“No, Dad,” I say gripping his hand. “It’s me, Katherine,” I try to remind him.
“Katherine,” he says with a smile and I think he understands me but then he speaks. “You need to take Katherine home, Jules. This is no place for a child.”
I sigh as he pulls his hand from mine. “You’re right,” I agree with him.
But I don’t leave. He will forget about the little child in a few seconds. So, I walk out of the room in search of the nurse I had hired. I find her sitting in the waiting room.
“Katherine…” She stands the moment she sees me. “I got a call…”
“So you left him alone?” I yell, making people look over at us. “What if he would have broken something?” I scream in her face.
Her green eyes fill with tears and I want to punch her. “I hired you to watch him for three fucking hours and you can’t even do that.”
“Katherine!” The same nurse who was here two weeks ago when I brought him in from falling down the stairs comes to stand between us. “This is not the place.”
I take a deep breath as I look down at her. “You’re right,” I say and then look over her shoulder. “You’re fired!” I yell and the nurse places her hands on me as she starts to push me away from the waiting room as everyone’s eyes are on me. It could be my screaming profanity or it could be that I’m still dressed in a purple bridesmaid dress.
We walk down the hall and enter our break room. I never work days so I don’t know many of the ladies on staff during the day. I sit down at the long table and place my head in my hands. What am I gonna do? I can’t leave him alone. Ever. I’ve had the last two weeks off work to take care of him. Today was the first time I had left to go anywhere without him.
I look up when the nurse throws some pamphlets on the table. “Not this shit again,” I groan, looking up at her.
She pokes the pamphlets harshly, and I can tell she’s mad at me for making a scene in her waiting room, but I couldn’t care less. “This is your only option.”
“I have other options…”
“No, you don’t,” she snaps, interrupting me. She pulls a chair out and sits down. “This is what you must do, Katherine,” she says nicely. “I know you’re capable of taking care of him, but you’re not capable of having a life and watching him.”
“I don’t need a life.” I haven’t had one for the last two years.
“No, but you need a job to support him and yourself. You can’t work if he stays with you.”
I allow my head to fall down to the desk. I welcome the coolness it brings me. “I can’t just go and drop him off at some home,” I mumble, closing my eyes.
“I know how you must feel.”
I raise my head. “Do you?”
She nods. “My grandfather had Alzheimer’s. I watched my grandmother put him in a home. We all watched him as day after day he forgot more and more.” She swallows thickly, and I feel like such a bitch. “Like I said, I know how you feel, but that’s why they are here for you. To help you and him.”
I blow some hair out of my face. “He’ll never forgive me.” How can I just dump him off on someone else to take care of?
“You’ll never forgive yourself if something were to happen to him.” That is the truth. “What happened tonight was minor. What happens next time…?” She lets the question hang in the air.
I look down at the pamphlets and take them into my hand once again. “Don’t throw those away this time,” she says before she stands and walks out of the room.
*****
Three hours later, I find myself sitting on my couch. I told my father goodbye and came straight home to look over my options. I’m even still wearing my purple dress. Like Sam said, it was a pretty dress. And since I paid good money for it, I might as well get some wear out of it.
I’ve called and set up meetings tomorrow at four places. Thankfully, the nurse told me that they would keep him a couple of days in order for me to get everything in place.
My father was an engineer. When he found out he was sick, he began putting back money. He always was a pack rat when it came to money anyway. He saved well and had a good chunk to cover what his insurance wouldn’t. But the question is will it be enough?
I stand from my couch and go to open the door when I hear the doorbell ring. I’m not all that shocked to find Missy’s annoying friend standing on my doorstep with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. “What do you want…?”
“Parker.” He announces his name like I care.
“What do you want?” I repeat.
He gives me a big smile showcasing his perfectly straight teeth as he offers me the flowers in his hand. “Flowers?”
He nods. “Consider them a peace offering.” He shakes them as he holds them out for me to take them.
I grab them and then throw them out into my yard. “Hey,” he whines.
“Consider your offer denied,” I say, before going to slam the door in his face, but he sticks his foot out to stop it.
I know guys like him. The cocky dicks who think they can throw some heartless gift at you. They expect us to jump up and down and tell them thank you for something that us women are capable of doing ourselves.
“Well, this is harder than I expected it to be,” he says running a hand over the front of his suit that he wore for the wedding. It still has some cake on his collar. And he smells of expensive wine. The same wine that I wasted on him.
I give him a sassy smile. “Thought I’d lay down and tell you that you’re the master of the universe?”
A smirk grows across his face. “Something like that,” he responds with a wink.
And I refrain from rolling my eyes. I go to shut the door once again, but he speaks. “Do you need help with your truck?” he asks, looking over at it sitting in the driveway. It still has the dents from the bat in it. And the flat tire. I haven’t had time to get it fixed. “Missy’s dad owns a repair…”
“No.” I shake my head. “Think I’m just gonna finish it off with the baseball bat. Or set it on fire.” I shrug carelessly.
His brown eyes widen in surprise, and I try not to laugh at how serious he took me.
“Uh…” he fumbles for the words.
I laugh and he narrows his eyes at me. “I was just kidding with you.”
He straightens his suit jacket and nods his head. “I see. Well, I should be going.”
“You should,” I say before slamming the door. I find myself going over to the window and watching him back his lifted, white Chevy truck out of my driveway. He squeals his tires as he storms off and I smile. I hurt his ego, poor thing.
I then go to the front door and walk out onto the grass to pick up the flowers. I know the bastard stole them from Missy and Tate’s wedding. I don’t wanna waste them.
*****
Yesterday was a hectic and stressful day, to say the least. After Parker had left, I changed and went back up to the hospital. I spent a few hours up there with him and then crashed when I got home. First thing this morning, I went and looked at a few places for him to live before I had to be at work. I called and spoke to Missy; she completely understood like I knew she would. But I still felt bad that I left. I apologized for wasting wonderful cake on Parker, but she also said she understood that as well. I didn’t keep her on the phone long. I know her and Tate were leaving for their honeymoon so I congratulated her and told her that I would see her when she got back.
Work has been pretty busy tonight. But at the moment I’m sitting back in a room with one of my friends, who is also a nurse, and her daughter, who I just love to death.
“What does this look like?” Ashley asks me as she holds out her daughter’s hand. She tries to pull it away, but I smile at her.
“I’m just gonna look at it,” I promise, and she closes her big brown eyes tightly.
“It looks like a wart,” I say trying to sound sincere. She always thinks that she and her daughter have problems that need medical attention. Being a nurse, I can see why
she would think that. We see everything, even the things that don’t seem possible. Science is a very scary thing when you think about it.
“Are you sure?” she asks uncertainly. “It turned red when she hit it on the car door earlier this evening.”
I put her hand down, stand up and face Ashley. “Ashley. It’s just a wart. If you hit something, the area affected is gonna become irritated,” I say nicely.
She looks up at me giving me a hard look. I sigh. She lifts Megan off her lap and hops up off the table and walks over to the sink. She turns the water on and starts washing her hands.
I try to think of something to say but come up with nothing as she washes her hands.
“Guess what, Aunt Katty?” Megan says with a big smile.
“What?” I question with my own. I love that she considers me her aunt. Ashley got pregnant as a result of a one-night stand. The guy up and left her, but Ashley has done her best for the last five years to take care of Megan.
“Mommy has a date tonight and I get to go.”
“Oh?” I say excitedly. “That sounds like fun,” I say sliding my eyes over to Ashley as she leans up against the countertop.
“Yeah. I got a new dress to wear.” She claps her hands and I laugh.
“Make sure to have your mommy take a picture for me.” I stand and lift her up off the table.
“A date, huh?” I ask walking over to the sink to wash my hands as well. “Is this the same guy you’ve been seeing?” She has been seeing some guy for the last month but hasn’t given me any information about him. No matter how much I dig.
“Yeah.” She looks down at her fingernails carelessly. “He wants to meet Megan and I think it’s time.”
“I didn’t realize it was getting that serious,” I say with a frown. She doesn’t let many people around Megan. She keeps her very sheltered.
“I think he’s the one,” she says with a dreamy smile and my eyes widen.
“What makes you think that?”
She sighs and places her hand over her heart. “The way he looks at me. The way he touches me. He’s amazing.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to prevent me from saying what I wanna say. It’s only been a month. You have a child to think about. Who he hasn’t even met yet. He could be a total dick to her tonight. I don’t understand how people fall in love so fast. “I’m happy for you,” I force myself to say, and she leans over to give me a hug.
We walk out of the room, and I make my way to the nurse’s station. I see a guy who has his back to me as he stands at the nurse’s station. The nurse who he’s talking to points at me, and he spins around to face me.
“Katherine?” He smiles kindly and his soft brown eyes search mine.
“Yes,” I say slowly wondering who this man is that is asking for me.
He hands me the papers and then smiles “You’ve been served.” With those last words, he walks off.
I rip open the envelope and pull out the papers. “Son of a bitch,” I hiss as I read them over.
“What is it?” Ashely asks with concern.
“Rollin is suing me.” The rat bastard.
“For what?” She takes the papers from my hands to read for herself.
From what I just read, it’s for losing his job. I got him arrested, which made him miss work. Seriously? And that caused him to get fired. I’ll show him what suing me will get him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
PARKER
It’s been pretty quiet for a Sunday night shift. I’ve spent most of my time up at the police station filling out paperwork. But then an adorable little blonde showed up wanting my attention. Well, she got it.
I lean back against my desk and cross my arms over my chest as I look down at the pretty blonde. “You want to do a ride along?”
She nods. I’ll give you something to ride on.
She gives me a sexy smile as she places her hands on her thighs. It’s like the woman can read my mind.
I go to open my mouth but am interrupted. “O’Hare?” Mason, an officer, yells at me. “You know that crazy bitch who broke your nose?”
I half nod, half growl. I’ll never live that down here. “I just had to bring her in. Good thing I know how to handle a woman.” He chuckles. “And what a woman she is.”
I stand up straight. “For what?” I tried to be nice and take her flowers yesterday, but obviously not all women like flowers. Figures, she probably likes a knife set so she can use them to chop a man’s balls off after she’s done sucking on them.
“Another domestic dispute between her and the boy toy.”
“Excuse me,” I say to the blonde not even looking back down at her. I walk over to his desk. “Where is she?”
“Downstairs in holding. She…”
I don’t wait to listen to what else he has to say. I make my way down the stairs and I find her in a holding cell. “Well, hello again,” I say as I come to stand in front of her cell. She doesn’t even have to look up to know it’s me.
“What do you want, Ryker?” she asks as she lies on the bench that is pushed up against the far wall.
“Parker,” I inform her although I have a feeling she got my name wrong on purpose.
“Does it really matter?” she mumbles, making me smile.
No, it really doesn’t. Not to me, anyway. “I must say that I’m quite jealous to know I’m not the only one to place you in handcuffs,” I joke with a smirk. I’d love to use them on her again—without her ramming her head into my nose, of course.
She turns her head and looks at me with a dubious look. “Who said you were ever the only one?” The smirk drops off my face. “Maybe I like my sex kinky.” I raise an eyebrow, but she gives no more information than that. She sits up from the bench and sighs heavily. “What do you want?”
“What happened?” I ask wanting to know how she found herself arrested once again. I wanna peel back the layers to this beautiful yet bitchy woman.
“Nothing that concerns you.”
“Come on. Enlighten me,” I say with a flick of my wrist.
She releases an audible sigh and I smile. “I’m not gonna leave until you tell me.”
“I got served at work.”
“Served what?”
“The son of a bitch is pressing charges against me. On me!” she repeats as she stands from the bench. “He’s trying to say that due to the vandalism of my truck, and getting him arrested, he couldn’t make it to work.” I snort. “Therefore causing him to lose his job.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“That idiot drove a car to my house in the first place. He had a beat up piece of shit but now he says it won’t start.” She rolls her eyes.
“I don’t understand. That happened two weeks ago. What happened today that caused you to end up in jail here? Now.”
“I went to the fucker’s house, and as soon as he opened the door, I kicked him in the balls,” she says simply.
“You what? That was stupid.” But I’m not surprised.
She storms over to the bars and wraps her hands around them showcasing white knuckles. I have a feeling that she is wishing they were wrapped around my neck.
“Excuse me?” she snaps. “I didn’t sue him when I came home to him being in my house.”
“Did he have a key?”
“Yes.” She sighs heavily.
“Why didn’t you change the locks?”
“I had a lot of shit going on, Parker. Changing the locks was the last thing on my mind.”
I smile at the fact she knows my name but hide it the second her eyes narrow at me. “So what happened after you kicked him in the balls?” I continue.
“The little weasel called the cops on me. And your handsy cop friend...”
“Handsy?” I ask, but she shakes her head and waves it off.
“Doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the bastard is trying to sue me.”
“How do you know this for sure?” He obviously lost his job because of the truck so how would he ha
ve the money to file a lawsuit? It doesn’t add up.
“Weren’t you listening?” she snaps. “I got served.”
“And you immediately went to his house to kick him in the balls?” I ask to clarify what I heard.
“Yes.”
I hang my head to hide the smirk this time. This woman is a pistol. And I find it quite refreshing. “What?” she demands.
I look back up at her. “Now he has probable cause for a restraining order, which could make it look even better for him.”
“Well, the fucker did like to screw me,” she says with a shrug
I chuckle. Who wouldn’t like to? “Come on,” I say pulling the keys out of my back pocket.
“You’re letting me out?” she asks surprised.
I nod. “You don’t need to be in there. Sounds like he deserved it,” I say with a smile, and she actually lets out a laugh. A nice, soft laugh. I like the sound of it. I check my watch. “I’ll take you home.” I wanna spend more time with her.
“Oh no, you don’t have to do that,” she says looking at the ground as if she’s embarrassed, which surprises me.
“No worries.” I’m about to be off shift anyway. I reach out and grab the bottom of her pink scrubs. “What’s up with the scrubs?” I ask as I start to walk away. Thankfully, she follows me.
“I’m a nurse.” I find that very surprising. “I was working last night when I got served. I ended up getting off early and went over to his house. I didn’t have the chance to go home and change before I got arrested.”
“Is that a common thing?” I ask in all seriousness.
“It hasn’t been before, but it seems to be the new trend for me,” she says matter-of-factly.
*****
I sit down across from her in a little diner that was on the way to her house. I figured we could both use a little pick-me-up. Since it’s now a little after seven o’clock on a Monday morning.
“Thank you,” she says wrapping her hands around the warm cup.
“You’re welcome,” I say lifting mine to my lips. “So,” I say when I put it down, “I’ve heard some things about you…”
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