A Love Beyond Words

by Sherryl Woods

  “Hey, Enrique, you out back?” Tom shouted as he rounded the side of the house clutching a six-pack of beer.

  Ricky assured himself that his receptiveness increased only because of that beer. He nabbed one before his friend could settle on the chaise lounge next to his.

  “You’re a mess,” Tom said after a casual survey. “How do you expect to land the fair maiden looking like that?”

  “Actually, I’m hoping to look and smell so disgusting, she won’t come within a foot of me,” he said.

  “How come?”

  “Because she’s dangerous,” he said before he thought to censor himself.

  “Dangerous how? Is she sleepwalking with a butcher knife or something?”

  “Hardly.”

  “What then?”

  “She just exists, that’s all,” he grumbled, taking a deep swallow of the cold, refreshing beer.

  “Oh, boy,” Tom said with a hoot. “You have it bad, my friend.”

  “I do not.”

  “Of course you do. You have gone way beyond just scheming to get her into your bed, haven’t you?”

  Ricky scowled at the suggestion. “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t do the happily-ever-after thing. You know that.”

  “It’s not so bad. Maybe you should consider it.”

  If Tom had suggested they both take up skydiving, Ricky couldn’t have been any more stunned. “This from a man who bolted from a marriage practically before the ink was dry on the license.”

  “I didn’t bolt. She did. And we’re talking about you, not me.”

  Despite the denial, Ricky thought he detected something wistful in his friend’s expression. “Is there something going on with you and Nikki? Have you seen her?”

  “Last night,” Tom admitted grudgingly.

  “Intentionally or did you bump into her someplace?”

  “No, I stopped by.”

  “Really?” Ricky barely hid his surprise. He thought they hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in months, despite his mother’s attempts to push them back together. “And?”

  “And nothing.”

  “Nothing happened? She kicked you out? What?”

  “We talked for maybe five, ten minutes. Then her date showed up.”

  “Geez, I’m sorry, amigo.”

  “The man was wearing a pin-striped suit, for Pete’s sake,” Tom continued. “He’s an accountant, you know, for one of those muckety-muck firms. A real nine-to-fiver. How boring is that?” He tried valiantly to achieve an air of disdain, but his hurt was evident.

  “I’m sorry,” Ricky said again. “Do you think it’s serious?”

  “Hey, he’s exactly what she says she’s always wanted.”

  “But did it look serious?” Ricky persisted. “Sparks flying, that kind of thing?”

  “What difference does it make? If this jerk is what she thinks she wants, she’ll find a way to talk herself into having a relationship with him.”

  “Then you’ll just have to find a way to talk her back out of it,” Ricky told him. “You know anybody with a better gift of gab than you? Present company excluded, of course.”

  Tom seemed to take heart from the reminder. “Hell, no,” he declared.

  “Well, then, if you want her back, fight for her. Do you want her back?”

  Tom’s expression turned miserable again. “I can’t be a damned desk jockey, not even for her.”

  “Maybe there’s a compromise.”

  “Such as?”

  “I don’t know. That would be up to the two of you.”

  “Well, if one exists, I can’t think what it is,” Tom said. “Let’s talk about you and the beautiful Allie instead. Where is she?”

  “Napping.”

  “She’s in bed and you’re out here? You are slipping.”

  “Go suck an egg,” Ricky grumbled.

  “Is that the response of a mature man?” Tom taunted.

  “No, it is the response of a man who’s at the end of his rope. I say I go in and take a shower, and you and I go out on the town. How about it?”

  “Fine by me. I got nothing better to do.”

  “Good. That’s settled then.” A night on the town would prove to him that he wasn’t really hooked on Allie. He’d probably find a dozen other women before the night was out who’d be more gorgeous, more willing, and less vulnerable. Leggy brunettes with sultry smiles.

  Unfortunately, when he stepped inside the back door, he found Allie bending over in front of the oven. The view was too alluring to ignore. He enjoyed it for a full, uninterrupted minute, and every thought of leggy brunettes fled.

  When she finally stood up and caught sight of him, she jumped, clearly startled.

  “Sorry,” he apologized, his voice husky.

  “I didn’t know you’d come in.”

  “I keep forgetting about sneaking up on you. What’s in the oven?”

  “Dinner. I found a roast in the freezer. I made pot roast.”

  He frowned. “I thought you were resting.”

  She scowled right back at him. “I was and now I’m not.”

  “You should have said something. Tom’s here. We were going out.”

  If she was disappointed, she hid it well. “Fine.”

  “If I’d known you were cooking, I would have told you,” he said, feeling defensive.

  “It’s not a problem. I’ll have some of this tonight. You can eat the leftovers whenever you feel like it.”

  He didn’t like it that she was letting him off the hook so easily, as if what he did didn’t matter two hoots to her. “I suppose we could eat first and then go out,” he said grudgingly. “Is there enough for Tom?”

  “There’s enough for an army, but don’t stay on my account. I should have checked with you first.”

  “We’ll stay,” he said at once, wondering what Tom was going to make of the sudden turnaround.

  “Fine. I’ll set another place. Should I go out and tell him or will you?”

  “I’ll do it,” Ricky said. If his friend was going to start laughing when he learned of the change in plans, Ricky didn’t want Allie to wonder why. “How long till we eat?”

  “A half hour.”

  “Perfect. I’ll tell Tom, then take a shower and change.”

  Tom’s reaction wasn’t exactly what Ricky had anticipated. “Pot roast?” he echoed, staring longingly toward the back door. “The real thing. Not a frozen dinner?”

  “The real thing.”

  “Damn, buddy, if you don’t marry this woman, I might.”

  Ricky scowled. “Not in a hundred million years,” he said fiercely.

  Tom feigned shock. “Are you warning me off?”

  “Isn’t that what it sounded like?” Ricky retorted. “If not, I must be slipping.”

  “Message received,” Tom said dutifully, but his eyes were full of mischievous sparks.

  Ricky had the distinct impression he’d better take that shower and get back to the kitchen in record time. He wasn’t quite sure whether he needed to be there to protect Allie…or his own interests.

  Chapter Nine

  Aside from Ricky’s vigilance, the only thing that kept Allie from returning to work on Thursday was the unexpected arrival of her boss from the speech and hearing clinic, first thing in the morning.

  Looking smug, Ricky ushered Gina Dayton into the kitchen while Allie was sullenly sipping her third cup of coffee and glowering over the top of the paper. She felt her spirits improve the instant she spotted the energetic woman who ran the clinic.

  “Gina, I had no idea you were coming,” Allie said, signing for the woman’s benefit.

  Gina had been born deaf, but she had never considered it a detriment to achieving her dreams. She had been a grade-A student in high school, had graduated from college at the top of her class and had started her own cutting-edge clinic in her hometown of Miami. With her energy and her boundless optimism, she was a role model to her clients and her staff.

  “Your friend called
me last night and told me you were getting restless,” she said, gesturing toward Ricky. “He seemed to think the only way to keep you at home would be to get you an update on your students. I decided to come in person.”

  “I’ll leave you two to catch up,” Ricky said, after surveying the scene with apparent satisfaction.

  Allie reluctantly met his gaze. “Thank you.”

  “No problem. Enjoy yourselves. Gina, would you like some coffee before I go?”

  Gina signed her response, clearly startling Ricky.

  “Gina doesn’t speak,” Allie told him, “except with sign language. She said she’d get her own coffee if you’d point her in the right direction.”

  “But I spoke to her on the phone,” he said.

  Gina grinned and signed a response. Allie translated for him. “She says you actually spoke to her assistant, who acted as an interpreter for her.”

  “So the words were hers, but the voice was her assistant’s?”

  Allie nodded. “Exactly.”

  “But Gina reads lips?”

  Gina tapped his arm, grinning. “I do.”

  Ricky gave her one of his devastating smile. “Okay, then. The coffee’s over there. And I picked up some guava pastries this morning.”

  Gina’s expression turned rapturous as she signed, “Heaven.”

  Ricky grinned. “I think I got that. Let me know if you need anything.”

  As soon as he was gone, Gina regarded Allie with obvious fascination. “Girl, what have you landed yourself in? The man is a certifiable hunk. And he’s the one who rescued you? How did you end up living with him? No wonder you didn’t want to stay at my place with a man like him waiting in the wings to take you in.” Her fingers flew as she signed the barrage of questions.

  “He’s not bad,” Allie responded cautiously.

  “Are you blind, too?” the other woman inquired, patting one hand over her heart. “My pulse is still racing.”

  “Because you don’t get out enough,” Allie told her. “You work all the time.”

  “So do you,” Gina responded. “Let me know if you decide not to keep him.”

  Allie wanted to explain that he wasn’t hers to keep, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. Ricky might not be hers, but she couldn’t see herself handing him over to another woman, especially someone she knew. Just the thought of bumping into him with someone else made her stomach churn.

  She frowned at her friend. “You’re married and the mother of a new baby.”

  “But I have friends,” she said fervently. “They would be in my debt forever if I brought a man like Ricky to them. I was very impressed when he called the other day to express his concern about you. And when he called back to arrange this visit, I knew I had to get a good look at him for myself.”

  Even though Allie said nothing, Gina apparently got the message. “Hands off, huh? Okay. But if you spot any more like him, let me know.”

  “Will do,” Allie promised. “Now tell me what’s happening at the clinic.”

  “Your patients all miss you like crazy. They sent cards,” Gina said, drawing a stack of brightly colored pictures from her briefcase.

  Allie accepted them, but the first one of a little girl’s face with a tear on the cheek brought such a lump to her throat that she put them aside to study later, when she was alone.

  “They love you,” Gina signed, then gave Allie’s hand a squeeze. “We are all grateful that you weren’t hurt any worse than you were, and we can’t wait for you to get back.”

  “I could come in tomorrow,” Allie said eagerly.

  Gina held up protesting hands. “Not on your life. I’ve already been warned by your friend in there that you are not coming back till Monday. Period.”

  “Ricky Wilder does not run my life.”

  “But he has your best interests at heart. Listen to him.” She grinned. “Besides, if a man that gorgeous offered me an incentive to stay around the house, you can bet I wouldn’t budge.”

  “That’s what you say because you have a choice,” Allie complained. “He’s not giving me any choice at all.”

  “It’s a few more days,” Gina reminded her. “This ordeal has been a shock. It’s not just the physical injuries you must deal with, but the emotional harm it did. Have you even been back to your house?”

  Allie shook her head. Even at the risk that looters would take anything salvageable, she wasn’t ready to face it yet.

  “You must go,” Gina told her. “Put it behind you. You know better than most the importance of moving on.”

  The allusion to the weeks during which she’d raged about her loss of hearing, rather than accepting the reality, brought that whole, awful, wasted time back to her. “I know you’re right, but I’m afraid memories of the hurricane will overwhelm me. It was terrifying.”

  “Have you thought of talking to a psychologist about it?”

  “No. I’m coping. It will get better with time.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “Then I will see someone. I promise.”

  Gina stayed for a few more minutes, sharing gossip about the staff, reporting triumphs of the patients. “We need to talk about Kimi Foley,” she said referring to one of Allie’s more troubling cases. “She’s not doing as well as we’d like, but we’ll discuss that when you come in on Monday.”

  She eventually plucked a few articles and reports from her briefcase and passed them along.

  “Reading material,” she said. “And some paperwork. But don’t do any more than you feel up to.”

  “Thank you,” Allie said fervently. Maybe she wouldn’t feel so cut off, so completely useless, if she could at least do a little of the endless paperwork her job entailed.

  She walked Gina to the door, gave her a hug, then stood watching her drive away, unable to hide the wistfulness she was feeling.

  She felt Ricky slip up beside her. He draped a comforting arm across her shoulders.

  When she glanced up to meet his understanding gaze, he reminded her, “Only a few more days.”

  She sighed. “I know.”

  But it seemed as if she’d already been stranded in limbo forever.

  With Allie settled more happily at the kitchen table with her paperwork, Ricky congratulated himself on the brilliance of his idea to get Gina Dayton to drop by.

  After casting one last look at her, he stripped off his shirt and went outside to try to tame some of the shrubbery that was threatening to take over the front lawn.

  He was hard at work, when he sensed he wasn’t alone. Allie was sitting on the front stoop, arms around her legs, chin resting on her knees. She looked totally downcast again. He set aside his clippers and dropped down next to her.

  “I didn’t mean to distract you,” she said.

  “Then what did you mean to do?” he teased. “Get an eyeful of the scenery?” He deliberately glanced down at his gleaming chest.

  Allie reacted with predictable embarrassment. “Of course not. I was just…” Her voice trailed off.

  “Restless again?” he inquired sympathetically.

  “Not exactly.” She met his gaze. “I’ve been thinking.”

  “About?” he prodded when she didn’t continue.

  “I think I need to go back to my house.”

  He stared at her incredulously. “What? No way!”

  “I have to do it. Your sister mentioned it the other day and today Gina brought it up.”

  He shot to his feet and began to pace. “They’re both nuts,” he declared. “Why would they suggest something like that?”

  He felt Allie snag his hand and pull him to a stop, her expression frustrated.

  “What?” she demanded.

  He repeated what he’d said, then added flatly, “It’s not a good idea.”

  “I think it is,” she said with a determined jut to her chin. “Maybe some of my things can be salvaged. And even if they can’t, I have to deal with what happened that night. I have to face it and move on. Will
you take me?”

  He struggled with the wisdom of what she was suggesting and his own fear that she wasn’t ready to face that night. “Allie, I don’t know.”

  “I’ll find some other way to get there, if you don’t.”

  He knew she would do it, too. Unlike the idle threats she’d made about sneaking back to work behind his back, he sensed that this time she’d made up her mind. She would go with him or without him. There was no way he would let her face it alone.

  “I’ll take you,” he finally conceded. “When?”

  “Now,” she said with grim determination. She stood up to emphasize her declaration.

  Ricky sighed. “Okay, now it is. Just give me a minute to clean up and put on a shirt.”

  “It’s not like we’re going someplace fancy,” she protested. “We’ll probably get filthy.”

  “Give me a minute,” he insisted.

  Inside, he made a quick, desperate call to Jane. “Do you think she’s up to this?”

  “If she says she is, you don’t have a choice. I’ll meet you there,” the elderly woman said decisively.

  “Want me to pick you up on our way?” Ricky offered.

  “No, then she’ll know you called. It’ll be better if I just show up.”

  “Thanks, Jane. You’re an angel.”

  “You can buy us both lunch when this is over. I have a craving for a nice, thick pastrami on rye with some kosher pickles.”

  “You’ve got it,” Ricky promised. “See you soon.”

  To allow time for Jane to make her way back to her old neighborhood via public transportation, Ricky opted for a shower, rather than the quick cleanup he’d intended. He took his own sweet time about drying his hair and getting dressed, then shaved, too. By the time he went outside, Allie was prowling the yard impatiently.

  “It took you long enough,” she grumbled.

  “Is that the thanks I get for making myself beautiful?” He leaned in close. “See, I even smell good.”

  A reluctant grin tugged at her lips as she sniffed his aftershave. “Very nice. Something tells me it’s going to be wasted on the vermin likely to be crawling over the remains of the neighborhood, though.”

  “As long as it’s not wasted on you,” he said agreeably and headed south.

  The closer they got to Allie’s old neighborhood, the more her anxiety increased. She had knotted her hands so tightly in her lap that the knuckles had turned white and there were lines of tension around her mouth. Ricky made the turn off Dixie Highway, then pulled into the parking lot of what had once been a small strip mall. Now the roof was gone, and the few remaining windows were covered with graffiti-decorated boards. He put his hand over Allie’s.