Scraps of Evidence: Quilts of Love Series (9 page)

“So, this aunt of yours who straightens up and leaves food for you,” Logan said as he locked the door. “You think she’d consider adopting me?”

10

T
ess watched Logan guide the sailboat out of the crowded marina and then, when they were clear, he hoisted the sail and the boat sped across the sparkling water.

Bliss. She lifted her face to the sun and sighed. “This was such a great idea. Whose idea was it?”

Logan laughed. “You’re not going to try to take credit for it, are you?”

“Wish I could. Perfect end to the day.”

“How are you doing?”

The man saw everything. “Well, I wish I’d had some motion sickness pills on hand, but I think I’ll be okay.”

He tacked the sails with competent hands and the boat slowed. “Let’s just take it easy for a few minutes and see how it goes. We’re not in a race. We’re out here to relax. And next time we’ll bring those pills for you.”

Next time.
Sounded like a promise. She liked the sound of that.

But she didn’t like the fact she couldn’t control her body’s reaction to the motion of the waves.

They’d stopped at his house so he could change into a white T-shirt, khakis, and deck shoes. She liked the way he looked so relaxed and at ease as he stood with his hands steady on the wheel.

“So, you think you’re going to get a sailboat?”

“Will you come sailing with me, if I do?”

She nodded. She had a feeling she might be buying a lot of motion sickness pills.

“Hungry yet?”

“I was born hungry,” she said with a sigh.

They dropped anchor and dug into the food. Well, Logan did. Tess took it careful, eating a little roast chicken and a few small spoonfuls of the potato salad and baked beans. Everything tasted good, but she decided to be cautious. She could always have more at home later, if she was still hungry.

The sun, the breeze, the rocking motion of the boat . . . they all combined to make Tess drowsy after her busy day. She slapped a hand over her mouth as a huge yawn overtook her. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m suddenly so sleepy.”

She sighed as she leaned back on the bench and stared up at the sail fluttering in the breeze off the water. “It’s so beautiful out here. No wonder why you love sailing.”

“Maybe you’re finally truly relaxing.”

The sailboat rocked gently. They could see all the movement on the shore, but out here it was quiet and restful.

“Did you get enough to eat?”

“I’m stuffed.” He patted his stomach. “Your aunt’s baked chicken was amazing.”

“Sorry you couldn’t eat the potato salad. I didn’t realize you were allergic to onions.”

“Her baked beans more than made up for it.”

Tess yawned again and reached for her sweet tea. Maybe the caffeine would help. She watched as her hand missed the glass, and she had to concentrate on picking it up. The plastic glass slipped from her hand and fell onto the deck. Funny thing . . . she didn’t care. She watched it roll onto the deck.

“Tess? Tess? Are you okay?”

She blinked. It was hard to focus, and her head felt so heavy she felt like she had to hold it up.

Logan’s face came nearer. “What’s the matter with you?”

“I’m just so tired,” she whispered. Talking took too much effort. She pulled her legs up and stretched out on the bench she’d been sitting on. “I’m sorry, can you take me home? I need to go to bed.”

She felt his hands grasp her arms and shake her. “Tess, did you take something at the house? You said you didn’t have any motion sickness pills.”

“No . . . didn’t have any,” she muttered, feeling irritable. “Need to sleep. That’s all. You sail on without me.”

She batted away his hand when he touched her eye, but he was relentless, holding the lid open so that too much sun poured in, making her head hurt.

“Your pupils are dilated,” he said, doing the same thing to the other one.

“Just let me sleep for a few minutes,” she begged, curling up into a ball.

“Something’s wrong,” she heard him say, and it seemed like he was talking from a long way away.

“I’m fine,” she insisted. But something didn’t seem right.

“You’re sure you didn’t take anything?”

“No.”

She heard a rustling and forced her heavy eyelids open. He was searching through her purse. “Hey, that’s private property.”

“Sue me,” he muttered. “You don’t even have an aspirin in here. Did you take something at your house?”

“You asked me that.” Her head fell back against the bench. She heard snoring. Someone was snoring. Was he sleeping, too?

She heard talking. Logan was talking to someone. Who else was on the boat? Feeling groggy, she blinked. He was using his cell phone. Rude. That was rude. She shouldn’t be sleeping, but he had asked her to come out here with him, and now he was talking with someone he called Zach.

It was tough to sit up but she forced herself up, forced her eyes to open. Rag doll. She felt like a rag doll, no spine at all. Then she came to attention and went rigid. Waves of nausea came over her, slow at first and then stronger. The shoreline bobbed up and down. Her stomach roiled. She leaned over the side of the boat and threw up.

“Tess!” Logan shouted, and she felt his hand grasp the back of her shirt. “Hold on, she’s throwing up again!” he yelled.

The cell phone plunked onto the cushion beside her. She could hear someone shouting, but she couldn’t understand what they were saying. Logan’s arms went around her, and he dragged her back against him.

“No, I have to throw up again!” she cried, and he relaxed his hold but held onto her as she leaned over the side and retched until her sides hurt and collapsed against him.

“I’ve got to get you back to shore,” he said. “Hold on, Tess. You’re going to be all right.”

She’d had flu so bad once she’d been hospitalized and wondered if she were going to survive. But this was the sickest she could ever be. She was no drama queen, but she thought she was going to die.

Logan hadn’t felt so helpless since he sat beside his friend Jason’s bed as he talked about dying.

“Hang on, Tess, I’m going to get you some help.” He cradled her in one arm as he dialed 911, identified himself, and told the dispatcher he needed a paramedic. She got the information from him and promised help would be waiting at the dock.

He laid her on the bench and kept an eye on her as he pulled up the anchor, turned the boat around, and headed to shore. The trip took only minutes, but they seemed to drag like hours.

Two paramedics came onto the boat and assessed Tess. She was still pale, but it seemed like she was starting to come around.

“Hey there, pretty lady, can you tell me your name?”

“You know very well that it’s Tess,” she said tartly, flinching as he shone a light into her eyes. “Geez, Hank, you gotta be pretty desperate to flirt with me looking like this.”

“Desperate’s his middle name,” the other paramedic responded with a grin as he wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her arm.

Hank snickered and turned to Logan. “So tell me her symptoms.”

Logan met Tess’s gaze. She wasn’t just the woman he cared about—she was his partner, another law enforcement officer. He didn’t know what had happened, but he did as he’d advised her earlier at her house: he trusted his gut. Tess wouldn’t do drugs. Something in the food had made her sick.

Hank listened to Logan describe how Tess had become lethargic, then almost unresponsive, and how she’d thrown up until it seemed she couldn’t any longer. When Logan mentioned the picnic they’d brought, Hank examined the contents of the basket and sniffed at them.

“But you didn’t get sick?”

Logan shook his head. “Oh, but I didn’t eat the potato salad.”

Hank shook his head. “People think they can get sick on potato salad when it’s warm, but that’s pretty much a thing of the past when people made their own mayonnaise.”

He turned to Tess. “Let’s get you seen by a doc at the ER.”

“Oh, such a fuss over nothing,” she complained. “I’m already feeling better.”

“Tess, please don’t argue,” Logan said quietly.

She stared at him for a long moment and then she sighed. “Oh, fine. But I’m walking to the ambulance.”

“Thank goodness,” Hank said. “Garrett and I weren’t looking forward to carting you off the boat.”

It was the perfect thing to say. Logan watched in amusement as Tess stood, looking miffed, and held out her hand to him. It was a gesture that meant more than words to him. He clasped it and they stepped from the boat together. She looked at him in surprise when he climbed into the ambulance with her after helping her inside.

“You don’t have to go with me.”

“Just try to stop me.”

She sat down on the gurney and sighed. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to.” Her eyes were moist when she looked at him. “Thank you.”

Logan paced while they examined Tess in the emergency room. As hard as it had been to visit Jason at the hospital, it had always been worse when there was some reason why he had to wait outside while his friend received treatment or the doctor was in consultation with him.

Finally, he pulled rank, showed a clerk his badge.

“Cubicle Three.”

He strode down the hall and nearly ran into a harried-looking doctor coming out of the cubicle.

“Let me guess: Mr. McMillan?”

Logan stopped. “That’s me.”

“Ms. Villanova is doing fine. I think it’s a bad case of motion sickness, but I’m running some tests. Fortunately for us, she threw up again while she was in the exam room. I’m going to send her home, but bring her back if there’s any sign she’s getting sick again.”

“You’re sure she shouldn’t spend the night?”

The doctor looked at him over his glasses. “I’ve known Tess since grade school. I wouldn’t dare try keeping her if she didn’t want to stay. And trust me, she doesn’t want to stay.”

Sure enough, she was sitting up on the gurney going over discharge instructions with a nurse before the doctor could walk away.

“Is there anyone you don’t know in this city?” he demanded.

She blinked. “Not many. Why?”

He shook his head. “It seems like everyone I run into knows you.”

Tess stood. “That isn’t always a good thing as you saw with Hank and Garrett.”

A nurse walked in pushing a wheelchair. “No arguing. Hospital policy.”

To his surprise, Tess accepted without an argument. The nurse, an older woman with a determined look, winked at him as she pushed the chair from the cubicle.

“That woman scares me,” Tess admitted when the nurse left them at the cashier’s window.

“Tess, honey, you okay?” she heard a woman call.

Tess turned. “Aunt Kathy! What are you doing here?”

“Little bird called me.” Kathy smiled at Logan. She looked back at Tess. “You okay, honey? What happened?”

“It’s no big deal,” Tess told her. “I just got sick when we were out sailing.”

Kathy stroked her hair. “You feeling better?”

“I’m fine, thanks. Can you drive us back to Logan’s car at the marina?”

“Sure thing. Gordon’s waiting out in the parking lot.”

Gordon pulled up as they went outside. “Need a lift?” he asked with a grin.

“Thanks,” Tess told him as she stepped from the wheelchair and got into the back seat.

“You’re welcome,” Gordon said, grinning at Logan. He took the picnic basket Logan carried. “I’ll put this in the trunk.”

Tess leaned her head against the cushion and sighed. She looked over and smiled at Logan when he climbed into the back seat beside her.

“Logan, I’ll drop you off at your car on the way, then take Tess home.”

“Thanks, Gordon, but I’d like Logan to take me home.” She glanced at him, and it seemed to him that she tried to send him a silent message.

Logan nodded. “Be happy to.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“I’d like to sit with her for a little while and make sure she’s okay.” Logan held his breath, wondering if he was overstepping his bounds, but Tess said nothing.

“But we can—”

“Gordon, let Logan take care of her,” Kathy interrupted him.

Logan saw the older man look at him in the rear-view mirror. Gordon was frowning.

Then Gordon nodded. “Fine. No use arguing with strong-minded women.”

Kathy laughed. “’Bout time you realized that.”

“Aunt Kathy?” Tess spoke up suddenly. “Thank you for getting groceries for me and putting dinner in my fridge.”

“You’re welcome, honey. It was no trouble. Gordon and I dropped it off on our way to a movie.”

A few minutes later, Logan helped Tess into his car and they waved goodbye to her aunt and uncle. He set the picnic basket in the back seat and climbed into the car.

“I’m sorry to take up more of your time,” Tess said as he drove them to her house.

“Don’t you dare say that.”

“Well, I know the last hour hasn’t been pleasant for you.”

“I’m sure it was worse for you.”

She nodded. “I guess so.”

He pulled into her driveway, cut off the engine, and tried to get out and around to her side to help her but she was already out of the car. Woman was just too independent, he thought as he reached into the back seat for the picnic basket. She seemed fully recovered, though.

Once inside, she sank onto the sofa. “Oh, it’s so good to be home.”

“I’ll put the leftovers in the refrigerator.”