“To see you or your grandmother?”
“Both.”
“Has anything changed since I last spoke with you?”
“Yes and no.” Katherine toyed with the phone cord. What exactly did he mean by that?
“Good.”
Katherine returned to the table, leaned the crutches against the cabinets, and sat down.
“That was Brad?” Grandma asked.
“Yes.” She glanced across the table at Quinn. “To be honest, I’m not sure if he’s coming over or not. He asked if I was up for him dropping by, and I mentioned you were here.”
His mouth twitched. “That means he’s coming. The man is as confident as Carl. Do you want me to leave, Katherine? I have essays I can grade.”
“It would probably be best if you did.”
“Katherine! We were going to play Scrabble,” Grandma said.
“If you can both play Scrabble in here quietly, that would be fine. If he stops by, I don’t want you walking through the living room constantly.” She sighed. Grandma’s house was too small.
“I’ll go home, Ethel.”
Grandma patted his hand. “And leave me all by myself, alone in the kitchen?”
“Before I go, Ethel,”—he smiled warmly—“I have something very special to share with you.”
If Grandma were forty years younger, they would be a couple.
“Oh, Quinn, you know how I love good news.”
“President Morrison stopped by my office today.”
“Yes.” Grandma patted above her heart.
“He wanted me to deliver this.” Quinn handed her the manila envelope.
Grandma shook her head briefly and then pinched the metal clasp together. “It’s something metal.”
“Read the note first,” Quinn said.
“I can’t wait. I’m awful.”
“She is.” Katherine smiled. “She always opens the present first and then the card.”
“Oh, it is! It is!” Grandma pulled out a white metal sign. Wide-eyed, her hand flew to her mouth.
Katherine hopped on her good foot behind Grandma’s chair.
Outlined in green, a four-inch high turtle stood on its hind legs, wearing a straw hat with a mini-cluster of strawberries pinned to the side.
The caption read:
Senior Parking Only
Minimum age 65
Proof of age required.
Violators will be towed at owner’s expense.
“It’s beautiful,” Katherine whispered, looking at Quinn.
While Grandma read the letter, he whispered, “Mike also delivered the name plaque for my door today.”
“Congratulations. A milestone.”
“Mike wants Ethel to come in and have her picture taken once the signs are installed. Two parking spaces near the Admin will be for seniors. And a few in other zones around campus.”
Grandma patted Quinn’s hand. “I’ll have you deliver a letter back to him for me. I need to pay another parking ticket.” She giggled. “I’ll have Mike go to the registrars for me.”
“Another one?” Katherine suppressed a laugh.
Wide-eyed, Grandma nodded. “The day I stopped to pay off the first, I couldn’t find parking. I thought I’d only be a minute, and they nabbed me.”
Katherine sat at the table and dried dishes while Quinn washed. Grandma put the leftover chicken and rice in Tupperware containers, and then she proceeded to set up the Scrabble game.
“Grandma, Quinn said he needed to grade essays.”
“One game. I’ll make a pot of decaf,” Grandma said.
“I’ll get the creamer.” Quinn opened the fridge.
Katherine sat down on the sofa and felt too restless to study. “Lord,” she whispered, “If Brad stops by, help me to handle the situation with love.” Beside her textbooks sat the Bible. She eyed it for a moment before leaning over and picking it up. “Give me wisdom concerning love, Lord. Open my eyes to the situation.” Knowing the verse she longed to read, Katherine turned to First Corinthians 13.
“Love is patient,” she whispered. Tears stung her eyes. “I have not always been patient. Love is kind. I have not always been kind. Lord, help me to be kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” A sob caught in her throat. “Oh, Lord, I’ve been so awful, help me to be humble. You know how I hate dating. I’m just not good at it.”
“Your doctor’s here,” Grandma said, from the kitchen.
Chapter Sixty
“He’s saving her an appointment,” Quinn said.
The back door squeaked open.
“Hello, Dr. Ungerbach,” Grandma said in the other room. “We were just thinking you might save Katherine an appointment by looking at her foot while you’re here.”
“That’s a great idea. Hello, Quinn, Ethel. I haven’t played Scrabble in years.”
Katherine lifted her foot to the coffee table. When Brad unwrapped the bandages, would her foot be stinky enough to dis-infatuate him?
“Feel free to pull up a chair,” Grandma said.
“Thank you, but I was hoping to see Katherine.”
“How about a cup of decaf? I just made a pot.”
“That sounds great.”
“Ask him if he’s had dinner, Grandma,” she said loudly.
“Have you had supper?”
“I had a quick bite to eat on the way here, thank you.”
Carrying a mug of coffee, Brad walked into the living room. His smile was broad. If she could get past another ridiculously bright Hawaiian shirt, she’d remember that he was also sweet and sincere. Katherine shimmied into the corner of the sofa.
Brad sat down beside her. “Benton’s still here,” he whispered.
“Grandma set up Scrabble.”
Nonetheless, Brad’s eyes sparkled.
“You look more beautiful every time I see you.” He swallowed like he meant it like it wasn’t just a great line.
Her stomach tightened. She was past being numb and into anxious.
“That was kind of you.” She reminded herself of his attention at the hospital—he’d been a lifesaver.
“Katherine, I have a K and a D and no vowels,” Grandma said, loudly.
“Good luck,” Katherine bellowed.
“How was your day?” she asked, looking at Brad.
Silence enveloped them like gauze.
“It’s ending on a very good note.” He appeared to relish the moment.
“Then you definitely don’t want to look at my stinky foot.”
His hearty chuckle filled Grandma’s front room and probably bounced into the kitchen, causing Grandma and Quinn some anguish.
“One of your first remarks to me that I know you remember was, ‘I am usually a boring person.’ You were so wrong.”
She glanced at her textbooks and bit her lower lip. “I really am. Usually.” Oh, he was making her feel finger tapping nervous.
“Let’s see, we’ll need some fresh gauze, bandages . . .”
Breath mints. Maybe he’d had a burger with the works on the way here. “Everything’s in the bathroom, straight ahead down the hall, in a basket on the counter.”
He returned with the small white basket and set it on the coffee table. With his back to the kitchen doorway, Brad lifted up her foot and carefully unwound the bandage. “The stitches look good. You can start giving your foot more air time. We could leave it unwrapped for a while and bandage it up before I head home.”
While he washed his hands in the bathroom, Katherine examined the stitches, the bruises. She’d have an ugly scar. At least, it was on the bottom of her foot.
“Katherine, what’s a word that I can use a K, R and U?” Grandma asked, loudly.
Carrying the first aid basket, Brad walked through the living room and halted in the doorway to the kitchen. “Ethel, see if you can spell kurta. It’s a collarless shirt in India.”
“Thanks, Dr. Brad.” Grandma giggled. “Quinn, I hope you didn’t have plans for that A.”
> Brad returned to sit beside Katherine. “One of my buddies in college wore them all the time. Kurta.” He grinned.
“I was thinking of kudos, but you beat me to it.”
“I don’t think she has a D anymore. Do you want to join them?” Brad leaned his head toward the kitchen. “Looks early in the game.”
Maybe he was past feeling that Quinn was competition, or maybe he wanted to beat him. “I’m game.”
Quinn and Grandma pulled the table away from the wall. Brad sat with his back to the window while Katherine sat in her usual chair across the table from Quinn.
Brad’s first word was bolus.
Grandma studied the word. “I’ve never played Scrabble with two doctors before.”
Quinn held out his hand. “Hand me the dictionary, please, Ethel.”
“Are you going to challenge him?” Grandma asked.
“What do you think, Katherine, should I?” Their eyes locked.
It was a loaded question. She shrugged. Bolus didn’t sound outlandish.
“I won’t challenge you,” Quinn said. “But I’d like to look it up if you don’t mind.”
“Go for it.” Brad selected four more letters.
Quinn flipped through the dictionary, ran his gaze down the left column, and closed the book.
“What does it mean?” Grandma asked.
“Bolus—larger than an ordinary pill.”
“Oh, my calcium pills are bolus!” Grandma chuckled. So did Brad.
Quinn’s word was choky.
Brad laughed. Grandma frowned. Katherine questioned if it was a word.
After Grandma’s turn, Brad finally asked, “What does it mean, Professor? Choky?”
“To choke, or suffocate.”
“Haven’t you heard of a choky collar?” Grandma set three tiles on the board. Her Z landed on a triple-letter score. “Thirty points for my Z; not too bad for the equestrian in the group.”
“You mean octogenarian, Grandma.”
After Katherine’s word of shim, it was Brad’s turn again. His word was pinna.
Quinn frowned. “I’m calling you this time.”
Quinn flipped open the dictionary to P and scanned the pages. He slammed the book shut and rolled his eyes. “It’s the part of the ear that sticks out from the side of your head.”
“Yes.” Brad smiled. “Katherine has a beautiful pih-nuh.”
Grandma got a triple-word score with the word tax. Katherine played an I below the X to spell xi.
Brad scratched his head. “What do you think, Professor?”
“This is also the first time I’ve played Scrabble with Katherine.”
Brad didn’t call her on it before playing his next word. Tragus.
“Just so you know, Doc,” Quinn said, “Xi is the fourteenth letter of the Greek alphabet.”
“Thanks, Professor.”
The two were becoming friends. Katherine’s cheeks burned.
“I will not call you on tragus, but tell me what it means. I’m tired of losing turns.”
“Ethel, are you going to call me?” Brad grinned.
“No.”
“Too bad, because tragus is the external opening of the ear.”
“I thought you were a foot doctor.” Grandma studied the board.
“I’m an orthopedic surgeon, and I must say, Katherine has beautiful tragi.”
Katherine’s ears warmed as she stared at the table.
A half hour later, Grandma won. By the jubilant look on her face, it was obvious that she was quite pleased with her accomplishment.
“What’s your secret, Ethel?” Brad asked.
“Triple-letter scores. You, highfalutin doctors, are into spelling big, long words, and you’re not looking for the double-and triple-word scores.” She beamed.
Brad rubbed his eyes and yawned. “I’ve been up since four.”
“Wow!” Katherine shook her head.
Brad’s right hand dropped to the table and landed perfectly on top of hers. Everyone stared at his bold accomplishment. Up close, short blond hair grew on his knuckles, and his hands were exceptionally clean as if he washed them sixteen times a day.
“Who got second?” Brad asked.
“You did, by eleven points,” Grandma said. “Quinn and Katherine tied.”
“We tied, Katherine.” Quinn smiled across the table at her like that was reason enough to give Brad the boot.
“For last place.” She lifted her brows.
Brad’s fingers now entwined hers. “About Friday, I won’t get off work until eight, but Friday’s Friday.”
Brad knew Friday was taken and important to her. Her heart twisted. “I’ll be at the library,” she whispered.
“After my shift, I’ll pick you up from the library, and we’ll rent a movie or—”
“As you know from last Friday,” Quinn interrupted, “it’s been a tradition for our professors’ group to meet on Fridays to discuss my blind dates.”
“Didn’t we meet at eleven thirty?” Brad’s blond brows knit together quizzically.
“It’ll probably be ten this week, as my date is only in Pullman. And just so you’re aware, from time to time, Katherine has discussed her dates as well.”
“No, I haven’t, Quinn.”
“She only calls me Quinn when she’s mad at me.” He smiled. “There was the time with Joe.”
“That was not a date. That was a Mountain Dew.”
“I’m talking about Chinese.”
“You know that wasn’t a date either. You were there.”
Brad chuckled. “This Friday, I’d prefer that our date not be part of the discussion. Katherine, I’d like you to walk me to the front door. And, Ethel, is that a pocket door?”
“Why, yes.” Grandma turned to look at it.
“That’s great.”
Katherine agreed with him. She wanted the pocket door closed when she officially ended their one-sided courtship. Benton was right: she needed to set her foot down.
Chapter Sixty-One
After Katherine hobbled into the living room, Brad pulled the pocket door closed. She had to give him credit; not only was the man proactive, he was also observant.
“I need to rewrap your foot before I leave.”
“Thanks for remembering.” She sat on the couch and lifted her foot to the coffee table near the basket of gauze. “Um . . . Brad, did you forget what I told you about Friday?”
Brad sat down on the coffee table and lifted her foot to rest on his knee. He started with a square piece of gauze. “No, my thinking is: Benton will be all the more surprised when it’s you.”
“Aw . . . that’s sweet of you.” She sighed. He was such a dear soul.
“And I was hoping you’d change your mind before Friday.” He grinned. “But I have a feeling you won’t.”
Brad wrapped the tape around her entire foot and pressed the ends smoothly into place.
“You’re right. I won’t change my mind.”
“I understand. What would you like to do Friday?”
She giggled. He did have a sense of humor.
Brad gently set her foot down on the coffee table. “I’ll wash my hands, and you can walk me to the door.”
While he was in the bathroom, Katherine stared at the closed pocket door. When she walked him to the door, he was planning to kiss her. Across the room, a spider inched its way down from the ceiling and, halfway down, appeared to have second thoughts, as it scurried back up its invisible cord. Was it a sign from God, telling her to run?
“Do you have enough pain medication, or do you want me to write another prescription?” Brad asked.
“I haven’t taken anything for the last forty-eight hours.”
“You have a high pain threshold.” He grinned.
“I never have before.” How high was Brad’s pain tolerance? How would he handle it if she told him his Hawaiian shirt was way too bright?
“Are you ready to walk me to the door?” Lowering his chin, he studied her.
“No.” He smiled.
Her mouth went dry.
“I’d still like you to walk me to the door.”
He surprised her. She looked to the closed front door and guesstimated that it was about fifteen feet, with another three feet added for moving around the coffee table. Using her left foot, she stood up and angled the crutches against her ribcage. She followed his slow lead and stopped near the left side of the door.
He moved closer. Quinn had said that Ungerbach knew how he felt. He confirmed it as he lifted Katherine’s chin and stared into her eyes.
“Brad, don’t.” Lowering her chin, she took his hand. “I can’t go out with you on Friday because I’m in love with Quinn. I’m so sorry.” She met his gaze.
“I know. I saw it tonight.” He blinked. “It’s been a long time since I’ve met someone as special as you. I know I’m rushing it, but I have no other choice. If for some reason, you and Quinn don’t work out, I hope you’ll let me know.”
“I will, Brad . . . I promise.”
After he’d left, she leaned against the front door and sighed. “Dear Lord, help him find someone special. A good Christian gal, who loves water and is maybe a little color blind. He’s a sweet soul. Thank You, Lord, that it’s finally over. Ease his pain.”
Chapter Sixty-Two
After Brad’s diesel truck revved west on Hunter Street, the pocket door slid open and then closed behind Quinn. Over the top of her Lewis and Clark textbook, Katherine’s gaze followed him as he sat in the recliner and placed both hands stiffly on the arms. She lowered the textbook and capped her fluorescent pink highlighter.
“Do you know how many parts there are to the human body?” he asked.
“No.” Katherine peered up at the ceiling.
“Thousands. An anatomy class would do wonders for our Scrabble game.”
It was touching how he’d used the pronoun our.
“Grandma would probably take anatomy with you, but I’m not a serious enough player.”
“So what are you doing Friday night?” Quinn pushed on the chair’s arms as he reclined.
“I’m not sure. The library and then a short movie. What do you think about Brad coming to the professors’ get-together?” She bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from smiling.
Sticky Notes - A clean romance (Ethel King Series Book 1) Page 36