“I’m going to venture a wild guess,” he said, resisting the urge to soften what he was about to say by touching her hand. “This whole ‘you talk about yours and I’ll talk about mine’ isn’t working for you.”
She lowered her fork without taking a bite. “I like hearing about Anne.”
“You can call her Annie.”
“That’s only for people who really love her, remember?” Her smile was vague. “I sure can tell you do.”
“But you haven’t offered much in return. To be fair, you’ve barely talked since we got to the restaurant.”
She looked at him, then swallowed.
“It’s not a date,” he reminded her gently. “No expectations, no need to be ‘on’ or anything. Would you prefer we go back to the fabric discussion?”
“A subject you hated,” she teased.
“I didn’t hate it, but I can’t get too excited about it. I’m looking forward to our trip to High Point to pick out new furniture.” He waited a beat, then added, “Mostly because I thought I’d get to know more about Nico and your forty years of happy marriage.”
She took a slow breath and abandoned the dessert altogether. “It was happy,” she said, almost a little defensively.
“And you beat us by a few years,” he added. “You must have gotten married not long after you left Bitter Bark. And you were young, as I recall. Barely eighteen.”
She lifted her gaze, and in that one instance, he saw that look again. Every once in a while, she had that trepidation and uncertainty around her eyes.
“We had to get married,” she whispered.
“Oh.” He nodded, understanding. “We did, too,” he admitted. “And Annie’s parents were so furious about it, they didn’t even come to our wedding, which was at Waterford Farm.”
She searched his face for a minute. “Daniel, I have to—”
“Well, there you are! Who told Dr. K he could change his weekly hours and take long lunches?”
They both turned at the woman’s voice, and Daniel immediately recognized Bella Peterson, a client and one-time date—thanks to Garrett—coming toward them. He started to stand to greet her, but she waved him down.
“No worries, I don’t want to interrupt.” She shifted her attention to Katie, openly scrutinizing her. “I simply wanted to express my disappointment that you canceled your office hours this morning. I brought Buttercup in for a checkup, and you know how much she likes you.”
“She’s in good hands with my daughter,” he assured her and then gestured to Katie. “Bella, this is my friend Katie Santorini. Bella holds the distinction of being the proud owner of eleven—”
“Twelve,” she corrected.
“Twelve cats.”
Katie smiled up at her. “Hello, Bella.”
Bella made a joke about being a crazy cat lady, but Daniel’s attention was on Katie, still trying to figure out what was going on with her. She was different today than she’d been on Wednesday. Instead of interested and animated, she seemed distant and troubled.
And all he really wanted to do was draw her out of that, hear her laugh, and yes, give her a chance to walk down memory lane like they’d agreed they would do when they were together.
“So, are you a dog-owning patient of Daniel’s?” Bella asked. “Or a trainee at Waterford?”
“I’m the client,” Daniel said, purposely not getting into the whole we knew each other in college backstory. That would make Bella linger and ask questions, and he didn’t want that at all. “Katie is an interior designer giving me some help at Waterford.”
“Oooh.” She drew the word out with some satisfaction, as if a professional relationship was far preferable to a personal one. “That’s so nice. But don’t change too much,” she added. “We like Daniel exactly the way he is.”
How could Garrett ever think he’d be attracted to this woman? The cats were okay…but the claws were not.
Rusty nudged his ankle under the table, as if he, too, wanted Bella to leave, so Daniel absently reached down to pet him and glanced at Katie again, hoping their visitor got the message that she was interrupting.
To her credit, Bella backed away. “Well, then, I’ll let you two talk business,” she said. “Nice meeting you, Katie. Now, Daniel, next time you switch office hours with Molly, you be sure to put a note on the website.”
Daniel gave her a quick smile and nod, which did the trick, but when he looked at Katie, he saw a little confusion in her eyes.
“Did you change your hours to accommodate me?” she asked.
“Yes.” Why lie? “I usually work in town on Fridays, but it was no problem for Molly.”
“Thank you.” She glanced in the direction of Bella’s table. “I’m flattered, considering what high demand you’re in around here.”
“It’s my kids,” he explained. “They’ve tried to match me up with half the single women in Bitter Bark.”
“You can’t blame them for wanting you to be happy,” she said, taking her napkin off her lap and folding it. “It’s payback for how happy we made them.”
Sensing the first chink in her unexpected armor, he seized the topic. “Tell me about your kids,” he said. “Start with Nick. The oldest. The doctor. He sounds great. Is he married?”
And all that warmth evaporated instantly. “Yeah…no.” She shook her head as if she didn’t know where to start or what to say.
“You don’t want to talk about your kids, either,” he deduced. “Katie, is something wrong?”
She eased back into the leather booth, looking at him intently. “You’ve always been incredibly sensitive,” she said. “You’re so empathetic. Always in tune with what other people are feeling.”
He didn’t know what to make of the compliment, so he let her continue, sensing there was more.
“Nick is that way,” she said.
Oh…okay. It was a roundabout way to talk about her kids. “That’s probably what makes him a good doctor.”
“One of many things. He’s smart. Excelled at chemistry.” She added a look that made him think he would appreciate that. “I remember you were good in chemistry.”
“It probably helped him in med school,” he said.
“He’s kind. Thoughtful. Has an easy sense of humor and always puts the family first.” She put enough emphasis on the words for him to know they carried great weight for her.
“He sounds terrific,” he said, encouraged that she was finally talking. “Do you have a picture of him?”
She exhaled and looked toward the diners at the next table and the sound of Bella laughing a few tables away. “Daniel, could we go outside?” she asked suddenly. “Take a walk maybe? In the square?”
“Of course. I think Rusty would love you for it,” he added, feeling another push from his dog’s nose. “He’s been pestering me, and he’s usually quiet in here. Let me grab the check.”
She reached for her bag and jacket. “I could use the air.”
He held up his hand to catch the server’s attention, but studied her. “Are you sure you’re all right, Katie?”
“Yes, yes,” she answered far too quickly. “I just like the idea of talking outside.”
As soon as Daniel slid to the edge of the booth, Rusty got up, giving him a plaintive look like he was as anxious as Katie to leave. Daniel snagged the leash he always had on hand in a restaurant like this and handed the end to her, clipping it on Rusty’s collar. “Here you go. I’ll meet you in two minutes.”
“Thank you.” Taking the dog, she moved through the tables with more speed than he’d expected, leaving him to wonder what was up while he paid the bill.
Not three minutes later, he stepped outside and spotted her waiting at the corner to cross the street and head to Bushrod Square. He hustled to beat the light and reach her first.
“Are you running off with my dog?” he teased.
Instead of laughing as he’d expected, she looked up at him. “It’s quiet in the park. Let’s go there and talk. I want to t
ell you something.”
“All right.” He put a light hand on her back to guide her across the street and also offer a comforting touch that she obviously needed. Something about Nico? Their past? The job he was hiring her to do?
He had no idea, but he stayed close as they made their way into the square. It wasn’t exactly deserted at two in the afternoon, but it was a brisk day and overcast enough to keep the dog walkers, joggers, and baby strollers to a minimum.
They didn’t talk until they reached the sidewalk in the square and stayed silent while Rusty stopped and sniffed the grass. Daniel kept his gaze on Katie, though, watching and waiting to see where she was taking this and if there was anything he might do or say to help her.
But long, uncomfortable seconds ticked by until she finally murmured, “It’s about Nick.”
Her son? “Yes, you were going to show me a picture of him. Do you have one? On your phone?”
She exhaled again, slow and deep. “I have…something.” She looked left and right, as if someone might help her. Or maybe she was seeking privacy.
“Want to sit down here?” He pointed to a bench under a tree a few feet away.
Without answering, she walked there, still holding Rusty’s leash. When they sat, Daniel automatically reached over and unclipped it, giving the dog some freedom to roam a familiar place.
After a moment, she reached into her bag, pulled out her phone, and started scrolling the screen. Daniel waited, assuming she was looking for a picture of her son or family.
“He called this morning,” she said softly. “Right before I left.”
“Is that unusual?”
“Yes. He doesn’t have cell service very often in Africa, working at a mobile clinic.”
Daniel gave a light whistle of admiration. “That’s a seriously respectable career choice,” he said. “It takes a very strong and dedicated medical professional to work like that. Will he stay much longer?”
“I don’t know. He’s met a woman he cares about. An anesthesiologist from France.”
“Really? That’s fantastic. Is it serious?”
She didn’t answer, but stared at her phone for a long, long time. “What I’m about to show you isn’t a picture,” she finally said, looking up at him. “But it is a…snapshot, of sorts.”
He frowned and glanced down at her hand, noticing that it was trembling. “Katie, what’s wrong?”
She shook her head and made no effort to hide the tears that sprang into her eyes. Instantly, he moved closer.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, stroking her hair gently.
“Everything.” She barely whispered the word, and still her voice cracked.
“What is it?” He reached for the phone, knowing that whatever was on that screen was the root of her troubles. And all he wanted to do was make them go away. “Can I…”
She relinquished the phone, and he looked at it, blinking at what looked like a picture she’d taken of a piece of paper. There were names of countries and bar graphs next to them, making him squint, but without his reading glasses handy, it was difficult to make sense of the small print.
“Last Thanksgiving, Cassie had this idea.”
He gave up on figuring it out and studied Katie as she talked.
“She wanted to do that…that DNA ancestry thing and trace our family. Bloodline.com.”
“Okay…” He drew out the second syllable as the confusion of the moment deepened to something like pressure on his chest.
“And it revealed that…”
He tried to swallow, but his throat was suddenly dry and tight.
“That Nick, my oldest son…” She looked down at the phone, then back at him, blinking so that one lone tear trailed down her cheek.
He stared at it, following the path it took along her nose, settling on her mouth, forcing his brain to think about that tear and not what she was saying. Because…his whole body started to hum with confusion and shock. Maybe fear.
Yes, it was that same fear he’d seen in her eyes. That fear of…something he wasn’t capable of putting into words.
“None of his results match his siblings’,” she said. “He’s only three percent Greek. And seventy-two percent Irish. He wasn’t even included as one of their siblings, but possibly a distant relative.”
He literally couldn’t breathe. Or think. Or let the reality of what she was saying hit him as she stared at him and let him put two and two together and come up with…
“Oh God.”
“I didn’t know, Daniel,” she insisted, her expression carved with misery. “I had no idea. I thought I got pregnant the night you took me to Nico. I never doubted that. We didn’t use…anything. But when I saw those results…I think I must have already been pregnant when I left Bitter Bark.”
The whole world swirled around him, darkness licking at the edges of his sight as his stomach clenched and the hot sensation of adrenaline and shock spurted through his veins.
“Nick…is…mine?”
“I’m not one hundred percent certain, but—”
“Hey, is that your dog?” A man’s voice punched through his consciousness, and Daniel turned to the sound like a man moving through water. “Looks like he’s sick.”
He blinked in the direction the stranger pointed, seeing Rusty sprawled on the grass with a heap of vomit in front of him. Without a word, he shot up from the bench and launched toward him, putting a hand on his head to guide him away from the mess. “Hey, bud. What’s going on?”
His voice sounded like he was underwater, too, drowned out by the pounding of his pulse, deafening in his ears.
I must have already been pregnant when I left Bitter Bark.
The words echoed like the rat-a-tat of gunfire, ringing in his head, taking aim at his heart.
Katie was next to them in a second. “Is he okay?”
“I don’t know.” Daniel eased the dog toward a clean stretch of grass and sat down next to him, waiting to see if he’d be sick again, silently noting the quickness of his panting and a slight tremor that shook his body.
I know exactly how you feel, buddy.
Katie dropped to the ground next to him. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s…sick.”
I must have already been pregnant when I left Bitter Bark.
“Something he ate?”
He rooted deep for his training, his cool, his legendary calm in the face of chaos and a sick animal, lifting his gaze to meet hers. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I just did.”
“Sooner.”
“I had no idea sooner. You thought I should walk up to you in the bakery and drop this bomb? Or maybe at the dinner table? Share it with your whole perfect family?”
Her voice rose with frustration, the same kind that was still ricocheting through him.
Rusty whimpered, turned, and threw up again, his gaze confused and broken, his back leg spasming like he might be having a seizure.
“Holy hell.” Daniel leaned over him, holding his flank and neck, forgetting he was a vet for one minute and wanting only to give comfort to—and get comfort from—a creature he loved and trusted and needed so badly.
“Should I get my car?” Katie asked. “I can pull it up to the gate, and—”
He shook his head, silencing her, finally getting a thread of common sense in his addled, stunned brain. “My vet office is on the other side of the square.” He straightened and started to stand. “I’ll carry him there.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
“No.” The word came out much too sharply, but for once in his damn life, he didn’t care how someone else felt. He was the one who’d been blindsided, deceived, and cheated out of a child.
No, no, that was ridiculous, but…was it?
“Just let me go,” he said, getting his balance.
“Let me help you.”
He finally looked at her, wishing he could care about the pain in her eyes, the streaked mascara, and her deathly pale skin. So
meday—soon—he’d think about how this affected Katie Santorini. And her family. And his. And…him.
But right now, all he could do was wonder how in God’s name was this possible, and what the hell should he do about it?
“Please, Daniel. Let me help you.”
But he simply couldn’t deal with her right then. With anything.
Rusty stayed collapsed on the ground, his muscles twitching, his gaze faraway. It didn’t take his degree to know this dog was having a seizure. Bending over, Daniel slid both hands under his belly and hoisted him up with a grunt. “My dog is sick. That’s all that matters to me right now.”
But even as he walked away, carrying a trembling, whimpering Rusty, he knew that was a lie.
What mattered was the fact that somewhere in Africa, there was a kind, empathetic, talented forty-two-year-old doctor who’d spent his entire life loving the wrong father.
Chapter Nine
“Dr. K! Is that Rusty?” Elise, the trainee tech covering the front desk that day, shot up from her chair as he walked in, instantly opening the door to the back office.
“Which room is open?” he demanded.
She blinked in surprise, probably because she’d never heard such a gruff tone from him. Once again, he ceased caring about anything except the last line to sanity he had, who was fighting a seizure in his arms.
“Two’s open, but a patient just left. Let me clean the table and—”
“I got it. Is Molly free?”
“She can be in a minute.” Elise stepped aside to let Daniel and the dog pass. “I’ll get her.”
Exam Room Two was less than three steps from the waiting room, but it took Daniel only two, then he used his foot to kick open the door, and letting out a grunt, he put Rusty on the table.
“It’s gonna be all right, boy. I promise.”
But would anything ever be all right again?
He huffed out a sigh and went to work, booting everything out of his head but the examination he’d done a thousand times. Check the gums for signs of shock and CRT. But the blood returned quickly when he pressed on the pink flesh. Look at the pupils. Not dilated. Check the heart rate. Increased, but not dangerously so.
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