The Hungry Heart

by Brenda Gayle

  His shoulders seemed massive, even on the large couch, and his abdomen was so well defined she would have sworn it was airbrushed if she’d seen it in a magazine. Along his chest she saw just the barest dusting of blond hair, and she fisted her hands to resist the urge to reach out and stroke it.

  His face was relaxed, like a child’s, and Nora was struck again by how attractive he was. If only he could always be this way—not laughing at her, not criticizing her.

  Just stop it. She shook her head, annoyed with herself for allowing him to get to her.

  If only he hadn’t kissed her. If only she didn’t know what it felt like to be held in those arms, the touch of his hands, the taste of his mouth, the sensation of his tongue...

  She watched his chest slowly rise and fall, and tried to regulate her own breathing to match.

  She was surprised at her regret for refusing his offer of sex—no strings attached. Damn, I’m almost thirty-five. I’m not a kid with unreal expectations for a happily-ever-after. What would be wrong with simply enjoying the moment?

  She pushed away the discontent. It doesn’t do any good to wish for something you don’t have. That was a lesson she’d learned a long time ago.

  She hurried back to the bedroom, washed and dressed quickly. She considered leaving him a note, but wasn’t sure what she should say. A simple thanks seemed trite given everything that had happened.

  Chapter 9

  Nora accepted her coffee and muffin from Sue and was about to leave when she noticed Gary sitting in the back of the coffee shop. His head was bowed and he seemed deeply engrossed in his newspaper. She glanced at her watch—not yet eight-thirty. She had some time. Her meeting with Billy wasn’t until nine.

  “Hi Gary, can I join you?”

  He hesitated, and then smiled and indicated the vacant chair across from him. “Of course. Good morning, Nora.” He waited while she settled herself. “Are you going on a trip?”

  She glanced down at her overnight bag. “No. My apartment was broken into so I spent last night with a…a friend.” She tripped over the word. It felt odd to refer to Hunter as a friend. In many ways she barely knew him, but in others...

  “I’m so sorry to hear that. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. The police think it was kids. Fortunately, they didn’t get anything of value.” She shrugged dismissively. “So how are you? I see you don’t have your wheelchair today.”

  “No. It’s a better day.” He chuckled. “I suppose it seems odd that I think braces and crutches make it a good day.”

  He did seem more in control of his movements, although Nora noticed a mild tremor in his hand as he raised his cup to take a drink. She took a sip of her own coffee and tried to think of something to say.

  Had she really lost the ability to make small talk?

  “Do you come here often?” She winced. That sounded like a pick-up line. Surely he wouldn’t interpret it that way.

  His eyebrows raised, and his mouth quirked up at one corner.

  Oh hell. “I mean, I’ve never seen you here before, and I come pretty much every day.” She tried to explain, feeling the heat of a blush flame her cheeks.

  He laughed. “I’m just teasing, you. It’s not often a pretty young girl shows an interest in me.”

  “I’m not all that young,” Nora said.

  “Well, compared to me you are. And as for coming here, yes, I’m a regular.”

  “I guess I’m usually here earlier, so we’ve missed each other.” Nora glanced down at her watch.

  “I don’t want to make you late. Do you need to get going?”

  “No.” She leaned back and took a leisurely sip from her cup. “I kind of like this. People accuse me of being too consumed with work. Maybe I should take things easier in the mornings—arrive for work at nine instead of seven.”

  “I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble with your boss.”

  “No worries. I am the boss.”

  “Really? I’m impressed.”

  She took another sip. “Are you from here?”

  He raised his cup, the tremor was more pronounced, and some of the coffee spilled on the table. “Damn.”

  Nora leapt up and retrieved some napkins from the carousel on the counter, as well as a top for his paper cup.

  “I’ll do it,” he said, taking the napkins and wiping the table. “I am originally from New Mexico, a very small town in the middle of nowhere. But I’ve lived and worked in Chicago for over thirty years. An accountant,” he added, preempting her next question.

  “I moved back recently. My MS had gotten to the point where it was becoming more and more difficult to get around during those Midwest winters.”

  “So you decided to retire somewhere sunny?”

  “Retire? I wish that was the case.” he scoffed. “No, I’m still able to do some freelance work, which is good. My insurance covers my medical expenses, but the small pension I receive isn’t enough to pay for rent and food—which as you know, isn’t cheap.”

  “Tell me about it,” Nora said, thinking about her own small apartment and cramped office. “That explains the suit.” Today Gary wore a dark blazer and navy tie over a crisp white shirt.

  “Not really. I work from home. The suit is just habit. Look, Nora, I appreciate your new attitude toward work, but I feel like I’m keeping you.”

  “Not at all. I enjoy talking to you.” Still, she couldn’t help glancing down at her watch—eight-fifty. “But you’re right. I do need to get going. I have a meeting to get to. It was nice seeing you again, Gary. I hope we can do this again soon.”

  ****

  Whenever she looked at the bronze-colored plaque on the door to the Children’s Action Network’s office, Nora felt a catch in her chest and her heart beat just a little faster. She knew the office wasn’t much to look at, but the work CAN did was truly invaluable, and that was all that mattered.

  It had felt good to tell Gary that she was the boss. She really had accomplished a lot in the past ten years. Sure, it had cost her, but wasn’t it worth it?

  Why was she even asking the question? She had never doubted it before. But something nagged at her.

  She’d enjoyed exchanging pleasantries with Sue this morning, and her chat with Gary had lifted her spirits. Could Hunter be right? Should she make a greater effort to get out and be with people socially?

  Over the years she had become so immersed in her own advocacy work, she hadn’t bothered to look around her, to connect with others outside that world. Well, that was going to change. She was going to make a real effort to socialize.

  She had sort of started last night with Billy, but—she cringed at the memory—that hadn’t worked out very well. Neither had either of her two evenings with Hunter.

  Maybe she should find a girlfriend to go out with. Unfortunately, only two names came to mind: Becca and Karen. She doubted Becca would be thrilled to have her boss tag along—and besides, Nora wasn’t sure she’d be able to appreciate twenty-something culture.

  And Karen...? Nora sighed. She wasn’t ready to embrace her sister in the way she was sure Karen wanted her to. Until that happened—if it ever did—it was best if she kept her distance.

  Don’t give up, Nora told herself, inspired by Gary’s positive attitude.

  She pushed open the door and froze on the threshold. Her gut clenched with an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.

  The outer office had been ransacked. Becca’s desk was turned on its side and the chair was upside down. The three green steel filing cabinets were still standing in a row, but all of their drawers had been pulled out leaving four gaping holes in each.

  She hurried into her own office. The drawers of her desk lay overturned on the floor. Papers were everywhere, but a quick scan of the room left no doubt. This time the thieves had succeeded in their quest. Her laptop computer was missing.

  She hurried back to the outer office. Becca’s ancient desktop computer was damaged, but the thieves hadn’t thought it valuable
enough to steal. That’s some consolation, I guess.

  She leaned against the doorframe and gazed around the room, dazed. Why was this happening? It couldn’t be coincidence that both her apartment and office were broken into the same night.

  What could they be after? If the thieves had really only wanted her computer, why had they rummaged through everything else?

  She reached into her purse for the card Officer Simmons had given her. The two crimes had to be related. But why?

  She scanned the room for the telephone and swore as she saw it had been pulled from the wall. She assumed it would be the same in her own office. She pulled her cell phone from her purse and had started dialing before she remembered that she’d forgotten to charge it last night. Dammit.

  She sank to the floor, burying her head in her hands and allowed the tears of frustration to have their way.

  “Nora? What the— Nora?”

  Oh crap. Billy. Terrible timing. It had been a long time since she’d given herself permission for a good cryfest, and she felt in need of one now. It would have to wait.

  She wiped the tears away with her sleeve, summoned all the composure she could manage—hopefully Billy wasn’t the type to freak out when faced with a distraught woman—and stood.

  “Hell, Nora, what happened?” Billy was standing in the center of the office, spinning around to survey the damage.

  “Break-in,” she said, pleased by how steady her voice sounded. “I need to use your phone.”

  ****

  Officer Simmons hadn’t sounded too happy when Nora called. He and Dryer were just getting ready to end their overnight shift and it had been a long night, he’d told her. She was sure he was about to pass her off to someone else until she mentioned the missing photo and frame from her apartment.

  Now the two officers were conducting a thorough examination of her office while she and Billy sat in a corner of the outer office and tried to recreate the work she had done after she’d left him the previous evening.

  She looked up as the two men stepped out of her office. Their faces were serious.

  “So?” she asked.

  “You think the computer is the only thing they took?” Simmons asked.

  “As far as I can tell.”

  He glanced to Dryer, and Nora felt the hair on her neck bristle. There was something they weren’t telling her.

  “Nora?”

  She glanced at the door. Damn. Could this get any worse? “I’m here, Karen.”

  “What’s going on? What happened?” The perfection of Karen’s cream-colored suit and coiffured brown hair stood in stark contrast to the disarray of Nora’s office.

  “We had a break in.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. It happened sometime last night. I discovered it when I got here this morning.” Nora felt Billy rise and stand beside her. She sighed. “Karen, this is Billy Bower, executive director of the Texas Childcare Association, and these are Officers Simmons and Dryer. This is my sister, Karen Pearce.”

  “Mrs. Pearce,” Billy said, stepping forward to take her hand. “It’s a pleasure.” He didn’t release her hand as he focused the full force of his striking hazel eyes on her sister’s flawless face. “I have to say, Nora has been a rock despite this unfortunate disruption, but I’m sure she would welcome the support of her family.”

  Nora was surprised by Karen’s reaction. She’d expected her sister to be flattered by the attention of such a good-looking, charming man. Instead, she seemed impatient, anxious to turn away from him. “Mr. Bower,” she acknowledged and extracted her hand.

  “Billy,” he insisted, seeming equally perplexed by Karen’s indifference.

  “Yes, Billy.” She faced the officers. “What have you found out?”

  “As I was about to explain to Miss Cross, this break-in seems staged,” Simmons said.

  “But they took my computer,” Nora said.

  “Yes, and we think that’s what they were after all along. But compared to the break in of your apartment—”

  “What?” Karen swung to face Nora.

  Dammit.

  “You’re apartment was broken into?” Karen glared at her. “When? Why didn’t you call me?”

  “Karen, please, can we talk about this later? I want to hear what the officers have to say. Please, Officer Simmons, continue.”

  “As I was saying, we think this was staged to look like a random break in. If you look around, it seems they knocked over bookshelves and pulled out drawers, but nothing was rummaged through. And your office door wasn’t damaged, they picked the lock.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t the same people? Maybe it was just coincidence?”

  The look Simmons and Dryer exchanged told Nora they didn’t think that was likely.

  Karen didn’t miss the look either. “I’m calling Robert,” she said, taking her cell phone from her purse.

  “Karen, no.” Nora pleaded. “Please don’t disturb him for this.”

  “Of course I’m going to call him. He’d want to know.” She walked away, dialing.

  Nora bit back her frustration and turned to the officers. “Okay, so now what?”

  “We’ve requested a forensics team. They should be here shortly. We’ll dust for prints and see what else we can find, but frankly, I’m not optimistic,” Simmons said.

  “In the meantime, we’ll canvas the neighborhood, see if we can find any surveillance footage from some of the nearby shops,” Dryer added.

  “And me? What am I supposed to do?” she asked.

  Billy came to stand beside her and slipped his arm around her shoulders. She knew he meant it to be reassuring so she resisted the urge to shrug him off. She was irritated and impatient. She didn’t want comforting.

  “If you could just hang out here for a while, in case we have any questions, we’d appreciate it,” Simmons said.

  “C’mon, Nora. We’ve got a bit of time before I have to catch my flight. Let’s finish up our submission. That’ll take your mind off the waiting,” Billy said, propelling her back to the desk they’d been working at.

  Despite her doubts, Billy’s suggestion worked. Karen, when she returned, simply righted a chair and sat quietly, waiting.

  Nora looked up when she heard deep masculine voices approaching from down the hallway. Karen leapt to her feet and Nora was sure she heard her murmur something like “about time” when Robert appeared along with two smaller men wearing black jackets. Nora saw the word “Forensics” emblazoned in fluorescent yellow across the jacket backs as they carried two large black cases into her inner office. She wondered if she should follow them in case they had any questions, but before she could move, they closed the door.

  She felt a twinge of envy as she watched Robert embrace Karen with obvious affection. Then he approached her, pausing only slightly, and embraced her too.

  “How’re you doing?” he asked.

  “I’m fine. I’m really sorry, Robert. Karen shouldn’t have called you.”

  “Of course she should have. You’re family, Nora. You’re important to us.”

  Nora glanced sharply at him. He said it so matter-of-factly, but she felt there was more behind his words.

  They had met only a few times, and while they were polite with each other, there was no real connection. Actually, “no real connection” wasn’t quite true. Nora grimaced as she remembered their last meeting. They’d had a heated argument about the law-and-order platform that had won him the election. She remembered Karen sitting silently, stone-faced. Seeing this, Robert had quickly offered some appeasing statement to end the debate.

  Nora knew he hadn’t come for her, but because Karen had asked him to. She felt tendrils of envy coil again through her chest. What would it be like to have someone in your life on whom you could count to always be there for you?

  Before she could think of anything else to say to Robert, Simmons and Dryer returned from canvassing the neighborhood, and Hunter was with them.

 
; “If I’d known you were having a party, I’d have brought more food,” Hunter said, holding up a large brown bag. He was casually dressed in blue jeans and cowboy boots, with an open-necked red golf shirt under a fleece-lined denim jacket. He was clean-shaven, and Nora imagined she could smell his unique spicy scent from across the room.

  Warmth flooded her belly as she remembered how he’d looked earlier that morning, sleeping half-naked on his couch, and how tempted she’d been to reach out to touch him.

  His eyes turned serious as his gaze found hers. “Simmons and Dryer told me what’s going on. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Nora found herself moving toward him as though pulled by an invisible wire. “I believe you know my sister from the charity auction. This is her husband, Robert. And Billy, of course...”

  He turned and took Karen’s hand. “Mrs. Pearce, it’s very nice to see you again, although not the best of circumstances, of course.”

  Nora watched, irritated by the small smile of satisfaction that replaced Karen’s initial surprise at Hunter’s arrival.

  “Mr. Attorney General, it’s a pleasure.”

  As the two men shook hands, Nora could have sworn she heard “shit” softly whispered from either Simmons or Dryer. She shook her head. This was getting way out of hand.

  “Bower. I thought you’d be gone by now.” Hunter’s voice was dismissive, and Nora quickly stepped between the two men.

  “We’re just finishing up,” she said before Billy could respond.

  “Holy cow. Could there be any more testosterone in one place,” Becca stood in the doorway her gaze traveling appreciatively over each of the five men in the room.

  “Yeah, there’s two more in my office,” Nora laughed, her mood immediately lightened by Becca’s arrival.

  “Really?” Becca scurried across the room and peered into Nora’s office where the two forensic specialists were working. “Figures, the day I’m late...”