Page 65 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

Jessa rolled her eyes and walked to the fridge to get me my cheese.

Colleen looked at me, then to Jessa and back to me again. ‘She cooks, never thought I’d see the day.’

‘Brett says she’s pretty good too.’

‘I’m right here,’ she muttered, scrambling more eggs.

After breakfast, I took a shower then drove Colleen and Jessa back to the hospital.

Steve had been moved from the ICU to a step-down unit in the cardiac wing. Deb had already left and Steve was sleeping but woke up in a good mood soon after we arrived. He was due to have his stent put in tomorrow and then would be released a day or two after that if everything went according to plan.

‘Nasty storm on its way,’ the nurse said as she entered the room to check Steve’s vitals and give him some medications.

We all looked up to her. ‘How nasty?’ my father asked.

‘Fifteen to twenty inches of snow and nor'easter winds.’

‘Wow,’ I commented, digging my phone out to send off a few text messages. The guys would be really busy with snow removal over the next few days. The truth was, it made sense for me to head home, but I wasn’t about to leave here without Jessa. Business or not, I was staying with her.

The nurse took Steve's lunch order form, recorded his vitals and changed his urinal bag.

When she was gone and we all settled into our respective chairs around his bed, Colleen had Steve tell us all everything that the doctors had said on their rounds this morning. He mainly went on about his surgery tomorrow and that he would have some ultrasounds later this afternoon.

When his lunch arrived, I looked to Jessa. ‘Want me to run out for anything?’

‘Drew,’ Steve said, ‘I think you should head back to the Cape before the storm hits.’

I looked to Jessa at the same time she looked up to me. ‘And I think it’s safest if you take her with you,’ he finished.

‘But I want to be here for your surgery tomorrow.’

‘I want that too, sweetheart,’ her father reached out to her, taking her hand. ‘Drew’s going to be needed by his crew over the next few days, and I don’t want you at the townhouse alone. It is likely safe, but I'd feel better if you were on the Cape, that way your mother won’t have to worry about you and me. I’ve also been thinking that it’s time to connect with Breton, and I want a plan to bring Abby in. This needs to end soon.’

Jessa nodded and for once, I didn’t want to protect her feelings. I wanted her home and I was being selfish, but I’d waited long enough. I was allowed to be a bit selfish once in a while too. But I also saw what Steve was doing, he was using his sick card to get Jessa and Breton to push their timelines up. And knowing the love they had for him, they would do just about anything for Steve, especially at the moment to keep his stress levels down. It was a manipulative move, but one I could get behind if it meant being able to keep Jessa with me.

‘Besides, your mother and I were thinking that when I’m released, it’s probably better for us to stay out on the Cape for a while, as the townhouse has too many stairs for my heart at the moment,’ he added.

Jessa looked surprised. ‘I didn’t even think about that,’ she said in a low voice.

‘It was something the nurse said yesterday. I’ll discuss it with the occupational and physiotherapist in the next few days,’ he lifted her hand and kissed it.

‘Drew, can you take me back to the house so I can pack a bag and some things for the next few days?’ Colleen stood up. ‘If we’re getting a storm, I want to be prepared.’

‘Sure, but maybe we should go now?’

When I dropped Colleen off at home, Jessa and I went in to get our things. Colleen wanted to drive herself back to the hospital, so she would have a vehicle. On the way to the Cape, we stopped off to pick up a few essential food items for the next few days, as I hardly had anything in the house foodwise.

Stop and Shop was crazy busy. By the time we left to head over the bridge to the Cape it was already snowing pretty heavily and getting dark.

My phone had been buzzing in my pocket. When it started to drive me nuts, I pulled it out and handed it to Jessa, ‘Can you please read me the messages?’

She held it out to me, ‘It’s locked.’

‘One. Nine. Nine. Two.’

‘Your birth year?’ she laughed entering my lock code. ‘Original.’

‘Who’s messaging me?’

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