Page 14 of Family Bonds- Jarrett & Andi

“Which brother is that?” she asked, trying to smile.

“You must be feeling better that you’re trying to joke. Why don’t you finish your tea and get ready for bed? I’m sure you can take your pills a few minutes early. It’d be like thirty minutes by the time you’re ready.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” she said.

Andi stood up and walked slowly to her bathroom. Her head hurt but not more than the rest of her body that felt like she’d fallen down a flight of stairs. Which she had before and knew that feeling well.

At least she didn’t walk away with anything broken this time.

Slowly she brushed her teeth and washed her face. Her hair was pulled away from her head loosely and there was no reason to try to do anything with it. She’d wash it tomorrow. There were stitches above her right eye and into her hairline but not enough that she needed too much shaved away. Just on the side and she could deal with it easily. Only one stitch was that high.

She’d have a scar on her face, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world and it’s not as if the scar would be that long. Her face was more bruised than anything and the shiner would be there longer than she’d want.

She walked to her bedroom and slowly changed out of her jeans that were now cut up the sides and sweatshirt and put onpajama pants and a T-shirt, then returned to the kitchen to take her pills.

“Get some sleep,” Jack said. “I’ll check in on you in a bit.”

“I’m sure you will,” she said. “Just make sure you sleep some too.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Jack said.

Andi climbed in bed and shut the light and the last thing she thought of was the handsome investigator who witnessed her fall and then came to her rescue.

How nice it would have been if she met him under other circumstances and wished that Jack had never flown in.

5

HOOKING AND SHACKING

“Hi, Mom,” Jarrett said to his mother two days later when he walked in the front door. “What are you making today? I brought an appetite with me.”

“I’ve got a big pan of baked ziti, meatballs, bread and salad. Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting for dessert.”

“Yum,” he said. “Good thing I haven’t eaten since Friday.”

His mother lifted her eyebrow at him. “Don’t lie to me.”

“Fine,” he said. “I ate yesterday, but since it was only pizza and a sandwich, that doesn’t count. I was talking about the last thing I ate that counted was some of your soup I found in the freezer on Friday night.”

“I heard you had a long day.”

He wasn’t surprised she’d heard what happened. It was hard to keep a lot of things quiet on this island but more so when it involved law enforcement.

“I did. I even took the day off to go fishing and all I caught was a woman rolling down the embankment.”

“You didn’t catch her,” Alex said, walking in with his wife, Jennie.

“Yeah,” Jennie said. “I heard that you saw it but couldn’t row fast enough. You boys all think you’re superheroes, but you couldn’t fly to her.”

“Ha ha,” Alex said. “I’m just surprised Jarrett didn’t leave his canoe and dive in to swim to her faster.”

“I thought of it,” he said. “But I wasn’t close enough and figured ruining my phone that I needed to call for help wasn’t a smart move.”

“Jarrett has always been the smart one,” his mother said.

They turned when the front door opened again and Mac walked in with his wife, Sidney, and their son, Jace. At over two years old, the toddler took off on a full run into the house slapping high fives, hugging his grandmotherandthen over to the chair his grandfather was in all but diving and landing next to him.

“Good lord,” Jennie said. “How do you keep an eye on him when he’s like that?”

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