Chapter 13
13
AGAINST MY WISHES, we’d piled into Micah’s deathtrap Jeep. With the tornado warning over, he’d held to his word. And his full tank of gasoline trumped my empty one. We dropped Hayley at home and now drove to an emergency clinic (my compromise over going to the ER). He hooked a quick right onto St. Charles Avenue.
I gripped the handle above my door.
“Sorry.” He eased off the gas. “You look so weak. I just want to get you there.”
“Please be careful on the turns. Jeeps are prone to flip.”
He pulled a face. “I’ve never flipped my Jeep.”
“Doesn’t mean it can’t happen.” My queasiness revived, and I readjusted the pot on my lap. You will not puke in front of this man. Focus on the live oaks lining the street. The regal mansions. The clearing skies. The fact we weren’t decimated by a tornado.
Mama’s personalized ringtone of the Jaws theme song emerged from my purse. Since I was already suffering, it couldn’t hurt to add to it. Or really, to be done with this convo so I wouldn’t have to ring her back later. I answered.
“You missed dinner Saturday night.” Her agitated voice filled my ear.
My grasp on the phone tightened with what little strength I had.
“We sat there like fools,” she said. “Waiting and waiting. No call. And no call yesterday either. I raised you better.”
I noted the I she’d used, not we . At least we all clearly understood Daddy’s nonrole in our upbringing. “Do you not remember how our meal ended last month?” The words scraped past my dry throat.
“Oh, Katherine,” she pooh-poohed. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
We hit a pothole, the jolt intensifying my nausea.
Micah cringed and mouthed an apology.
I eased in a calming breath, willing the sickness to subside. “It was an extremely big deal. We’re not coming back until you promise not to be a bully.”
“A bully?” Her tone pitched.
The water Micah had made me drink twisted in my gut. “I have to go.” I dropped my phone in the center console and leaned over the pot, the seatbelt pulling against me. I heaved, angling my face to shield Micah from having to actually see anything. The poor guy. He’d had to listen to my period voice mail and now this. This was the stuff of husbands, not old friends becoming new friends again.
“Katherine?” Mama’s squawk came through the line. “Katherine?”
My stomach rolled again, and I dry heaved, leaning the side of my face on the pot’s cool rim. A sheen of sweat broke out across my skin, the pounding in my skull unbearable.
“Mrs. Margaret?”
I blinked, lifting my head. Micah had my phone. My belly cramped again for an entirely different reason.
“I’m Micah Guidry. I went to school with Kate and Claire.”
Oh, how I loved that he’d included Claire . Would Mama remember Micah from Mawmaw’s annual Mardi Gras gatherings?
“I’m taking Kate to urgent care. She’s got a bad case of the flu.” A beat of silence. “Yes, ma’am.” All emotion bled from his tone. “Good-bye.” He returned my cell to the cupholder, a muscle clenching in his jaw. “She hasn’t changed,” he muttered.
Even if Mama hadn’t remembered Micah, he certainly remembered more than her name. I wiped my mouth with my damp T-shirt still draped on the other side of the pot. “Well?”
He regripped the steering wheel. “She said being sick doesn’t excuse rude manners.”
I woke to the sensation of being carried. I opened my eyes just enough to realize I was cradled against Micah’s firm chest and stomach. He toted me across the shadowed courtyard. Too exhausted to put up a fuss, I leaned my head on his shoulder and attempted to be helpful by gripping his neck.
“It’s all right. I’ve got you.” His warm breath fanned my ear. His arms banded my back and my bare knees.
I tried to remember getting in and out of his Jeep, but my brain felt like it floated inside a lava lamp. The last thing I recalled was receiving an IV and a cocktail of meds for the nausea and headache. And something to relax me. The doctor had been adamant about lots of rest. The floating sensation moved in an upward motion. I cracked my eyes again, noting the floodlights had been turned on. How had he made it so quickly to the stairs?
“We’re almost there,” he said.
Thoughts jumbled through my foggy mind. At the clinic, Micah had taken care of everything. Talking to the receptionist. Filling out the forms. All I had to do was sit there. What a luxury that had been. Had I even thanked him? In my current state of loopiness, I wasn’t sure. If I had, it seemed grossly inadequate for all he’d done. Maybe I’d give him a discount at the café, like I did for on-duty police officers. My eyes drooped shut, and I strained to reopen them. I could custom-order him a Hawaiian shirt with beignets. Or one with naked mole rats. Another slow blink. Naked mole rats wearing Hawaiian shirts. I snorted. Man, my eyelids were impossibly heavy. I had to tell him ... something before I fell asleep and he left. Mawmaw had always said compliments were the best gifts. Smart and caring came to mind. Though that sounded too schmoopy. My nose brushed against his collar. Keep it light. I surrendered to closing my eyes and dragged in a deep breath, taking note of his crisp scent. “You smell like clean sheets ... and muscles.”
A soft chuckle vibrated from his chest. “Go to sleep, Kate.”
I bolted awake from a dream in which my rear end had made contact with a wet toilet seat in a public bathroom stall with no door. Thank goodness my aching bladder had kept that nightmare from continuing. Sunlight leaked through the blinds, my alarm clock reading 9:09 a. m . Peering over the side of my bed to the floor, I verified the all-clear and stood. And slightly swayed. With my arms out for balance, I lumbered on wobbly legs to my en suite.
With my business done, I lingered before my sink, gathering my bearings. It was Tuesday, right? Thankfully the nausea had retreated. I was just sore all over. And weak.
Not a sound emanated from within the house. I retrieved my phone from my nightstand and checked Hayley’s location through our tracking app, finding her at school. She must’ve gotten a ride with Emma. And, considering the quietness, had possibly slipped Precious some Benadryl.
Returning to the bathroom, I studied my reflection in the mir ror. Hair a mess, eyes swollen. Said puffy eyes widened as my gaze traveled south to a Hawaiian shirt and no bottoms. Gasping, I yanked up the hem, relief flooding in at the sight of my shorts.
Oh no. My empty stomach dropped, and I grasped the counter’s edge, revisiting yesterday evening in vivid detail. Throwing up in Micah’s Jeep. Him talking to Mama. Carrying me. The clean-sheets-and-muscles compliment. Micah tucking me into bed with Hayley hovering at his side. Maybe my nausea really wasn’t gone. I peered up at my face, my cheeks blushing with the truth, and shook my head. I was an in-control, mature, responsible woman. Yet somehow, in the presence of Micah Guidry, that all disappeared.
Piddling puppies. Would he tell his girlfriend what had happened? My head tipped back. Of course he would. He’d done nothing wrong. I’d have to apologize to him and Sydney Dupré. A deep sigh pushed from my lungs. Well, if he’d needed any incentive to end a reviving friendship with me, last night had provided it in spades. There was no saving face at this point. At least it wouldn’t be hard to put distance between us since we’d both be doing it. We’d get through these library events, and that would be that.
After a shower and donning a tank top and pajama shorts, I all but tiptoed from my room, not wanting to make a sound and alert Precious to my presence. She’d be residing in a crate in the laundry room, positioned on the other side of our house, near the guest bathroom and bedroom. Adjoining those spaces were our open-concept living, dining, and kitchen areas.
Sunlight poured in through the three sets of French doors overlooking the balcony and St. Charles Avenue. Like the café below, a wraparound porch ran the perimeter of the second floor.
From the fridge I grabbed a cold Gatorade and placed it on the white marble island next to a box of saltines. The breakfast of champions. The front door opened, one manly hand on the knob, attached to an even manlier arm. I screamed, raising my hands in self-defense.
The door widened farther, revealing Micah, cradling Precious. She trembled and whined against his chest. “Sorry.” He released her. “I thought you were still asleep.”
Precious scampered to me, but I stood frozen, my heart sprinting beneath my ribs. “How’d you get in?”
“Hayley gave me the spare key.” He held it up as proof and set it on the end of the kitchen counter, along with the leash and poop-bag dispenser. An inner glow lit his green eyes, and he inclined his chin at me. “What were you going to do there? Poke my eyes out?” He moved to the sink, washing his hands.
It did in fact appear as though that was my self-defense move. Both my hands were raised, pointer and middle fingers poised, ready to gouge my attacker’s eyes. I lowered them, the rush of adrenaline leaving me exhausted. “I’ve always heard to go for the eyes and the groin.” Precious shook at my bare feet. I reached down and patted her wrinkly, bald head.
Micah dried his hands on a kitchen towel, his expression turning grave. “You should know I have also learned the ways of the Three Stooges.” He positioned his hand sideways off his nose in the classic eye-poke block.
I wanted to smile, but guilt stole the reaction. And then I remembered I was braless. Again. I snatched Hayley’s hoodie jacket hanging on a barstool, slipping it on and zipping it up. Thankfully it was one of her Paul Bunyan pieces. Abandoning the Gatorade and crackers, I made my way past the dining room table to the leather sofa. “Thank you for ... everything. I’m sorry about what I said last night. It was out of line.”
He waved me off, setting the towel on the island. “You were pretty out of it.”
“Still. I’ll apologize to Sydney.” I eased onto the couch, the leather cool beneath my thighs, my leg and back muscles grateful for a reprieve from being on my feet for just that short span of time. I pulled a cream throw pillow to my chest.
Micah squatted to pet Precious, his brows pulling together. “You’d do that?”
“Of course. Why? Haven’t you told her?”
“No. And I don’t plan to.”
My gut twisted.
“My ex-wife and I weren’t a good fit ... because I kept inappropriate secrets.”
Precious trotted off to her water bowl, her puppy toes silent against the wood floors.
Micah pushed to standing, his gaze resting on me. “Sydney and I broke up last week.”
All of the air sucked from the room, my thoughts swirling. Landry Mask. Landry Mask. Who had done the breaking? Julia had said Sydney appeared casual about their relationship. And if Micah had dumped Sydney, wouldn’t he have phrased his declaration that way? “I’m sorry to hear that.”
He gave an automatic nod, but his forehead wrinkled, and he moved his attention to the dining room table and the books Hayley had checked out of the library.
Was he nursing a wounded heart? The way he’d smiled at Sydney at the last event would support that assessment. Perhaps Sydney had learned the truth behind Micah’s divorce, and it’d been too much. “My ex-wife and I weren’t a good fit ... because she discovered my secret wife and children, and I got busted on a live Maury episode.”
“Got a headache?”
“Hmm?” Oh, I’d been smooshing the Crease. “No. I mean, yes. I mean ... everything aches.” I brushed my wet bangs from my eyes.
“Which is why you should be resting.” He crossed his arms, bringing attention to his biceps and the plain white T-shirt he wore. Basketball shorts and tennis shoes completed his ultra-relaxed ensemble.
“I’m resting.” I half-heartedly motioned to myself. “Part of me thinks I may be dreaming right now. You’re not wearing a ridiculous shirt.”
One corner of his mouth twitched. “I guess it takes being near death for you to slum it.”
My shoulders stiffened. “There’s nothing wrong with a professional appearance. One never knows what the day will bring or who you could run into.” An actual piece of advice from Mama I’d followed that had proven valuable time and again. My lower backed throbbed, and I shifted to a more comfortable position. “Can you grab the Advil? It’s in the cabinet over the microwave.”
He moved through the kitchen, quickly finding the medicine. Such a strange sight for a man to be stirring around naturally through my space. It’d been years since another guy had been up here. And he’d been a plumber. Micah set the pills on the counter. “Emma’s mom picked up Hayley this morning. I waited with her in the driveway to make sure she got off to school all right.”
Oof. I could just imagine Emma and Elise’s reactions to Micah being here so early and the impression that gave. Hopefully Hayley had given a detailed explanation. I winced. Well, not too detailed considering she now knew Micah and I had kissed forever ago.
“Elise will bring her home after school.”
“That was sweet of you to look out for Hayley, but you didn’t have to come over that early.”
“I didn’t.” He grabbed a glass from another upper cabinet. “I was here all night.”
Surprise struck me silent, that huge detail slowly absorbing into me, overdosing with concern for Hayley. It was the first time a man had ever slept here, other than her dad.
Micah filled the glass with the Gatorade I’d abandoned. “Hayley was pretty freaked last night when I carried you in. With you being knocked out, it didn’t seem right to leave y’all. So I offered to stay, and she jumped on it.”
I began breathing again, my posture wilting. Poor Hayley. She’d never seen me like this. But at least she’d been okay with Micah staying the night. That was a huge relief. Regardless, I’d talk to her about it. And that seventh-grade kiss with Micah. She didn’t need to be getting any ideas in her head.
Micah handed me the Gatorade, set the Advil on the coffee table, and cast his gaze over the room, the Monet print on the wall capturing his attention.
What would I have done without him? Driven myself to urgent care, puking along the way? How would I have gotten home and up the stairs? My circle of close friends consisted of Julia, who was out of town. It wasn’t like I could call my parents. And Mayté and I had always kept our relationship on the professional side.
The shadows beneath Micah’s eyes spoke of his lack of sleep. Had he been checking on me all night? I couldn’t remember the last time someone had taken care of me. I’d had to power through on my own the past decade. If I hadn’t felt well or was tired from nursing Hayley through a sickness like the previous week, there was no one to tag team. In those hardest moments, prayer and God’s strength had carried me. And it seemed God had intervened yesterday in a new way, exactly when I’d needed it.
Emotion steadily built within me, pressing against my ribs. “Thank you again. For everything. I...” Rubbing the tip of my nose, I tried clearing my throat.
A small smile spread across his face. “You’re welcome.” He pointed to my Gatorade, silently reminding me.
Holding the drink to my lips, I took a few cautious sips, afraid the nausea would return. Precious pawed at my feet, but I was too tired to bend over and give her attention.
Micah moved to the kitchen, returning the Gatorade bottle to the fridge. “Mayté left some sort of casserole, if you’re hungry.”
“You talked to Mayté too?” I set the glass on the coffee table, on a coaster Hayley and I had made at school in second grade, during a Dad’s Day event.
He nodded. “When Hayley was leaving this morning. You’re still banned from the café, and now I am too.” His eyes twinkled with humor. At least he wasn’t offended by my chef’s bluntness. And hopefully the woman didn’t have the wrong idea about Micah. “Mayté said everything’s under control downstairs.”
Pursing my lips, I garnered my strength, shifting to stand.
He lifted a staying hand. “She also said if I catch you trying to do any work, that I’m to hide your phone and laptop and tell you she won’t cook for you anymore. Only Hayley.”
A soft smile emerged at Mayté’s bossy care. Maybe my relationship with her wasn’t totally professional. I slumped back into the sofa. Despite the aching heaviness in my body, my heart felt lighter. My gaze shifted beyond the French doors to the branches of the live oaks. I’d never had two days completely off from the restaurant. A day here or there. But never a true temporary alleviation of duties. My emotions rebubbled to the surface, and I blinked them away with a yawn, my attention returning to the room.
To the very single man loading my dishwasher. A single man with a genuine heart. Though, Ryan had had a genuine heart once. Or at least, I’d thought he did. Cold reality swept through, sharpening my wits. I may have been single the past eleven years and bore all the weight and responsibilities, but I hadn’t had the worry of being used. Or not loved enough for life’s curveballs. And I certainly had the smarts not to get involved with a man who wasn’t a good fit with his ex-wife because he wasn’t a Dolly Parton fan. Nah. Scratch that . Everyone adored Dolly.
Micah closed the dishwasher with a click and turned my way.
I stifled another yawn. “I appreciate all you’ve done. Truly. But you can go now. I’m fine.”
One of his brows rose. “Are you?”
Precious relentlessly scratched at my toes. I hefted my feet to the couch and slumped sideways into the cushion, resting the side of my face against the leather. The hairless pup continued harassing me, standing on her hind legs, pawing at the sofa. “No,” I cautioned sternly. She whined.
“The doctor said you needs lots of fluids. And rest.”
“Which I’ll get.”
Precious unleashed a high-pitched wail.
Micah’s other brow lifted. “Are you going to be able to bring Precious up and down the stairs every few hours for her to do her business?”
I groaned. That was an obvious no. I was ninety percent certain I’d only vacate the couch for emergency purposes. Another yawn escaped. “I’ll put her in her crate until Hayley gets home.”
“Where she’ll cry and keep you awake.” He opened the box of saltines on the island.
I hated his correctness.
He pulled a sleeve of crackers free. “I already took the day off from work. I’ve got nothing else to do.”
Be still my heart. Wait! No! Do not be still! Be the opposite of still! Be moving! Be on a pogo stick! “You didn’t have to do that.”
He shrugged. “Nellie was more than happy to cover for me.”
“Nellie.” I cringed. “Do you think she’ll get a restraining order against me?”
“You don’t think she already has one?” He opened the wrapper to the crackers and held them out to me with a wry grin. “Eat something. I’d like to get your strength up before I leave with Precious.”