7. Happy Back to Work Day
Chapter 7
Happy Back to Work Day
Rebel
S everal days later…
Sadie is healing well, and I’ve started working out again. Between Sadie and Falcon, I have no choice but to take it slow. When I was exercising earlier, Sadie watched me from the door, and at the fifteen-minute mark, she told me my time was up.
I barely broke a sweat and told her that she was going to have to make it up to me. That was when I took her to bed and got the rest of my exercise in another way. Over the course of a few days, I added to my gym routine and am beginning to feel like the old me.
Sadie is moving around more easily and has taken over making our meals.
“I’ve got to do something with my day,” she says as she’s dicing tomatoes for the salad. One minute, we’re joking around while cooking, and then Sadie speaks up, and my heart drops. “I should be getting back to work and back to my apartment.”
It takes all I have not to handcuff her to me and make sure she won’t leave. My brain is thinking of a million reasons why she shouldn’t leave.
“You’re still recovering. This is the best place for you.” I keep my tone calm, although I’m raging on the inside.
“I need to get back to work too,” she answers.
“Doctor said no heavy lifting. It’ll be at least a week or two before you can do more than cook, babe.”
“I have bills to pay, Rebel. I can’t be off for very long without taking a hit to my savings. I’m thinking of asking Henrietta if she has any modified duties I can do until I’m back to my old self.” I don’t like it. Not one bit. “Besides, Hubert misses me,” she jokes.
“Hubert is welcome here any time, babe.”
She glances up as she tosses the salad. “I can’t stay here indefinitely.”
“Why not?” I shrug.
Sadie stops what she’s doing and stares at me like I’ve grown three heads. “I have an apartment, and I’m paying for it.”
“Then give notice. I don’t like you staying there anyway. Hubert’s a good man and keeps the place running as well as he can, but there’s no working elevator, and it’s in a shitty neighborhood. I don’t like you working late nights, but let’s face it, it’s part of your job. However, I’d rather you live in a better area, closer to your work, and when I’m not working, I can pick you up. My apartment isn’t huge, but it’s good enough for now, and when a bigger one opens up, we can trade up.”
Her eyes pop open wide, and she stares at me, stunned.
“You…you want me…to move in?” she stutters.
“Yeah, babe! What do you think we’re talking about here?” I ask.
“Isn’t that a little crazy? It’s been like a week.” She tilts her head to one side, raising her shoulders to her ears. Totally fucking cute!
“It’s been way longer than that. You met me at my worst. I was an asshole, and it didn’t faze you in the least. That’s when I knew you were for me. And I know I’m not the only one who felt it. I was hot for you, and you were right there with me. I tried to play it off like it was just a physical attraction, but I was only fooling myself. Am I wrong?” I challenge her.
She shakes her head. “No.”
“When I found out what happened to you, I made Falcon drive me over, but if he refused, I was calling a cab to come get you,” I confess. I walk over to stand in front of her. “If you tell me you’re not ready for me, then fine, I’ll give you space, but it still means I’ll be over at your place every night because I don’t trust the drug addicts on your corner or the gang members hanging around your building.”
Sadie opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.
“Babe, we’ve got your parents itching to visit, and we need to settle. So what’s it going to be?” I ask, silently willing her to agree to move in with me, but preparing myself to pack a bag to keep at her apartment.
“Here,” she says quietly, then adds, “For now. I’ll keep my place in case you change your mind.”
“I’m not?—”
Her fingers cover my lips. “We’re new. Everything has been dramatic. You were shot and vulnerable. Then I was assaulted. We needed each other. When we find our normal, you may not feel the same as you do now.”
I hold her hand away from my mouth. I convinced myself long ago that I’d never be in a position to love a woman. My job is too dangerous, and I’m not willing to give up that part of my life.
“Not going to happen, sweetheart, but if you want to keep it for now, I’ll accept that,” I tell her, kissing her fingers. Sadie doesn’t know it yet, but she’s mine for keeps.
I convinced Sadie that staying at home for one more week was the smart thing to do. I appealed to her medical expertise and asked her if she’d let a patient go back to work under the same circumstances, and she gave in.
At the same time, she made me promise to ease back into work. Not a problem, because I know Falcon, and there’s no way he’d put me out in the field just yet. I hated leaving Sadie alone, but I wasn’t out the door five minutes before I got a text from Gertie telling me she’s keeping Sadie company.
It took a day and a half of Kailyn, Phoenix, and me taking turns teaching Gertie how to use the new cell phone we got her for her birthday, but we finally taught her how to text. She’s now a texting machine. Usually, I get messages reminding me to come over to visit, but today, it’s to tell me that she’s heading over to be with Sadie, and if the mood struck them, they’d be going down to the coffee shop a block away.
I know I’m overreacting, but I don’t like the idea of the two of them out on their own. It’s totally illogical because I’m the one who runs into perilous situations all the time, and going to a coffee shop is a simple act that we all do.
I text Gertie back: Don’t overdo it.
Gertie: Life goes on. Can’t be afraid to walk out the door.
Gertie totally reads me. She has from the first day we met. She invited me into her home, and within minutes, I was spilling my guts about my parents, and my emotions came flooding out. I’ve never said much about my parents because the pain was deep, and to dredge it all up again was excruciating. Yet, with Gertie, the words kept flowing.
I loved my parents and hated them at the same time. I wanted a father who would be my best friend and ended up with an abusive asshole. Nothing I did was ever good enough for him. He made sure to make me feel less than, not because I was, but it made him feel big. Then one day, he and Mom were gone, and I felt like so much was left unsaid.
Sadness, regret, all the emotions came like a raging river. I worked through them all, except one. Anger. I was fucking enraged that my parents treated me and my sisters like shit.
Gertie listened to me for over an hour, letting me vent. Then she sat me down next to her, put her frail arms around me, and told me she understood because she went through the same when her husband died. Then she talked me through it, and suddenly, the huge brick that was sitting on my chest lifted, and I could breathe again.
Me: Promise me that you’ll stay close. No wild shopping sprees!
Gertie: I’m too old to go very far . Fucking ridiculous! Gertie has the energy of a thirty-year-old. It’s her aging body that holds her back, and the fact that she recently recovered from a cancer scare. Kailyn and Gertie quickly bonded, and as soon as Phoenix and Kailyn got together, she became a grandma to us all, so we all look out for her.
I’m not completely convinced that Gertie won’t go rogue on me, and I already have an idea to call Sadie later to check in. Much as I hate to admit it, Gertie’s right. I want to lock Sadie away to keep her from getting hurt, but that’ll only drive a wedge between us. Sadie was an independent woman way before she met me. My plan is to wait until Sadie is completely healed, then I’m going to teach her self-defense.
I park the truck in front of the Storm building, and as soon as I hit my office, I see that the guys have decorated my office with a Welcome Back banner, in neon pink, with matching pink streamers. They must see me from the window because Bull, of all people, is holding a pink-and-white decorated cake, and they’re all laughing so hard that the cake almost ends up on the floor.
“Did you draw the short straw?” I ask Bull. He snorts his response, confirming my suspicion. “Is it edible?” It almost looks too pretty to be eaten.
“I made it,” Kailyn responds, squeezing past Falcon, Wire, and Bull right into Phoenix’s arms, where he’s waiting to press her into his side. “With a little help from Gertie. By the way, she said to bring her a piece home,” she warns, wagging her finger in my direction.
Falcon comes closer and lightly slaps my back. “Glad to have you back. We’ve got a lot to keep you busy.”
“And we have some other news for you,” Wire adds. I lift my brows, waiting for him to continue. “I think we found the guy who assaulted Sadie. I was able to clean up the picture of the assailant’s hands and circulated it to the tattoo artists in the area. One of them recognized the initials etched in the ink and gave us a name.”
“He gave up his customer? Just like that?” I say, reluctant to believe it would be this easy to track this guy down.
“The artist has a sister. He doesn’t like it when people beat on women. When he saw the photos of what he did to Sadie, he wasted no time in talking. We got a name, but there’s no known address on file that I can find,” Wire tells me.
“Before you all get into that, cake!” Kailyn insists.
Phoenix looks down at her happy face. “Jesus, babe. It’s not even nine yet.”
“What’s the difference between sugary donuts and cake? Nothing!” she huffs with a hand on her hip.
“Cake works for me.” Wire steps in. I don’t know where that guy puts it. He eats more than all of us, making him a big, bulky guy. Don’t get me wrong, he’s all muscle, but he eats more than a sumo wrestler. If I ate like him, I’d have to work out eight hours a day.
Kailyn happily takes the cake from Bull, who looks relieved to get rid of it. “I’ll cut it up and bring you your slices,” she says, turning to Falcon. “I’m sure you want to move along with the day.”
Falcon leads the way into the boardroom. That’s how we usually start our day, either discussing new cases or getting up to speed on the ones we’re working on. I take the chair closest to Bull.
He bumps his shoulder into mine. “Good to have you back, brother. How’s Sadie’s doing?”
“She really good. She wants to get back to work too. I convinced her to take another week off before talking to her boss,” I reply.
“Got to give it to her, Sadie’s small but packs a punch,” Bull replies. Bull was there when Sadie recounted the details of the attack. He knew she fought with all she had. She even got the attacker’s skin under her nails, but the DNA didn’t match anyone in the system.
“Sadie’s a fighter,” I state proudly, although I wish she’d given the asshole her purse that night. Watching her in pain was killing me.
Falcon begins the meeting. “It’s good to have Rebel back with us. You’ve been missed, brother. We can jump into the new missions we have to choose from in a minute, but I want to talk about next steps to bring Sadie’s assailant to justice first,” Falcon says. “Wire’s done all the tracking he can do online, including looking into other muggings with the same MO. All were at bus stops, and all were in this area.” He points to the screen that shows a map with red dots depicting the attack sites. The dots are concentrated around a specific territory. “There’s a good chance that our man lives near here,” Falcon says, indicating the area on the map. “To hit his targets this close together, he probably doesn’t have a vehicle. He goes for the quick money, collecting purses and not wasting time to ask for jewelry. He wants to get in and out. He’s driven by getting money fast. Which means that he’s a low-level thug, and we need boots on the ground to flush him out.”
Falcon glances at Bull, who jumps in. “That’s where I come in. I’ve got a couple of men asking around and checking out the area on the screen. They have the description and the photo of the tattoo. Once they get eyes on the suspect, we’ll get a call.”
All eyes turn to me, but it’s Falcon who says, “Any questions?”
I look around at my buddies and answer, “First, I want to thank you for everything you’ve done. And secondly, I want first crack at this guy when we catch him.”
“Sure, but remember that we’re delivering him to the cops, so keep the bruising to a minimum,” Falcon responds with a grin.
Kailyn picks this time to come in to feed us cake, while Falcon hands out several files for us to review. I peer through the top file and see it involves a corporate analyst who was working on a special research project and has gone missing. The second file contains information from a privately owned company that has a leak in their organization. Looks like an easy problem until you see that the company is handling a government contract, working with highly sensitive information.
As I leaf through the files, getting acquainted with the facts, my thoughts drift to Sadie and wondering what she might be doing right now.
Sadie
After Rebel left for work, I busied myself cleaning around the apartment. I made the bed, cleaned up the breakfast dishes, and made my daily call to Hubert. Of course, he asks, like he does every time, “When are you coming home?”
“Well, Rebel wants me to stay longer. He thinks it’s a good idea that I stay with him… Indefinitely,” I say, and wait for the disappointment in Hubert’s voice.
“He wants you to move in?” Hubert asks.
“Yeah, Hubert. He does.” My tone is soft and quiet.
“Well, hallelujah! I’ve been worried out of my mind with you in that apartment all alone. I lost sleep thinking of you up there, especially with those young punks creating chaos in the alley.”
“Wait! What?” I can’t keep the surprise out of my voice. “I thought you liked me living close to you?”
“That’s what I’ll miss, darlin,’ but your safety comes first, and I’m thrilled a good man knows better than to send you back here.”
“I’ll point out, Hue, that you live in the same building.”
“I would have retired a year ago, but then you moved in, and I couldn’t leave. You’re like one of my own. It eats at me what happened to you, and I wasn’t there to protect you,” Hubert states angrily.
“You’re moving?” Sadness overcomes me.
“Believe it or not, I’d be living closer to you than I am right now. There’s a retirement complex not far from Rebel’s place, and it’s also closer to my son. He’s been bothering me for years to retire and make time to enjoy myself. With you moving in with Rebel, this is perfect timing,” he explains. “You can’t get rid of me, my girl. I’ve adopted you as one of my own.”
“I’d love having you nearby. I was going to keep the apartment for another couple of months, just in case things didn’t work out between Rebel and me.”
When Hubert starts laughing, it takes him nearly a full minute before he’s able to speak. “That’s priceless. The man is besotted with you. Save yourself the rent money.”
“I want that to be true, but how can you be so sure?”
“I’m a man, darling. I had the same look on my face when my dear Donna walked in the room that Rebel has whenever you’re around. You can dance around what you both feel, but what for? When you get to my age, you start to think of all the wasted time that could have been spent with the ones you love. I worked long hours, and my Donna never complained because she knew I was looking out for my family, but in hindsight, I wish I’d spent it with her. It’s not something you think about when you’re young because we believe we have all the time in the world. Then one day, it all changes, and time is a precious commodity.” Hubert always has these little nuggets of wisdom he shares with me, and I hear the sadness in his voice. He misses his wife. I wish I got to meet her.
“I’m sorry, Hue. I didn’t mean to make you sad,” I tell him.
“There’s a little sadness, yes. And even more fantastic memories. That doesn’t mean that you can forget to pay bills or that work isn’t a necessity. Just want to make sure you understand that you can’t take a gift for granted. Good people, those new friends you’re making, they’re gifts,” he says.
“Then they’re your friends too, because we’re a package deal!” I kid, not really, though, because Hubert is like family to me.
He chuckles before answering. “Call me over for family dinner, and I’ll be there. Now, what’s it going to be? Am I going to rustle up moving boxes?”
It’s my turn to burst out laughing. I finish my call with Hubert and, in the end, tell him I’ll be coming by and packing up my stuff. Whatever I can’t bring with me, I can sell or put into storage. Hubert told me to get rid of the furniture. It’s not worth storing, and since he’s convinced I’ll be working at the hospital soon, I’ll be able to afford new stuff to spruce up Rebel’s and my apartment. I’ll speak to Rebel and see what he thinks before I decide either way.
My next call is to Mom and Dad. I’ve been calling them every day as promised. Dad is still on a tear about me coming home, but Mom has managed to calm him down, and instead, they’re arranging to come out for the weekend in another week. Mom’s excited to meet Rebel. Dad is taking the protective father stance, and I think it’s sweet, but I made it clear that Rebel means something to me.
Just as I’m hanging up the phone with Mom, the doorbell rings. Before I can even make it to the door, Gertie announces her presence.
“Sadie, honey, it’s me, Gertie.” I open the door and find Gertie with her purse in hand. “Time to get out of this apartment for a while.”
“Where are we going?” I ask, taking her outstretched hand and kissing her on the cheek.
“There’s a coffee shop close by, and Rebel has been hiding you away for the last week. It’s time to see the sun,” she says with a giggle.
“Sounds like fun.” I grab my bag, and I’m ready to leave when I notice that I don’t have a key to close up. “Darn, I don’t have a key.”
“Rebel must have an extra key somewhere. Give him a call.”
“I don’t want to interrupt him. He might be busy.” I hesitate. This is his first day back, and I don’t want him to think I’m needy or, worse, checking up on him.
“He won’t mind. I called him earlier and told him I was going to drop in. He probably didn’t think of it before he left,” Gertie urges, then adds, “I’m looking forward to us getting to know each other better, and this place I want to take you has the best coffee in town.” She raises her brows with a glint in her eye.
Rebel may have forgotten to give me a key, but he took the time to program his number into my phone. I make the call.
It rings only once before Rebel picks up. “Hey, sweetheart, is everything okay?”
“Hi. I-I’m sorry to bother you, but Gertie said you wouldn’t mind. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Babe, I love hearing your voice. I consider this a bonus in my day,” he says. A warm, gushy feeling spreads through me.
“Gertie wants to take me to the best coffee in town. We were about to head out when I noticed that I don’t have a key to lock up.”
“Shit! Sorry, babe. There’s an extra key in the top drawer in the kitchen,” he says. “Just a word: Gertie won’t tell you when she’s getting tired, and when she does, she gets a little unbalanced. Good idea if she holds on to you while you’re strolling. And Sadie, don’t overdo it. You promised you’d take it easy.”
“I’ll be careful, honey,” I tell him quietly. “While I have you, what do you want for dinner?”
“You don’t?—”
“Nope,” I jump in. “We talked about this, and I’m cooking. Is there anything you don’t like?”
He chuckles, and I imagine him smiling. “You cook it, I’ll eat it.”
“What if I make something you don’t like?”
“I’ll eat it anyway.”
“Rebel,” I warn.
“I like it all. As long as it’s not weird shit like chicken feet, tripe, or haggis, I’ll eat it.”
“Gertie, we’ve got to stop for tripe,” I call out with a giggle.
“Being a brat earns you a spanking,” he says, and an electric jolt of excitement sparks inside me. “Letting you go now, babe. See you tonight.”
Rebel
I can’t remember the last time someone cooked for me. As soon I walk in, I smell the aroma of roast beef. The table is set for two, with a small vase of daisies, and sitting on the counter is a giant chocolate chip cookie the size of a pizza.
Sadie’s taking the roast out of the oven when she hears me and sets the roasting pan on the stove before coming to greet me. Her arms come around my neck, and she tilts her head back for a kiss. Her full, pink lips are a temptation I cannot resist.
After our mini make-out session, because one kiss is not nearly enough, she unwraps her arms from around my neck and slides her hands down to my chest.
“I missed you,” she says shyly. “Ready for dinner?”
“Smells great.” I look around the kitchen. “Looks great too.”
“I hope you like chocolate chip cookies. I wanted to make you something special to celebrate your first day back.” She takes my hand and leads me to the pizza-sized cookie. On the top, written in icing, is Happy Back to Work Day.
“Love chocolate chip,” I say with a lump in my throat. I can’t find the words to tell her how much this means to me.
The guys have always included me, and we take care of each other. My sisters are great and call often to check in on me. But I don’t remember a time when a woman went to this much trouble for me. With nerves of steel, I’ve fought battles with bombs going off in every direction, but now a chocolate chip cookie makes me want to cry.
“Everything okay, honey?” Sadie asks, watching me carefully.
Honey, she calls me. I’ve never been anyone’s honey. I glide my fingers through her long tresses and tug her close to my side. “Everything’s perfect.”