Chapter 18

For several consecutive days, Wesley inserted himself into Mabel's life in every possible way. He shadowed her like a ghost—at the library, outside lecture halls, beneath her apartment building—persisting despite her icy indifference. When the constant harassment became unbearable, Mabel arranged to meet him at a café, determined to end this once and for all. She ordered a black coffee. Then a waiter slipped, and the scalding liquid flew toward her face. Before Mabel could react, Wesley threw himself in front of her. The coffee drenched his forearm, raising an immediate cluster of blisters. Mabel was stunned by this. She took him to the hospital without a word. The short walk left Wesley sweating from pain as each step jostled his burned flesh. Watching Mabel's impassive expression, he remembered her cafeteria injury. That boiling bowl of soup had left her far more severely burned than this. Even so, she'd endured that agony while he'd carried Anais away without a backward glanc