He couldn’t look at her so he stared off over the top of the cab. “What makes you think I did something?”
“Because you look guilty, and you’re never wrong. What happened? Something at the gym? Did something happen with the guys? Quin, answer me.” She gripped his arm in what she probably thought was a tight grip, but it had nothing on the bruises Kellie had left.
“I did something stupid and Kellie and I aren’t together anymore.”
“Oh, hon.”
She stroked his arm and his skin crawled. He didn’t want her comfort. He deserved to feel like a rotten bastard.
“The other day Josie wanted to play with dolls, but does she have too many? There are some other things in here too.” He reached for one of the bags almost across the truck.
“She’ll like whatever you give her because it’s from you. Josie just wants to spend time with you. You don’t have to buy her stuff.”
He slammed the door shut. “Well, damn it, what do you want me to do?”
Penny jumped. “That’s fine.” She took the bag from him and pulled out a large, stuffed panda. “She’ll love this. Kung Fu Panda is one of her favorites. Come into the house. Chad will be back with Josie in a few minutes.”
“He’s not at work today?” His spirits dropped even more. Chad was a good guy and he and Penny had a great marriage. Quin didn’t want to be smothered by his failures. Still, he had no other alternatives at the moment so he followed her into the house and listened to her chatter.
“No, he has to work over the weekend so they gave him today off. Would’ve been nice to know that in advance. We would’ve planned to do something. Instead we’re mostly cleaning and working on taxes. I never want to do another late filing again, it’s such a headache. Do you want something to drink? Hungry?”
He leaned against the bar and stared down at the sink. A few dishes sat in the bottom ready to be washed, but other than that the kitchen was spotless. “I don’t know. I guess.”
Penny braced her hands against the counter, facing him. “Have you eaten today?”
He shrugged.
“Quinton, what happened?”
The front door slammed open, punctuated by a shrill voice screaming, “Daaaddddyyyyyy!”
Josie’s voice pierced the fog surrounding him when nothing else had. He turned and caught her as she launched herself at his legs and hoisted her up on his hip.
“Hey, Quin,” Chad called from the front door where he juggled several canvas grocery bags. Of course they didn’t use plastic, they were fucking perfect.
As if sensing his need for comfort, Josie laid her head against his shoulder and hugged him.
“Josie, look what Daddy brought you.” Penny pulled the panda from the bag and smiled as bright as the sun. Josie squirmed and reached for the panda, but her mother held it just out of reach. “What do you say?”
Josie wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight. “Thank you, Daddy. I love you.”
“You’re welcome, Lady Bug.” He took the bear from Penny and gave it to his daughter, gently swaying like he had when she was a baby.
“I’m going to make waffles. Who wants waffles?” Penny asked.
“Me!” Josie kicked and wiggled her way out of his arms.
* * * * *
Quin sat across from Chad and Penny, the remains of the late-morning waffle feast between them. Josie was draped across his lap and snuggled against his chest, sound asleep and holding the panda. He felt a little more human with some food in his belly, but it also meant the pangs of loss and heartbreak hurt worse. He wasn’t sure the good outweighed the bad.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Penny asked after the lull in conversation had stretched on for several moments.
“What? T-man?” Even he wasn’t fooled by his weak attempt to deflect.
Penny laced her fingers through Chad’s laying on the table and leaned against him. “No, Kellie.”
Chad glanced from his wife to Quin. “I missed something.”
“You’re lucky I love you for your looks and not your perceptiveness.” Penny shared a secret smile with her husband before sobering once again. “Quin and Kellie broke up.”
“The woman you told me about?”
“Yes.”
Chad studied him, in the detached kind of way he had when he seemed to be estimating the worth of a person. The look had pissed Quin off in the beginning, but he’d grown used to the scrutiny. For the first time since he could remember, shame wrapped around his throat as if it were a noose.
“What happened?” Chad asked.
Quin stroked Josie’s back and twirled one of her last baby curls around his finger.
“When we went to the hospital with her grandmother the other night, I said some things to the ER staff I shouldn’t have that got her investigated for elder abuse. She found out and the rest is history.”
Penny gasped.
“What did you say?” Chad asked.
“Just that I was worried about her being able to take care of her grandmother. It’s a lot of work. She has really bad Alzheimer’s, like she doesn’t know who people are anymore or where she is. She attacked Kellie a few weeks ago.”
Chad leaned forward, both of his hands clasped in front of him. “But you didn’t say any of this with the intention of getting her in trouble?”
“Hell, no.” Quin flinched and cupped a hand over Josie’s ear. “I mean, no.”
“She’s out cold. Let me take her.” Penny came around the table and hoisted Josie up into her arms. “I swear she could sleep through a tornado.”
“Don’t say that,” Chad grumbled.
They watched the girls retreat down the hall.
“Did you tell her it was an accident? It doesn’t sound like something big enough to get her in trouble.”
“She’s right to be pissed at me. What I did was stupid. I betrayed her trust.”
For a long moment Chad stared at him, his blond brows drawn into a line and his lips pursed. “Mistakes happen. We all screw up, sometimes worse than others. It sounds like you’re really upset about this and the last thing you want to do is talk to us. I will tell you that the best relationships are worth fighting for. You made a mistake. If she cares about you and realizes that you didn’t mean to screw up, she’ll forgive you. You don’t get to keep anything without a fight, and you’re the scrappiest bastard I know.”
“What did I miss?” Penny plopped back down.
“Man pep talk,” Chad replied.
“So you beat your chests and grunted?”
Both Chad and Quin chuckled.
Kellie was worth fighting for, but did he deserve her? Maybe not, but he had to do something.
“I’ll catch you guys later.”
“But—”
Chad silenced his wife by putting his hand on her leg. “We’ll be around.”
“Thanks.” Chad was right, Quin didn’t want to talk to either of them about what had happened with Kellie. He jumped in his truck and did the only thing he knew to do. He drove.
He’d made one offhand comment, how could it create such a shit storm? It didn’t make any sense, but what other explanation was there? He knew he didn’t deserve her.
The same thoughts scrolled through his head as he drove by the first house he’d flipped, the rental property he still owned with its smattering of yard decorations and the gym before finally coasting past Kellie’s house. Her car was nowhere to be seen, but he didn’t expect her to be at home. He knew where she would go, and without meaning to, he wound up on Greenville Ave. in front of So Inked.
Quin stood on the sidewalk, a thin pane of glass separating him from the cool interior of the shop. It was early enough they weren’t open, but someone was here. He could see the light on in the office.
Was Kellie there? Would she speak to him?
He checked his watch, frustrated that time hadn’t marched forward faster.
The bolt slid in the lock, the door swung open and Pandora frowned at
him. “What are you doing here?”
“Is Kellie around?”
“No, and you shouldn’t be here. You’re not welcome.”
He braced the door open and held it though she tried to tug it shut. “I get that I’m an ass and she has every right to hate me. I just want to apologize.”
“Too little too late,” she snapped. “Plus she’s not here, so you’re out of luck. Stop loitering or I’ll call the police.”
He weighed his options. If he forced his way into the shop they couldn’t ignore him, but that wasn’t the way he wanted to do this.
“Thanks for your time.” He stepped back and let her slam the door into place with a jangle of bells. Now what did he do?
* * * * *
Kellie hummed and stroked Grandma’s hand, putting all of her energy into being as comforting as she could.
Grandma lay in the bed, propped up to an almost sitting position. She hadn’t spoken much except to mumble incoherently to herself. Whether this was a side effect from the stroke that impaired her language or simply exhaustion, no one knew.
“I love you, Cho Hee,” Kellie murmured as she squeezed her hand.
Grandma studied her with the same confused expression she bestowed on everything from her mug of water to the family. Kellie couldn’t imagine what being a prisoner inside her own body would be like. Grandma’s mind was a sieve, and the holes had only grown larger.
She lifted the withered hand to her lips and pressed kisses against her palm and wrist.
“I love you,” she repeated. Grandma might never remember those words, but Kellie would make sure she heard them often. Who knew how long she had left? Despite her condition, Kellie had assumed she would be around for years more. What if she had another stroke? What if one of her blood clots came loose? What if there was another health problem they couldn’t foresee?
Maybe her mother’s choice to seek a more permanent living arrangement for Grandma was the best decision, but it still wasn’t the one Kellie would have made. She would have held on to her, done everything in her power to keep them together until her bank account was bled dry.
“Love you. Do you want some water?” She repeated the question in Korean, but neither received a response.
She heard the “dulcet” tones of her mother and stepfather’s voices from the hallway. It was like nails on a chalkboard. They’d gone to sign the papers with Latoya from the nursing home. Things had been tense between them, and a few times downright hostile. It seemed to Kellie that her mother was treating the whole thing as one big to-do list of items so she could get on with visiting her husband’s family.
“It is done, Cho Hee,” her mother announced.
Kellie tasted bile and her smile turned wooden. She was going to say something she would regret. She laid Grandma’s hand in her lap and patted her.
“I love you. I’ll be back in a little bit,” she whispered.
“Where are you going?” Mom demanded. Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard.
“For a walk.”
“Bring us back something to drink.”
Kellie shoved her hands into the pouch on her hoodie and mumbled out a non-answer. It was petty, but she had no intention of bringing her mother back something to drink. Grandma would scold her for behaving the way she was, but her mother didn’t deserve shit from her.
She checked the time on her phone. The staff rotation in the ER would have changed over an hour ago. If she couldn’t be by Grandma’s side, maybe she could get to the bottom of what had caused the rift between her and Quin.
The ER was almost empty, save for a few construction workers clustered together and a mom holding a crying toddler. Kellie leaned against the receptionist desk and waited for the woman behind it to glance up at her.
“What’s your emergency, honey?” she asked without looking up from the screen.
“I wanted to see if Dr. Charlie is working. It’s not an emergency, but he saw my grandmother a few days ago and I had a question about something he said.” The lie slipped off her lips without a stumble.
“Dr. Charlie?” The woman tilted her chin down and stared up at Kellie from over her bifocals. “He is a married man.”
Kellie blinked and muddled through the woman’s words. “Great for him. Should I send him a card or something? I just want to ask him a question about my grandmother.”
“All right, I’ll let him know you’re here. Name please?”
“Kellie Berkus.” Another lie. Nahm was unique enough he’d remember it, but had Quin even said his last name? Probably not.
“Have a seat.”
“Thanks.”
Kellie sat adjacent to the ER doors. Her ass remembered the uncomfortable way the plastic contoured to her body. In fifteen minutes her butt had gone numb, in twenty minutes she was wishing for a blanket. After thirty minutes she was almost ready to leave, which illustrated the waiting room tactics perfectly. If your emergency wasn’t important enough and you weren’t bleeding all over the floors, you were fine to leave. She slid down a little farther into her seat and wiggled around. Her toes were nice and tingly.
The white door clanged open and Dr. Charlie leaned out. “Kellie Berkus?”
“Here.” She stood and waited.
To Dr. Charlie’s credit, he didn’t flinch or slam the door shut. Instead he offered her his hand. “Hello. How’s your grandmother doing?”
She shook his hand and gestured to the chairs. “Not so great, but she’s alive. I didn’t really want to ask you a question about her.”
“I gathered as much.” Dr. Charlie sat and crossed one leg over the other, facing her. He had the impassive doctor thing down. He appeared confident and still she felt as if he had compassion.
“From what I understand my boyfriend said something to you and the nurse while we were here that made you think I was abusing her. Now I’ve gone through all the hoops with social services about proving that I have been a good caretaker to my grandmother. That’s cleared up, but what I still don’t understand is what my ex-boyfriend said to make this all happen.”
He paused a few beats before speaking. “There was not a question. For legal purposes, you must speak with the social worker assigned to your case. What I will tell you is that whatever started this was not what he said. The complaint was made by someone else. Not your boyfriend. Because of the nature of the complaint, I did relate what was said here, but that was not enough to substantiate a complaint. Quin is his name?” She nodded. “Quin has come up here to speak with me twice since then to try to get this cleared up. He has always been on your side in this.”
She scrubbed her fingers through her bangs. “I’m sorry, you’re telling me that someone else turned me in? And Quin just happened to stick his foot in his mouth?”
“I can’t tell you that.” Dr. Charlie smiled and a single dimple dotted his right cheek.
Relief and white-hot rage warred within her.
Quin hadn’t betrayed her.
Someone else was out to get her.
“Right, my bad. Well, thank you for your time, Doctor. I appreciate it.”
The trip out to the garage passed in a blur. She wanted her man.
Her phone rang and the only reason she answered it was because it read “Mary”.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Can you come by the shop? I think I screwed up payroll.”
Kellie groaned. Responsibility was a bitch.
* * * * *
Quin grit his teeth in an effort to ignore his pounding heart. His blood beat in his veins as hard as it did before any fight. Instead of sweat and beer, he smelled fresh-cut grass and grilling meat. People clustered around Kellie’s house, thicker than thieves, most holding plastic cups and chattering in Korean. Had Grandma died?
Children ran around the yard, screaming and squealing, and there was a decided casual feel to whatever was going on, not like a wake or a funeral at all. Cars lined both sides of the street, so he’d been forced to park one over and m
ake the walk. With the heat baking him, it felt as if he were walking into hell. In a way, this was his hell. He was in love with Kellie and he’d ruined their relationship. While he didn’t deserve her forgiveness, that didn’t mean he couldn’t give it one last round. If she tapped out it would kill that part of him that he’d strangled into silence.
He sucked in a deep breath perfumed with the fragrance of a magnolia tree in the last stages of bloom and crossed the street. A few people glanced at him as he approached, but no one bothered to speak to him. He walked toward the front door, which was propped open with yet more people milling around.
“Excuse me,” he said to a cluster of middle-aged men standing in the yard. “Do you know where Kellie is?”
Two of the three glanced at each other. He had a sneaking suspicion they couldn’t understand a word he said. The third simply shook his head. “No Kellie.”
“She owns the house. Lives here.” He thumbed behind him at the peeling white paint.
“Ah.” He gestured at the house and said something that sounded like pineapple.
“She’s out back?”
The man nodded.
“Okay, thanks.” His gut churned. He shouldn’t be intruding on whatever special event was going on but he couldn’t stay away. He was a druggie and she was his fix of choice.
The house had changed in the handful of days since he’d last been there. Several pieces of furniture were gone—an armchair, a decorative wardrobe that had been painted and lacquered. Pale squares stood out on the walls where pictures or other things had hung.
A cluster of women sat on the couch, staring up at him in wary silence.
He waved at them and tried on a smile for good measure. “Uh, hi. I’m looking for Kellie. Is she out back?”
They could have been carved from rock for all they moved.
“Guess so. Enjoy your—tea.”
He glimpsed Grandma’s bedroom as he passed through the house. It had been stripped of all the furniture save for what looked like a broken arm chair and faux toilet seat with handlebars. What was going on here? Who were all these people? And where had Kellie’s things gone?
The patio area was set up as a buffet. The table he’d had dinner with Kellie at was piled with food in woven baskets and platters. There was nothing he recognized, but food was the furthest thing from his mind. He scanned the twenty or so people, and still no Kellie.
The Harder He Falls: 2 (So Inked) Page 31