Page 40 of In Hiding

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Jake set the soup bowl into her hands, hoping it wasn’t too hot. Sarah accepted it with a smile, still looking so tired she might fall asleep at any second. He sat on the couch near her, his own meal waiting on the coffee table. Steam rose from the bowl as he reached for a slice of fresh, buttered bread.

Her eyes followed his hands, full of longing.

“Would you like some?”

She stirred the soup with her spoon. “Much as I would love to, I can’t. But thanks.”

“You really should eat more, Sarah.”

Ladling a spoonful of soup into her mouth, she closed her eyes and let out a deep moan. The sound reached Jake on a level he cared not to think about. “Oh my, that is good.”

He dipped his bread into the soup and ate it. The depth of flavor in the soup had developed overnight and satisfied his hunger. “Not too shabby, if I say so myself.”

They ate in silence. Outside, wind whistled through the trees. Watching her, he had to fight the urge to be brutally honest. He’d glimpsed the distrust in her eyes and needed to find a way around it. She wasn’t the kind to just believe everything he said, not after what she’d been through. The task seemed insurmountable.

It had been a long time since he’d tried to win over someone the way he wanted to with Sarah and he didn’t really know where to start.

“I see you’ve been working in the garden.”

He smiled. “We both have, actually. If it wasn’t for Will, I might have ripped out some of your prized Grevilleas.”

Her eyes flickered toward him. “Remind me to thank him.”

“It’s like you said, he’s a good kid.”

Jake thought about his conversation with Will after his first counselling session. The session had opened old wounds and while Jake had wanted to offer a sympathetic ear, what he got was a torrent of guilt-ridden shame. He’d listened to the emotional words and promised the teen his confessions were safe with him. Winning that level of trust made him acutely aware of how deep Will’s trauma ran.

“He is. I’m very lucky.”

“You’re lucky to have each other.” He motioned toward the plate loaded with bread. “Are you sure you won’t have any?”

“I can’t. My body doesn’t digest bread easily. It’s best to stick to the basics.”

He thought bread was basic. “More soup, then?”

Her soft smile thanked him. “Unfortunately, I’m limited to small meals. The injury that took my spleen also took half of my stomach.”

Progress. “Then you should eat more often, Sarah. If for no other reason than to keep up your strength.”

She chuffed behind her spoon. “You sound like you’re trying to fatten me up.”

Jake felt his cheeks run hot with a blush. “You’re perfect as you are.”

She blinked, the deep green of her eyes intensifying as she studied him. His words came as a surprise to him as much as to her, but he wouldn’t take them back.

“I feel I owe you an apology,” she whispered. “This is more than you agreed to take on. Repairing roof tiles is one thing, tending to a woman who can’t keep her footing, and a boy who may or may not go off the rails, is another.”

“It’s no trouble,” he assured her. “None at all. I need to stay out of trouble anyway.”

The hint of a smile moved her mouth, drawing his attention to those full, round lips. His body heated at the thought of getting close enough to taste her and the tightening in his jeans made him painfully aware of how long it had been since he was with a woman. Erik would skin me alive. Not that her brother had explicitly warned him away from Sarah... Jake shut the thoughts down.

She’d been through more than enough in her short life. She didn’t need him complicating things. He needed to change the subject.

“Speaking of your son. Forgive me for saying, but you look very young to have a boy of his age. How old would you have been?”

Her smile disappeared. “Fourteen, I suppose, but I didn’t give birth to him.”

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