Her stomach rumbled. Aubrey realized they hadn’t eaten since some Danishes lifted from the complimentary breakfast bar.
“I’m in. Where?”
Mike eyed the stretch of food places near the beach. “I’m willing to bet that any one of these fine pastel-colored establishments would have them.” He laughed.
She started to rise, the wind pushing her tee up a bit, exposing her belly. He caught her by the arm and pulled her closer, planting a kiss just below her breastbone. His tongue darted out quickly but then was gone. A mirage.
“What?” she said, a little breathless.
Mike stared at her. Stared at her long enough to make her heart shiver and her belly tingle with nerves.
“A man could fall for you very easily, Aubrey.”
She snorted. Humbled and afraid of the serious moment. “Not so far.”
Mike got up on his knees, cradled her face in his hands, shutting out the whipping wind for a moment. “Yes, so far. Right now, in fact.”
Another kiss.
“I…”
His thumbs arched up and down the length of her neck. He stared her down. Kissed her again.
Aubrey’s heart was banging. Her knees shook on the soft pilfered hotel blanket.
“Have fallen…” He pushed her back, covered her with his body.
She wanted to laugh because they were out in the open. People were walking by. Not a lot, but they were there. Aubrey wanted to say something funny like “public indecency” or “my pristine reputation”. Instead she said nothing because her mouth was frozen and her body was tingling. Her whole being seemed to be hanging on the next chunk of sentence.
“For you,” he finished. This time the kiss…the kiss meant business. She threaded her fingers into his short wind-tangled hair and kissed him back. For all she was worth. With everything she had. She gave herself over to it.
When they came up for air she said, “Me too, Mike. I’ve fallen too. But it scares me.”
He smiled. “That means it’s real.”
* * * * *
Aubrey managed to convince him to take a few extra pictures to send to the Checkered Horse. She knew the pictures from the day before, though visually stunning due to the gathering storm and his own camera-commanding face, were amazing, they might not be what Gail wanted.
Then he convinced her to go grab some shrimp. Their plane left at eight in the morning. He’d managed to trade in his ticket to get on her flight. Somehow they’d come separate but would be flying home together.
“But we won’t be able to sit together.” She laughed.
“We’ll see. I might have to beg, borrow or steal to get the seat next to you.”
Turned out it wasn’t that bad. They woke at four in the morning, showered, made love once more and then rushed to the airport, Aubrey checking obsessively to see if she had her camera gear and her work bag. Her clothes could end up flying the friendly skies all alone for all she cared. As long as she had her cameras and her tablet and the other work stuff.
She settled in her seat and prayed the flight attendant would be coming around with coffee.
“Buckets and buckets of coffee,” she muttered.
“Pardon?”
She gave a start. “Oh my God! How did you get here?”
“Well, I had to kill a man…”
She swatted him. “Mike!”
“The seat was empty. I wooed the stewardess by batting my eyelashes and voila.”
She kissed him. “Voila.”
He held her hand and the urge to check her bag another ten times vanished. Mike put his head back and shut his eyes. She found it okay to do the same.
The plane took off, coffee was served. They were headed home.
They.
She smiled.
It felt good. It felt great. Until they landed.
* * * * *
“My car’s this way,” Aubrey said, slogging her suitcase behind her.
Mike had offered to carry it but he was trudging along with his own stuff. He smiled at her and she realized how badly she wanted to get him home. Into her bed or her into his. Either way worked.
“Mine’s this way.”
“We can go in mine and come get yours tomorrow.”
Cold October rain slashed at her face and a plane bound for somewhere rattled her teeth as it took off from BWI.
At the jingle, she said, “Your phone’s going off again.”
Mike set his bags down, digging for his phone in his back pocket. “Jesus. It’s probably the…” His face grew intense.
“What? What is it?”
“It’s Chuck. I have to go. He’s…they’ve admitted him in Hartford.” When he looked up at her, her heart sank. Her body felt too alert and too slow all at once.
“I’m coming with you.”
In that flash she saw all his hesitation and his fear for what she might be signing on for in his eyes. She gave him a brave smile but suppressed the urge to hug him. His body language was tense and guarded, his face a mask of quiet self-composure. He was holding himself together. She recognized that look from the mirror and knew that if she went and tried to comfort him and hold him it would crumble. And then he’d be angry with himself. Not her.
Instead she simply reached out and held his hand for a moment.
“Hey, I’m coming with you. Unless you don’t want me to.”
“I don’t,” he said, and her heart fell. “I don’t want you to have to deal with this. But…” He shook his head.
Not the time to be sensitive. This is not about you. Take everything with a grain of salt. All of it raced through her head and then he said, “But I need you right now, Aubrey. And I hope that’s okay. I haven’t needed anyone, not really, in a very long time.”
She swallowed her tears. “I won’t get gushy,” she said to him, though she only meant to say it to herself. In her head.
He laughed softly, pulled her in and kissed her. “You can gush if you want. Now let’s take my truck. It’s right down this row and it’s bigger and the GPS has the way to Angela’s sister’s house programmed.”
“Let’s go,” she said.
She’d call Bradlee and ask her to look after Batman for a few more days. It was when she got in the truck to accompany him to see his ill son in another state that she realized she loved him.
Really loved him.
It scared the fuck out of her.
But God, it felt good.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“It’s fucking cold,” he growled.
The truck had gone from chilly October rain in Baltimore to a leaden sky spitting snow in Hartford.
The hospital parking lot was nearly as big as BWI’s parking structure.
“Let’s hurry. I’m sure you’re anxious to see him,” she said.
They hurried up the walkway, her work bag weighing her down. Her clothes could stay in the truck. Even though she’d give anything for a hot shower and to change her clothes. But there was no way she was leaving her equipment in the truck.
Which meant she was slow.
“You go, you go,” she said, struggling to keep up. “I’ll find you.”
“Hey!” He stopped short.
Aubrey was amazed at the sudden vehemence in his voice.
“We’re here together, Aubrey. Is that okay with you?”
“I…” She took a breath as an elderly couple rushed past them. “Yes, of course. It’s what I want. Why—”
He grabbed her hands and squeezed them. He was tired. The small laugh lines around his eyes were more prominent when he was tired. She wondered when that had become conscious knowledge for her.
“Then stop trying to separate us and make this about me and my family. This is about me, you and my family. You are a part of my heart now.”
He said it off the cuff. He said it like she’d sneezed and he’d said “bless you”. The ease with which he’d said it humbled her.
“I…Okay. I…” She shook her head, blinking back tear
s.
“And I’m an asshole,” he grumbled. “I should be helping you but I have tunnel vision and apparently no manners.” He grabbed the bigger of her two bags, then grabbed her hand and kissed her. “Now let’s go see my boy. I’m sure he’s okay. I’m sure this is just a scare.”
“I don’t want to intrude.”
When he glanced at her, eyebrows raised.
She hurried forward, blinking away snow. “With your ex. I’m sure it will take everyone time to get used to me. So I’m going to be right in the waiting room while you go in and find out what’s going on.”
He looked worried. More than he had before.
“Let me be here for you,” she said softly as the large automatic doors whooshed open for them. “But not make it harder for you, Mike.”
He set her bag down and rubbed his face. “I get it. I’m sorry. I think my anger at the situation is coming out on you, Aubrey.”
“No.” She traced the buttons on his shirt as warm puffs of air were piped down over them in the vestibule. “But you are a bit intense.”
He grabbed her and hugged her. When the chuckle rumbled through his chest, she smiled. “This,” he said in her ear. “This is why I’ve fallen in love with you.”
“I—”
His phone went off again and he looked at it, grabbed her hand and led her to the information desk to find Chuck’s room.
When they saw his ex, her heart kicked a little in her chest. Mike found a place to set her messenger bag down, kissed her forehead and whispered, “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“It’s fine, I’m fine. In fact, I’m going to sit here and upload your pics. Check in with Laura about the dog. Maybe shut my eyes for a minute.” She saw how tired he was. “I’m fine,” she said once more. “You go figure out what’s going on. And if you need me, you know where to find me.”
She kissed him and a second later saw his ex watching from the hall, her lips pressed together. Her eyes narrowed just enough to tell Aubrey she wasn’t going to be wishing them well.
She turned away, found a seat and booted up her computer. When her flash drive was plugged in and the upload had begun, she took a deep breath.
A woman, small and birdlike who had to be at least seventysomething if she were a day, wheeled a small cart in. “Coffee, hot chocolate, tea?” Her candy-striped smock gave her away as a volunteer.
“Would it be rude to just answer ‘yes’?” Aubrey asked, laughing.
“Oh you poor thing. What would you like?”
“I think coffee. Might be a long day.”
The woman gave her a coffee and then indicated she could doctor it up on the rolling cart. When Aubrey had her two sugars and creamer in the brew, the lady—whose name tag read Agnes—gave her a slip.
“This is for the cafeteria. They have real food and beverages and it’s for twenty percent off. You look like a good meal might do you good, honey.”
Her stomach grumbled. “Yeah, it might. Once I’m done here I’ll go see about that.”
Agnes tsked, shook her head and reached under the cart. She pulled out a small silver-wrapped package. “Don’t tell on me. These are supposed to be for patients. But you need to eat something!” She slipped the package of cookies to Aubrey, raised a silencing finger to her lips and said “Shh…” as she pushed her cart along down the hall.
* * * * *
“Hey.”
Aubrey woke with a start. Her eyes didn’t want to focus but finally she saw him smiling at her. Mike.
“Hey, hey, how is he?”
“Good. Better than us. He’s resting and not sitting up like you,” Mike laughed. He took the seat next to her. “I think they design these seats to make you as miserable as possible so you won’t loiter.”
Aubrey straightened up, stretched and groaned. “I think I have to agree.”
“Come eat with me and then I’m going to call you a car to the hotel. I already called and booked us a room. It’s only a few blocks over. I’d take you but Chuck is still awake and he wants me to stay just until he’s asleep.”
He tucked her hair back behind her ear.
“But you don’t need to stay here all twisted up like a pretzel in these torture chairs.”
“How’s Angela?”
“She’s fine. They think it’s just a regular old fall cold. A bad one, granted, but a cold. So it’s going to hit him harder than the average kid, but he should pull through fine if he rests and behaves.” Mike chuckled.
“Does he misbehave?”
“No. He’s just a character. He’s usually the cut-up when admitted. Likes to play pranks on his nursing crew.”
She laughed. “Did someone say food?”
“Why yes, let me buy you a meal of the finest food the hospital cafeteria workers can make. I hear tonight’s choices are minestrone, chicken a la king or mystery meat.”
He offered Aubrey his arm and she took it. Each shouldered a bag and together they wandered off to find the cafeteria. As they passed the hallway Mike had been in most of the night, Aubrey saw Angela standing there. Watching them.
She did not look happy.
Worry crimped Aubrey’s heart and heat flooded her face.
There’s no reason for you to feel guilty. They’re divorced. They barely get along most of the time, he said.
And yet she couldn’t help feeling that Angela felt as if she had some kind of brand on Mike. That he was still hers. One of those situations where she didn’t want him, but no one else could have him.
It hurt her head to imagine trying to deal with the woman right now. Not when things were new between them. Not when Chuck was sick and fighting to get better.
Just not now.
She looked up to see Mike studying her. She tried to look calm but tired. Nothing more. It was hard to school her face like that since she’d just woken up.
“Are you okay?” They slid their trays toward the cash register. She’d gone with corn chowder, crackers, a big fruit salad and an iced tea large enough to dunk her head in. She needed the caffeine.
“Fine. Just hungry.”
Mike eyed his slab of meatloaf and potatoes. It actually didn’t look too bad, Aubrey thought, but apparently Mike didn’t agree. “Are you sure about that? I should have let you go back to the hotel and eat. But I’m being selfish. I wanted to be with you a little more before you left.”
“I want that too,” she said.
A glance up showed Angela walking in. Watching. Pausing.
“Where’s Joshua?” she asked. It wasn’t easy to ignore the feel of blood in the water. Aubrey knew she was the chum and Angela was the Great White.
“He’s asleep on the pull-out sofa in Chuck’s room,” Mike said, forking up some of his dinner. He was oblivious to his ex circling, sniffing for weakness.
Which was exactly as Aubrey wanted him. This was stressful enough without a girl fight.
“That’s sweet.”
“Never leaves his brother if at all possible. The times Chuck’s been in ICU and they restrict visits even from parents, his brother has pitched a fit. You’d think they were twins, not a few years apart.”
“That’s how me and Bradlee were,” Aubrey said. “She’s older. A lot of times we were like twins—that close. Other times, Bradlee thought she was my second mother. Drove me bonkers.” Her soup, though it actually smelled really good, tasted like nothing at all.
She scanned the room and finally found Angela in line. Mike’s ex must have felt her gaze because the moment Aubrey located her and checked her out, the woman turned to glare at her.
She did her best not to wilt under the ex’s gaze. She had every right to be here if Mike wanted her to be. And this was the hard part Mike had been trying to protect her from. The unfriendly frost of Chuck’s mother was much worse than dealing with Mike while he was dealing with a sick kid. His love of his kids was one of the things she…
She caught herself. Her face must have registered surprise because Angela’s eyes narrowe
d. Mike put his hand on Aubrey’s. “You okay? What is it?”
She almost said nothing. Almost blew it off. But then she started to laugh. The laughter was real. It has a slight hysterical edge to it, but that’s okay, Aubrey thought. It had been a long-ass day.
“I love you,” she said.
A slow grin split his handsome face. She realized then how much stubble he was sporting. Aubrey couldn’t resist reaching out to touch it. “I just realized that I do,” she said. She laughed again. “I mean, I knew. I think I really did. But when I realized it and that light bulb went on it was just…” She threw her hands up and shook them like jazz hands.
“Crazy?” he chuckled.
“Yes, crazy. I feel crazy.”
When she glanced up, she was getting skewered visually by the former Mrs. Sykes. So Aubrey did the only thing she could do to break the evil witch’s spell. She waved to her.
When surprise lifted Angela’s eyebrows, Aubrey waved her over. “Would you like to join us?” Aubrey called softly over the muted clatter of the cafeteria.
“Good for you,” Mike said. His lips were soft on the back of her hand where he planted a kiss. “She’s been staring daggers at you all night. Good for you, Aubrey.” He laughed.
“Show your class, not your ass,” Aubrey said. “My mother’s been telling me and my sister that since we were in kindergarten. I admit, she had me scared at first, but you two have been split up a long time. This is not my fault. And I respect her. I don’t want to make her day any harder to boot.”
“Nope. Like you said, not your fault.” He moved closer to her and said up against the lobe of her ear, “If anything, you’ve brought me some happiness. As far as I’m concerned, they should throw confetti when you enter a room.”
She turned suddenly and kissed him. “I might have to put that in my requirements. Plain M&Ms, no blue ones and everyone must throw confetti when I enter a room.”
He cocked his head and stared at her. His eyes were tired but gorgeous. “Wait a minute,” he said. “That might be the first issue in our relationship, lady. What do you have against blue ones?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Come with me,” he said. They’d ditched their almost-full trays of food and wandered back toward Chuck’s room and the hospital’s main entrance.
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