There was a light tap on his bedroom door before it swung gently open. Luca kept his eyes shut, hoping either his mother or Becky would think he was asleep.
“Luca?” came the faintest of whispers.
Of all the luck. Becky.
“Luca?”
There was no point. Persistence was her second name.
“Hmm?” He opened his eyes.
“Can I get you anything?”
An hour ago she’d posed the same question. “No, thanks. But I appreciate the support you’re giving my mother, Becky.”
“It’s the least I can do.” She shrugged.
“But I’m sure you must have work things to get back to,” he began, irritated by the shrug. He knew very well that his mother hadn’t asked for help, and Becky was the last person he himself would have contacted. “We won’t mind if you need to return to your other life.”
She frowned.
“I mean your life outside playing nursemaid,” he quipped.
The frown deepened. “Are you telling me you don’t want me around anymore?”
Luca closed his eyes. Right-to-the-point Becky. Her other middle name. Now or never, he told himself. Her presence has been bugging you for a week now, so get to it. Finish what you started.
“I hope my message wasn’t quite so blunt,” he said.
“But still.”
“I think it might be best for both of us if we went back to where we were before.”
“Before you got injured? You mean last summer?”
“Yeah.” He was surprised at the huskiness in his voice. Perhaps some part of him hadn’t recovered from their breakup after all.
Becky pursed her lips. “I thought maybe we could—you know—start over again. Put all of that behind us.”
It was tempting, he thought, looking at her blond, slender beauty. Remembering how she’d been able to drive him mad with her smile. Until last July, when he learned she’d been seeing his best friend behind his back. He felt that small hardness inside again.
“What’s done is done, Becky. I think it’s best if we both moved on.”
She flushed. “Have it your way,” she said. She turned and walked out the door.
Luca waited for the adrenaline surge to ease, followed by a wave of relief. The first step, Rossi, in finding your new self.
* * *
KAI WAS EXHAUSTED by the time she finally got her shower, poured a glass of wine and sat down to her mail. She glanced across her small living room to see the dog snoozing contentedly on the area rug beneath the glass coffee table. They’d both been through a lot in the past forty-eight hours, and Kai was hard-pressed to decide which of them had handled the stress better. She refused to believe dogs—especially this particular mongrel—were intuitive. Yet there had been times, particularly in the hours since leaving the Rossi home, when Kai was certain from Amigo’s mournful stare that she’d been judged and found wanting.
Moving slowly through rush hour traffic, she’d had the opportunity to make some plans for Amigo. Step one would be to try to contact Corporal McDougall, though she hated to admit her failure to deliver the dog. Step two could be her contact at the American Embassy in Kuwait City; she was tempted to let him handle the problem, but their light flirtation was now one of those embarrassing life moments that people strive to put behind them. Definitely not for resurrection, she decided. Step three was to search out an animal shelter here in the city. Perhaps the best option, she figured, if she could be reassured that a good foster home would be found.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING, all Kai’s plans were put on hold. The phone woke her before the dog had a chance to.
“Mom? Is everything okay? I called you when I got in late yesterday. Did you get my voice mail?”
“Yes, dear, but not until after midnight. I thought best to wait till this morning.”
Kai gripped her cell phone. “What’s happened?”
“It’s your father. He’s had a stroke, but he’s going to be okay. The doctor here says it’s a warning, though.”
“Tell me what happened.” And while her mother recounted the events of the past twenty-four hours, Kai sensed her life was not going to be normal for quite some time.
“How’s Thomas taking it?” she asked when her mother stopped to take a deep breath.
“I really can’t say. Janet’s looking after him for now, but she has to go back to work the day after tomorrow, so...”
Kai closed her eyes, knowing what her mother wanted to say. “I’ll come as soon as I can get a rental car,” she said.
There was a short silence followed by a whisper of a sigh. “Thanks, dear. I was hoping you’d be able to.”
“Bye, Mom. Give Dad and Thomas a kiss for me. I’ll call you as soon as I hit town.”
“Bye, dear. Drive carefully.”
Kai switched off her phone and immediately burst into tears. Her father, only in his early seventies, had always been so robust. Much too healthy for strokes or any other life-threatening conditions.
I’m not ready for this, was her next thought, followed at once by guilt for being so self-centered. Her small family had endured so much in the past three years and now this, just when everyone had begun to accept the past and move forward. Everyone except Thomas, of course. What would this latest setback do for his recovery?
She reached for a tissue on the bedside table and noticed the dog, sitting expectantly at the foot of her bed. His head was cocked, his expression curious.
“I guess it’s you and me again, partner,” she said, sniffling. “Must be our destiny. No point in fighting it.” She threw back the duvet and got out of bed. Suddenly the day had taken on a whole other purpose.
Copyright © 2017 by Janice Hess
ISBN-13: 9781488012396
A Father’s Pledge
Copyright © 2017 by Eleanor Grace Jones
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