He thought back to earlier this afternoon when Floyd had called him and told him that Daisy’s dad, who just happened to be a retired detective captain from St. Louis P.D., had paid him a visit. He hadn’t needed for Floyd to tell him what the guy had wanted.
Floyd said it took him a while to calm the guy down. He’d been upset that his daughter had been dragged into this whole mess.
That made Mike try to remember just how she got involved in this whole thing in the first place? Bert. Oh yeah. Bert had talked her into taking him to see Mike. That simple act was what had now made her associated with Mike in Hollis’ mind. And that could be dangerous for her.
As he thought about it though, he didn’t blame her dad for being upset. Most fathers would be. But did this one have to be a retired police captain who looked like a pro linebacker?
When Floyd and Frank both turned back to him, he still wasn’t sure what to say and what not to say.
Frank said, “How deep into this guy Hollis’ organization did you get before?”
Very much aware of Daisy’s stare, he decided to be thorough but he also needed to choose his words carefully. He realized that bringing most everything out now might be the only way to keep her and his mom safe.
“I was never in direct contact with Hollis himself. I dealt with his main distributor, a guy who only went by the name of José. And before you ask, he apparently left the area about the time I was shot. At least he was gone for a while before I got shot.”
Floyd started telling Frank all they had learned about Hollis’ operation leaving Mike to his thoughts. But those thoughts wouldn’t stay on track. He kept thinking about the woman sitting on the end of the sofa next to his recliner. If he stopped to think about it, he had to admit that he was attracted to her. In fact, he had always been attracted to her. He’d fought it though ever since that first time Bert had taken him to the home to meet her.
Daisy was talking now and he had to force himself to leave his thoughts in order to hear what she was saying.
“I just want some assurance that my daughter and also the residents of the home will be protected, that’s all.”
Floyd spoke up immediately. “Daisy, I understand your concern. But I don’t think any of you will be in any danger as long as you don’t spend a lot of time here at Mike’s house. Right now, all of our sources are telling us that Hollis wants to do something to Mike right here in his own home. And more than likely late at night.”
Mike was surprised when she turned her eyes on him and the look she gave him wasn’t one of relief. Instead, it was one of fear and that fear could only be for him. Wow. Did she really care that much about what happened to him?
Shortly after that, Daisy and her dad left and Floyd was right behind them after he gave some last minute instructions to Jason.
And that left Mike to his thoughts which were so many and so confusing that he didn’t really begin to organize them until he was sitting up in bed later with the lights off.
He was worried. And that bothered him. He was never worried. Even when he’d been undercover, he’d never really worried. Why?
Then the reason hit him like a two by four to the side of his head. His mom and Daisy were involved this time, whether he liked it or not. Always before, he’d gone into every assignment alone with no one else to worry about possibly getting hurt.
He finally fell asleep thinking about how he was going to keep Daisy from getting hurt. For some reason, he wasn’t as worried about his mom. Maybe it was because of her gun. But Daisy seemed so innocent, so helpless. He had to protect her.
Chapter Seven
Friday morning, Mike was having a difficult time waking up. He’d been dreaming that he had feeling in his toes and that it was very painful.
He lay there staring at the ceiling for a full five minutes before he realized that the sensation wasn't going away. When he concentrated his thoughts on his feet, he didn’t feel anything and he couldn’t move them. Had he really felt something earlier? Or was it just a dream or worse only wishful thinking.
He threw the covers off and sat up in bed. Then he reached down and felt the toes of first his right foot then his left. Nothing!
He was so disappointed that he wanted to shout or hit something. He settled for throwing his pillow against the wall then he began pounding his fists on the bed at his sides.
‘Just be patient and wait. It will happen when you’re not expecting it.’ That was what Mark had stressed to him the last time he was at the doctor’s office. Patient? How could he be patient? He’d already waited six months. Six long months without any visible improvement. That was too long. He didn’t want to wait any longer. He wanted to walk again and he wanted to do it now, not later at some unknown date.
He fell back in his bed and his head bounced off the mattress. He knew he’d been acting like a spoiled child who wasn’t getting his way. But he was frustrated. How much longer would it be?
As he was swinging his legs over the side of the bed in order to pull himself into his wheelchair, he felt something again. What was that? Pain? Again? This time he was fully awake and he knew he’d felt pain in his left foot near the base of his big toe.
He reached down again and grabbed the toe. Nothing. He couldn’t feel his hand on his toe. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. He must want to feel it so badly that his mind was giving him what he wanted but it wasn’t real.
As he was taking his shower, he remembered that today was PT. Maybe Karen would know about the pain he thought he’d felt. That’s it. He’d ask her this morning.
He didn’t say anything to his mother or Jason about the pains as they sat together eating breakfast. They talked about the weather and other harmless topics. It was as if his mom didn’t want to talk about the little meeting that had been held there the night before. That was okay with him, since he certainly didn’t want to either. So he was glad when she didn’t bring it up.
When he finally looked closely at his mom, he realized she was in pain. “What is it Mom? Do you have one of your headaches?”
She nodded and tried to smile back at him. “Yes, Dear, I’m afraid I won’t be able to drive you to PT this morning.”
He looked at Jason. “But what will I do? Floyd doesn’t want anyone to know you’re staying here.”
Jason frowned and said, “Yeah, that’s why he had someone else drop me off here yesterday.” He looked at Sarah. “Isn’t there anybody else who could take him today?”
Sarah nodded. “Yes, Daisy. But do we dare involve her any more than she already is?”
Mike made the decision. “I think it’ll be okay Mom. Floyd said that they’re sure that as long as Daisy doesn’t spend a lot of time here especially at night she should be okay. I’ll call her.”
With that, Mike pulled his cellphone out of the bag on the side of his wheelchair and called Daisy who immediately agreed to take him. For some reason, he was grinning when he disconnected the call.
Laughter brought him back to the two sitting at the table with him. He gave Jason who was laughing and pointing at him a dirty look.
“Hey Buddy, I’d say that I’m not the only one with a woman on his mind.”
When Mike started to protest, Jason waved his hand through the air between them and said, “Uh uh, don’t try to deny it. You should have seen the look on your face just now when you were talking to Daisy. Yep, you’ve got it too my friend.”
Mike tried to shake off the strange feeling Jason’s accusations were giving him. But when he looked at his mom, she had one of her knowing looks on her face too.
Oh boy! He had to get out of there fast.
As Mike wheeled himself back to his room to get ready to go to PT. Jason’s laughter followed him all the way. He felt like hitting the guy. Why? Was Jason right? Did he have feelings for Daisy? No. He couldn’t have. He didn’t want to get involved with any woman right now. He had too many other things going on and certainly didn’t need to be distracted.
He tr
ied not to talk much with Daisy on the way to PT. He had decided that the best thing for both of them right now would be them to stay away from each other. Of course, that was easier said than done when here she was driving him to PT. It was too late for second thoughts now. Well, it would just have to stop after this.
When Daisy pushed him through the swinging doors into the large room where Karen was waiting for him, he was almost positive that Karen looked disappointed to see Daisy instead of Jason pushing him. Hmmm. How about that. Maybe he would tell Jason about it . . . and then again, maybe he wouldn’t.
After Karen had put him through several new exercises that were rather torturous, he was sitting on the table trying to recover and catch his breath when he remembered what he wanted to ask Karen.
When she returned with some new equipment, he saw his chance.
“Karen?”
When she looked over at him he said, “When the feeling comes back in my legs how will it start? Do you know?”
She smiled, placed the equipment down, and came over to sit near him. “Well it’s different with each of the different types of injuries but with the kind of nerve damage that you had, it’ll probably start out as a kind of phantom pain.”
He hit his fist on the mat and shouted. “Are you sure?”
She flinched but kept the smile on her face.
“Yes. But it doesn’t always start that way.” She looked closely at him. “Why? Have you had some phantom pains Mike?”
He was nodding his head before she finished. “Yes. I woke up with them this morning. I thought I’d just dreamed them at first.”
She clapped her hands together and said, “Oh Mike, that’s wonderful news. Now we know that we really do have to work hard to get those muscles going again.”
Daisy touched his arm and said, “Mike I knew you would be able to do it. Now we have proof.”
Mike looked back at Karen. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going. I want to walk today.”
They all laughed at his comment that was only half-jesting. And Karen began working with him again.
* * *
All the way over to pick up Mike earlier, Daisy had kept trying to analyze why she felt so excited. Was it because she was seeing Mike again? It had been a surprise after all when he’d called her. After last night, she hadn’t expected to see much of him, at least until after they caught Hollis. But why was she excited?
Lucy had wanted to come along and Daisy had had a difficult time convincing her that PT wasn’t a good place for a little girl to be.
When she’d pulled into Mike’s driveway, he’d been waiting for her outside. By the time she had rushed around to the other side of the car, he had the door open and was pulling himself into the passenger seat. That left her with nothing to do but fold the wheel chair and place it in the trunk.
The only thing he’d said to her on the drive over had been to thank her for driving him.
Now, she was sitting in PT watching Karen take Mike through some rather strenuous exercises. Then she remembered that Karen had seemed to be disappointed when she saw Daisy pushing Mike into the room. That was interesting. Maybe she’d get a chance to ask Karen later, if not today, then for sure Sunday at church.
Then Mike had asked Karen about the phantom pains he was having in his feet and she was overjoyed along with Mike at Karen’s answer.
The rest of Mike’s time went rather quickly after that. He was working extra hard now. She knew it was because he’d had an encouraging sign of progress. She also knew that something like that always proved to be quite an incentive for a patient to work harder.
When Karen finished with Mike and he was wheeling himself toward the swinging doors, Karen stepped up to Daisy, placed a hand on her arm, and said, “Could I talk to you for a second, Daisy, please?”
“Sure.”
She stopped and turned to face Karen who had a serious look on her face. Daisy waited as Karen seemed to be working up to what she wanted to say.
“Do you know Jason Walker?”
“Yes. But I don't know him very well. I’ve just met him a few times since I’ve lived here. I’ve also met him at Mike’s house a couple of times this week.”
Karen looked as if she wasn’t going to continue at first, then said, “I think I hurt him the other day and I really didn’t want to do that.”
When Daisy only gave her an encouraging smile, Karen said, “He asked me out and I’m afraid I turned him down rather bluntly without much of an explanation.”
Daisy laughed and Karen's face grew puzzled so she explained. “I don’t think you need to worry about Jason. He asked me out several times last year before he finally gave up. And I don’t think it hurt him that much when I said no.”
At first, Karen seemed relieved then an emotion not unlike pain crossed her face. “I guess he asks all the single women out then.”
Daisy knew where Karen was going and tried to head her off. “No Karen, I don’t think that’s the case with Jason. I don't know of anyone but me and now you that he’s asked out recently.”
That didn’t have the desired effect on Karen. If anything, her face looked as if she felt much worse.
“Will you see Jason anytime soon?”
“Yes. I should see him today when I take Mike home.”
“Good. Will you try to explain to him why I just can’t date anyone right now, not even him?”
“I’ll be glad to.” Daisy smiled at her. “I assume you’re going to tell me what those reasons are now.”
“Yes. Do you remember that I told you about my fiancé leaving me waiting at the altar . . . literally?”
Daisy nodded and Karen went on. “Well, you see, he was a policeman.”
Daisy groaned. Now she thought she was beginning to understand.
“And even though Jason’s uniform is totally different than Larry’s was, I’m still having a problem with it. I’m sure I’ll get over it, but I just need a little time to do so. Do you understand Daisy?”
“Oh, yes, Karen, more than you’ll ever know.”
When Daisy reached out and hugged Karen, she was stiff at first then she loosened up and hugged her back.
“Don’t you worry about a thing Karen. I’ll explain all of this to Jason and I know he’ll understand. He really is a very nice man. I’ve gotten to know him better lately and I’m sure of it.”
At Karen’s questioning look, she rushed to add. “But I still don’t think he and I would be good together.”
As she stepped away from Karen, Daisy noticed that Mike was sitting just inside the door giving them a strange look.
She looked into Karen’s eyes and said, “I think you like Jason. Don’t you?”
She didn’t think Karen was going to answer at first then she nodded slightly. “I didn’t want to, but yes I guess I do.”
Daisy patted her on the arm and said, “Don’t you worry about a thing. I know that God has just the right man for you and I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t Jason. He might not have been the right one for me but he just may be for you.”
Karen looked into Daisy’s eyes as she was looking past her at Mike. “Oh, now I see what’s going on around here.”
She gestured toward Mike. “You and Mike. I can see it now.”
Daisy started to deny it but then she sighed and said, “I’ll tell you what we can do. I’ll pray for you that God will give you the right man and you can do the same for me. Deal?”
Karen grinned and shook the hand that Daisy offered. “Deal.”
Mike didn’t say anything on the way out to her car and Daisy was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he turned to her as soon as they were both sitting in the car.
“What was all that about back there with Karen?”
She didn’t even pretend that she didn’t know what he meant. She turned the motor on and looked at him. “It was just girl talk.”
When she saw the determined set of his jaw, she said, “She wanted to ask me something but it w
asn’t about you so I’d appreciate it if you’d let it go for now.”
He didn’t respond so she drove out of the parking lot.
Daisy suddenly didn’t want to take Mike home. She wanted to spend some more time with him alone. Why? She didn’t even want to answer that question right then.
“Mike, it’s almost lunchtime. Why don’t we stop in at Jo and Sue Ann’s coffee shop for lunch?”
He didn't answer for so long that she was about to give up when he finally said, “Okay.”
Once they were seated at a table in the coffee shop and both Jo and Sue Ann had already stopped by to say hello, Daisy looked over at Mike and caught him staring intently at her.
“What?” She knew she didn’t have anything on her face since she hadn’t eaten yet. So why was he looking at her so strangely?
He smiled. Smiled! Mike smiled at her?
“You’re beautiful you know.”
She just stared back at him and she knew her mouth had to be hanging open. He laughed and said, “You have the most beautiful hair I’ve ever seen. It’s like the hair on those shampoo commercials.”
Then before she could close her mouth and think of something, anything to say, he shook his head as if to clear it and said, “I’m sorry. I don’t even know where that came from.”
Oh no! She wasn’t going to let him get away with dropping a bomb like that and then pretending he didn’t do it.
“Thank you Mike.” She grinned and added, “I guess you’re human after all. I was beginning to wonder there for a while.”
He didn’t laugh. He just started staring at her again. “Now that it looks like I’m really going to walk again, it has certainly changed the way I look at almost everything . . . including you.”
What could she say to that?
“Well, Mike, if confessions are in order, then I guess I’d better tell you that I wasn't really kidding before when I mentioned you being human after all. You have such a way of hiding your emotions, even your thoughts that I didn’t think I would ever get to know you at all.”
He just answered with one short phrase but it was self-explanatory. “All that undercover work.” He kept a serious look on his face. “Do you?”
The Only Solution (Crowley County Series Book 3) Page 11
