by J. M. Madden
“Oh, wonderfully. Ended up knocking her on the ground and breaking her wrist.”
Monroe choked on the other end of the line. “No fucking way! You’re not serious.”
Matt sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I wish I wasn’t. We crashed into each other in the damn doctor’s office. She fell to the ground and snapped her wrist like a toothpick.”
“What’d she do? Is she pissed? Oh, you’re in jail and I need to come get you, huh?”
“No, she’s not pissed. I drove her home and she seemed to appreciate the help. I feel guilty as hell, though. Totally didn’t happen the way I wanted it to.”
“Well, yeah, I guess not.” Monroe laughed and took a swig of something. “So, are you done crushin’ on this girl now or what?”
Matt sighed and rested his head against the seat rest. “I guess.” He cleared his tight throat and sought a different topic. “So, where are you right now?”
“Boulder. Chasing a wildfire. Been on for way too long. This is my first chance to get some food and rest.”
For the first time Matt noticed how raspy his buddy’s voice was, and guilt swamped him.
“Hell, Monroe. I’ll let you go, then. Call me when you aren’t chasing fires and sucking smoke. Maybe we can catch a game or something sometime.”
“Sure thing, Matt. Maybe it’s good this happened, though. This girl wasn’t the one for you. I’ll holler at you when I get back in the state.”
“Okay. Later.”
Monroe had already hung up. Matt tossed his phone to the seat and stared out the dark windshield. Monroe was right. She wasn’t the one for him.
***
Gina hung up the phone in relief. Her mother was staying home, reassured after talking to her daughter. It had been a close thing, but Gina had promised to see her next week for her sister Charli’s sixteenth birthday. Then reminded her mother pointedly that she had a lot of plans to pull together before the party itself. Mom had agreed she still had a lot to do, and if Gina was sure, she would just see her in a few days.
Gina was sure.
Not that she didn’t appreciate her mother’s concern, because she did. But sometimes it was a bit…too much. And it all stemmed from her illness years ago. When the leukemia had been discovered, her mother had cleaned the house obsessively, and Gina had been quarantined in her room, basically, for months at the height of her treatments. She hadn’t been able to see her friends at all. Family only sporadically. The summer of her ninth year had been the loneliest time of her life. Upstairs in the back bedroom of her parent’s house, she had journal after journal sitting on the shelves, full of a sick young girl’s fanciful dreams. It had been the only escape she’d had.
Her mother had meant well, but it had still been difficult.
With a sigh, she looked around the kitchen. Dishes were going to have to wait. The throbbing arm thing was really starting to get to her, and she was going to have to take a pain pill.
Her purse was in the living room, probably exactly where Matt had dropped it when he’d brought it in. She found the prescription bottle on the bottom and read the directions as she headed back to the kitchen. Running a glass of water from the fridge dispenser, she fumbled the lid off the bottle, downed a pill, and hoped it would work quickly. She looked at the dirty dishes again and cringed. Tomorrow. Maybe.
Climbing the stairs reminded her how tired she was. She debated taking a bath but finally decided against it. She would probably fall asleep and drown. Wouldn’t that be the perfect end to a perfect day?
Instead she wet a washcloth, wiped her face down and used the toilet, then went into her bedroom to find her nightgown. The sling took forever to get off one-handed, and she doubted she’d be able to get it on again without some major finagling. Her bright pink, tomato-stained scrubs went into the dirty clothes basket beside the door, and she settled her long t-shirt over her hips. It was soft cotton and immediately made her want to curl up in bed to sleep. But she delayed and crossed to the window.
No lights were on in the house next door, but that could just mean that Chuck had forgotten to pay the bill again in his drunken stupor. Sticking her head out the window into the moist night air, she whistled softly, then waited to see if anybody came to the second story window directly across from her own.
There was a scrabbling in the dark below her, and she was surprised to see Gabe in the bushes below her window. “What are you doing down there?” she whispered at him.
Gabe glanced back at his house, as if he expected Chuck to come running around the corner any second. “Can I come in?” he whispered back.
Gina motioned him inside. Gabe knew where the hidden key was. She had shown him the day she had found him huddled under her porch in the rain. If she was around, though, he always asked to come in.
Gina awkwardly pulled on a pair of sleep pants then waited at the top of the stairs for him to come up. The young boy was nine years old, but his slight form was more the size of a seven year old. And as he slipped up the stairs in the shadows tonight, he seemed even smaller, curled in on himself. “What’s wrong?” she asked, as soon as he crested the stairs.
The boy hung back, afraid to leave the last shadow to step closer to her. Gina took the step herself and rested a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong, Little Man?”
He flung his arms around her waist and buried his face in her T-shirt. Gina felt tears come to her eyes and struggled to push them away. If Gabe saw her cry over him, he would man-up and not come to her any more. As young as he was, he had an amazing amount of pride.
That same pride made him pull away within just a few seconds, and he avoided her eyes by looking at the floor. Swiping at his face, he glanced back down the stairs as if he thought somebody were after him.
“You relocked the door, right?” Gina asked.
The boy nodded his head firmly and met her gaze for the first time.
“Okay, then. Let’s go in your room and watch some tube, want to?”
Once again, his bright blond head bobbed up and down, and he allowed Gina to lead him into her spare bedroom. It wasn’t his actually, but any time he needed to get away from the tension in his own house, he was allowed to come here and chill out. Gina turned on the small light beside the door and motioned to the futon. “Park it, my man.”
Gabe crossed the room and melted onto the mattress in a slump. Gina frowned as she retrieved the remote control from the top of the TV. This was a little unusual, even for him. Normally he was all tough-guy, nobody messes with me. Tonight he seemed, well, defeated. She sat down beside him. “What’s wrong, Gabe?”
He shrugged his shoulders and glanced up at her. “Nothing really.” His eyes fell to her wrist on her lap and he gasped. “What happened?” he demanded.
Gina told him about plowing into a mountain named Matt and the resulting broken bone. His wide blue eyes barely blinked as he listened to her story. Holding the heavy thing out, she turned it over for his inspection. The movements hurt, but it was more like the weight of the cast was hurting.
“Did he hurt you on purpose?” Grim resolved tightened his young face.
“No, Gabe. Of course not. It was an accident.”
Gabe didn’t look convinced. Of course, he knew about ‘accidents’. His parents had died in an accident and left him in the situation he was in now. She actually didn’t think his situation had been much better before they’d died. Gina tried to distract him from their troubles by pressing a button on the remote. She flipped to Animal Planet and the popular cop show they liked was on. “Is this okay?”
Nodding, he settled against the back of the futon, but he reached out a hand to touch her knee. Just a fingertip, but it was a connection. Gina rested her right arm across the back of the couch and let her casted fingers rest in his hair. She couldn’t move them much, but again, it was a connection.
***
The night was long and arduous for Gina. She just could not find a comfortable position to lie in. The drugs
helped a little bit, but there was still an ache that couldn’t be touched. At six AM she went downstairs to get breakfast and start the day. Gabe was gone and the door was locked, so she assumed he had gone home. She hoped Chuck would work this weekend and the little boy would have some peace. She hadn’t seen anything physically wrong with the boy, but the verbal abuse seemed to be escalating. The boy was positively needy last night, and it broke her heart. Patrice, her friend at Children’s Services, told her they could not technically do anything until some kind of abuse manifested in the home. So far Chuck only screamed. And occasionally forgot to buy food for the boy. From Patrice’s perspective, though, any relative was better than no relative. Gina knew better. Gabe was suffering, and she did anything she could to help him out.
It was Saturday, so she didn’t have to go into work, but her body didn’t know that. She had several things she needed to do today. Retrieve her car from the office, buy groceries she had been putting off getting for the last week, and look at new cell phones. None of which she actually wanted to do. Her eyes were gritty, her hair wild, and she was overall tired.
And she didn’t feel any better when Madison stuck her head in the front door and called out a hello. Her friend looked glorious today, long, dark hair in an artfully messy knot on top of her head and her gray eyes twinkling with humor as she dropped a drive-thru bag on the kitchen table. She accepted Madison’s hug and sat across the table from her to show her the cast.
“I swear, Gina, you could get hurt in a padded room.”
Gina laughed because she was totally right. “I know. At least it wasn’t my leg or my tailbone like last time. This should be easier to deal with.”
Madison laughed at her. “Right. You’ll just have to switch everything you’ve done right handed all your life to your left. Easy as pie, huh?”
“Well…”
“So how did you get home? I tried to call your cell phone but it kept ringing busy.”
“I broke my phone at the hospital. Dropped it in the parking lot and it shattered, so I’ll have to get another one in a couple days. And Matt Calvin drove me home.”
For several long seconds, Madison just stared at her. “He stayed that long just to drive you home?”
Gina shrugged. “He took George home after his check-up then came back for me. I think he feels guilty for me getting hurt.”
“Huh. I never would have thought he’d do something like that. He doesn’t seem the Good-Samaritan type. Too frickin’ intimidating.” Her eyes brightened. “He does have a nice ass, though.”
Gina knew her cheeks were turning pink when Madison hooted and pointed a finger at her. “Uh- huh, you’ve noticed.”
She shrugged, totally guilty. “Just last night, actually, when he was walking out the door.”
She didn’t tell Madison that he had pretty green eyes, or that he didn’t intimidate her like he used to.
Madison glanced at her watch and grimaced. “I have to run, dear. I promised Slade I’d meet him for a round of tennis.”
“Slade? His name is actually Slade?” Gina couldn’t help but curl her lip.
Her friend nodded. “I know. Bad, huh? Actually, I think he picked it himself. Because he’s just that special.” Madison winked, and Gina knew the relationship was going nowhere. Madison went through men like she did shoes, and none of them ever seemed to work out.
They walked to the door and hugged as Madison let herself out. “If you need anything, give me a call. Have you talked to the boss yet?”
“No. I’ll call him this weekend.”
“Okay. I’ll check on you Monday if I don’t see you at work.”
Gina waved her off and immediately deflated. Madison was a ball of motion, and Gina just couldn’t keep up with her today like she normally did. She walked back into the kitchen and wrinkled her nose at the take-out bag. It turned her stomach to even smell it. She tossed in into the fridge.
Maybe a shower would wake her up. But even that was going to be a hassle. She dug under the kitchen sink for a trash bag and wound the thing around her cast. She secured the excess with a heavy duty rubber band. Twisting and tugging, she managed to get the thing pretty tightly secured. Then realized she probably should have put the trash bag on after she had gotten undressed.
Gina clomped up the stairs and decided everything in town could wait until tomorrow. Tiredness dragged her down. The car wasn’t going anywhere, and there were security cameras mounted in the lot, so she doubted anything would happen to it. She would get her shower done and lay down for a nap. Hell, she thought, as she crested the top of the stairs, panting. Maybe she would nap first. Stripping off the bag and rubber band, she fell across the mattress and pulled the covers over top of herself.
Chapter Three
Several hours later, she was downstairs loading her washer when somebody rang her front door bell. It wouldn’t be Gabe, because he usually knocked quietly on the back door when he knew she was home, then let himself in. Smoothing her hair behind her headband, she navigated through the house.
She certainly didn’t expect to see Matt when she opened the door. The brilliant burst of happiness at the sight of his big, bulky body and cagey eyes surprised her with its intensity. “Matt! What are you doing here?”
“I, uh, brought your car for you.”
Gina frowned and looked at her little driveway beside her house. Well, damn, it was there. The big dually was backed in front of it and there was a car dolly on the back. Her little Toyota was dwarfed by the big truck, and Gina thought Matt probably could have picked the thing up and put it in the bed of the pick-up himself. She laughed at the imagery and turned back to Matt.
“I can’t believe you did that. I was going to go get it tomorrow. How did you get inside it?”
A scraped hand rubbed over his bristly chin. “Well, you don’t really need to get inside when you haul it on a dolly like that. I just strapped up your front tires and went.”
Gina felt warmth spread in her chest at his actions. That was so sweet. “Matt, thank you so much. That is so far beyond being nice. You didn’t have to do that.”
His big feet shifted on the boards of the porch, and he settled his thumbs into the corners of his hip pockets. Pale, grey-green eyes flashed up to meet her own. “I know, but I didn’t think you’d feel like going to do it in the next couple of days. Broken bones ache pretty fierce when they’re first broken.”
Gina nodded her head in agreement. Stepping back, she held the front door open for him. “Please, come in. Can I get you a cup of coffee?”
Matt stepped inside, careful not to bump against her. He crossed to stand at the base of the stairs and shoved his hands into his hip pockets. Today he was wearing a dark blue Carhart t-shirt that strained across his body and well-worn, baggy carpenter jeans. The same faded blue ball cap was on his head. Gina thought he looked pretty darn cute.
“No, I don’t need coffee. I, uh, won’t be staying long.”
Gina was disappointed, and she knew it showed on her face. “Are you sure? I can throw us together some lunch or something.”
Matt shook his head and reached deep into his right pocket. For several seconds he played with something in his hand before he finally pulled it out and shoved it at her.
Gina reached out to take the red thing from him.
“My phone?” she gasped. She looked at the device in disbelief. It had been shattered. The screen cracked. “How did you do this?”
Matt shifted on his big feet and glanced at her. “I have a similar phone, so I took it in and they replaced it. Switched your SIM card. You should be ready to go, but you need to try it to make sure.”
She touched the screen and all her contacts came up. Tears came to her eyes, and she didn’t try to hide them. “You did this for me?”
Matt felt like he was falling as he looked at her blue eyes all awash in tears again, but for a good reason this time. He shrugged uncomfortably. Maybe he should have just left it on the car seat or something. No,
he did right by bringing it to her. If this happiness shining in her face was the last thing he saw before he left, it would be enough.
When Gina stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, resting her curly head against his chest, Matt was floored. And humbled. And shamed. She was beautiful, and sweet, and had more friends than he had nails in his garage, and she was wrapped around him like he meant something to her. For the briefest second he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed, then stepped back. Or tried to step back. With his feet already up against the bottom stair, he couldn’t get them untangled fast enough from hers. He felt his weight shift and knew he wouldn’t be able to keep them upright. Swinging his right arm out to break their fall, he encountered the base post of the banister. Clenching fiercely, his muscles strained as he tried to keep them both vertical.
It was no use. Under their substantial combined weight, the post snapped.
Matt landed on the stairs hard, with Gina clutched to his chest. He didn’t even care that he had fallen. His foremost concern was for her and her recent injury. So, even though he had stairs digging into his back and a four inch by four inch post had conked him on the head, he cradled Gina as protectively as he could.
Gina looked down at him in a daze, her left hand clutched in his t-shirt and her right held against her chest. Her eyes were wide with fright and her hair more wild than normal. Their legs had gotten tangled, and her right leg was over his lap. Looking down, it was easy enough to imagine another, more intimate situation, and in spite of the crazy circumstance, his body responded. Even as he tried to ignore the tempting picture she made, his dick hardened.
“Uh, wow,” she laughed. She tried to adjust her leg, and Matt knew the exact second she noticed his erection. All movement stopped, and a pink tinge colored her cheeks, but she looked up with a smile, which surprised him. “We, uh, need to quit meeting like this. Really.” She pressed a quick, hard kiss to his chin before she scrambled off his lap. She took several steps back and surveyed the damage.
