“I don’t.” The confused frown on her face piqued my curiosity. “Chase sent me out to buy that especially for her.”
“He did?”
“I take it he didn’t tell you he bought them for her?” My reaction revealed my surprise. “Well, don’t tell him I told you. I guess he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s got a soft spot for kids.”
“But…he didn’t even want her here.”
“He was just being a jerk that day. He loves kids.” She picked up her briefcase and headed for the door. “Mum’s the word, okay?”
“Sure. Thank you for telling me.”
When the door closed I sat down for a few minutes trying to figure out what was going on with him and why he didn’t want me to know. Was this some sort of ploy of his to keep me guessing? With the fast life he’d led, he had to play games. I released a sigh, figuring this was one guy who wasn’t going to be easy to read. I pulled his new menu out from my briefcase and entered the room.
“Good morning,” I said, feeling good about Courtney’s secret. Bailey was already standing beside him. “Did you have a good sleep last night?” I asked.
“No,” he said emphatically. “This dang cast is driving me crazy. I’m not getting any sleep, and it’s itchy and uncomfortable. I’m hoping the doc tells me the itch means it’s getting better and I can get back to work soon. This month of lying around is making me claustrophobic. I never should have agreed to stay here. I should have gone back to Virginia and hired someone there to look after me. I’ve been here way too long.” He stopped talking. “What do you think?”
“About what?”
“About my condition and him removing the cast so I can go home?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged.
“For the record, you’re supposed to humor me.”
“Okay, then he’ll take it off.” I raised my hands in the air.
“That’s better,” he said. Bailey kissed his hand.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I said to Bailey, seeing Chase’s level of anxiety, “maybe you’d better come out to the kitchen with Aunt Jamie today and let Zoom-zoom rest.” He didn’t seem to object so I assumed I was correct.
The expression on her face told me she was going to start crying any minute. I rushed over to pick her up and walked toward the door. “Will you help Aunt Jamie cook today?” She nodded slightly despite her puckered lips. “How about I bring your table and chairs out to the kitchen so you can make some beautiful things for me with your Play-Doh?”
I placed her on her feet and watched her walk out of the room. Chase was watching me. “Let me get her set up in the kitchen first with her table and chairs and I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.” He watched me drag the table out through the doorway. After getting Bailey set up, I returned to the room.
“Yeah, I’m hoping he’ll remove this,” he continued as he tapped the cast with his fingers, “and give me a walking cast.” He readjusted himself to a more upright position and turned toward me.
“You really think he’ll take it off already?” I asked, despite his request to humor him. “Doesn’t it normally take six weeks to heal?”
“Well, I want it off now.”
“You’ve never been laid up before, have you?”
“No. And I hope I’m never faced with this again, although I have to admit I’ve never had anyone as beautiful or caring as you around me before.”
“There you go again. I’m your employee. You’re not supposed to be saying those things to me.”
“Does it embarrass you to be told you’re beautiful?”
“I’m not beautiful.”
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I think you’re gorgeous.” He shouted to Bailey. “Isn’t Aunt Jamie pretty?”
“Ann Amie pretty.”
“See, she agrees with me.” My cheeks felt hot. “Did I embarrass you?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
“Okay, so you did.”
“All right, but it’s hard for me to overlook beauty when I have her right here in front of my eyes and she looks and smells so good.” He grinned. “So how are you today?”
“I’m good,” I said without looking at him. “How are you—besides being grumpy?”
“You don’t hear me complaining now, do you?” He twisted his mouth to the side.
“By the way, bring your car on Friday so you can take me to the doctor’s office.”
“Uh, actually your nurse will be taking you this time.”
“I don’t want her taking me. I want you,” he said with conviction.
“Well, then I think you’d better tell that to Courtney.”
I watched his nostrils flare. “I’ll do just that. Can you hand me my phone?” I reached over him and grabbed the phone off the table that was beyond his reach. “Mmm, you smell good.” Feeling awkward, I stood up quickly and took a step backward. There was complete silence between us, each staring at the other. He had to know from the expression on my face that it was an inappropriate thing to say to me given the circumstances. “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”
I think my speedy exit said it all. Being around him and his affectionate treatment toward Bailey was beginning to feel too comfortable and, at the same time, downright awkward. Why hadn’t I walked around the bed instead of leaning over? Had I done it intentionally? My heart raced. What was I doing? I poured myself another cup of coffee and focused on Bailey cutting her Play-Doh into bite-sized pieces—a temporary respite from my drowning thoughts. Then I began preparing the vegetables for his lunch and listened to his conversation with Courtney take on a fiery tone.
“Courtney, Nurse Ratched will not be taking me to see Dr. Romano on Friday. Why? Because I don’t like her, that’s why. Yeah, I know, I hired her, but that’s because I didn’t have anyone else to bathe me. So, I’ll be telling her today she won’t be taking me.” He paused. “No, you won’t,” he shouted. “I’m quite capable of telling her myself.” I heard him slam the phone down. “Jamie, can you come in here.” I walked back into the room.
“You’re it,” he said.
“Okay, that’s fine, but I don’t want to come between you and your sister.”
“You let me worry about that.” He pursed his lips clearly annoyed. “Bring your car.”
“I told you, I don’t have a car. Can we call a limo service and I’ll go with you?”
“Okay. Will you call them?”
“I’d be happy to. Just tell me who you use.”
“Call Courtney. She’ll tell you.”
“Okay.” I handed him the new menu. “Want to go over it?”
“No. That’s your department. Did you choose low-fat recipes?”
“I did.”
“Then that’s all I need to know.”
Feeling more confused than ever by his response, I wondered why he had bothered to call me last night. Surely it couldn’t have been because he was interested in me. I chastised myself for even having such a silly notion. I was certain from most of what I’d read about him that we didn’t travel in the same circles and my life was probably pretty boring compared to his. But the fact that he was a celebrity and I was a commoner, so to speak, I’d be the last person he’d ever want to get involved with. But then, Prince William married…
A sense of loneliness encroached and Ryan came to mind. I shuddered as a sick feeling rolled around in my stomach, and I wondered why, after all this time, he’d come to mind. Romance with him or any other man was a waste of time.
Preheat the broiler.
You have the urge to run. What you really need to do is scream some sense into that head of yours because you’re starting to fall for this guy. Take a deep breath, lower your jaw before you dribble on your chin, and kick back into low gear. Heck, you’re only having these crazy thoughts because he thinks you’re gorgeous and you’re falling for it like a silly teenager. Now snap out of it before you actually start believing this drivel.
Now take a fi
ve-quart pot, melt the butter in the olive oil over medium heat; add the onions and sauté until softened. Maybe it’s because he’s killing you with kindness? And maybe the sister is right—he’s using the little one to get what he wants. So now that the onions are cooked, maybe you’d better add the stock, Worcestershire sauce, beef bouillon paste, and sherry to the pan. Stir to combine and continue to cook for ten more minutes. Add the Parmesan cheese and allow it to simmer, but stir it to stop it from swimming around in the stock. Maybe you should shake your head a few times to get your mind back on track.
Okay, take a deep breath and slice the French baguette into half-inch slices. Fill four bowls with the soup, then place a slice of bread draped with a slice of Swiss cheese on top. Push it under the broiler for two to three minutes or until the cheese has melted and is golden. Serve immediately. Serves four.
I shoved the vacuum cleaner back into the closet and sat down to enjoy a newly brewed cup of coffee when Nurse Ratched’s customary ten o’clock tap on the door alerted me she had arrived. I opened the door and she rushed into the apartment all fired up. Her eyes had a faraway stare and looked as though they were popping out of her head.
She tripped and I reached out to stop her fall. “Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she snapped, her speech indistinct.
“Just making sure you didn’t hurt yourself, that’s all.”
The background hum of Bailey’s voice as she sang a song she’d heard on the Sponge Bob show reminded me she was sitting in the kitchen. I was as concerned about Bailey being in Nurse Ratched’s company as I was about Chase and decided to do something to detain her until I could figure out what was going on with her.
“I’m just about ready to have a cup of coffee. Would you like one before you get to work?” She nodded in agreement. “Have a seat.” I reached for the cups and poured one for each of us. “Let me go in and tell Chase we’re having coffee. I’ll be right back.” I called out to Bailey and made a speedy entrance into Chase’s bedroom, closing the door behind me. “Can Bailey stay in here with you for a few minutes?” He gave a quizzical frown. “I have your nurse in the kitchen. She tripped as she was coming into the apartment, and I’m just not sure you want her working on you today.”
“Sure. What’s wrong with the infamous Nurse Ratched?”
“I think she’s drunk. Does she normally slur her words?”
He rolled his eyes and slammed his fist down on the bed. “I really know how to pick them, don’t I?”
“I’ve served her coffee to get a better feel about what’s going on. Once I figure her out, I’ll bring Bailey back out to the kitchen so you can rest.”
He danced over my comment and gave in to his anger. “Swell, just freakin’ swell.” He tossed the covers aside and started to move to the edge of the bed. “Help me out of bed so I can fire her.”
“Now, don’t go jumping to conclusions. Let me assess the situation first. Maybe she was disoriented for another reason.”
“So you have a medical degree now?”
“No, but I think I can tell when something is wrong and know who to call. Do you have medical training?” I asked.
He groaned. “I’ve been around enough drunks to know the difference.” He shook his head. “Okay, go ahead and take care of the situation and…I’m giving you the authority to fire her butt.”
“Well, I’m not taking that on. If you want her fired, I think you should be the one to handle it.” Bailey was already in artist’s mode drawing a picture on Chase’s cast with the crayon she’d grabbed off her table. I turned and walked back out to the kitchen. Much to my surprise, Nurse Ratched was no longer sitting at the table and her coffee was untouched. I circled around, trying to figure out where she’d gone. “She’s not in the kitchen anymore,” I called out to him. “I don’t know where she went.”
“Check the other rooms in the apartment—she could be ripping off my sister.”
I eased my way down the hall, glancing into all the room openings until I noticed the bathroom door slightly ajar and heard rummaging around. A sudden loud thud made me push the door open, barely squeezing past her body. Nurse Ratched was passed out on the floor, her head bleeding from apparently hitting the edge of the vanity. I checked to see if she was still breathing, then rushed to the phone and dialed 911.
“What happened now?” Chase shouted.
“She’s knocked out cold. She must have hit the corner of the vanity because her head is bleeding. I’ve already called for an ambulance.”
It didn’t take long for the medics to arrive and transfer the woman into the ambulance. “Do you have emergency contact information for her?”
“Call the agency. The information is over there on the dresser, and make sure you tell them we don’t want her back. What did the medics say?”
“They thought she might have OD’d on something. They did find an empty prescription bottle with Courtney’s name on it.”
He huffed and shook his head disgustedly. “Court will be thrilled.”
“I haven’t paid much attention to her since she started. Have you noticed any changes in her personality?”
“Yeah”—he shut his eyes—“and I should have acted upon what I’d suspected. She was very rough with me.”
“Oh geez, you’re not going to start whining, are you?”
His eyebrows rose. “This isn’t whining. This guy’s in a great deal of pain.”
I snickered. “Relax. I’m just teasing. You know, as in trying to get you to lighten up a bit—maybe forget your troubles for a while. You know how to do that, don’t you?” I winked at him and had no idea why, but maybe his cute expression or that sexy dark curl resting on his forehead forced my eye to blink.
He gave me an appreciative smile. “I do. Thanks for having my back.”
“You’re welcome.” My embarrassment aided in a speedy brush past the sweet moment that I’d unintentionally created. Or was it intentional? “Listen, I should call Courtney and let her know.”
“Okay, then will you come back in here and talk with me?”
“If you want me to.”
“I’d like that very much.”
My stomach ached with anxiety. He was flirting with me and I knew I’d opened Pandora’s box. Talk about mixed messages. I hadn’t meant to give the guy a mental rush. I mean really, couldn’t he see I meant it in a jovial way? Who was I kidding? I enjoyed every minute of it. And shame on me for falling into his trap exactly the way he’d intended.
His hand patted the bed. “Sit.” His eyes studied me for an intense moment until he released a deep breath. “Look, I know this is where we left off yesterday. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable but somehow what I told you dragged up something that happened to you. I want to keep you around for as long as I can, but in order to do that, I need to know what I’m up against so I don’t make you relive whatever heartache you’ve experienced. So what do you say?” I didn’t acknowledge one way or the other. “Okay, to show you I’m genuinely interested in learning about you, I’ll start,” he said. “I’m sure you’ve checked me out on the Internet and noticed I’ve been with more women than you can shake a stick at, but there’s a good explanation for all of them.”
“I didn’t check you out on the Internet.”
“Liar. Someone of your caliber doesn’t just take the first job that comes along without checking out her clients.”
“Snagged. Okay, so maybe I did a little research.”
“Uh-huh. That’s just what I thought. And the reason you’re so distant is because you don’t think it’s appropriate to become involved with one of your clients, or you’ve been hurt so badly that you’re afraid to let yourself accept what comes naturally when two people are attracted to one another. So which is it?”
“Who said I was attracted?”
“What? You think I just fell off the turnip truck?”
“You’re awfully sure of yourself,” I responded rather snarkily.
“Since we’re being honest here, all those women? It was just for appearances…and it stroked my ego, of course. But the truth is, I haven’t wanted to take that leap of faith in a long time. Not until you came into my life.” He looked at me expectantly. “Okay, so I guess I’m going first. True, I do have a large ego-I freely admit it, but being surrounded by all those women was the only think that helped me through a horrible breakup with someone very special. I guess that’s one of the benefits in my line of work, but I’ve been running from one woman to the next to help me forget.”
He stopped talking and cleared his throat, then opened his mouth to speak. “About a year ago, I was about to ask this special someone to marry me when she took off with another guy the day I was going to propose. I later found out he was about to become married to someone else. What a louse. Emily, that’s her name, fell in love at first bite with this guy at a food show, of all places. She’d gone with her friend and this creep was passing out samples of food from his parents’ restaurant.”
I sat more erect, every muscle in my body tensing in tight knots. “What was this guy’s name?” squeaked out of my mouth.
“If my memory serves me correct, I believe it started with an A…Ad…no…Ryan…yeah, that’s it…Ryan. Emily was here in the city visiting her friend—” He stopped talking and stared at me. “Why, do you know them?”
I stood quickly, my hand pressed against my chest, forcing myself to breathe normally to avoid hyperventilating in front of him. His story raced through my mind again as I ran toward the bathroom. I tried to stop the thoughts, but they screamed through my mind. It had to be my Ryan. I sat down on the edge of the tub and sobbed, angry that the pain I was feeling was just as severe as when it happened. I splashed water on my face and toweled off. He called out to me when I returned to the kitchen.
“Jamie. Please come back.” I ignored him and heard him release a load groan. “Did something similar happen to you too?”
I didn’t respond. I needed a few more minutes to calm myself. I finished the remainder of my coffee hoping to clear my mind. I lifted the lid of the pot of sloppy joes I was making and stirred frantically.
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