Chapter Nine
Lucas
Happiness exploded inside me when Valerie returned with Cassie and Emma. I’d been worried she’d just leave. I needed her to understand I was serious this time. I wasn’t going to walk away. The fates were willing to give me a second chance with her, and I wasn’t going to screw it up.
Dinner was lively. The others made up for Valerie’s and my silence. I kept my attention on her. She was intent on the conversations going on around us, not unusual for the Valerie I knew. Always listening and not saying much.
I figured it had something to do with her childhood.
When we were together, we only touched on her family lightly, even the time when she had a panic attack over them.
She told me she hated talking about them because it made her sad.
I’d given her space and figured one day she’d tell me everything; that day never arrived.
My cell rang. I looked at the screen. Speaking of family… Mindy. “Excuse me. Have to take this.” I pushed my chair back.
“Hey, what’s up?” I said as I walked away from the table. We’d just spoken yesterday about the offer she had, and she told me she’d turned it down.
“Quick question. Is there a history of hypertension in the family?”
I stiffened. “Not that I know of. What’s going on?”
Mindy sighed. “Nothing major. My blood pressure is a little elevated. The college nurse wanted to know if there was a history.”
“It’s after nine where you’re at. What are you doing at Student Health? What happened?” I mentally started calculating how long it would take to get a flight and get to Mindy.
Mindy’s sigh carried through the cell. “Lucas, I’m fine. I just felt a little off while studying and came down to get checked out. It’s probably just the pressure of school. Please stop worrying.”
“Not possible.” I’d always worried about my baby sister.
“Don’t you dare just show up to check on me. Hold on.” I heard muted voices, then Mindy came back. “See, it’s already back down to normal.”
“Doesn’t mean it isn’t an issue.” My sister didn’t have a clue. “Keep me advised; high blood pressure is nothing to mess with.” Was I overreacting? Probably, but I couldn’t help it.
“I will, and I know.”
“Promise me.” It was the only way she’d keep me in the loop.
“I promise. Now go back to what you were doing. I heard the background noise. On a date?”
“I wish.” The words slipped out. “Just friends from work.”
“You need a girlfriend.”
“Working on it.” And I was.
“I can’t wait to hear about her. Got to go. Love you, brother.”
“Love you too.” The call ended, and I smiled. That was Mindy. Her brain flew from one subject to the next without any brakes.
I checked the causes of high blood pressure and found stress could cause it. Thank goodness for phones with internet. Maybe she was right about it just being the pressure of school. But that wasn’t going to stop me worrying about my sister.
Would Valerie understand the close relationship I had with my sister? It hadn’t been like this when we were together, mainly because Mindy had been knee deep prepping for med school and didn’t need me as much as she did now that she was in med school.
Some might say I was a little too involved with my sister, but I’d raised her. With her across the country, I couldn’t help myself. Her education was important, but so was her health.
I chuckled. Now, I was the one bouncing between topics.
My sister and Valerie. Though if Valerie didn’t understand about my sister, then that could be a deal breaker.
My gut clenched at the thought of that happening.
While Valerie wasn’t close to her family, I remembered her saying she wanted a family of her own someday.
I was getting ahead of myself. Valerie hadn’t agreed to anything with me. I had a long way to go to make things up with her.
“Everything okay?” she asked quietly when I sat.
“Yes. My sister.” A small furrow appeared on Valerie’s forehead, the only outward sign of her concern.
“Mindy, right?”
“You remembered her name?” Why was that a surprise?
“It took me a minute. I remember you talking about her when we were together.”
“She’s finishing up medical school.”
“That’s right. She always wanted to be a doctor.”
“A pediatrician, she tells me.” Not that I’d ever discourage my sister, but I wondered why she wanted to work with kids. It wasn’t like we had the greatest parents.
“She’s got a way to go, doesn’t she?”
“Once she finishes med school, there’s internship, then pediatrics residency, and then a pediatric fellowship. Mindy loves a challenge.” I wasn’t much different. Mindy and I thrived on challenges.
“You must be proud of her.”
I cocked my head and stared at her. “I am, but I’m curious why you say that.”
“Because you raised her.”
I sat back, surprised at her remark. Then I remembered telling her one night as we cuddled on the sofa about my flaky parents after a phone call from hers—one she wouldn’t talk about.
“Yeah. She turned out all right.” I couldn’t be prouder of Mindy.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit.” Valerie put her hand on my arm. Her compassion flooded me with warmth all the way to my toes.
“She’s a good kid. I got lucky.” Mindy had been a model teenager, which helped me while I worked. Stepping in to raise my sister hadn’t been ideal, but someone had to do it since my parents had flaked out.
In some ways it’s a miracle I wasn’t commitment phobic due to my parents. Raising my baby sister, holding down two jobs, and going to college all at the same time. “Those were some crazy days,” I commented.
“They were. I remember when we first got together, she’d just turned twenty, and you were worried about frat parties.”
“Not that I needed to worry. Mindy’s always been a level-headed kid.” I grinned at her. “Just like you.”
Valerie tilted her head. “You think I’m level-headed?”
“Aren’t you? I mean, you’ve been working with me for a week now, and you haven’t gotten upset with me since the first day.” I leaned closer. “Until you ran out of here earlier.”
Her eyes widened and darkened. She swallowed. “I started to have a panic attack.”
“I’m aware. Why?”
“Later,” she whispered and glanced around the table.
That was when I realized the others were watching us. “Agreed.” I raised my head. “So, what were we all discussing before my sister called?”
“Lucas, the great redirector of the conversation,” Marcus said.
The group laughed and conversation started once again.
Several hours later, we walked back to the parking garage and to our respective cars. I really didn’t want the evening with Valerie to end. “Do you have far to drive?” Why had I asked that? I knew she lived close.
She shook her head. “This time of night won’t take more than five minutes. What about you?”
“About the same.” Valerie stopped next to a small gray SUV. “This one is yours?”
“Yes. I bought it a few years ago and was happy I did when we had that awful snowstorm last winter. I had no issues driving.”
“I’m parked three spaces down.”
“The big black one.” She grinned.
“Yep. That’s mine.” As much as I didn’t want this evening to end, I needed to take things slowly and let Valerie go home. Soon, I promised myself, we’d spend evenings together. “Have a good evening.”
“You too.”
She didn’t move. “Valerie, I’m going to kiss you.” I waited several heartbeats, and when she didn’t say anything, I leaned down and brushed my lips over hers. With that small taste, I wanted more, but I forced myself not to go too far tonight. “Night.” It took everything I had in me to move away.
“Night, Lucas.” Her soft voice floated in the nearly empty garage. I had to fight with everything inside me not to rush back to her and pull her into my arms. I climbed into my vehicle and waited until she backed out, then I followed.
We both drove in the same direction.
She pulled into a driveway, and I kept going down the block until I came to my house. How did I not realize she lived so close to me? I wanted to call her and talk to her about it but decided not to. We had time to talk and rebuild our relationship.
I wasn’t going to mess this up by pushing too hard, too fast. I’d done enough damage by rushing her tonight. It was time to exercise some patience.