scary.
“She seems nice,” he said.
“Based on what, Connor? Your many conversations with her? Have you ever talked to her?”
“No. Doesn’t mean she—”
“You’ve been coaching him on how to have a girlfriend,” she hissed. “Did you ever think about what happens if she doesn’t like him, Connor? What if she breaks his heart? What if he actually loves her and it doesn’t work out. What then, huh?”
“Who are we talking about here? Davey, or you? Or is it maybe me?”
Her eyes narrowed. Perhaps that hadn’t been the right thing to say. She looked like she might be about to stab him.
Connor rubbed his eyes. “Jess, I’m so, so sorry there was a fire here today. I’m sorry I didn’t check with you about the cooking lessons. I just wanted him to like me, so you’d see things could work out with us, and guess what? He does like me.”