Page 73 of The Encounter
The crowd cheered. Jace nodded and gave a thumbs up and then glanced at Samantha. Her face went sheet white. She clearly hadn’t expected to pay for it. Maddie snorted next to him and then covered her mouth with her hand. He bit back a smile.
Everyone chanted, “Do it! Do it!”
Samantha looked around, clearly embarrassed that she didn’t want to do it. Finally, she nodded yes and the entire crowd cheered. She glared over in their direction, but Jace didn’t catch her eyes directed at him. It was almost as if they were directed at Maddie.
What the hell?
When they leftthe benefit later that night and were seated in the limo heading back toward his place, Jace leaned back in his seat and sighed with Maddie leaning against him.
“What a night,” he said.
“What a night is right. Thank you for the amazing ten-thousand-dollar dessert.” She smiled up at him and giggled.
“Anything for my girl.”
They rode in silence for a few minutes. The necklace still niggled in the back of his mind.
“Did that necklace have a special meaning for you?”
She snuggled closer against him and sighed. “It looked like my mom’s necklace. After she passed away, I looked for hers, but could never find it. I’ve looked for one similar in jewelry stores and haven’t had any luck. Every quote I’ve gotten has been out of my price range.” She continued in a whisper, “This one seemed almost reachable.”
The disdain he felt for Samantha increased tenfold. Obviously, Samantha hadn’t known any of that or what she was taking away, but even if she had known, he knew she would do it all over again. She would just get even more satisfaction from it.
“I would like to get one of those made for you.”
She looked up at him in surprise. “Oh, no. I couldn’t accept that.”
“Doll, I want to.”
“I, just,” she paused and licked her lips before continuing, “It’s something I wanted to do for myself. I always planned to do it with my first big paycheck that didn’t need to go toward bills or expenses or loans.”
“I can understand that.”
“I appreciate you offering, though. It’s very sweet of you.”
He tugged her closer into his side. Most women would have jumped for him to buy them jewelry so early in a relationship. He couldn’t think of another woman he dated who would have turned it down. His respect for Maddie grew, if it were even possible.
“So why the hospital?” Maddie asked. “Why do you choose to do a benefit for the hospital over anything else?”
“I feel like the children need something to look forward to when they’re in there. It isn’t easy to go through treatments like that.”
She tilted her head as she looked at him. “You speak as if you know from experience.”
He smiled at her. “I do, actually.”
“Do tell.”
“When I was young, I was diagnosed with leukemia. I spent a good part of five years in and out of hospitals for radiation, chemo, surgery. It was incredibly lonely. Most of my memories from that time were being poked and prodded.”
“So you’re trying to give them a good lasting memory—something other than just the day-to-day stuff that goes with being very sick as a child.”
He nodded. “Exactly.”
She reached out and rested her hand on his. “That’s incredibly noble of you.”
He shrugged. “I’m just doing something I wish I had when I was their age. Most of the kids don’t have someone who can stay with them during all their treatments. Their parents live too far away or have bills. They have to leave their children in the hospital for treatment while they work to pay the medical bills that don’t stop piling up. It’s sad.
“I was fortunate enough to come from a wealthy family. My parents didn’t struggle with my bills, and my mom could always be with me. But the best times in the hospitals were playing with the volunteers. They always came up with new inventive games to take our minds off treatment. Now that I’m older, I can do the same for the kids in the hospital. I’m fortunate enough to have the means to provide entertainment and to put on events to bring money into the hospital. If I can do it, I will.”
