Chapter Nine

A day later, Jordan found herself on the way to Woody's beach house. He had discussed it with the chief, who enthusiastically endorsed the plan. In his mind, Jordan would be safe...they could work on the case ..... and most importantly, the whole thing would stay in the Boston PD's jurisdiction.

Garret insisted that Jordan see her doctor one more time and get his okay. Her situation being what it was, the doctor agreed she was a lot safer at the beach house than in Boston. He told her she could take her stitches out in about 10 days. And he would make arrangements to see her if she needed him. Just nothing real physical for a while. Not only had the bullets done damage to her body, but she had lost a lot of blood. And as tiny as she was, such blood loss had worn her system down. She needed to be careful until she could get built back up again. After these orders and a brief trip to her apartment so she could gather her things and her laptop, she was in Woody's car with him, heading for his house on the Massachusetts' coastline.

He glanced over at her as they drove. She was asleep in the passenger seat. She still looked beat. She had no idea how powerless he felt when she was shot. How helpless....The emotions had even shocked him. He had firmly told himself that he would have felt that way about anyone. After she had pushed him away for the last time...after Devan, he had told himself he had to move on. Not only away from Jordan, but also in his own emotional life. He vowed then and there not to let another woman get under his skin like Jordan Marie Cavanaugh did...including Jordan. He wouldn't let her play games with his heart again.

As a result, he had become cold and calculating as far as women were concerned. He dated a lot after he had left homicide....more than he ever had before since he came to Boston, but he had been the one firmly in charge of any relationship he had. He had never gotten too attached to any woman. And when he found that he would have to work closely with Jordan one more time, he had renewed his vow. She wouldn't get to him...not again. She would find him as calculating as the other women who had cursed him in the last couple of years. He smiled grimly to himself. He had had some good times since he had left homicide...really good times...but he had been in control and hadn't vested any of his heart in his relationships....just physical pleasure. And it had garnered him the scorn of several highly attractive Boston ladies. But his heart had remained unscarred.

Except for the ones put on it by her.

So when Eddie Winslow had come by her apartment as they were getting ready to leave, Woody had been surprised at his own mounting need to punch the MSBI agent in the face. He hadn't, of course, but when Eddie told Jordan she was making a mistake, he had felt his hackles rise. Eddie tried once again, unsuccessfully, to talk her into going with him... "I can take care of you, Jordan...keep you safe....and you wouldn't have to deal with him," Woody had overheard him tell Jordan after they had gone into the privacy of her bedroom to talk.

"No. I'm not leaving Boston."

"Why? You'll be safer..."

"No. I spent too many years away. I'm not leaving again. Besides, I feel safer with Woody."

Evidently at this point, Eddie had given Jordan a hurt look because she continued, "Don't look at me that way. I do. In the past when we worked together, the man always watched my back. I was always safe with Woody. While other things may have changed between us, that fact hasn't. I know I will be safe."

"Yeah, maybe physically, but what about your heart, Jordan?"

"Believe me, Eddie, that's safe, too. Whatever we had, if anything, is long gone."

Woody had heard Garret and Nigel make nearly the same comments to her before she left Garret's house.

"I don't want to leave," she had told Garret.

"I know, but it's only temporary. Think of it as a vacation...after all, you'll be at the beach."

"Not the same..."

Garret had sighed. "I know....but at least you'll be getting some rest."

"I know... but I'd rather be working."

"You will be..."

"No. I mean at the morgue. You're short staffed as it is."

"We will make do. I'll pull in someone from another morgue. You just be careful, Jordan."

"How else can I be? I'll be under police protection 24/7."

"That's not what I mean and you know it."

Jordan nodded, only to have nearly the same conversation with Nigel on her cell phone no less than 10 minutes later. "Watch yourself, Jordan," the Brit had warned. "You know what he is capable of doing to you without him even trying....or realizing it." Nigel had watched Jordan try to put the pieces of her broken heart back together.....and it hurt himto watchher attempts. She had just seemingly got her act together...making peace with her past, her father, and her issues. She was becoming a beautiful, warm woman....reaching her full potential. Nigel had hoped, deep down inside, that as more time passed, and Woody became a distant, hazy memory, that Jordan might turn to him .... It hadn't happened yet...and if Woody did break her heart again, it may take her another two years to sew what was left of it back together again. If she was even able to do this. And while he was a patient man, and would wait....he didn't know if her heart could take another shock. She may never recover.

Woody pulled into the driveway of his beach house and turned off the engine. He gently shook Jordan. "We're here, Jo," he said, a little harsher than he meant to.

She sat up carefully, mindful of her stitches. "Oh, Woody...it's beautiful."