Chapter Six #3
Perhaps this was more like the true Karl that he was seeing this morning.
The old man’s ungrateful attitude didn’t seem that much out of the ordinary for Aurora, and a flash of sympathy for her cramped his guts.
She’d taken over the duty of being his carer, but it felt to Jiro as if Karl wasn’t the least bit appreciative of her help and compassion.
Which must be hard for her. He knew what it was like to deal with a difficult father.
But at least he lived in a separate city and was capable of looking after himself.
Jiro didn’t know if he would be able to take on the task that she had committed to.
It must certainly affect her life. Which was probably why she didn’t have anyone special in her life at the moment.
He found out that little gem of information last night when they’d been chatting.
He’d casually dropped into the conversation the question of whether anyone else lived in the cottage with them, a sibling, or someone else who helped with Karl’s care.
Technically, he’d been trying to find out if she had any sisters or brothers to help bear the burden, but there was also a small part of him that wanted to know if there was someone else.
A boyfriend. Or girlfriend—he was pretty sure she wasn’t gay, but you could never rule anything out.
It was actually Karl who had said with a snort of derision that his other daughter, Astrid, was too busy with her career down in Malmo to even come and visit, but Aurora was more than capable, and the last thing she needed was anyone else to help her, certainly not a boyfriend to distract her.
Aurora had merely shrugged, raising an expressive eyebrow as if to say What was she to do?
Then she had agreed with her father, saying, “Karl definitely keeps me busy. Much too busy to have any sort of social life, that’s for sure.
” And Jiro read between the lines, understanding that a boyfriend would be too hard to juggle at the moment.
Which was a little sad, because she was a beautiful woman, who seemed to have a lot to give, and for her not to have someone who loved her was a tragedy.
She was one fascinating lady, who seemed to be doing it hard right now, and part of him wanted to find out more about her, wanted to help her in someway, although he didn’t exactly know how.
“I just need to get dressed,” Aurora said, talking over the top of whatever else Karl was complaining about. “If you could set him up at the table with his meal, I’ll be down in two minutes.”
“Sure,” Jiro answered, already taking charge of the wheelchair and shooing her towards the stairs.
As he wheeled Karl to his spot at the table, however, Jiro’s gaze followed Aurora’s figure as she headed up to her room, not quiet able to stop himself from staring at her curvy shape and pert backside as she bounded up the stairs.
Even wearing pink flannel pajamas, there was something about her he couldn’t deny.
But the last thing he needed at the moment was an entanglement with a woman, no matter how appealing she was to his senses.
He had other priorities on his mind; top most was finding his father.
Second was confronting Taro about what was going on.
There was no room for a dalliance here, and he needed to stop thinking with his dick and start thinking with his head.
He brought the plate of food and the coffee over to where Karl sat, knowing that the old man would probably complain bitterly about the percolated coffee if Aurora was around, but he’d just have to suck it up, because that was all Jiro was capable of.
Just as he’d thought, Karl sneered at the food as he placed it on the table, but Jiro ignored the disrespect.
He wondered what the old man did all day, left here on his own.
Surely he didn’t sit inside and watch television for the whole time?
It must be hard to become so diminished as a man who clearly had strong opinions, and it made him wonder what Karl had done for a living in his early days.
A sliver of sympathy trickled into Jiro’s heart.
The man was a grumpy old bugger, but maybe he had a few reasons to be so.
He still didn’t like the way Karl treated his daughter, but there were plenty of men out there with egos the size of a house who would probably act the same way if they were in his shoes. His own father being one of them.
Thinking of his father reminded him they needed to get a hurry on.
He left Karl sitting at the table, with a promise they would be back as soon as possible, and went to find his outer clothing.
Once he was fully dressed, he stood waiting impatiently in the mudroom for Aurora to appear, which she did half a minute later.
Dressed casually in thick black leggings and a dark hoodie, he almost didn’t recognize her as the same woman he’d admired in her police uniform yesterday.
Back then, she’d caught his eye and made him wonder why he’d never noticed a woman in uniform before.
But now, fresh-faced, she looked even more alluring somehow.
Less sexy, yet authoritative, and more girl next-door gorgeous.
Wow, if he didn’t have so much else on his mind, he might be in trouble here.