Alyssa shook her head. “You’re really spoiling us, you know. It’s not necessary. I’m well-equipped to …”
He held up his hand. “I know, believe me. You’re perfectly capable of handling this yourself, and you have been for years. It’s just that … well, I want to help out. I’m really fond of Caroline and if I can make this easier for her, why not?”
Alyssa sighed. “I’m having a hard time figuring out … what we are.”
He let a small grin escape.
“Are we professional colleagues? Are we friends? Are we … more than friends?”
“D: All the above,” he stated.
She groaned. “When did life get so complicated?”
He took a few steps toward her and took her crossed arms into his hands. “We’re anything you want us to be. And that’s subject to change at your whim. Just let me know, in no uncertain terms, so I can keep up. Okay?”
So, he was leaving it to her to figure out their complicated relationship? For once, she didn’t want to be the decision-maker.
Caroline wandered into the room. “Mr. Fontaine!” She broke into a run and sailed across the room, throwing her little body into his arms. Grant squatted and absorbed the hug, closing his eyes and grinning.
Something about how he took such pleasure in Caroline’s hug gave her a twinge of sympathy for him. Would he ever have a child of his own? Would he ever be granted the simple pleasure of a hug from his own daughter or son, or had life dealt him a hand resulting in no children? Did he care?
Something about the way he looked right now made her think he did care. Very much.
Caroline pulled away. “Hi!”
“Hi yourself.”
“What are you doing here?”
He looked directly into her eyes. “I thought you might like a ride to your doctor’s appointment. Would you mind if I went along with you and your mom?”
“Sure!”
He looked up at Alyssa and smiled. “Mom?”
Alyssa rolled her eyes. Like she had any choice now. “I suppose.”
Caroline gave a yell and lifted her hand for a high-five from Grant.
“Get your jacket,” Alyssa instructed. “Also, grab that box of tissues, just in case.” With a final bustle of activity, they were ready and walked out the door.
An hour later, they were sitting in the waiting room of the doctor’s office when a nurse announced, “Caroline Stark.”
Caroline and Alyssa stood up. Grant looked up at them. “Good luck. I’ll be right here.”
The nurse watched the exchange from across the room. “Actually, Mom, Dad, you’re both welcome.”
Alyssa looked down at Grant, who was looking hesitant.
“Your call,” he said. “I’d be happy to join you, or obviously, if you want me to stay out here, I’ll just wait for you.”
Before she had a chance to tell him she preferred that he wait there, Caroline grabbed his hand and tugged. “Come with us.”
“Sweetie, I actually think it would be better for just the two of us to go into the examining room.”
Her daughter’s disappointment about melted her heart. “Why?”
She glanced at Grant. He patted Caroline’s hand. “It’s okay, buddy. I’ll be waiting for you right here, and as soon as you’re done, you tell me everything that happened, okay?”
She accepted that with a little frown. Alyssa took her hand and looked back at Grant as they walked across the room, giving him what she hoped he knew was a grateful expression. The nurse led them down the hallway and into a small room. She took Caroline’s height, weight and blood pressure and then left, closing the door behind her.
They waited what seemed like forever for the doctor. Caroline busied herself with a few toys in a basket in the corner, and then tired of them. Alyssa was regretting her decision to leave Grant out in the waiting room when the door opened and the doctor came in, his white lab coat breezing behind him. He looked to be in his late forties and he gave off the impression that he was competent, busy and friendly. He was at least six foot four, slim and had huge feet wrapped in brown leather shoes. He held his hand out to her. “Hello. I’m Dr. Scott.”
Caroline came to stand between Alyssa’s seated legs and stared curiously at the doctor.
The doctor sat down and studied the informational sheet Alyssa had filled out when she arrived. Then he looked up and focused on Caroline. “Nosebleeds and bruising, huh? Let me take a closer look at you, young lady.”
He rolled in his wheeled stool and pointed a light into Caroline’s eyes, ears, and particularly long up her nose. He listened to her breathing with his stethoscope. He took her arms gently into his hands and studied the discoloration.
“Bruises anywhere else?”
Alyssa shook her head. “Not that I saw.”
“When did they appear?” He continued to examine Caroline’s arms, bending them this way and that.
“I just noticed them yesterday.”
He nodded. “Any reoccurrence of the nosebleeds?”
“No.”
The doctor patted Caroline’s shoulders and left his hands there while he leaned in close to her. “Question for you, little lady. Very important that you answer me honestly, okay?”
Caroline nodded, speechless, eyes wide.
“Did anyone hit you, squeeze you or do anything to put these bruises here?”
Her answer, “no” was immediate.
He nodded approvingly. “Okay. Thanks.” He turned to Alyssa. “I’d like to have her blood drawn. There are a few tests I want to run and then I’ll get back to you with the results. If nothing else, they’ll rule out some possible problems, but if we’re lucky we may hit on a diagnosis. We won’t know till the results are back.”
Alyssa puffed out a mouthful of air. She was torn. She didn’t want to have to put her little girl through a blood test. God knows, she hated needles herself – couldn’t she protect her daughter from them? On the other hand, the results may provide answers.
The doctor noticed her hesitation. “I know what you’re thinking. But I’ve got a fantastic phlebotomist who works on children all the time, and knows exactly how to get it done. It won’t be traumatic.”
“Mom?” Caroline looked up at her and Alyssa could see fear in her eyes. “What’s he talking about?”
She nodded her go-ahead to the doctor and he stood. “I’ll send her in. You’ll have a few minutes.”
When he left, she turned to Caroline. “Sweetie, I need to ask you a favor. The doctor wants to take some of your blood out, and run it through a lab. The test might give us some answers, or at least some clues, about why you got that nosebleed, and why your arms are bruising.”
Caroline’s face scrunched with her confusion. “How’s he going to get my blood out?”
Alyssa took her hands and squeezed them as she stared into her little girl’s eyes. “With a needle, honey.”
Caroline let out a small cry and tears welled in her eyes.
“I know it sounds painful, but it’s needed to find out if there’s something wrong. Because if there is, we want to catch it early and we’ll know what to do to fix it.”
“But it’ll hurt!” Caroline wailed.
“Actually, it won’t hurt that much. Just a little tiny bit. The best way is to lie on the bed here, close your eyes, squeeze my hand and talk to me. It’ll be over before you even know it.”
Her bottom lip shook a little as she stared at her mom. “Promise?”
“I’ll be right here with you, baby.”
Caroline thought about it, sniffed and finally nodded. When the phlebotomist arrived a few minutes later, she bravely lay down, extended her outstretched arm and squeezed her eyes shut. Alyssa felt a prick of sympathy in her heart for her and offered a silent prayer that nothing serious would be wrong.
“You’re a very good patient,” the phlebotomist said a few minutes later. “You didn’t flinch once. You’re done.”
“Done?” Caroline’s voice wa
s full of wonder. She sat up and looked at the bandage over her arm. “You’re right, Mommy! It didn’t hurt!” Alyssa’s reward was a huge, happy smile. Caroline broke into a run in the waiting room and raced over to Grant. “They stuck a needle in my arm!”
“Oh my,” he said, his gaze intent on hers.
“And guess what? It didn’t even hurt!”
He put a hand on his cheek. “Really? You’re kidding!”
“No, I’m not! And the nurse said I was a very good patient, right Mommy?”
She took a few steps toward them and beamed her relief at them both. “Absolutely. She was fantastic. Very brave.”
He swooped Caroline up into his arms and lifted her high. She screeched a whoop of unexpected pleasure. Alyssa peeked around the room. The few people sitting there were enjoying the wild display of excitement. Turning back to Grant and Caroline, she realized she didn’t care. She’d let Caroline enjoy some masculine attention for once in her short life. Although she was fully capable of providing for Caroline’s needs, one thing she couldn’t and hadn’t ever offered her daughter was a father figure.
On the way out to the car, Grant’s face flushed with exertion and the chill of the fall day. He carried Caroline on his shoulders and she giggled with an abandon Alyssa hadn’t witnessed from her in a while. She tilted her head back and smiled up at her daughter, thrilled with her happiness. But the darkness of a cautious thought entered her mind.
Don’t let her get too attached to this man. He’s not a permanent in her life. How will she react when he’s no longer riding her on his shoulders and throwing her in the air?
Inside, the warring emotions tore at her. With a conscious effort, she wrenched the dark thought away. There was enough to worry about. Let the good moments be when they visit.
* * * *
Later that night, Grant rode the elevator down from his penthouse, emerged onto the sidewalk and turned right outside his building. Dressed in shorts, a tee shirt and a light wind shirt, he began a run and locked into a pace that would take him through his nine-mile course in a little over an hour. Evening runs provided an excellent chance to purge the worries of the day, stress arising from the fast pace of the office, regrets resulting from decisions made too quickly in the heat of the battle.
About two miles in though, he turned his mind to the highpoint that was hiding there. Caroline. His daughter.
She was such an unexpected gift. A treasure he hadn’t anticipated. Thinking back, his plan to stay completely away from her until she reached adulthood seemed like a lifetime ago now. Why would he deprive himself of her company all those years? An entire childhood, swept away by secrecy and isolation. He would’ve done it, too, if Alyssa hadn’t transferred to New York.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
The phrase floated into his mind like a child’s bubble on the summer breeze. Memories of Sunday mornings from his own childhood came crashing back. Toes stuffed in too-tight leather shoes. The strangling hold of a tie worn only once a week around his neck. Desperate attempts to remain still to avoid the looks of death from his father and mother down the row. Invented bladder problems to get him out of the sermon and a momentary visit to the restroom.
The sum total of his adult faith was contained in these memories of attending church as a boy. Not exactly pleasant memories. Definitely not meaningful ones. And yet, the phrase had popped into his mind and wafted through it.
His feet pounded the cement and his breathing stayed under control. His knees ached, but this was common for the six mile marker and he’d learned to work through it. But inside his mind, he fixated on this new concept. That the reunion with his daughter was somehow sanctioned by God.
And wow, that concept was just a little too powerful to ponder.
He’d often heard people say crazy stuff like, “God told me this or that,” and he could never comprehend it. What did God do, reach down from the heavens with a big finger pointing at a specific human being and give an order that even a moron could understand? No, probably not. But he could fathom the concept of God planting an idea in an individual’s brain – something totally unexpected and opposite of what that person might think normally – with the understanding that the thought was put there by Him, and Him alone.
And wasn’t that what he’d just experienced?
He reached to a utility belt around his waist and pulled out his water bottle. He squeezed a stream into his mouth, then sprayed some directly at his face. He shook his head, creating a mini-fountain of water and continued running.
When he reached home, he still was no closer to understanding this sudden God dilemma, but he felt an unaccustomed peace when it came to thoughts of Caroline. And that was sort of nice.
Chapter Twelve
Friday night, Alyssa sank onto her couch with a glass of wine, flipped her feet onto the coffee table and exhaled a deep breath. Dressed in her most comfy pair of worn jeans and a well-washed sweatshirt from a long-ago vacation to Ocean City, Maryland, that she’d slipped on after shucking her bra, she closed her eyes and soaked in the quiet. Not a sound generated inside her apartment – all she could hear, if she strained her ears, was the muffled sound of traffic on the street outside.
The sound of silence. Ahhh, it was beautiful.
As weeks go, this one had been killer. Her work with the Calibrite account was coming to a climax. She and Grant had scoured over each of her designs. He was a tough critic when he saw flaws, but was open with his praise when he liked something. And more often than not, he liked her stuff, which motivated her to keep working to develop classy and effective advertising to help him meet his production goals. Her own standards were high, always had been. But until she’d met him, she’d never met anyone as driven and confident as he was. What the man had accomplished already, at his age, was nothing short of amazing.
As much as she loved her job and working with a true pro like Grant, she couldn’t deny that trying to meet those expectations 24/7 was just plain exhausting.
But it wasn’t only work that made it a killer week. Caroline’s unexpected medical issues contributed, too. Her daughter had been healthy her whole life. Alyssa hadn’t had to deal with childhood illness all that much. This condition had caught her off guard and was throwing her for a loop.
Red splashes on a white uniform blouse. An endless flow of blood from Caroline’s nose. Images Alyssa wanted to forget.
She took a sip of wine and concentrated on the liquid warmth circulating her body, leaving her with a nice, fuzzy feeling.
Was she overreacting to the nosebleed? Although it had been just one when she’d taken Caroline to the doctor late last week, it had repeated itself today at school. The call from the office was not as panicked as the first time, and Alyssa could point Mrs. Hall to the cotton padding she’d packed in Caroline’s backpack and extra uniform blouse just in case.
She was nothing if not prepared.
Despite the reoccurrence, Caroline had insisted she wanted to carry on with her plans to ride home on the school bus with Bethany Edwards and spend the night at her apartment. Alyssa had spoken to Bethany’s mother and made all the plans. She’d pick her up in the morning after a night of slumber party bliss. Alyssa smiled at the thought, her head leaning against the couch. She let her eyes drift closed. No way would Caroline let a nosebleed interrupt her plans for a sleepover. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Alyssa never let something minor like illness stand in her way, either.
But tonight was a night for peace and quiet. Maybe some Chinese takeout from the shop on the corner, a rented chick flick and an early bedtime.
A minute later, the buzzer sounded. Alyssa jumped. No guests were expected. In fact, like Pavlov’s dog, she had become used to only one particular visitor entering the apartment when the buzzer rang. Because in addition to him, she couldn’t remember anyone else visiting other than the cable guy, the internet guy, and the carpet cleaner.
Nope, other than them, every time that buzzer r
ang, it had been … Grant Fontaine.
The buzzer rang again and she sighed, set her wineglass on the table and dragged herself to her feet. Crossing the room, she reminded herself that it couldn’t be Grant. She’d just seen him this morning, however momentarily, when he’d signed the viewed billboard designs which allowed her to send them to production. He hadn’t mentioned a visit tonight, and neither had she.
“Yes? Hello?”
“Hi.”
A smile formed on her lips, unbidden but unavoidable – another Pavlovian reaction to the sound of his voice. “Hi, Grant. You’re far from home on a Friday night.”
He chuckled. “How do you know? As far as I can recall, we’ve never talked about the location of my home.”
She grinned. “I assume it’s on the upper east side where all the other rich executives live, on Park Avenue with a penthouse view of Central Park.” She bit back an image of ZsaZsa Gabor singing the theme song of Green Acres. “Of course, I don’t know for sure, because you’ve never invited me over.”
His pause turned into a downright hesitation. Had she thrown him for a loop? He cleared his throat. “Would you let me up, please? Or are we going to carry on this whole conversation through the intercom?”
She laughed and pushed the button. Leaning against her open doorframe, she spotted him the moment he emerged from the stairwell onto the hallway. A few steps away, he looked up and saw her. When his smile formed, Alyssa’s heart jumped.
As many times as she’d seen him in the last few months, he never ceased to take her breath away. The man looked good. Tonight, he wore snug jeans, tight in all the right places to make a thread of desire dive bomb through her insides. Up top, he wore a white oxford shirt with the top two buttons undone. The sight of a few exposed dark hairs gave Alyssa the crazy picture in her head of releasing the rest of those buttons to view the spectacular chest that lie beneath. At least, she assumed it was a spectacular view. It always was, in the unbidden daydreams she seemed to be having about him on a more frequent basis lately.
Over the shirt he wore a soft denim jacket. Put a pair of boots and a cowboy hat on him and he could’ve walked right off a Texas ranch, a genuine article cowboy rather than a millionaire businessman.
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