She moved into his kiss and let her lips linger. Jason was the one who kept the good morning kiss from becoming more. “I’m happy to see you smiling.”

“Yesterday I was stuck in a cell. Today I’m free and have the ability to do something about this situation. Until Clive calls with a time for the emergency hearing he is requesting, we can’t do a legal thing to get Owen back.”

“Legal being the key word.”

She searched his eyes. “I would never ask you to do something illegal.”

“But . . .”

After a deep breath, she said, “That doesn’t mean I won’t. I’ll play by the rules as long as there is hope that this is all going to go away. But if they try and take Owen against his will, I’m keeping my promise to him and Emily.”

And his dream will have been a premonition. “Then we’ll just have to keep that from happening.”

They started with Jason’s doctor, who brought her in for a physical and the requested blood test. They would have the results by late afternoon, which gave them the rest of the morning to find and hire a contractor.

Rachel walked into her cold, dark house and went directly to Owen’s room, even though she knew he wasn’t there.

Jason stood silently behind her. “You okay?”

She shrugged. “He’s at school. Or should be, in any case . . . not that I’m allowed to text him to find out.”

“This can’t last.”

She wasn’t so sure of that. “And I shouldn’t have met a half a dozen hookers from the streets of New York, but I have.” Rachel turned toward her bedroom and Jason followed. “If there is one lesson I’ve learned in the past year, it’s that anything can happen. And with my luck lately, I would go on to say that if that anything is something bad, it will happen.”

“Hey, what about me?” Jason smiled as he asked the question.

“Not you . . . although it might have been better if you worked in the pizza joint across the street from the office.”

“You wouldn’t have noticed me if I made pizzas for a living.”

She paused. “I like pizza.”

“Hmmm, pizza. Now I’m hungry.”

Rachel pushed him toward the door. “Then pop something in the oven. I need to change.”

She was still wearing his shirt and her pants from the day before, since she didn’t have clothes at his house.

“I don’t cook,” he complained.

“Follow the instructions on the box.”

“But . . .”

“You fly planes and run a zillion-dollar business. I’m sure you can cook a pizza from the freezer.”

“You’re bossy when you’re on a mission.”

She pushed him all the way out her door and closed it behind him.

The contractor arrived about the same time the pizza was delivered. Apparently Jason was allergic to turning on an oven.

The contractor called himself T. Just T. Rachel waited for him to clarify his name with something along the lines of T is for Tanner, Travis, Tom . . . but no. Just T.

“Well, T. What I need is an environmental report on this house.”

“Specifically lead paint and asbestos,” Jason said.

“But test for anything considered toxic.”

“Are you trying to find a problem for insurance or something?”

“Oh, no . . . nothing like that. It’s personal.”

“Have you been sick?”

“Nope.”

T looked confused.

“Check for mold, anything that can make you ill.”

He gave the living room a once-over. “Fresh paint?”

“Yeah, I’ve painted almost every room in the place.”

“I’m going to have to dig into some of it for testing.”

“Whatever you have to do. If you can do it close to the floor or away from where the eye looks and not skew the test results, that would be great.”

“Okay, ma’am. You’re the boss.”

He went back out to his truck, and Jason said in her ear, “You’re kinda sexy when you’re bossy.”

“Ha.” She opened the pizza box, and her stomach reminded her they’d skipped breakfast. “You woke up horny.”

“Did not.”

She tilted her head, offered her best don’t lie to me stare.

“Okay, maybe a little.”

Rachel lowered her head.

“I blame the image of you in my shirt.” He grabbed a piece of pizza and shoved it in his mouth.

She thrust a napkin into his free hand and sat down.

Two hours later T walked into the living room to let them know he was finished.

“Anything you can tell us now?”

“I scraped the walls, and my kit doesn’t show lead.”

Rachel grasped Jason’s hand, hope filling her chest.

“But that’s not to say there isn’t lead in there. I have to send it to a testing center to make sure the coat of paint over it isn’t messing up the chemistry.”

“How long will that take?”

“Three days.”

“Can we rush it?” Jason asked.

“That is rushing.”

“Anything else?” Rachel asked.

“There isn’t any evidence of asbestos. But if there was at some point, and it wasn’t removed properly, you might find some in the insulation in the attic.”

Rachel frowned. “Let me guess, you’re sending it out for testing?”

“I would suggest that isn’t necessary, but you said you wanted everything I question tested. It is an old house, and back when this was built, we didn’t know much about what made us sick.”

“Okay.”

“There is mold down in the basement.”

“Oh no.”

T smiled. “You and everyone else on this block. It’s not black mold, but I did treat the area with the bleach you had by your laundry supplies.”

“So it’s not a problem?”

“It’s smelly but not toxic.”

“Does it need to be sent off to a lab?” Jason asked.

“Nope.”

“That’s all?”

“You wanted to know about hidden dangers, right?”

Rachel wondered what she had missed that they haven’t covered. “Anything.”

“Well, those stairs leading down into your basement should be removed and replaced.”

She released a long breath. “Stairs?” All he had was old stairs?

“It’s a decent size space, but I wouldn’t want to be lugging my laundry down there. Cold and damp draws lots of insects. I’m not a fan of spiders.”

Rachel glanced at Jason, then back at T. “Spiders . . . stairs and spiders is all you found?”

“You sound disappointed.” He tore off the sheet he’d been working with and handed her a copy.

“Not at all. Please contact me as soon as you know about the lab results.”

“You got it.”

Jason shook the man’s hand, and they watched him walk away.

Rachel leaned against the door with a smile. “Nothing. He didn’t find anything.”

“He didn’t seem too concerned the lab would disagree with him.”

“We need to call Clive.”

By two, Rachel was given a clean bill of health, not a speck of lead in her blood. Much like T, the doctor explained that there was always a chance that another person in the house would test positive, and that she should have Owen tested as soon as possible if in fact there was lead detected in the old paint in the house.