Free Wrecked by AJ Harmon Page B

stretched, knowing that, more than likely, she would
retain little of what she’d read.
    Taylor dismissed her for the day, telling her to arrive at
eight the next morning and the I.T. guy would be getting her passwords and
log-ins all set up for the computer system so she could learn the policies and
regulations of the software specific to patient records and care. Goody, she thought. That sounds almost as fun as the employee manual!
    After she’d collected her things from her locker, Ethan
called after her as she was ready to leave.
    “Should we celebrate your first day with dinner?” he
excitedly asked.
    “You know, you don’t have to help me celebrate all the time.
I’m sure you have things you’d rather be doing?” Bess replied.
    “Nope. I don’t have anything I’d rather do than take you
out.”
    How could she respond to that? “Well, that’s very kind of
you, but…”
    “Please don’t make me celebrate alone,” Ethan pretended to
pout.
    She laughed at his exaggerated expression. “Do you think we
could maybe just order in? I’d kind of like to stay home. Actually, there’s
something I’d like to talk to you about.”
    “Sure we can order in. Or I could grab takeout on my way
home? Chinese?”
    “That sounds really good,” Bess agreed. “Thank you, Ethan.”
    And it was better than she had remembered. Ethan had brought
her Chinese food right after she’d been discharged from the hospital. It tasted
even better now that she was well. And Ethan noted, with pleasure, how much she
had eaten.
    “I am really glad to see you eating more. You were pecking
at your food like a bird,” he remembered.
    “I was just telling Regina today that it feels great to be
able to taste food and enjoy eating,” Bess replied.
    They cleaned up their dirty dishes and placed the leftovers
in the fridge for Bess to enjoy another time. She admitted to feeling guilty
that she always got the leftovers but Ethan assured her that he didn’t mind one
bit. She pretended to believe him.
    “Now you wanted to talk to me about something?” he asked, as
they walked back into the family room.
    “Yes!” Bess stated. “You said that this part of the house,
right where we are sitting, is the original house that was built… when?”
    “Um,” he thought out loud. “It was before or during the
Revolutionary War, so some time in the mid to late 1700’s?”
    “And how do you know that this is original?”
    “The real estate agent told me,” he grinned. “She said that
basically, this room was the entire house. The fireplace did double duty. It
warmed them in the winter, but also was their cooking fire. No running water,
obviously, so no bathroom, so it would have heated all of the water for
bathing, too. And, it is still in its original state,” he added. “It was built
so well that there hasn’t been any need to repair it. And, apparently, if we
were to rip up the floors, we would find the original wooden floor that shows
there were two small rooms where we are sitting now, which would have been the
bedrooms. She said that the pictures of the original floor show where the walls
had been. Why?”
    “Well, I’m curious,” Bess said. “I don’t understand
construction and building, but shouldn’t there be a foundation? I’m sure the
original house wasn’t built to code,” she laughed.
    “The house was jacked up and footings put in when the first
renovation came. I believe the previous owners also did some major improvements
to make it pass inspections for hurricanes. I don’t know much about
construction either, but I had a home inspection done when I bought the house
and there weren’t any issues that were detected.”
    “Good. Good to know,” Bess nodded.
    “If you’re worried about your safety, Bess, don’t be. I
would never put you in harm’s way. Never!”
    “Oh, no. It’s not that. I don’t feel unsafe. Not one bit.”
    “So, why all the questions?” Ethan wasn’t sure what
information she was