Chapter 16
“Give Grandma one last hug before we go, but be careful. She’s got a lot of boo-boos.”
Elijah gave his mother an irritable look. “I don’t call them boo-boos anymore, Mom. That’s for babies.”
“I’m very sorry. I didn’t realize.” Behind Elijah, Stacey gave Carol the smile all mothers share when their kids are being a little over the top.
As soon as Elijah turned back to his grandmother, that bit of attitude fell away, and his dark eyes filled with compassion. “I love you, Grandma. Mom says you have to stay here until you feel better, but if you want to come home, I’ll take care of you.”
“We both will,” Vivian volunteered from the other side of the bed.
“You’re darlings, both of you.” Carol forced herself not to wince as she gave them each one last hug. It was impossible to do anything without at least a little pain, but she wasn’t about to let that stop her from hugging her grandkids.
Stacey took her mother’s hand. “Anything you need us to bring when we come back tomorrow?”
“No, thank you. The hospital is supplying me with plenty of green Jello, so I’m living high on the hog right now.”
“I like green Jello!” Elijah exclaimed.
“Then I’ll save it for you,” Carol promised. “Make sure you give Barney lots of hugs and kisses from me and tell him what a good boy he is.”
Vivian and Elijah stepped out into the hall, and concern pooled in Stacey’s eyes as she looked at Carol one more time. “You sure you’re good?”
“Go home,” Carol replied. “I love that you came, but I’m perfectly fine. Now get out of here so I can start gawking at all the hot doctors again.”
“All right,” Stacey laughed. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
When they were gone, Carol took a deep breath.
Her body was bruised, and she’d likely carry some scars from this attack.
She closed her eyes, knowing that she needed her rest to heal.
The room was quiet because no one was there, but that silence allowed her to hear the beeps and clicks of every little machine around her, the conversations at the nurse’s station, and the toilet flushing in the next room.
The knock on the door should’ve been a welcome reprieve, but it was probably just one of the nurses coming along to check her vitals or cheerfully ask her if she wanted more Jello. “Come in.”
A large bouquet of flowers made their way into the room first, a cheerful spray of pink, purple, and yellow. The hand attached to it belonged to Rick, who stepped in with a look of uncertainty. “Do you have time for one more visit today? I ran into Stacey and the kids down in the lobby.”
“I’ve got all the time in the world,” she assured him.
Rick had ridden with her in the ambulance and stayed with her while she was evaluated, stitched up, and admitted.
He’d come back the next day and spent hours with her, even falling asleep in the chair for a little while.
And now he was back again. She’d seen him plenty, yet she still got a burst of excitement through her chest when she saw his smile.
“Getting restless?” he asked, taking the chair beside her bed.
“I’m not dying, so they’ve decided to kill me with boredom,” she replied. “I’m about ready to spring myself out of here.”
Rick tipped his head toward the door. “There’s an empty wheelchair in the hall. Climb in there, and we can run out the side door.”
She laughed and reached for his hand. “I don’t think you would’ve said something like that a couple of weeks ago. You’re loosening up.”
“Yes, I think I am,” he admitted. “I guess some things change you.”
“Like fighting off a siren?” she asked. Carol knew that wasn’t what he meant, but it was still something she needed to address. “I still can’t believe that happened. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever witnessed, and I don’t think I’ve ever properly thanked you.”
He waved his hand. “No need to thank me. Eric and Hawkins had plenty to do with it, too.”
“And I’m also grateful to them.” Carol reflected for a moment on the sailors’ old-fashioned weapons and how they’d used the talents and skills they’d developed from their years out on the sea to take the creature down. “Two sailors and a wolf make a good team.”
“I only wish we could’ve figured it out a little earlier and gotten there before Lorelei had the chance to attack you,” Rick said quietly. “It pains me to know that I let this happen.”
“Stop that.” She squeezed his hand and looked him in the eye.
“Really. You can’t beat yourself up over this.
I was the one who let her into my life, for one thing.
We both thought Eric and Hawkins were the bad guys, and plenty of other people up the coast thought the same.
I’ve realized that was just one part of how Lorelei used people to her advantage.
She’d win them over by pretending to be a victim, staging some awful crime, and then painting the men trying to stop her as the villains. ”
“It’s quite the scheme,” Rick agreed. “That and her charm she used to persuade people…It’s just not the kind of thing you think can happen in real life. Eric said that some people are more susceptible to it than others.”
“And then there are some folks she didn’t have to use it on at all.
” Carol rolled her head on the pillow to look out the window.
The sun had been inching down toward the horizon.
She couldn’t see the sunset, only the darker blue that was starting to take over the sky.
“I fell for her scheme because she caught the right person at the right time with the right circumstances. I was being a little hard on myself for that for a minute, but I’ve changed my mind. ”
Rick’s thumb rubbed the back of her hand. “Why is that?”
She turned back to him. “Because at least it means that whatever I did was my choice. I did what I did because I wanted to, not because she made me. If she hadn’t been some murderous, man-hating sea beast, it wouldn’t have been a problem.”
“And now she’s nothing but seafoam,” Rick confirmed.
“Eric and Hawkins told me there’s no chance of her harming anyone ever again.
By the way, they were also the masterminds behind that story of a bobcat coming in through the open back door of the bakery when it smelled all the delicious dog treats baking.
Dylan said they’re not common, but they are in the area, so there was no question about what had attacked you. ”
“I’d much rather tangle with a bobcat,” she chuckled.
“It was a good coverup. I wouldn’t have wanted to get the bakery shut down if someone had thought I was attacked by a dog, and of course, the truth is too unbelievable to share.
It’ll have to be our little secret.” They had others, she knew, ones that were much more pleasant to think about.
“Speaking of secrets, the police recruited Eric and Hawkins to help them once they found out what experienced sailors they were. They found the bodies of Nick Adkins and Toby Chapman, drowned in the bay.”
“How awful,” Carol sighed. “Lorelei’s death won’t bring them back, but at least the victim’s families will have some closure now that those men aren’t missing anymore.
Poor Wendy. I’d only just found out that Toby was missing right before Lorelei attacked me, so I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her about it.
She was probably devastated that he was missing, and I’m sure it’s all the worse now that she knows he’s gone. ”
Rick nodded. “Read the Room has a sign on the door that they’re temporarily closed for a family emergency.”
“You went by there?” Carol asked.
He shrugged. “I had to go back to the bakery and get it all cleaned up. I wasn’t going to let you come back to a mess like that. I can’t guarantee I put everything back in the right place, though, so maybe I didn’t do you any favors after all.”
“You’ll be in big trouble if I can’t find my cookie cutters,” she said with a mock warning.
He lifted his chin. “Then I guess you’ll just have to let me come in there with you so I can find them myself. I do happen to know there’s a ballpoint pen missing.”
After a moment of silence, they both laughed. It hurt Carol to do so since the deep punctures from the siren’s talons seemed to send waves of pain through her body no matter what she did, but she wouldn’t let that stop her. What was a little pain in life?
When a moment of silence descended between them, Carol knew there was a more serious matter she needed to cover with him. “I’ve already thanked you for saving my life, but I also want to thank you for putting up with me.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, his voice breathy with a laugh of disbelief. “You’re a wonderful woman, Carol, not someone who needs to be put up with.”
That was the sort of compliment most women needed to hear, she knew. “I mean for being so hesitant about things between us. I’ve had some other flings, but none ever really meant anything. I’m not sure I even wanted them to. Everything changed when I met you. You’re different.”
Now, both of his hands were wrapped around hers, warm and strong. “That’s a feeling I’m very familiar with.”
“I felt guilty and uncertain about letting you get close, but then I was angry with myself for pushing you away. How could I let someone like you slip through my fingers? On the other hand, how could I change the way I’d been living for the last fifteen years?
How could I make a decision that was solely about me and not anyone else? ”
“I know.” He kissed the back of her hand gently. “I’ve spent the last decade of my life on my children and grandchildren, not to mention the community. That makes anything else seem selfish, or at the very least more difficult to decide.”
“I think other men would’ve lost their patience and gone on to other options,” Carol noted.
“It’s not deciding something as simple as what you’ll have for breakfast or what shoes to wear.
What we would have—if we made things work—would change your whole life.
Your whole identity. I can’t ask you to weigh that all out in a day, a week, or maybe even a year or more.
But I can’t just abandon you while you think about it.
That turns it into an ultimatum, and that’s not a good start to any relationship. ”
Carol studied his face. She was starting to know every line and wrinkle, every shade of silver in his hair, every little twitch of his mouth or tweak of his eyebrow that exposed his thoughts. “You’re right, and it makes you one hell of a man.”
“Carol.” He kissed the back of her hand again, letting his lips linger there a moment longer than they had the last time.
“I don’t want you to feel pressured. I do want a chance for us to continue to get to know each other and see where this could go.
If it’s all right with you, I’m going to continue hanging around for a while longer. ”
“Yes.” For the first time since she’d been in the hospital, Carol felt truly relaxed. “I’d like that a lot.”