Catch 'n' Kiss (Are You Game?)

by Cahill, Rhian

  Jody stepped out and used the scratchy hospital towel to dry off then pulled out the clothes Luc had brought over. She was surprised her brother hadn’t come in to see her. Then again, he probably didn’t want to for fear they’d end up in an argument about being stupid and getting pregnant again. When she’d conceived Leigh he’d been so angry, but that had been nothing compared to when she’d told him she was marrying Colin for the sake of their baby. He’d exploded. They’d had a huge argument and the result had been months of not speaking to each other. Jody could only imagine how pissed off he was that she’d managed to do it again.

  Shaking off the memories, she got dressed, gathered her things and left the bathroom. Dan waited in the chair next to the bed. He was flicking through a magazine he’d picked up for her last night. Jody didn’t think there was anything appealing in the gossip mag for him to read, but there wasn’t anything else for him to do while he waited for her.

  He glanced up. “Ready? The nurse dropped off your paperwork.” He pointed at the bed.

  She picked up the bundle of papers and tucked them into the backpack. “So I’m clear to go then?”

  “Yep. We just have to buzz the nurse and she’ll bring a wheelchair in.”

  “A wheelchair? I can walk.” The idea of being pushed out of here grated. She wanted to walk out. Probably a trivial thing, but she needed to be in control of something right now.

  “You can argue with the nurse over it.” Dan leaned over and pressed the call button.

  A nurse arrived within a minute, a wheelchair leading the way.

  “I’m not getting in that thing.” Jody didn’t wait for the woman to get all the way in the room before voicing her protest.

  “You think you’re up to walking out?” the nurse asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, but I’ll still have to come down to street level with you. Hospital policy.” She pushed the wheelchair off to the corner.

  “Let’s go then,” Jody said.

  “In a hurry?” Dan asked.

  “Aren’t you ready to get out of here? And you didn’t even have to stay. You chose to be here overnight.” Jody shook her head. She still couldn’t believe he’d spent the night in the recliner in her room. And now that she looked at him, she realised he looked a little worse for wear. “You need a shower.”

  Dan laughed. “Thanks. I’ll grab one when we get home.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. Going home with Dan was the last thing she wanted. She wasn’t ready to face the future. The stay in hospital might have been uncomfortable—and annoying—but at least she’d been able to avoid the whole Dan and baby situation to a certain degree.

  “C’mon, I thought you wanted out of here?” Dan stood in the doorway, the nurse already out in the hall.

  Jody had been too busy thinking about something she had no power of stopping instead of paying attention to what was going on around her. “Sorry. I was just wondering what to cook the girls for dinner,” she lied.

  “Already sorted. We’re ordering pizza when Luc and Cassie drop them off.”

  He held out his hand, and without thought she closed the distance between them and slid her hand into his, weaving their fingers together instantly. And didn’t that say it all about their relationship. When she didn’t think, when she went on gut instinct, she walked straight towards him. It was only when her brain—her wounded heart—got involved that she ran in the opposite direction out of fear.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Dan!” West clicked his fingers in front of Dan’s face.

  “Shit. Sorry. What?” He’d been doing that a lot in the last few weeks. Ever since he’d taken Jody to the hospital, he’d pretty much spent twenty-four hours a day awake.

  “You look like crap man. Are you sleeping at all?” West’s face creased in concern.

  “Yeah, a few hours a night.”

  “You can’t keep this up. Something’s got to give.”

  Dan agreed. “I know, but Jody’s barely tolerating me as it is. The only way to get more sleep is to leave her to take care of herself and the girls every night after she’s been at work all day. And there’s no way I’m doing that.”

  “Running yourself into the ground won’t help anyone either,” West protested.

  “I know, and I’m working on solving the problem.” And he was. It was just taking a lot longer than he thought it would to win Jody over.

  “Jody seems to have taken Cassie’s change to her hours okay.”

  Dan laughed. If only. “Ah, yeah, no. I thought Jody was going to pop a blood vessel when Cassie said she was changing her to nine to five, Monday to Friday. Of course, Jody blamed me for that and let me know it.”

  “Surely she’s happier not working weekends. She gets to be at home with her girls. Which reminds me, does anyone know she’s pregnant yet?”

  Dan had confided in West weeks ago, but other than Cassie and Luc, Jody’s pregnancy was still a state secret. He shook his head. “No. She wants to wait until the twelve-week mark to tell Leigh, Amy and her parents. Of course, that means I haven’t been able to tell my family either. I’m not looking forward to the earbashing I’m going to get over that.”

  “They’ll get over it. C’mon, let’s get this food loaded so you can get on your way.”

  Glancing at his watch, Dan saw he’d be late if he didn’t get a move on. “Shit. I seem to be constantly running five minutes behind.”

  West smiled and handed him a cooler box of food. “Better late than never.”

  “Can’t be late. This stuff has to be there by eleven-thirty ready for lunch.”

  “You’ve got plenty of time. Traffic isn’t bad this time of day. You’ll be across town and back again before one.” West picked up a crate of drinks.

  “I know, but I was hoping to have enough time to duck home to Jody’s and check on her before I came back to the warehouse.”

  “Everything okay? She’s not sick again is she?”

  “No. She’s doing really well actually, but that’s what worries me. Yesterday I found her up a ladder dusting the ceiling fans.” Dan shook his head. “A picture of her sprawled on the floor flashed in my mind and I yelled at her, which of course made her start and the ladder wobbled…took ten years off my life.”

  West frowned. “She’s pregnant, not a cripple. Surely she’s capable of climbing a ladder and cleaning the fans.”

  Dan slid the cooler into the back of the van with a sigh. “Yeah. She is. It’s me that isn’t capable of seeing her do it.”

  “Ah, I see. You need to go home because you’re in the dog house again.”

  “I’m always in the dog house.” Dan laughed as he headed back to the kitchen for the second cooler of food. “But I figure if she’s seeing me she can’t forget about me.”

  West chuckled. “I doubt that’s possible, mate. She’s carrying your kid. Kind of hard to forget you when she’s feeling sick every day.”

  One more strike against him as far as Dan was concerned. Jody had told him she’d breezed through her other pregnancies without so much as an up-chuck. His baby, however, was determined to make his mother throw up every damn day. At least she was only sick first thing in the morning now. And once that initial wave of nausea passed, it was smooth sailing for the rest of the day.

  “Not exactly an endearing effect though,” Dan said.

  “No. I guess not.” West grabbed the second crate of drinks while Dan picked up the cooler. “But look on the bright side.”

  “There’s a bright side?” Dan arched an eyebrow.

  “Hell yes. You’re gonna be a dad.”

  Dan grinned. “Yeah, that is definitely one of the highlights of this whole thing.”

  “One of?”

  “Being connected to Jody for the rest of my life is another. And Leigh and Amy. They’re a bright spot in all this.”

  “I can’t believe they haven’t worked out their mother is having a baby.”

  Dan frowned when he remembered the c
onversation he’d had with Leigh yesterday. “I think Leigh is suspicious, but she hasn’t outright asked me or her mother yet. She’s a smart kid. I think she’s biding her time. I just hope Jody’s the one she asks and not me. I won’t lie to her if she asks me directly if her mother is pregnant.”

  “I’ll cross my fingers for you.”

  They loaded the rest of the food and beverages without further conversation, and Dan was soon moving through the congested streets of Sydney’s CBD. He parked in the loading zone outside the office building where Maggie was running today’s corporate event. She met him in the lobby with a couple of guys she’d roped into helping and Dan didn’t even have to leave street level to deliver lunch, which meant he was back on the road and heading for Jody’s with plenty of time to spare before his job this afternoon.

  He glanced at the dashboard clock and figured they wouldn’t have had lunch yet. Dan pulled over and reached for his phone. He’d give Jody a call and see if she was okay with him picking up something. Leigh answered on the fifth ring. “Hey, Leigh, where’s your mum?”

  “Outside in the garden with Amy. They’re trying to grow herbs or something.” Dan could image her rolling her eyes.

  Dan smiled. They’d picked up the seeds and pots for Amy’s herb garden last weekend and he was happy to know Jody was up to helping her daughter plant the seeds. “Okay, tell her I’m on my way through from one job to another and I’ll drop off some chicken and salads for lunch. Sound good?”

  “Yes. I was just looking at the fridge thinking we need to go shopping again.”

  “We can do that tomorrow. Do me a favour and write a list for me.”

  “Sure. See you soon.”

  Dan hung up then pulled back into traffic. He’d stop at the little shopping centre near his place for the charcoal chicken. The place near Jody’s wasn’t nearly as nice and often didn’t have a good selection of salads on hand. Distracted by his thoughts, Dan didn’t see the truck speed through the red light until it was too late. Squealing tires and shattering glass filled the air just before the airbag exploded in his face and everything went black.

  Jody fumed as she paced the kitchen. She should have known she couldn’t trust him. Except he’d been so attentive in the two months since she’d been admitted to hospital that she’d softened. He’d been so good with her and the girls that she’d looked forward to his visits—to his care. Still, she should have known better than to get sucked in by his kindness. Dan couldn’t be trusted any more than Colin could.

  It had been three hours since he’d called Leigh and told her he was bringing lunch, and he wasn’t answering his phone so Jody couldn’t even give him a piece of her mind. The doorbell rang and she hoped it was him with some flimsy excuse so she could slam the door in his face without a word. She stormed down the hallway and flung the door open to find Luc and Cassie on her doorstep.

  “Oh, hey, I wasn’t expecting you guys.” Jody moved out of the way to let them in. “Come in.”

  “Thanks, but I can’t stay, I’m just dropping Luc off,” Cassie said.

  “Huh?” Confused, Jody studied them more closely and the look on Luc’s face registered. Narrowing her eyes as she moved in front of her brother she said, “What’s going on?”

  “Let’s go sit down.”

  “No.” Jody knew this wasn’t going to be good. “Whatever it is, just tell me.”

  “Jody.”

  “Don’t you Jody me. Tell me, Lucas. Now.” She crossed her arms and barred the entry. Not that she’d be a barrier to him if he really wanted to get in.

  “It’s about Dan.”

  Jody held up her hand. “I don’t want to even hear his name. He’s proven I was right and shouldn’t have trusted him.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Luc asked as he pushed his way into the house, Cassie following behind.

  “I thought you were just dropping him off?” Jody looked at Cassie.

  “I was, but I don’t think I want to miss this. Why are you mad with Dan now?”

  “Mad? I’m not mad, I’m furious. He comes here and takes over, does things, looks after us and makes it easy for us to rely on him—to care about him. Then he just doesn’t show up. Says he will but doesn’t. And he’s not answering his damn phone or I’d tell him to never step foot in my house again.” Jody couldn’t believe how angry she was. She’d never gotten this upset when Colin let her down. Never felt this gut-deep burn of rage.

  “Jody.” Luc grabbed her shoulders and held her still. “Dan’s been in an accident.”

  Cold settled over her. It started at her head and sank lower as though she was diving into a pool of liquid nitrogen headfirst in slow motion until every inch of her between scalp and toenails was frozen solid. “Accident?”

  Luc nodded. “He was hit by a truck.”

  Bile rose in her throat. “Oh God.” Jody slapped a hand over her mouth and ran for the bathroom.

  The cheese toast she’d eaten not thirty minutes ago hit the toilet bowl as Cassie slipped into the bathroom behind her.

  “Go away.”

  “Not on your life, Jody.”

  Water ran then Cassie was pressing a wet towel to Jody’s forehead and pushing her hair off her face. She wanted to push Cassie away but the cool cloth felt wonderful against her hot, sweaty face. “How bad?” Jody got the question out around another wave of heaving.

  “He’s okay. Wait until your stomach settles and then we’ll talk.”

  Jody cried then. Big fat horrible body-jerking sobs. Cassie waited through a few before wrapping an arm around her waist. “C’mon, I think you’ve finished being sick. Luc!”

  “No.” Too late. Jody found herself being lifted against her brother’s chest.

  He carried her out to the lounge room where the girls were waiting, huddled together on the couch. “Leigh, can you go grab your mum a glass of water, please?” Luc asked as he sat down with Jody in his lap.

  “Is Dan going to be okay?” Amy asked.

  “Yes, sweetie. He’s got a concussion, a couple of bruised ribs and some minor cuts, but other than that he’s fine,” Cassie explained.

  “Fine? That doesn’t sound fine.” Jody pushed out of Luc’s arms. “Let me go. I have to go see him.”

  “Hang on.” Luc held her tight. “I’ll drive you to him in a minute, but first calm down.”

  “I don’t want to calm down until I see for myself that he’s okay.” She yanked out of her brother’s hold and headed for the kitchen and her car keys.

  “Jody.” Cassie stepped in her way. “Wait.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you need to think about this.”

  “Think about what? Dan’s hurt and I need to go to him.”

  “Why?”

  Why? “Because he’s hurt, that’s why.”

  “And?”

  “And? And? And I have to see he’s okay.” Why was Cassie trying to stop her? Jody had no clue what her boss was getting at and really didn’t care. She brushed past her and ran to the kitchen.

  “Stop!” When Jody turned around Luc stood in the doorway. “Why are you racing off to a man you were angry at only minutes ago?”

  “Angry?” Why was she mad at Dan? “I don’t know what…” But she did know what Luc was talking about. Dan hadn’t shown up with lunch and she’d put him right in the untrustworthy box beside Colin. Jody hung her head forward on a groan.

  Luc’s shoes came into view just as he tipped her chin up with his hand. “Why are you racing off to check on Dan?”

  Jody met his gaze and her eyes blurred. She’d been an emotional wreck the last few weeks because of the pregnancy hormones, so the urge to cry didn’t surprise her, it was the reason she wanted to cry that did. Oh God. She was in love with Dan. Even with all the barriers she’d thrown up, with all the lectures and reminders of what had happened last time she’d agreed to be with the father of her unplanned baby, she’d still opened herself up in a way that could tear her apart if it went wr
ong. It would destroy her if Dan walked away.

  Luc pulled her into his arms and held her against his chest. “Let it out, Budgie.”

  The childhood nickname worked like a switch. She cried into Luc’s shirt until her eyes were dry and her throat sore. And still she stayed in the safety of his arms for a few more minutes. Pulling away, she snagged a handful of tissues from the box on the kitchen counter and dried her face. “What am I going to do now?”

  “I’m thinking that was meant as a rhetorical question, but I’m going to answer it anyway.” Luc turned her around to face him. “Marry him.”

  “What?” Jody’s mouth dropped open.

  “He’s the best damn thing to happen to you in forever, Jody. Even mad at him and fighting, you’re the happiest I’ve seen you in years. And the girls are thriving. If you’re not ready for marriage then at least let the guy in here.” Luc tapped her chest. “Try to make it work because it’s obvious to everyone but you that you’re in love with each other.”

  “What?” Jody couldn’t get over the fact her brother was telling her to get married this time. “But last time this happened you tried to talk me out of getting married.”

  “Because Colin was and is a loser who never deserved you.”

  “Oh.”

  “I know you’re still carrying the scars from your first marriage. And I know the idea of going through that again terrifies you. But, Jody, this is Dan. You said it yourself earlier. He’s been here every day. He’s taken care of you and the girls, and if you’re honest you’ll admit he was doing it before you found out you were pregnant.”

  Jody nodded. Luc was right. Dan had been there for her when Colin had shown up all enraged about her and the girls moving on with their lives. She closed her eyes and sighed. She’d been so wrong to expect Dan to behave the same as Colin. To watch for every little sign that he would treat her badly. Her fear of being hurt again had blinded her to the good man Dan was, and she’d be lucky if he forgave her for the slight she’d shown him.

  She opened her eyes and stared at her brother. “Take me to see him.”