Read Online Safe Harbor by Marie Ferrarella - Free Book Online

it.”
    Stevi put her hand out. “Here, give it to me. I’ll find it.”
    She had a hunch Silvio hadn’t turned the cell phone on—and he hadn’t. When she proceeded to do just that, the cell’s number briefly lit the screen.
    Handing him the phone back, she said, “I’ve got your number. You want to write it down?”
    “Why?” he asked uncertainly. “I would not be calling myself.”
    She laughed and shook her head. “I guess you have a point.”
    Pocketing his phone, Silvio moved toward the door and opened it. “You will call me?” he asked again, pressing the point home.
    She raised her right hand as if she was taking a vow. “The second he opens his eyes and I get a chance, I’ll call you.”
    Silvio appeared to catch the significant phrase buried in rhetoric. “See that you get the chance,” he told her sternly.
    She crossed to the door and eased it closed behind the gardener. “Yes, sir,” she promised for the umpteenth time.
    * * *
    H ER MYSTERY MAN slept for the rest of the day. Several times, uneasy about his condition, Stevi held a mirror up to his face to see if he was breathing. It was something she remembered reading in a short story once. At the time, she’d thought the trick was rather silly and ancient. Now she was glad she remembered since his chest gave the impression of hardly moving.
    Stevi stayed in her room all day. She didn’t want to take a chance on leaving and having the patient wake up while she was gone.
    She was fairly sure that he was as weak as she had told Silvio he was, but there was always the outside chance that he would wake up and use whatever strength he did have to leave the inn. He was in no condition to fend for himself in the outside world and if, as in all good spy stories, whoever had tried to kill him should see him out and about, this time they might finish the job. She doubted very much if the man would be able to defend himself, as weak as he was.
    So, to guard against that happening, Stevi remained in her room. She’d had the scrambled eggs and ham she’d brought for breakfast and when he didn’t wake up, around one o’clock she had the plate of cold, somewhat soggy pancakes for lunch.
    Throughout it all, she kept her eye on the stranger, fairly certain that he’d be awake by dinnertime.
    He wasn’t.
    Silvio had not come by again and she didn’t want to impose on him, so she didn’t call him. She also didn’t have anything to eat for dinner. Stevi decided to tough it out, telling herself that skipping a meal once in a while wasn’t a huge sacrifice. As long as nobody missed her and came looking for her—especially if Cris was making her big announcement to the whole family about her pregnancy.
    She hesitated, then decided they’d never miss her in the loving chaos that was bound to erupt when the baby news came out. She didn’t really want to miss that—she was happy for Cris, she really was—but she was so preoccupied with what she’d undertaken, she was afraid she’d draw attention from her sister.
    She dragged two spare comforters out of the back of her closet to create a makeshift sleeping bag of sorts.
    “Hope you appreciate this,” she told her houseguest, climbing in between the layers of comforters.
    She dozed rather than slept.
    Several times during the night she thought she heard her roommate stirring and she bolted upright.
    But each time she thought she heard him, Stevi discovered him still sleeping.
    He slept through the night.
    She really didn’t.
    By morning Stevi felt achy and the worse for her impromptu sentry duty. Depleted of energy and yet oddly wired, she skipped her morning run, choosing instead to spend the time observing the man in her bed.
    As time went on, she grew somewhat anxious. Maybe the reason he hadn’t woken up all day was because he had slipped into a coma, she thought, becoming progressively more worried.
    She forced herself to put her concerns on hold until after she showered and got dressed. This