Last First Kiss Read Free

subsequently, release him.
    Jackson made his way back to Giselle’s room, and stood over her bed, watching her brow crease even in her drugged sleep. Remembering her cries from earlier, he knew, even as his own personal hell had just come to a dramatic end, hers was about to begin. He reached out to touch the bandaged cut on her forehead, a minor injury compared to what could have happened to her. Her right hand was in a splint, but that, too, was minor. He stared at her perfectly symmetrical features, marred only by a light spattering of freckles along the bridge of her delicate nose and a tiny scar above one eyebrow.
    A light touch on his arm disrupted his thoughts and observations. He turned to meet Carrie’s worried gaze.
    “ Jackson...I’m so sorry.” Teary eyed, she hugged him tightly. “I thought you would be here, so I brought someone up with me.”
    Jackson caught the movement at the doorway and turned as his uncle walked in, Stetson in hand, looking unsure of what to say to him. He stepped toward the man who’d raised and loved him for over thirty years. “Uncle Bill.”
    “ Are you okay, Jackson?”
    “ A few bruises and a sore knee...nothing.” He embraced his uncle then shrugged. “It could have been a lot worse, obviously.”
    “ I guess Chloe wasn’t wearing her seat belt,” Carrie said.
    “ She’d be alive if she had.”
    “ Have you called her mother yet?” Bill said.
    Jackson snorted and shook his head. “Oh,yeah. She said she was sorry for my loss but couldn’t make it to the funeral.”
    “ Lord, it’s no wonder she was disturbed,” Carrie added. “Are you all right? I know how bad it was for you at home.”
    Jackson shook his head slowly. “I don’t know how I feel yet. Chloe was difficult to live with, but to have her die like that.” He lowered his head and squeezed his eyes shut. “God, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forget that. I wouldn’t have known it was her if I hadn’t recognized her clothing,” he said, his voice suddenly breaking.
    “ I’m sorry, Jack.” Carrie hugged him again.
    Jackson held on to her, fighting back the tears that threatened. Besides his Uncle Bill, Carrie was the closest thing he had to family. At forty-eight years old, twelve years older than himself, she was more like an older sister to him than co-worker of ten years. She was his right hand at the office, and he’d vented to her often when life with Chloe seemed unbearable.
    Carrie had also been his buffer zone when Giselle had declared him the enemy four years earlier. One careless moment of stupidity on his part and she still called him ‘Satan’ behind his back.
    Her reaction to him walking away from an accident when Toby hadn’t...No way would that be good.
    Carrie’s next statement jolted him to attention.
    “ Jackson, I’ve seen you miserable because of Chloe for so many years. I can’t help but feel that you’re free now, even if I do feel guilty about it.”
    He stared down at the woman who’d always been so supportive of him, even when he was a wet-behind-the-ear engineer, brand new to road design. “Have I ever told you how much I appreciate you?”
    “ Yes, but it’s been awhile.” She sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Seriously, Jackson. I’d love to see you happy.”
    “ Thanks, Carrie.” He turned to stare down at Giselle, sedated and sleeping. “I wish I hadn’t been here when the doctor told her about Toby.”
    Carrie’s jaw dropped. “You were here?”
    “ I volunteered, but if I could do it over, I wouldn’t. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. Hell, I wasn’t thinking.”
    He walked out of the room, over to a window at the end of the hallway and stared blankly out at the parking lot below. “The doctor wanted someone present that she knew. She thought it might be a comfort, but I should have known better. I know she despises me.”
    Carrie put her hand on his arm. “What happened when the doctor told her?”
    “ They had to