Page 101 of Renewal After Dark

“Why not, hon? She’d have been happy to do it. She’s a professional mom.”

“I know. It just feels weird. I mean, I wonder if she’s mad at me that you’re so badly hurt.”

“What? Of course she isn’t.”

“You got hurt protecting me.”

“Which I’d do again in a hot second, and she knows that. She’s not upset with you. She’s incredibly thankful we both survived. She wouldn’t have wanted to deal with me if something had happened to you.”

“You’re very sweet.”

“It’s the truth. You said I jumped on top of you without thinking. I don’t remember that, but I want you to know that I’d do it again a thousand times if it meant keeping you safe.”

“Let’s hope this is the only time you’ll ever have to protect me that way.”

“I’ll do it any time it needs to be done.”

“I can’t bear that you got so badly hurt.”

He squeezed her hand. “I’ll be okay.”

Kelsey’s phone chimed with a text. She took back her hand so she could check it. When she saw it was about her overdue cell phone bill, she frowned. She opened her bank app to see how much she had left and whether she could pay at least half the outstanding balance on the phone bill.

She saw a lot of zeros.

What the hell?

After blinking a few times, she saw there was one hundred thousand dollars in her checking account. “Oh my God,” she said softly.

“What?”

“Look.” She showed him her phone with the bank info on the screen.

“Whoa. Where’d that come from?”

“I have no idea. Where’s your phone?”

“On the charger.”

She got up and went around the bed to retrieve the phone from the charger and brought it to him. “Check yours.”

He clicked around on his phone and then looked up at her. “I have the same in my account.”

“What the heck?”

“It’s Mr. McCarthy,” Jeff said. “He would’ve done that. He feels responsible for his building falling on us.”

“But that’s insane. He can’t just give us two hundred thousand dollars!”

“It looks like he already did.”

“That’s crazy. We have to give it back.”

“Before you go sending it back, stop and think for a minute. We’re going to be out of work for a while. Months, in my case. We both have car payments, insurance, cell phones and other bills to pay while we’re laid up.”

“Not two hundred thousand dollars’ worth!”

“It’ll add up, Kels. Who knows what co-pays and other fees we’ll have to pay from being hospitalized? Mr. McCarthy—and Mac—know all too well how expensive something like this can get. I have no idea how much of the rehab will be covered. They wanted us to have what we need.”

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