Worth It All

by Claudia Connor

  At the same time, Paige said no and took the packet from her hands, but Casey was already pulling his drink closer. Distracted by losing her sweeteners, she bobbled the glass and half the contents of liquid and ice spilled out before Jake’s quick reflexes righted it.

  “Casey Marie! Shoot! I’m so sorry.”

  “Oops. I shouldn’t have done that.”

  “It’s okay,” Jake said, already mopping up the mess with napkins.

  Paige reached for more napkins, and Casey peered over the side of the table where a thin stream of tea ran over the edge.

  “Hey!” Casey exclaimed. “I like your leg.”

  “Sit up.” Paige wrapped an arm around Casey, but she’d found something more interesting than her mess.

  “Did you see his leg? It’s silver. I have one because mine didn’t growed, but mine doesn’t look like that. What happened to yours?”

  “Grow,” Paige corrected, and pulled her back a safe distance.

  Casey leaned as far as she could into Jake’s space. “Did yours not grow too?”

  “Car accident,” he said evenly.

  He didn’t elaborate, not that Casey gave him a chance.

  “Can you run fast?”

  “Yes.”

  “How fast?”

  He flicked a quick glance at Paige. “Well…really fast.”

  “That’s so good.” She peered over the side again. “It has tea on it now. Is that okay? Because you can’t buy just one shoe, the store won’t let you. Did you know that? I didn’t ask them, but my mom said that.”

  Jake’s lips twitched, clearly amused, and her heart knocked against her chest.

  Jenny returned with Paige’s to-go box and a new iced tea. “Ready, Freddy? Or should I call you Little Disaster?”

  Casey pushed up on the table with her hands and stood easily on one foot. “I’m gonna do Jenny’s hair,” she told Jake.

  “I got her leg.” Jenny patted the bag on her shoulder.

  “Thanks, and sounds good.” Paige leaned over and kissed her sweet cheek. “Be good. I mean it.”

  “I’m always good,” Casey said and waved goodbye to Jake.

  “Good is relative,” she muttered, watching her daughter until she was out of sight.

  “You should eat.” He gestured toward the white Styrofoam box between them.

  “That’s okay. I’ll eat in the car. Jenny’s taking Casey home for a little while. She’s really good with her. It’s just until eleven,” she added, not sure why she felt the need to explain herself.

  Jake took a slow drink, watching her over the rim of his glass. Not like her ramble required a response. She shifted nervously under the weight of his attention, deciding her hands were best held tightly on her lap.

  “Casey said her leg didn’t grow,” he said.

  “No. She was born with fibular hemimelia. Partial absence of her right fibula and an underdeveloped tibia. Her right foot was only partially developed. She had a below-the-knee amputation at five months.”

  Paige caught sight of Big Mac out of the corner of her eye. He gave her a wave and pointed to the cow clock on the wall behind the counter. “Damn.”

  “You have to go,” Jake said.

  “Yeah. Sorry. I have another job. Pete’s Bar and Grille. It’s not too far from here.”

  Jake stood. “I’ll walk you out.”

  She got her purse from the back and found him waiting for her. He held the door open and they walked around the building toward employee parking. His gait was so smooth beside her she would have never known he wore a prosthesis if he hadn’t told her.

  “How’s she done with the prosthesis?” he asked after a moment.

  “She’s never been a huge fan, but she’s never really complained, either. She gets around so well without it. She cartwheels, forward rolls. She’s pretty amazing.”

  “Sounds like it.”

  She glanced up at him, caught the curve of his lips and her mind went blank. So much so that she passed Rhonda, her faded blue hatchback, and had to back them up a few feet. If Jake noticed, he didn’t say anything.

  They stood beside each other for a moment. “I’ve tried a thinner sock, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. I haven’t pushed it, but kindergarten starts in a few weeks so…that’s a problem. On top of Casey’s recent decision not to go at all. She’s going to meet her teacher soon so I’m hoping that helps, and…Sorry. I’m just…I’m rambling.”

  “I don’t mind. You can ramble.”

  “No. I’ll stop. I want to stop.” Shut up, Paige! For the love of God.

  He pressed his sexy lips together, maybe so he wouldn’t laugh. “Why don’t I take a look? Just to make sure it’s not the device.”

  “Um…That would be really great. Her next appointment isn’t until after school starts.”

  “I could come back and look at it here, make minor adjustments if needed, but I could do more in my office if it turns out it needs it. There’s a therapy and testing side that might be fun for her to see.”

  He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and handed her a business card. Simple with black and white lettering. JT MCKINNEY, EVOLUTION RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. It had an address and phone number.

  “Thank you. That sounds great. I’d love to see it.” She mentally ran through her schedule, going over her shifts, her class. There was never extra time; adding one thing meant cutting something else. “I could do Monday at—No, Tuesday. I get off at three on Tuesday.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll add your name to the gate list.”

  “Okay.” She gave him her last name and spelled it, like he wouldn’t know. She was really outdoing herself in the embarrassing-chatter department.

  A long moment of silence passed as they stood in the mostly empty parking lot. When was the last time she’d stood in the dark with a man? He was a big man, more than a foot taller than her, with wide shoulders and lean muscle. The faint hum of the streetlights and light traffic didn’t cover the pounding of her heart and it wasn’t from fear.

  “Okay, then. I’ll see you next week,” he said.

  “Okay.”

  He waited while she got in and turned the key. She winced as the engine came to life with a grinding squeal, but she appreciated Rhonda’s effort. He waved and she watched him walk away, heart still pounding and a smile on her face.

  Chapter 3

  JT twirled a pen through his fingers at one end of the conference room table as a monotone accountant droned on at the other. The sleek, dark table separated them by several seats. This monthly meeting he had to sit through was every bit as excruciating as usual.

  As the initial funder and one of three out-of-the-box-thinking founders of Evolution R&D, he should probably care more about the money side, but he didn’t. As head engineer at one of the most renowned prosthetic research and development companies in the world, he’d rather be in his lab, putting his time to better use.

  Simon, who oversaw the therapy and testing side, sat to his left, drawing what appeared to be a…mermaid? JT shook his head. Not even a mermaid could swim with boobs that big. Simon scribbled Do your own at the top of his paper.

  Their CFO and friend, Lynn Summers, sent them a warning look. Of course she sat attentively, further solidifying her position as the grown-up of their trio, a fact she reminded them of on a regular basis. Smart and honest, Lynn had been in rehab with them after a jealous ex had purposely burned a third of her body. She was married now and pregnant, and one of the strongest people he knew.

  He didn’t even want to draw a mermaid. If he drew anything, it would be Paige.

  After sitting with her at the diner he wanted to sit with her more. He wanted to ask her questions, listen to her talk, make her smile. But then what?

  The meeting ended, and the last of the financiers filed out of the room. Lynn leaned back in her chair, her massive belly protruding like a ticking time bomb. “You’re both grounded.”

  JT shrugged. “Hey, I wasn’t the one doodl
ing the Playboy version of The Little Mermaid.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake.” Lynn peered across the table, laughing when Simon slid his hand over his paper.

  An odd threesome, but they’d bonded through circumstance: the statuesque blonde, the Polynesian giant, and…not quite sure what he was. But when he’d sold his first biomechanics patent, he’d used the money to make the place the three of them had dreamed up one afternoon after rehab a reality.

  “What?” Simon asked, trying hard for innocent. “Why are you still here, anyway?” Simon swung his gaze to JT. “I thought we told her not to come back.”

  “We did.”

  “I swear, if she has that baby here…” Simon pointed a serious finger. “Do not have that baby here.”

  “Thank you, Simon, but I’ll tell you what I told my loving husband. I’m the one walking around like a beached whale and I’ll have this baby any damn place I please.” She finished with one of those scary female smiles meant to silence males.

  “Jeez. Hormones,” Simon muttered.

  “Dude,” JT warned before Lynn stabbed him with a pen.

  Lynn rolled her eyes like they were annoying little brothers, exactly how she thought of them. “Were you two even paying attention?”

  “What exactly were we supposed to be paying attention to?” JT asked, which gained him another narrow-eyed look from Lynn.

  “Yeah,” Simon agreed. “I thought you loved us. Why should we be tortured?”

  “Because I’m feeling crappy and miserable, and I want someone to join me? Where are you on the new arm thingy?”

  JT smiled, appreciating that Lynn didn’t do any better with his technical speak than he did with accountant talk. “Farther than we were yesterday but not nearly far enough.” He and his team were currently developing a new and more dexterous finger function for the existing robotic arm. Specifically, a joint that would allow the fingers to move fast enough to keep up with neural impulses.

  “I read our German competitor was getting close,” she added.

  He nodded. He’d read that too and he felt the pressure. “You can’t rush genius.” Though he had to if he wanted to win the patent race. Of course he understood the importance, so did Simon. Even if the guy liked to goof off, he was sharp. The sale of another patent would fund another year or more of research and allow them to offer free assistance to more people.

  “Okay. Obviously I’ll work other funding angles, but this would be huge.” Lynn pushed back in her chair as far as she could. Still not far enough to get her belly past the edge of the table, and JT stood to help. Simon stared like he was watching someone pull the pin out of a grenade.

  She rose awkwardly. “Anything else?”

  “No.” He turned, reaching for his phone, hating that he needed to look away from her palms gently circling her belly. Lynn was his friend and she was happy, which made him happy, but…He couldn’t stop the memories it brought.

  He couldn’t not see his high school girlfriend waiting for him at the bottom of the church steps. Or see her get into his car, the winter trees flying past his window, their bare branches mirroring himself. Angry, raw, bitter. He couldn’t look at Lynn’s pregnant belly and not think, what if?

  “JT?”

  He snapped back at the sound of Simon’s voice. “Huh?”

  “I said, do you want to get some lunch?”

  He checked his watch. He should let someone else help Casey. Let someone else spend time with Paige. “Sure. I can do that.”

  —

  It was just a few minutes after three when Paige pulled up to the gate of Evolution and gave her name to the guard.

  “This is where they make legs?” Casey asked.

  “Yes. And other things.”

  “Why is it brick? Why is it shaped like a square?”

  The guard was a short gentleman in a navy uniform, complete with a cap that had SECURITY printed across the front. He checked his clipboard, then directed her to the visitors’ parking and passed her through with a wave.

  “Are we going to see Jake?”

  She drove past a hundred cars or more, the enormous square building looming before her, three stories of glass and red brick rising from the ground.

  “Are we? Mom! Are we?”

  “Are we what?”

  “Going to see Jake?”

  “I don’t know.” She was trying very, very hard to tamp down her own excitement, but there was something about him. That slightest hesitation, that split second of uncertainty when he’d shown her his leg. A vulnerability in the eyes of a man who looked like he’d be certain about everything. And he’d done it to gain her trust, to offer his help.

  They parked near the far left corner, and with Casey in her arms they entered through wide glass doors. An entry stretched at least twenty yards to a long desk straight ahead, and there was a lot to look at in between.

  Enormous vertical photographs hung like tapestries on both walls. Action shots of a downhill skier, a dancer, a surfer slipping through a blue-green curl of water. And all amputees. A living embodiment of the motto that hung in bold silver letters above the desk. EVOLUTION, THE FUTURE OF MOTION.

  “Who are they?” Casey asked. “How did they get there? Did they use a ladder? Where’s the ladder?”

  Paige stepped up to the desk and returned the young woman’s welcoming smile.

  “Hi. What’s the name?”

  “Casey Roberts. Or Paige. I’m a little late.” And she didn’t know if she was here to see Jake or—

  “Yes. I have it right here. We were expecting you.” She clicked the cord hanging from her ear and spoke into a tiny microphone. “Casey Roberts is here. Yes.” She clicked again. “Someone will be right with you. Can I get you some water? Juice?”

  “No, thank you. We’re good.” She stepped back and put Casey down, hoping the woman didn’t hear Casey say how much she liked juice.

  To her right, the building opened up in a flurry of multilevel activity. Definitely not a doctor’s office feel, more like a state-of-the-art gym gone wild.

  “Are we going to see Jake now?”

  “I don’t know, and let’s try to keep the questions to a minimum. Okay?”

  “Hi. I’m Marcy.”

  Paige turned and met a beautiful young girl with black hair and dark eyes. She was tiny and wore a black polo with the Evolution logo and khaki shorts. “Hi. I’m Paige. This is Casey.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Casey.” She shook hands with both of them, using her left hand. “You can see the testing side there.” She pointed. “Lots of fun, but we’re going this way to the R&D offices.”

  Marcy led them a few feet to double doors on their left, swiped a card hanging from her neck, and waited for a beep. Casey walked beside her, peeling off questions about what and why and how.

  “Lots of security,” Paige said.

  “Yes. To protect designs in development.”

  “Oh. Right.” Because, like she’d read on Jenny’s smartphone in the two minutes before Casey spilled her cereal, this was cutting-edge. Bionics, neural implants, and a lot of other stuff she didn’t understand.

  It took a good five minutes down hallways and up elevators to reach their destination. In that time, she learned Marcy was a talkative intern from South Carolina and that she’d lost her right arm almost to the shoulder when she was four from a lawn-mowing accident.

  “Okay, here we are. This is where the main research team works. You’ll be seeing Tyler Davies.”

  Oh. Not Jake.

  The hallway was wide, floor-to-ceiling white, and so cool it was almost cold. Marcy stopped in the third doorway. “Hey, Tyler.”

  A young man with a dark-blond ponytail turned from a table covered in prosthetic feet. He wore a shirt identical to Marcy’s and looked more than happy to stop his work and say hi to her.

  “This is Casey,” Marcy said. “She’s here for an adjustment.”

  “Oh,” Tyler said, a confused expression on his face. “Mr. McKin
ney told me an hour ago to work on this. He said he needed it done and to send you down to his office.”

  Paige’s heart skipped and her hand tightened on the canvas strap over her shoulder.

  “Oh. Okay.” There was a slight hesitation in Marcy’s voice before she bounced back. “Mr. McKinney’s office is all the way down at the end.” Marcy’s voice dropped to almost a whisper.

  They passed six or seven more doors until they reached his office. The space was easily six times the size of the bedroom she and Casey shared. Tables lined the walls, all covered in computers, printers, and prosthetic pieces. Many of them looked straight out of a futuristic movie.

  Sketches and photographs covered the corkboard wall behind them, and above that was the company’s motto painted in black letters on the white cinder block. Jake sat across the room at one of at least eight computer monitors, his back to them.

  Marcy cleared her throat and tapped on the open doorframe. “Mr. McKinney?”

  At the sound of his name, Jake stood and walked toward them.

  Paige didn’t miss the look of adoration in the young girl’s eyes, which explained the sudden change. Seemed someone had a major crush. Paige didn’t blame her.

  Jake definitely had that take-your-breath-away quality. He wore dark jeans and a white collared dress shirt, untucked, with the sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms, and looked even better than he had in a T-shirt.

  “Thank you, Marcy.”

  Marcy blushed and stared so long Paige considered patting her on the back to make her breathe, but the girl spun on her heel and hurried off.

  “Hi, Jake.” Casey walked in, not at all shy. “Is this your work?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is where you make the stuff?”

  A smile played at his lips. “Yes. This is where I make the stuff.”

  Paige stepped into the giant workspace. An enormous square table took up the center of the room, and she imagined Jake leading some kind of brainstorming session like NASA, living out the company’s motto. She glanced around in amazement. “Did you design all of these?”

  “Yes. Some are in the very early stages.” He ducked his head in an entirely modest gesture that was unbelievably sweet.