“Ladies,” Andy’s smooth voice shook me out of my stupor. “Come on in.” He stepped back with a sweep of his arm. I threw Adri an I-told-you-so look, but movement over Andy’s shoulder caught my gaze and I focused on James. Adri and Andy were temporarily forgotten. My heart started pounding in my chest. Hard.
James flashed me an adorable grin. “Hey.”
“Hey.” I managed. We stood there grinning at each other until Adri’s giggle caused me to turn toward the sound. She was sitting on the couch next to Andy, laughing at something he was telling her. When had they moved to the couch? I blinked and walked toward them.
“Adri,” I interrupted and waved James over. “This is James. James, Adri.”
James moved across the room and around the couch to shake Adri’s hand. “Nice to meet you, James,” Adri said, and then turned to Andy. “Andy here was just telling me about this Asian garden that’s almost a spiritual experience.” I had to work hard to not roll my eyes. James put a hand on my back and bit back a grin. I felt myself leaning back into his open palm. How had I survived the past week without his touch? I looked up at him and saw he was watching me.
“San Antonio and I are going to go get Trivial Pursuit from the closet,” he said, taking my hand and leading me down the hall. As soon as we were out of sight, he stopped and pulled me to him with a tug on my hand. I wrapped my arms around his neck and sighed as his arms tightened around my waist. “I’m sorry,” we both said at the same time.
“I’ve missed you,” James whispered in my ear.
“I’ve missed you, too,” I told him, squeezing tighter. I could stay like this all night. Too bad we had to get back to Adri and Andy.
He pulled me closer for a second and then stepped back, his hands still on my waist. “Want to run tomorrow? I haven’t been in a few days and I need to.”
“I haven’t been either. I’ll meet you at the hospital tomorrow at the regular time.”
He nodded a reply and then his gaze turned serious as he searched my eyes. I was just about to ask what he was thinking when he leaned down and planted a soft kiss on my forehead, lingering there for a minute. I closed my eyes and concentrated on him, his touch. This was what I was trying to tell Adri about in the car- strong, yet soft. It couldn’t get much better than this.
He kissed my forehead again and stepped away. “Let’s get that game before we stay in the hall all night. I wouldn’t mind, but Andy needs to be knocked down a few notches and you are just the girl to do it.”
“I get San Antonio on my team,” he called out, grinning down at me, as we walked back to the living room. Adri and Andy groaned.
James
“That’s my girl!” I shouted as Sophie answered yet another trivia question correctly to win the game. It was a shutout. An embarrassment really.
“That’s not fair,” Andy complained. “No one could beat her.”
“Why do you think I wanted her on my team?” I put my arm around Sophie’s shoulders. “She’s my secret weapon.” I pulled her close, grinning like an idiot.
“How about Monopoly?” Andy asked. I glanced at my watch as Adri yawned.
“We need to get Adri to bed,” Sophie announced, standing up from the floor. “But how about a rematch some other time?”
I put my hand on her back and walked with them to the door. Adri reached over and lay her hand on Andy’s arm. “So, let me know when you want to take me sightseeing.”
“I’ll call you,” he promised with a flirtatious smile.
I reached for Sophie's hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I smiled thinking how good it felt to touch her again. She squeezed my hand.
“Rest up. I’m going to run you ragged." She smiled up at me. I laughed.
“Adri, are you coming running with us?” I invited, looking over at Adri and Andy.
"Sophie knows how I feel about running, but if there’s a gym around here you’d recommend, I’m there." I smiled when I saw Andy perk up at that news and they were off making plans for tomorrow.
I turned back to Sophie. She looked up at me, searching my eyes. "Thanks for letting us come over."
"Any time. We should try to get Adri to the beach while she is here." I smiled when her eyes danced at the suggestion. "How long is she here?"
"Only a week. Not nearly long enough to even make a dent in all there is to see and do," she sighed.
"You've missed her," I observed.
"Like crazy. We've been friends for seven years. This is the longest we've been apart. She's more like a sister, you know?"
"We'll just have to fill every day she's here. What about Cannon Beach Saturday morning?"
"Early enough for the tide pools?" she asked, hands clasped together in hope.
"Early enough for the tide pools," I chuckled. "You do know that means we'd have to leave at six a.m., right?"
"It will be worth it," she promised. "Thanks, James." She impulsively threw her arms around my neck in her happiness. When she moved to pull away, I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her back to me. I buried my face in her hair and breathed in her flowers and coconut scent. I'd have to thank my dad for his story the next time I drove over for a visit.
“I think Adri is the real thing,” Andy called down the hall after me as I walked to my room.
“Good night, Andy,” I said. And for the first time in days, it would be.
Sophie
“I’ll hand it to you. James is attractive,” Adri admitted back in the car.
“Attractive? Are you blind? He’s way more than attractive.”
“Well, it’s not in the model way like Andy is, but he seems almost normal. Maybe Portland has changed your unlucky streak with men,” she speculated.
“Keep praying for that, would you? I need all the help I can get.” Then, “You and Andy seem to have a lot in common.”
“Yeah,” she sighed dreamily. “I think he loves the gym almost as much as I do. We’ll see tomorrow.”
“Who knows,” I told her. “You may decide Portland has changed your unlucky streak too.
Chapter 19
Sophie
The next day dragged like the stuffed animal Jeran pulled around behind him through the house. Luckily, I had laundry and a two year old to keep me busy.
“We goin’ to the zoo today, Aunt Sophie?” Jeran asked as I pulled another armful of clothes from the dryer.
“No,” I replied. “Not today.”
“We goin’ to the pahk?” He climbed in the laundry basket and laughed when I buried him with another armful of warm clothes.
“No. But if you will help me fold these clothes, we can make cookies after.”
Jeran’s muffled cheer reached my ears right before clothes flew through the air as he erupted out of the basket and ran past me to the living room couch. He looked up at me with expectant eyes as he waited for me to drop the pile of clothes and pick out a shirt to fold. He chose one of his own and I hummed softly to myself while mentally counting the hours until I would see James again. I looked down at the dwindling pile when Jeran’s voice broke through my musings. I watched as Jeran wadded up another shirt and set it with the other crumpled shirts in his pile on the couch and announced that he was all finished. I laughed at his pile of crumpled clothes next to my own neatly folded piles and kneeled down next to Jeran.
“Hey, buddy, can you help me with this next shirt?” I asked and demonstrated how to fold it in half. With his help, we folded and refolded all of the clothes and separated them into piles to take to each bedroom. Jeran walked proudly in front of me, holding his clothes carefully, to his room where he unceremoniously dumped the pile onto the floor in front of his dresser and turned around and put his hands on his hips.
“Which woom next?” he asked with self-importance, looking very much like a miniature version of Trevor.
“Mommy and Daddy’s,” I whispered. “But we have to be really quiet so we don’t wake mommy up from her nap.” I reminded him as we turned to walk down the hal
l to Stacy and Trevor’s room.
“Mommy will be gwumpy, huh, Aunt Sophie?” Jeran stage-whispered. I laughed softly and gently nudged the bedroom door open enough to peek inside.
Stacy’s back was to us, but I could tell with the slow rise and fall of her shoulder that she still slept. I exaggerated a tiptoe in hopes Jeran would follow my example and set the pile of freshly folded clothes on Stacy's dresser.
I whirled when I heard Jeran in his stage whisper say, “Mommy, we had to fold the clothes and be quiet so we can make cookies.”
“Jeran,” I hissed and watched with a resigned sigh as Stacy’s eyes slowly opened and she blinked. She gave Jeran a sleepy smile when he patted her cheek and kissed the tip of her nose then turned and charged out of the room and down the hall to the kitchen. Who could stay upset at that sweetness?
“Sorry,” I told Stacy softly. “I even prepped him.”
Stacy laughed and yawned. “I guess you have to consider the age of the audience when you hand out instructions. Are you going running tonight?” she asked.
I couldn’t help the shiver of excitement that skittered down my arms at the thought of spending time with James. “Yes,” I grinned. “In about an hour. I’ll hitch a ride to the hospital with you, if that’s okay.”
Stacy grinned back knowingly and laughed, “I’ve never seen anyone so excited to pound pavement.” I ducked my head and blushed, making Stacy laugh even harder.
“Trust me when I tell you that you’d be excited too if you got to run with a hot guy.”
“I’ve tried running with Trevor and it doesn’t matter that he’s the hottest guy I know. I still don’t get all gooey over running.”
I shrugged and grinned at her again before making a quick escape into the hall. “Tell James hello from us,” she called as I made my way to the kitchen to make cookies. Hopefully my little cookie monster hadn’t started without me.
We had one cookie sheet in the oven when Adri breezed into the kitchen dressed in the latest in gym wear. "You are smokin' hot," I told her. "Andy won't know what hit him."
"Let's hope so." She tightened her ponytail and grabbed her bag.
"I'll meet you back here after our run," I told her as the doorbell rang. I smiled as I watched Jeran race Adri for the door, squealing all the way. "Have fun," I called to her.
James
I glanced from the clipboard to my watch and then the NICU doors to see her lovely face framed in the window. Right on time. My heart skipped a beat at the smile she sent my way and I walked toward the door and her. Was it just me or had she gotten better looking in those shorts in the seven days since I’d run with her?
Zeke looked up at the sound of the door and glanced my way to make sure I was paying attention. Nope it wasn’t just me. “Ms. Sophie…my favorite visitor,” he smirked.
Stacy waited a beat and then acted insulted. “What am I, nurse Zeke, chopped liver?”
“No, ma’am,” he said embarrassed. “I’m just hoping Sophie will come to her senses and drop the pretty boy doctor so I can have a chance.” He smiled smugly at me and I narrowed my eyes. Sophie laughed and my eyes narrowed to almost a squint when she gave Zeke a one-armed hug.
“Oh, Zeke, but who would all your admirers flirt with if we got together?”
It wasn’t exactly the emphatic rejection that I was hoping for, but our relationship was a work in progress. Sophie laughed again at the blush that crept up Zeke’s neck and she gave him a little squeeze. Time to go.
“I’m going to change. San Antonio, why don’t you go sing to the babies while you wait.” I didn’t miss the funny look Sophie gave me or Zeke’s obnoxiously triumphant laugh as I headed for the office. Nothing like subtlety…
Sophie
“Which way?” I asked as soon as we stepped out of the NICU and headed for the stairs.
“You choose,” James told me, slinging an arm around my shoulders. I wrapped my arm around his waist, loving being close to him.
“I choose the river route,” I told him and let my arm fall from his waist. “If you think you can keep up.” I bounced down the stairs ahead of him.
“The river route it is.” He scrambled behind me. “And we’ll see who has to work to keep up.” I smiled back at him and increased my pace. I had missed this.
I set out at a steady pace and neither of us spoke as we took in the cars, people, and buildings surrounding us. I was beginning to love this place. The often dreary weather took a little getting used to, but I could get hooked. I threw a glance at James beside me. I was well on my way to hooked already. I almost stopped mid-stride at the sudden thought that came next about what it would take to set up my clinic here instead of Texas. I wasn’t ready to think permanence yet.
“My parents only have a couple months left on their humanitarian mission. I’m trying to talk them into coming for a visit when they get released.”
“I can’t imagine that it would take a lot of convincing with a new grand baby,” James replied.
I smiled. “You’re right. It will be so good to see them again. It’s been too long.” We crossed the street. “What about your parents?” I asked him realizing that aside from his sister and her family and Andy, I didn’t know anything about the rest of his family.
“What about my parents?” He gave me a sidelong glance.
Was he being obtuse on purpose? “Do you see them often?” I asked in exasperation. Getting any amount of personal info out of him was as difficult as getting Jeran to potty train.
“Yes, they still live in the house I grew up in. So, not close enough to see every day, or even every week. But we get together for holidays and sometimes more often than that. I was just there this past weekend. Maybe I’ll take you to meet them one day.” He glanced at me. Judging my reaction, perhaps? “We could take in the ocean at the same time,” he suggested with a smile.
“Now, you know I could never say no to the ocean. You don’t play fair.”
“Who said anything about fair?”
“You know my weaknesses, but you never tell me yours.” I paused to look out at the river stretched in front of us. It always filled me with excitement to see the busyness of the waterfront; like ants or bees continually on the move to create and maintain a way of life.
“It’s my secret plan to discover and exploit your weaknesses. Use them to my advantage,” he teased in a mysterious voice as he came to a stop beside me and looked out over the water also.
“I figured as much. Just know that if I meet your mother, I plan on discovering some of your secrets so I can return the favor. Blackmail is such a fun word. Don’t you think?” I said brightly.
“I’m not afraid of you, San Antonio,” he said as he took a step closer, punctuating his words and closing the gap between us, and causing a tingle to crawl up my arm where it brushed his.
I looked over at him trying to decipher the subtle change in his voice. A slight breeze ruffled his hair and I had to tamp down the urge to brush it back into place. With eyes still focused on the water, he reached for my hand, interlacing our fingers.
I bumped him with my shoulder and said, “You would be afraid if you knew what was good for you.”
He turned his head to look at me then and smiled. “Oh, believe me. I know what’s good for me…” I blushed at his implied meaning and his smile broadened to reach his eyes and transform his face.
We stood quietly at the water’s edge for many peaceful minutes, although, I could no longer concentrate on the picturesque scene in front of me. I looked at James out of the corner of my eye, incredibly aware of his every breath. My senses were heightened and tuned directly to him whenever he was around. Anything on the periphery was hazy and I could only see him. Us.
James glanced at his watch and released my hand to sling his arm around my shoulder and turn me in the direction of the hospital on the hill. “We should probably get back. It looks like rain.”
“I wonder how Adri and Andy are getting along,” I said as we starte
d away from the river.
“Do you have plans tonight? Or do you want to see if they’ll meet us somewhere for dinner?”
“I’ll text Adri when we get back and we can go from there. I’d like to clean up first if we do go somewhere.”
Rain started falling on our last stretch before the hospital. Not wanting to participate in a wet tshirt contest, I picked up the pace and sprinted for the automatic doors, James right behind me. Just before we slipped inside, James reached out and latched onto the back of my shirt in an effort to slow me down. We speed walked, stumbling and bumping into each other, to the stairwell door, with me giggling behind my hand the whole way. I grabbed his arm to hold him back then shot forward, taking the stairs two at a time.
When my legs started to burn and James was pulling ahead, I switched to every stair and raced past him, arms pumping at my sides. His hand shot out to grab my shirt again, but I twisted out of reach and collapsed, laughing and victorious, against the stairwell wall at the NICU floor. James bent over gasping for breath. I raised both hands above my head and crowed loudly over my win. The noise echoed through the austere stairwell and I crowed again for effect.
James smothered a grin and shook his head at me. “I swear you are trying to kill me,” he panted. “Those last three flights never felt so long.”
“Oh, quit complaining,” I said, still laughing.
He straightened and walked toward me, a glint in his eyes. “You cheated, Ms. Sophie…”
My laughter turned to shrieks of protest as he hooked his arm around my neck and rubbed his knuckles across my head. I squirmed out of his hold and put one hand up between us to ward him off as I reached for the door knob with the other.
“Truce,” I panted, giggling under my breath. “But maybe you should clean up, too, before we do anything. I was a little too close to your armpit just now.”
Matters of the Heart Page 16