Chapter 10
It was nearing midnight when Blake got the okay to take Malcom home. Vi and Caroline were waiting for them, Caroline having been cleared a short time before Malcom. Both looked pretty banged up, but at least they were in decent enough shape to ride in the car.
Waiting for their discharge papers, the two of them gazed at each other with clear relief. “You have a bruise on your cheek,” Caroline said, in a mournful voice. “Does it hurt? How are your ribs?”
“I hurt like the devil. One rib is cracked and will take several weeks to heal up. How are your head and arm?”
“The arm is sore but nothing I can’t live with. I also have a minor concussion and a headache. What a pair we are.” She moved closer to him and peered at his face. “You don’t look so good.”
“Neither do you. We both need to get some sleep.”
“Be sure to get enough rest, drink plenty of water, and take aspirin as needed,” the nurse advised as she handed them their medical instructions. “The doctor would like you to contact your primary care physicians for full exams.”
Grandpop wasn’t the best at following instructions, but Blake intended to make sure he paid attention to that. “I’ll schedule an appointment first thing tomorrow, and I’ll drive you there and back.” He wasn’t sure how he’d squeeze in the time to do that, but his grandfather’s health was more important than either bike store.
“You’re a busy man. I don’t mind calling Falcon.”
“I want to take you. Let’s get you two home.”
With the ER so close to the 709, the trip wouldn’t take long. Malcom sat gingerly in front with Blake, Vi and Caroline in the back.
“I’ll bet you’re both tired,” Vi said in the silence.
“Yes, it’s been a long night. This is a nice car, Blake. Almost as nice as the Mercedes is—or was.” He heard Caroline shifting around. “I’m sitting on something back here that’s uncomfortable.”
“I can’t imagine what,” Vi said. “Whatever it is, I’ll get it out of the way. Can you lift up a little? Oh,” she said a few seconds later. Blake glanced in the rearview mirror to see her clutching something in her hand.
“What is that?” Caroline asked.
“It’s a hairbrush.”
“Is it Blake’s?”
“No, mine.”
“Well, what’s it doing in the back seat?”
“Um…” Long pause. “I didn’t realize it was missing from my purse.”
Not an answer, and Caroline went quiet. Blake thought sure Vi had shoved it into her bag after she’d fixed her hair. Not that he’d paid much attention. Blame that on the powerful kisses they’d traded. “How’d it get back there?” he asked, feigning ignorance.
“I have no idea,” Vi answered. He guessed she was blushing and was glad for the darkness hiding it.
“Can’t think of a good answer, is that it?” Grandpop said. “Don’t bother—us old people weren’t born yesterday. We’d know if you tried to feed us any bull. Here’s what I think—you pulled the brush from your purse and it dropped on the seat. You were in the back and I’m pretty sure Blake was there with you.” Grandpop stroked his chin as if in deep thought. “Now, what could you two have been doing in the back seat before you strolled into the restaurant?”
Blake was momentarily struck speechless. Vi, too, was silent. “Where did you come up with that idea?” he finally managed. He wasn’t about to explain about Vi’s bad case of nerves or the massage he’d given her to help, and for sure not going near those kisses that’d all but wiped his mind clean of anything else.
“Console in your way, was it?”
Damn, the man was sharp. He never missed anything. “Cut it out, Grandpop,” he warned.
“I knew it!” Gran chimed out in the silence. “Vi was flushed when you two came in. And a good ten minutes late, which she rarely is. And Blake, explaining that the color in her face was due to the cold. You’re a clever one, not so different from your grandfather.”
“Stop it, both of you,” Vi ordered in a no-nonsense tone.
Grandpop ignored her. “You kids didn’t waste any time, you pair of chips off the old block.” He cackled, then abruptly broke off and groaned. “It hurts when I laugh.”
The pair of chips off the blocks comment made no sense, and Blake slanted the man a curious frown. He wasn’t about to ask about it, though. Why give the man a chance to say more of what he didn’t want to hear?
They pulled into the parking lot of the 709, and the conversation turned to getting Malcom and Caroline out of the car. Inside, they greeted the night staff person, who’d been briefed about the situation.
The four of them rode the elevator to the sixth floor. Blake helped Grandpop to his room, a slow process due to the pain, and Vi took care of Caroline. By the time he got Grandpop settled with water and aspirin tabs within reach and a button to notify the medical staff if he needed help, which, of course, the man stubbornly resisted, he was more than ready to take Vi home and crash.
As soon as she stepped into the lobby, they left.
Wornout after the traumatic events of the evening, Vi yawned as Blake pulled onto the highway and drove toward the townhouse. “This is a night I won’t soon forget.”
“You can say that about the entire day.”
By his quick glance at her mouth, she knew what he was referring to. “I nearly keeled over in embarrassment when Malcom talked about my brush being in the back seat. How did that lead to his figuring out exactly what we did?”
“I wasn’t happy about it, either, but it was pretty funny.” His lips twitched.
He had a point. “Looking back, I get that. Now, anyway.”
They shared a smile, and Blake went on. “Knowing him, he figured you’re a female, I’m a male, and we were alone together in the car. We wanted to fool around where we had more room.”
“That’s not why we were in the back.”
“He didn’t know that.”
“I wasn’t going to say I was desperate to calm down and you needed space to work on my neck and shoulders. To clear up any misunderstanding, I had no intention of kissing you more than once as a gesture of gratitude.” She doubted he would’ve kissed her in the first place if she hadn’t been so impulsive.
“You’re not attracted to me?” He sounded disappointed.
“Of course, I am. You’re a good kisser,” very good, “but don’t let that go to your head. It doesn’t mean I expected us to go on the way we did.” She frowned at him. “You’re smiling again.”
“Because you’re attracted to me,” he said, gloating like he’d won a prize.
Men. “And that makes you happy? I have no idea why, when we both know the feeling isn’t mutual.”
“It sure as heck is.”
She was flattered but not stupid. “Come on, Blake, there are tons of women out there more your type.” Ready to talk about something else, she changed the subject. “You won’t believe what Gran said when we were alone.”
“Hold that a minute. Tell me, what’s my type?”
No need even to think about that. “Gorgeous, sexy, fun.”
“You’re describing yourself.”
She narrowed her eyes his way. “Stop with the phony compliments. I know my limits.”
“Enlighten me and tell me what they are.”
“I don’t have much of a sense of humor, I’m not curvy, I’m too smart,” she rattled off. Stuff she’d been mocked for in middle school and high school.
“Where did you come up with that load of crap?”
Not about to get into the thorny details, she eyed him. “Do you want to know what Gran said or not?”
“Hit me.”
“She said what we did in the back seat was a lot like her and Malcom when they first met. Instant attraction and us not being able to keep our hands off each other. Puh-lease.” Which in her case, like it or not, was true.
“That explains the crack he made about us being double chips off the old block.” Blake snorted. “Not. I’m nowhere near ready to get married.”
“On that, we agree. I’d like to someday, but I’ve never even come close to meeting anyone I want to spend my life with. With parents like ours, is it any wonder?” Vi clapped her hand over her mouth. “I had no business saying that. I mean like mine.”
“You’re right about my family, too. My mother, at least. I almost got married once.”
Surprised, she gawked at him. “What happened?”
“We realized we’d made a mistake and parted ways.”
What kind of mistake, and how long ago? She wanted to know but wasn’t going to ask, as she didn’t want to seem nosy. “Our grandparents have seen each other angry, I’ll bet for the first time. Between that and the accident, maybe they’ll table their plan to get married and come to the realization that like you and your ex, they’re making a mistake and need more time.”
“Hard to know what they’ll do. We still ought to figure out what our next steps are.”
For a moment, Vi thought he meant between them. Fatigue was messing with her mind. He was talking about Gran and Malcom. She didn’t want to think about Blake except as an ally wanting to stop their grandparents from rushing into anything. “Next steps.” She scoffed at the idea. “You saw how well that worked out at dinner tonight. At the moment, I’m too brain-dead to think about that or anything else. Let’s wait and see how they feel over the next day or two.”
“I’m surprised—you’re not a wait and see person.”
“Yeah, well I learned that with Gran and Malcom, we have no other choice.”
He cupped his ear. “Did I hear you right, and you agree with me?”
“Just this once,” she teased.
“I’ll check in after I take Grandpop to the doctor, and you do the same.”
Signaling, he turned into the complex. As he pulled up in front of her unit, she tensed. He’d better not try anything. When he didn’t, she was both relieved and oddly disappointed. His car idled there until she unlocked the door and let herself in. Then he drove off.