by J. H. Croix
Relief washed over me. “I know she does. Thank you, Holly. I guess I’ll get going.”
Holly looked over to Jesse. “We’re glad you found Olive.”
Jesse shrugged. “Just luck this time. Now that I know she’s next door, I’ll pay better attention when I’m around. Plus, I’m going to bring Waffle over to meet her.”
Holly grinned and winked just as her pager went off. “Gotta run. See you soon,” she said with a quick wave before hurrying off.
Uncertain what to say, I looked over to Jesse. I didn’t quite know the playbook for conversation after I’d been at the end of my tether and my too-handsome, too-sexy neighbor found my mother wandering in the woods and then I kissed him.
He saved me.
“I’ll bring Waffle by this evening. If you’d like, I’ll pick up the pizza. I’m guessing you’d like to get your mother home sooner rather than later. No need to make an extra stop.”
I stared at him, wondering why he was being so nice. But then I reminded myself I didn’t need to be suspicious. If there was one thing I had learned in the six months or so that I’d been in Willow Brook was the people were nice here. Not the superficial, polite nice, but the down-to-earth-pull-your-car-out-of-a-ditch-in-any-weather kind of nice.
“That would be great. Emily will want vegetarian something, but my mom likes pepperoni. I’ll pay you back.”
“No need,” he replied easily. “I can handle two pizzas. Come on, I’ll walk you out.”
He held the door as we turned, his hand brushing on my back as I stepped past him. The casual touch sent sparks skittering through my body, which I willed myself to ignore.
When we got to the front desk, my mom was standing there talking with the receptionist. They were discussing gardening, something my mother loved. I was looking forward to this coming summer on her behalf. She’d spent hours poring over gardening catalogs, something she’d done for as long as I could remember. I hoped it would give her something to focus on. She smiled at me, her eyes moving past me to Jesse almost immediately. She appeared to recognize him.
“Hi, Olive, how we doing?” he asked, his manner easygoing.
“Are you driving us home?” she asked.
“Mom, I’m driving.”
She glanced to me as if she’d forgotten I was there. “But I like Jesse.”
He grinned. “Well, you’re going to see me in a little bit. I’ll stop by with pizza.”
My mom smiled widely, delighted at the prospect. “Perfect, pepperoni please,” she said.
If I hadn’t known the events of the day, I’d have assumed she’d known Jesse for longer than this afternoon. I didn’t even know what to think, but I was getting accustomed to the whims of her memory. I was a doctor, and I understood how senility and dementia unfolded differently for everyone. Yet, it was difficult for me to see clearly with my mother. I loved her, and it was painful to witness her slow slide. It was strange to adjust to the reversal in our roles—where I needed to take care of her rather than the other way around.
Jesse nodded. “I’ll see you soon.”
As he left, my mom turned to me. “I have to pee,” she announced.
As if by magic, another nurse who knew my mother happened to be walking by. “Come on. I’ll take you. It’s right over here,” she said with a warm smile in my direction.
I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Not that I minded taking my mother to the restroom, but I needed to make sure the insurance details were taken care of. After my mother walked away, Penny, the friendly receptionist smiled at me. “Your mom is a sweetheart. I asked Holly to send over a list of care attendants for you. I know you want to do it all yourself, but a little help never hurt anyone.”
I met Penny’s eyes and tried to smile, my heart giving a sad squeeze. Because my mom was great, and I loved her dearly. “She likes talking to you, so thanks for always being so nice.”
“No need to thank me for talking. If you ask my daughter, I talk too damned much,” she offered with a chuckle. Pausing, she cocked her head to the side.
Sensing where she was going, I said, “I know it would help to arrange for someone to help out when I’m at work, but every time I bring it up, my mom gets upset. I promise, I’m not being stubborn.”
Penny nodded slowly. “I understand, but I promise, I only put the ones I thought your mother might like on that list. If that helps.” Tapping on her keyboard, she confirmed my mother’s insurance information. Her gaze bounced to the doorway where Jesse had paused to speak to someone. “Jesse’s a good guy. He’ll keep an eye out for her when he’s home. Plus, he’s got Waffle who wants to smell the whole wide world.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “You know Waffle?”
Penny grinned. “Course I do. Jesse’s mom’s a good friend of mine.”
My phone buzzed, and I glanced at it to see a text from Emily asking when we’d be home. A sense of weariness held tight inside—two people shouldn’t be too many to take care of, but when I felt as if I were stumbling every step of the way, sometimes it did.
“Time to get going,” I said, flashing a smile at Penny. “Thanks again, and I promise I’ll follow up on getting some help.”
Chapter Five
Charlie
In short order, I was back at the house getting Mom settled at the kitchen table and then going to knock on my niece’s door. “Em?” I called.
Silence greeted me. I knocked again, calling her name once more. Nothing. I opened the door to find her on her bed, staring at her computer with her headphones on. She hadn’t even noticed that I’d opened the door. I took a deep breath, letting it out in a slow sigh. For a moment, I just looked at her. She looked so much like my sister it was startling sometimes.
With her glossy dark hair and her wide gray eyes, she was lovely. Unlike my late sister and myself, Emily kept her hair cut short. It stood up in spiky tufts. Her bright purple glasses sat low on her nose. With her knees tucked up, she looked so young. She had a buzzy energy, even when she was sitting still. I could practically feel the wheels spinning in her brain from here.
I waited to see if she was going to notice me. When she didn’t, I walked in and sat on the foot of the bed. She finally looked up when the bed moved with my weight sinking onto the mattress. With a gentle tug, her ear buds fell out, and she looked up at me, pushing her glasses up on her nose. “What?”
“Hi, Em, it’s nice to see you too,” I offered with a slight smile.
Em smiled back, but just barely. Her gaze was sullen and guarded. I often felt as if she were waiting for me to annoy her.
“Hi, Aunt Charlie. Do you have pizza?”
I opted to ignore that question for now. “Grandma is fine, if you were wondering.”
Her cheeks flushed, and she moved her laptop to the side, folding her knees out.
“Oh good, I’m sorry. I should’ve asked right away. When I came home and she wasn’t here, well that’s when I called you. You know I could’ve gone to look for her,” she said, her gaze earnest.
“I know. But then if she came home and you weren’t here, we wouldn’t know. I figured it was best if you waited here.”
“Who found her?”
“Actually, our neighbor. He brought her to the hospital.”
“We have neighbors?” she asked with a roll of her eyes.
Emily wasn’t having the best adjustment to our new life outside of the city. I’d moved here for more than one reason. Just as I’d told Jesse, I’d been born nearby and my mom had always missed Alaska. That had been the genesis of the idea.
But Emily had also gotten into a bit of trouble in Boston. Her mother, my sister, had died of cancer last year only six months after my father passed away. It had been a rough year for all of us. Somewhere in the midst of that, Emily had gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd in high school.
She was too damned smart for her own good, but she’d been vulnerable, sad, missing her mother, and seeking attention the way most kids did at her age
. I’d thought a fresh start for all of us would be good. But Emily wasn’t loving much of anything. Her one soft spot was my mom.
“Of course we have neighbors. Jesse lives just down the road. His dog started barking, so he went to check the back of his property and found Gram. He brought her to the hospital, and they called me. He’s bringing the pizza and his dog over in a bit.”
Emily’s eyes widened and a smile followed. “Really?”
A genuine smile from her was such a welcome sight, I wanted to hug her.
“He has a dog?”
“Yup. Come on, let’s go downstairs.”
In a rare moment, she didn’t sulk and followed me downstairs. She gave her grandma a kiss and then sat down to play cards with her. I thanked the stars for the millionth time that Em enjoyed playing cards. My mom loved it, and it was something they could do together.
Meanwhile, I took a look at the kitchen sink, which was filled with dishes. I could’ve scolded Em for not cleaning up, but I wasn’t up for it today. I was rinsing my hands after loading the dishwasher when there was a knock at the door.
“Can you get that, Em?” I called over my shoulder, figuring it was Jesse.
The moment I heard his voice, heat rolled through me, the memory of our kiss flashing in my thoughts. I’d kind of blocked it out. Between driving home with my mom and feeling emotionally exhausted from the afternoon, I hadn’t wanted to think about it. Because it was insane.
Kissing anyone wasn’t something I had time for. At all. Much less the ramifications of kissing someone who was my patient. Layered on top of that, I had a mother with dementia to take care of and a niece who was grieving her own mother. I was still dealing with my own grief between my sister and my father dying inside of a year.
Kissing anyone, or contemplating romance at all, was way at the bottom of my priority list. So far down, I didn’t think it even rated being on a list. Yet, that didn’t change how my body reacted to Jesse. God, that man could kiss.
As soon as I heard the door open and close, I turned off the water and gave my hands a shake. Drying my hands, I turned to see Jesse entering with three pizza boxes and a dog. The dog loped into the living room, immediately making a beeline for Emily and flinging herself at her feet. Em squealed and leaned over to pet the dog.
I caught Jesse’s eyes, from across the room, and my belly spun, a flash of heat zinging through me. With his green gaze holding mine, it felt as if there was a band of electricity humming between us across the room.
“Hello, hello,” Jesse said. “Where should I put this?”
Emily was so focused on his dog, I didn’t even bother to prompt her to greet him. “Over here,” I said, gesturing to the kitchen counter.
He strolled across the room, passing my mother at the table. “Hello, Olive,” he said with a smile.
She looked up from studying her cards, her eyes cloudy for a moment before her expression cleared. “Oh hi. So good to see you again.”
“Same to you.” He reached the counter and set the pizza boxes down.
I spoke quietly, “If she forgets your name, don’t take it personally.”
“I wouldn’t, but thanks for the heads up. How’s she doing?”
“She’s fine. You’d never know she wandered off for an hour today. I think this is harder on me than her. Let me introduce you to my niece. She’s so excited to meet your dog.”
I turned, glancing back to gesture for him to follow me back into the living room The home was two stories with the three bedrooms upstairs. The downstairs was open with the living room and kitchen together, and a bathroom and laundry in the back.
Pausing in front of Emily where she was on the floor petting Jesse’s dog, I smiled down at her. “Anything you forgot to say?”
Jesse’s dog was slender with black and gold fur and big floppy years.
Emily looked up with a grin. “Hi, I’m Emily.”
Jesse nodded. “And I’m Jesse. That’s Waffle,” he said pointing toward the dog.
Emily threw her arms around Waffle, hugging her close. “I’m so glad you brought her over. I didn’t even know we had neighbors nearby.”
Jesse grinned and a prickle ran down my spine. Again. God why did he have to affect me so easily? It was easier when he was rude to me. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like I hadn’t noticed how handsome he was. You’d have to be blind not to notice. With his amber hair, green eyes, and rugged body, he was all kinds of man.
“Yup. You have neighbors. More than me too. Claire’s been renting this property out for years. How long have you been here?” he asked, looking my way when it was obvious Emily could only focus on Waffle.
“Just about six months. We started somewhere else first, but that was a seasonal rental.”
Jesse nodded. “Yeah, lots of those around here.”
“Do you want some pizza?” I asked, looking back to Emily.
That got her off the floor. With a quick nod, she hurried across the room to the kitchen. Glancing up at Jesse, I wished my body would behave. He’d made me antsy before, if only because he’d been so cranky. Yet, Jesse nice — well, that was something else altogether.
Given the choice, I probably preferred cranky. Likely because I felt like I had some semblance of control. Now, when I met his rich green gaze, my belly flipped and a wash of heat rolled through me. I instantly recalled the feel of his lips on mine.
Emily said something to Waffle as she carried her plate to the couch, effectively snapping me back to sanity.
“Come on, we’ll go ahead and sit down. I know you brought Waffle over for my mom, but it’s put Em in a good mood so that’s a win.”
Jesse’s slow chuckle sent a shiver over the surface of my skin. Ignoring it, I spun away and walked toward the kitchen counter. I’d loved this house the moment I saw it. The space was open and airy. The kitchen was to the back with windows looking into the trees. A counter running against the back wall had a sink centered in front of the windows and a built-in wall oven on one side. There was an island opposite the counter with a stovetop in the center of it, offering an easy way to work in the kitchen.
The dining room table was off to the side where my mother sat right now, flipping through a magazine. She’d already lost track of Jesse’s presence. The living room was just beyond with the soft gray tile from the kitchen floor transitioning to hardwood flooring through the living room and the remainder of the house.
The home had come furnished with a sectional couch, a large, comfy ottoman, a flat screen TV mounted on the wall, and built-in bookshelves on either side of the living room area. There were windows floor to ceiling on either side with a side door that led onto the deck. The windows offered a beautiful view of the mountains in the distance.
Moving here had helped me understand why my parents had loved Alaska so much. My memories from my time here were vague as we’d moved away when I was five-years old. The experience of being this close to the wilderness was grounding in a way. The views were, of course, stunning. It felt as if we were living in a postcard some days.
Jesse followed me to the counter, glancing over to my mother where she sat at the table. “I’m assuming we’ll eat at the table,” he commented.
Catching his eyes and willing my pulse to slow, I nodded. “Plates are right there. Would you like something to drink? We have beer, wine, juice, and water.”
“A beer sounds great. I walked over from my place with Waffle. Figured it would be a good evening walk for her.”
I wasn’t quite sure where he lived. I knew he mentioned he lived nearby, but nearby didn’t mean I could see the house. “Where’s your place?” I asked as I fetched him a beer from the refrigerator.
As he slid two pieces of pepperoni pizza onto a plate, he nodded toward the back deck. “To the right. Just east of here. The Bakers own the house on the other side. They’re snowbirds,” he explained.
“Snowbirds?” I asked as I got a plate ready for my mother and myself.
He chuck
led as he turned away, walking to the dining table. “Snowbirds are people who fly away for the winter.”
He slipped into a chair at an angle across from my mother, glancing over when she looked up. “Hi, Olive,” he offered with a nod before he took a swallow of his beer.
My mother smiled. For a moment, her gaze was blank and then she appeared to recognize him again. “Jesse.”
“You got it,” he said easily.
I realized that in his job, he likely often interacted with all kinds of people, but I still appreciated how easy he was with my mother. He didn’t seem to expect much from her, yet he was friendly and comfortable when she clicked into gear to talk.
I set my mother’s plate down in front of her, handing her a napkin and a glass of water. As I poured a glass of wine for myself, I called over to Emily.
I tried not to be too picky with rules, but I did try to make sure we actually had a meal together every night. She ignored me for a moment, but Jesse let out a low whistle and Waffle scrambled up from the floor to hurry over.
Whether he did that to help me or not, I didn’t know. But it helped. Em glanced over her shoulder and then snagged her plate from the coffee table to join us. Waffle settled on the floor by my mother’s feet. She seemed to be a sweet dog. Meanwhile, Em slipped into the chair beside my mother.
Dinner went smoothly for the first time in weeks. I had no doubt the presence of Waffle was the key factor. Em would’ve had no problem being rude to Jessie. She didn’t discriminate with her attitude. But she adored dogs, so her mood overall was better. I didn’t quite know what to think of this impromptu dinner, but I wasn’t going to complain. Willow Brook was a small town, and it had already become evident that people tended to take care of each other around here. I just hadn’t had a chance to get to know any of my neighbors. It might’ve been slightly disconcerting that I’d had a random, hot-as-hell kiss with this particular neighbor. But I thought I did a fabulous job of mostly ignoring that detail.