Read Online Never Say Goodbye by Irene Hannon - Free Book Online Page A

as she punched the elevator button she realized that her hand was trembling. But at least she’d managed to remain poised and in control during theirbrief exchange, she congratulated herself. Her shock at coming upon Scott had been far less dramatic than at their first two encounters. In fact, she was more shocked by his job than by his presence. Manual labor seemed somehow inappropriate for a man of Scott’s intelligence and abilities and experience. Why had he settled for such a job? There had to be higher-level jobs, even for an ex-con, that wouldn’t require him to spend his whole day in a confined office. Yet he’d chosen to be a laborer. Jess frowned, recalling Karen’s comment that Scott had changed. His job choice certainly seemed to bear that out, she acknowledged begrudgingly.
    But if she was puzzled by Scott’s choice of work, she felt good about her reaction to him. She hadn’t fled, despite the temptation to do so. She’d kept her cool. She hadn’t been swayed by the warmth in his eyes.
    And the next time she saw him—if there was a next time—it would be even easier to walk away undisturbed, she thought with satisfaction.
    Â 
    Jess pulled into a parking place and glanced at her watch in frustration. If she hadn’t been running late this morning, she wouldn’t have walked out the door without the report she needed to present this afternoon. Skipping lunch to run home and retrieve it simply added to the pressure of an already stressful day.
    Jess was halfway down the walk toward her condo when she noticed the man sitting on the ground, his back against a tree, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He was at right angles to her, engrossed in abook, and a crumpled brown paper sack and empty soda can lying on its side were beside him.
    Jess’s headlong rush slowed, then came to an abrupt halt. It was Scott again! Less than a week after she’d run into him at the hospital, she realized incredulously. The last encounter she had written off to chance. But you could stretch coincidence only so far. If he was going to start staking out her home, then she’d have no choice but to follow her father’s advice and have a restraining order issued, she thought angrily.
    Just then, as if sensing her presence, Scott looked toward her. Though his surprised reaction momentarily let some of the air out of her theory of a deliberate setup, she still couldn’t buy pure chance. The odds against them running into each other twice in only a few days were too great. Taking a deep breath, she strode toward him.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” she demanded.
    He closed his book and rose in one lithe movement. But instead of the defensive reaction she expected, his posture was relaxed, his gaze warm. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth in the endearing way she had always loved, and she suddenly found it difficult to breathe. “Didn’t we have this same conversation at the hospital?”
    She folded her arms across her chest. “You didn’t answer my question.”
    â€œI’m working.” He shifted his book to the other hand and pointed to the Lawson Landscaping truck in the parking lot—which she’d have noticed if she hadn’t been so rushed, she realized—then nodded toward a shovel and a flat of begonias a few feet away. “Now it’s my turn. What are you doing here?”
    She ignored his teasing tone. “I live here, remember?”
    â€œI mean what are you doing here at lunchtime? We’re always long gone before the eight-to-five crowd gets home.”
    She frowned in confusion. “You’ve worked here before?”
    â€œSeveral times. Lawson has the groundskeeping contract for this complex.”
    The implications of his reply slowly sank in. He’d been in her neighborhood on more than one occasion. And he had made no attempt to contact her. So much for her father’s