a crumb.”
A nurse walked in. The doctor followed on her heels.
“What’s the verdict?” Adam asked.
“Terrible news. I’m afraid I can’t let you run the Houston Marathon this year, Mr. Drake,” the doctor said, directing his answer to Henry.
“Well, that is disappointing. I was so sure it was mine to win.”
“I don’t doubt it for a minute.” The doctor turned his attention to Adam. “It could have been much worse. He could have fallen on cement, rather than grass.”
“Hey! I’m in the room! I can hear you,” Henry interjected. Obviously, he wasn’t thrilled about being referred to in the third person. “I was taking a nap. Why doesn’t anyone believe me?”
“Do you think he’ll be released tomorrow?” Adam asked.
“We’ll have to see.” The doctor reached down and patted Henry’s arm. “I’ll give your grandson a call if anything changes.”
“I’ll spend the night here,” Adam said.
The doctor nodded and left the room.
“You’re going home, and that’s that. There’s something I need you to do,” Henry said.
“I know. But I don’t think we should list our homes until I get a solid offer. It’s between me and one other guy, but they pretty much guaranteed I’m in the lead.”
“Oh, I’m not worried about that. Destin, Florida, is our destiny! I’ve already cut the tags off my new swimming trunks, that’s how confident I am. Do whatever you think is best as far as putting the houses up for sale.”
Adam studied this frail man, who also happened to be the strongest person he knew. A man who spent what should have been his golden years of retirement raising Adam in Houston, putting up with an endless amount of bullshit. Florida was Adam’s chance to make it up to the man who had sacrificed so much. Didn’t get much better than white sand beaches and emerald-tinted waters.
“So, what is it you need me to do?” Adam asked.
“I want you to promise you’ll make me a great-grandfather before I die. I always wanted the word great in front of my name.”
“How do you know you don’t already have great-grandkids running around somewhere?”
Even joking about such a thing made Adam’s conscience quiver. Condoms were nonnegotiable until a committed relationship was established. He could be certain of his fatherhood status, or lack thereof, at this point.
“At least promise me you’ll find a nice girl. Liv wasn’t nice. I may not be much, but I’m a flawless judge of character.”
Yet, if Henry really knew what Adam had made of himself—disgraced trainer turned cut-rate escort—it might turn the man’s whole flawless-judge assumption on its ear. Considering he could lose his grandfather at any time, it was more important than ever that he straighten out his own life.
Beginning with his career.
KIRBY STAYED IN bed and stared at her open palm, willing her mind to reconstruct the smudge of what used to be Easy Ride’s cell phone number. It had survived the first night and one full day, but last night’s bubble bath proved to be its undoing.
She’d committed the sequence to memory, but now the order of the numbers proved to be a moving target. A mental shell game.
When she couldn’t find any definition within the hopeless blur, she balled her hand into a fist and knocked herself on the forehead. Hard.
Maybe it was a good thing she didn’t write his number down somewhere. She didn’t need to become addicted to a man like him. Which meant she’d need to check her emotions and insecurities at the door, along with her newly reawakened carnal desire.
Once halfheartedly upright, she finagled out from under the goose-down comforter, swung her legs over the side of the bed and eased into her fuzzy leopard-print slippers. Onward to the kitchen, where the Keurig sat ready and waiting for its morning abuse.
Designer caffeine. Yet another addiction she couldn’t afford. Today could easily be a four-mug day.
She sensed Lady’s inquisitive green feline eyes watching her every move from the top of the refrigerator. Kirby retrieved a tin of moist cat food from the pantry. Lady’s warm purr couldn’t compete with a modified version of the song playing in Kirby’s head.
Baby Blue...
She wished she could get another look at those blue eyes this morning. Blue skies were out there, as well, but she couldn’t see them, either. Nothing but overcast skies.
What her loft lacked in square footage, it more than made up for in windows. Mainly, windows that overlooked a covered parking garage, the adjacent office building and the street directly below.
If only her windows opened, she wouldn’t feel so claustrophobic.
Open windows would help in other ways. The smell of shrimp in aspic this early in the morning triggered Kirby’s gag reflex. Peeling back the lid of the cat food was like unzipping a body bag containing a swamp-logged corpse. But Lady was worth the inevitable assault on the senses.
She set the plate on the floor and reached into the cabinet for the box of much-needed caffeine. “My turn now.”
Or not. The K-cups box was empty.
Crap. She’d meant to stop by the grocery store last night, but her thoughts had been consumed by something else entirely.
A caffeine deficit constituted an emergency, so she trudged the mercifully short distance to the bathroom as best she could unfueled.
She pulled her hair back into a slick ponytail, brushed her teeth and washed her face, then slipped out of her satin pajamas and into some black yoga pants and an oversized burnt-orange University of Texas jersey. Good enough for grocery shopping, especially at this early hour. The only people tooling around were...
Oh, my God. She had seen Fabian before. At one of the nearby grocery stores, although not the one she usually frequented. Who could miss the hottie in his workout attire? He always seemed too consumed with his task to realize most of the women there were ogling him. Herself included.
Chances were slim that he’d be there this morning, but it couldn’t hurt to try. Running into him outside the club might make him more comfortable to eventually open up.
“I’ll be right back,” she explained to Lady as she rushed around in search of her purse and keys.
Sure, the kitty wouldn’t understand the words, but she wanted to communicate as sweetly as possible to this particular rescue animal because she knew Lady’s history. Why people tortured black cats on Halloween was unimaginable. That’s why she’d decided to officially adopt her.
Two abused souls helping each
