He knew when she needed a break, five minutes to herself. And he knew his feelings for her, about her, had changed. What he felt now wasn’t a crush. What he didn’t know was what to do about it.

She looked up then. He saw the fatigue in her eyes, and the mild puzzlement.

To cover the fact he’d been staring at her, he stepped to the doorway.

“Sorry. I didn’t want to break your focus.”

“Just finished up. Or will be once I file all these.”

“I’ve got that. Take a break, Doc. Ray’s going to take some of the load off, don’t you think?”

“He’s willing, and he’s able. Carly, the nursing student? She got some practical experience on the trip here, but needs more training.”

He continued to file the patient information as she sat, rubbing at the back of her neck.

“Headache?”

“Just overload,” she said. “We’ve got a type two diabetic. They’ve done well managing that, and finding oral meds, but the supply’s low. Some of the group is on medication—hypertension, chemical balancing, beta blockers, blood thinners, asthma inhalers, and so on.”

He nodded, finished up the filing. “I was coming in to let you know we’re going to need more supplies. Even the bare basics are running low after today. We’re in decent shape,” he said as he turned to her. “But we just added nearly a hundred people. It’s time for a scavenger hunt.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“We need you here. We can figure out who’d be best to go along, nudge them into volunteering. I think we need to postpone the meeting—at least a day. Too much going on. And when we do hold it, if we’re comfortable with them by then, we should probably include Max and—it’s Lana, right?”

“Yes, and I agree about including them. Bill’s going to want his son there.”

“I’ll get a better sense of Will. He’s moving in with us. My initial take on him? He traveled hundreds of miles to find his father. That says something about heart and character.”

“Again, I agree. Here’s where I don’t. I don’t think we can or should postpone the meeting. Katie worked the sign-up, and Lloyd helped her with it for a while. Both of them came in to tell me Kurt Rove, the Mercers, and Denny Wertz stood across the street, watching. And Katie saw the Mercers stroll over and start on some kid—a teenager with a dog. Apparently one of them made noises and threats about putting the dog down when it growled at them.”

“Crap. Why didn’t Katie have someone come get me?”

“She was about to when Rove strutted across, and people in Max’s group had words to say back. Max walked up. Whatever he said or did had Rove and the Mercers backing off.

“We need those rules, Jonah. We need the order. And we need them yesterday.”

“All right.” He scrubbed at his face. “Okay. We’ve got about three hours. Add Max, Lana, and Will Anderson?”

“I think it’s the way to go. I can stop by and tell Max and Lana. You can talk to Will.”

“You need a break, Rachel. When did you eat last?”

“It’s been a long day, Dr. Vorhies.”

He opened the desk drawer, took out a protein bar.

“Why can’t they make these in hot fudge sundae, or rare roast beef au jus?” She unwrapped it, took a bite. “They’re just terrible. Good news is, they won’t last forever.”

“Could be like Twinkies.”

She laughed a little. “Zombieland. Love that movie. The other good news is: However much the world is screwed, we’re not having a zombie apocalypse.”

“Yet.”

On a sigh, she ate more of the protein bar. “You sure can cheer me up, Jonah.”

“How about we take a walk? You could use some air, some just out-of-here time. We’ll go tell Max about the meeting, tell Bill and his son. Maybe walk down to the gardens.”

“I could use a walk.”

She got up; he forgot to step back. And he reminded himself he’d delivered twins under desperate circumstances. He’d gotten those twins, Hannah, their mother, and Rachel out of New York City. He’d done things during the past four months he never believed he could or would.

So why couldn’t he just make a move here?

He didn’t step back, and realized neither did she.

“I want to ask you something.”

She kept her eyes on his. “All right.”

“If none of this had happened, if things were just the way they used to be, and I’d asked you out for a drink, or maybe out to a movie, would you have agreed?”

She waited a beat. “What kind of movie? It matters. If you’d have asked me to go to some foreign art film with subtitles, I’d have said no. That’s no way to relax after a day in the ER.”

“I’ve never seen a foreign art film with subtitles.”

“Then maybe.” Those dark chocolate eyes stayed steady on his. “Sometimes it’s hard to go back there, to try to remember the way things were. But maybe. Why didn’t you?”

“I was working up to it.”

“Well, the way things stand now, you missed your chance for movie night. Got anything else?”

“I don’t want to mess anything up, make things weird between us. We’ve got to work here, and we’ve got to build that structure. So, if you’re not—”

“Oh, for God’s sake.”

She rolled her eyes as she clamped a hand on the back of his head, pulled him down until his mouth met hers.

He felt his mind melt. Just melt. All that longing, all that wishful thinking beat into reality. He held there, beat, beat, beat, until he felt her hand press against his pounding heart.

“I don’t feel weird.” With her big, beautiful eyes on his, she breathed out, slowly. “Do you?”

“I’m not sure. I should make sure.”

He lifted her to her toes, took her mouth again. He didn’t ask himself why he’d waited so long. Why question what seemed perfect?

“No. I don’t feel weird.”

“Good. We should take that walk. Talk to Max, talk to Bill.”

“Right.” He let her go, reminded himself they had priorities.

“Then we should keep walking. To my place.”

His gaze sharpened on hers. “Your place.”

“My bed. We’ve got a couple hours. Like you said, I need a break. I think you need one, too.”

“I’ve wanted you a long time.”

“Maybe not as long for me because I’d have been surprised if you’d asked me to a movie. But somewhere in Pennsylvania, not long after we met Arlys and Fred and Chuck, I started wanting you.”

“We should close up.”

“Yeah.”

She set up the walkie as she always did in case of a medical emergency.

“Rachel?” They went out, closing the door behind them. “I ought to tell you, I’m pretty, well, pent up.”

“Hmm.” She tipped him a smile as they walked together through the odd light to the front entrance. “Lucky for you, I have a cure for that.”

Within the hour, Jonah considered himself cured.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

In the big living room with its comfortable sofas and beautiful old chestnut floor, Max accepted the offered beer. He wasn’t sure what to make of this invitation, but calculated Jonah and the others gathering tonight wanted to get a better sense of him and Lana.

Since he wanted to get a better sense of them, it worked out well.

He hadn’t brought up any of the reservations circling through his thoughts. Not when he could all but see the stress sloughing off Lana, not when he saw the pleasure she’d gotten from putting flowers in a vase in what was—for now—their bedroom.

Not when he’d seen the child—their child—moving inside her.

He could keep his concerns and doubts to himself for now, at least until he’d gotten a better lay of the land here. But the incident with Flynn, the ugliness that had rolled off the men who’d made a point of trying to bait the boy, that stuck with him.