Mystery Lover(7)

She shook her head. "I don't remember much about it at all."

"He was. He used to talk about you all the time. The things you were  doing, what you were learning in school. He was always so proud of you. I  used to tease him about waiting around for you to grow up."

She glanced at him sharply. "He said that to me once."

"Then what's he been waiting for?" He gave her a glance from the corner  of his eye. "You are certainly as grown-up as he could possibly want  now."

Jennifer could not control the blush that she could feel flooding her face. "He admitted that he was only teasing me."

"You notice that he's never married anyone else, though," he pointed out in a wise tone. She glanced over at him and he winked.

No, she hadn't known that Chad wasn't married. She couldn't help feeling  pleased at the idea that perhaps he had been waiting for her.

Then another thought struck her. "Are you married, Tony?" She would hate  to have a jealous wife misunderstand her leaving town with Tony.

"I was. Unfortunately for me she found someone she wanted more, someone  who wasn't spending all his time trying to make a living." He shrugged,  but she could see the hurt that was still there. "I'm surprised Tiger  trusted me with you, come to think of it. He's always telling me I have a  terrible attitude toward women. Can't imagine why."

She smiled. "Obviously you're his best friend. Otherwise he wouldn't have sent me to find you."

"You're right. We go back a long way. When I called him and told him  that a former business associate was trying to hassle me, he agreed to  check it out

"We were the first ones there. It happened on the edge of town. There  weren't many houses out that far. The guy that hit you was hurt bad, we  could tell. And your mother and dad were pinned in the car." He shook  his head. "I'd never seen anything like it. Tiger told me to go for help  and he stayed there, trying to see what he could do. When I got back, I  found him sitting beside the road holding you. He told me later you had  been knocked unconscious in the back seat and when you woke up you  became hysterical. He managed to get you out. So he sat there and held  you until the police and the ambulance came."                       
       
           



       

"I never knew that."

"He was really upset, I can tell you. When they got your parents out and  took all of you to the hospital, he insisted we follow. We stayed there  at the hospital and waited to hear how you were doing."

"My mother told me my injuries weren't serious."

"That's what we found out. He worried about you later, though, when he heard that your dad didn't . make it,"

So her guardian angel had been a teenage boy when he first met her.

Tony continued to reminisce. "I remember that until we graduated from  high school he would still go back down there and check on you."

"Hedid?"

"Sure. Don't you remember?"

How could she tell him that she didn't even remember what Chad looked like? She had no memory of him whatsoever.

"I know that he seemed interested in how I was doing," she said cautiously.

for me. Neither of us thought it would turn out to be anything like this."

"What does Chad do?"

He looked around at her in surprise. "Don't you know?"

Jennifer had already accepted the fact that Tony did not know how she  and Chad communicated. It was strange to think that she was closer to  Chad than anyone in many ways and yet they were still strangers. She  didn't want to have to explain their relationship to Tony, not if Chad  hadn't already done so.

She tried to find a way to phrase her response that would not make the  relationship even more confusing. "Chad is a very private person." Tony  nodded his head. "Whenever I hear from him he chooses the topics we  discuss. He doesn't like to talk about himself." '

"That's Tiger, all right. He's always been that way. Something of a loner. When we were in the Marines together we'd-"

''Chad was in the Marines?''

"Sure. We decided to go in right after we got out of high school. Why?"

"He never told me."

"Oh. But he stayed in touch, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"That's kinda odd, him not telling you. He always knew what you were up  to. Maybe your mother wrote to him or something. When we were stationed  overseas he spent a lot of time talking about you."

Jennifer was having a tough time trying to put everything she was  learning from Tony into perspective with what she already knew about  Chad. He had lived a full and active life all the time he was in touch  with her, and yet had never given her a hint of it.

She almost cringed at some of the childish questions and concerns she'd  had back then. He had been so patient with her, kind and full of a sense  of caring that had eased her over the rough spots in her life.

Oh, Chad, do you have any idea how much you mean to me?

"Obviously not enough to do what I ask. I thought I told you to let Tony come get me."

Jennifer tried to disguise the sudden start she gave when Chad  responded. She shifted on the seat and glanced at Tony. "1 think I'll  try to catch a nap, if you don't mind. My day started out fairly early,"  she explained, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Good idea. Once we get off the main highway, the road is going to be too rough for you to do anything but hang on!"

Jennifer closed her eyes and willed herself not to speak out loud. Chad? Can you hear me?

"Of course I can hear you. What I want to know is why you aren't halfway back to L.A. by now?"

You know why. I wanted to see you.

"Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps I don't want to see you?"

Please don't be that way. Did you really come to see me when I was a child?

"Tony and his big mouth. Yes, Sunshine, I used to drive down there on a regular basis."

Then why don't I remember you?

"Because you never saw me. I used to sit outside the school and watch you come out. You were such a sad

little thing for a long while, but there was nothing I could do to help."

But there was! You started talking to me.

"Yes. I realized that night of the accident when I tried to calm you  down that I could pick up your thoughts-all your fear and terror. While I  sat there holding you I not only talked to you, I tried to send you my  thoughts to calm you. They seemed to help."

I don't understand why I can't remember.

"You were just a baby. I don't think you'd even started school at that  time. Later, whenever I thought of you, I discovered I could pick up on  what you were thinking."

Have you ever been able to do that with anyone else?

"No. But then I've never tried. Like I've told you. You're special."

So are you.
                       
       
           



       
"Come on, Sunshine, don't try to make me some sort of romantic hero. You wouldn't even like me if you knew me."

How can you possibly say that?

"Because you have an image of me as someone very gentle. I'm not a gentle sort of person."

You are with me.

"I know."

She smiled slightly and drifted off to sleep.





Chapter Four


Contents - Prev / Next Tony was right. As soon as they turned off the paved road, Jennifer woke up.

"Road maintenance is a little slack in this area, wouldn't you say?" she  managed to get out while bracing herself against the dashboard of the  truck.

Tony chuckled. "I warned you."

"So you did. How much farther do we have to go?"

The sun had set and the evening light was rapidly fading. Tony flipped  on the headlights, then glanced at his watch. "I haven't been here in a  few years. It seems to me we have at least a couple of hours of this  before we get there."

"No wonder Chad felt bruised and shaken."

"You know, I've been meaning to ask you. How did he manage to call and  let you know what had happened to him? It doesn't really make sense,  anyway. If he was going to contact anybody, why you? Why not me?"

Now what do I say? she asked Chad. There was no response. Chad.. . Chad! What do you want me to tell him?

"That's up to you."

"Thanks a lot!"

"What do you mean?" Tony asked, surprised at her tone of voice.

"Oh! For, uh, thinking that he should have called you instead of me, of course. That wasn't very kind of you."

"Maybe not, but it makes sense. Why didn't he call me anyway?"

"Maybe he'd run out of quarters."

"Besides, that place is so primitive, I can't believe there's a phone for miles."

"Maybe it has a ham radio unit and he got someone to relay it over a phone somewhere."

"I suppose. I can always ask him when we get there."

If we ever do, she thought, knowing that she was going to have bruises  all over her bottom by the time they arrived, not to mention on her arms  and legs.