“Yes.” Her lips were soft and full when she placed a kiss on my chest and then my mouth.
Sated, I closed my eyes to allow sleep to take over.
By the time we crawled out of bed the next morning, the house was quiet and we were alone. Beau had left a note on the counter that he’d gone to work and would call later. I wasn’t sure if anything I’d said sunk in or made sense, however, I was glad to know he’d heeded my advice not to just bail but, at the very least, to figure out a plan.
Even with GPS, I had to turn around twice while navigating the streets of Atlanta to get to the hospital. The same roads we’d traveled last night were quite different when they were bogged down with traffic and people driving like maniacs. Normally, it would have gotten under my skin, and I’d be hollering out the window at the morons causing problems, yet today, with Masyn next to me, it didn’t seem all that important. It gave me a little extra time alone with her before I had to face whatever happened in the CICU.
She took my hand when I clicked the button to set the alarm on the truck, as if we’d been doing this since the dawn of time. I had worried things might change in our relationship and that the natural flow would somehow be disrupted, yet like everything else where Masyn was concerned, it felt right.
Nurse Ratched—I really needed to figure out her name—stood at the desk when we arrived on my dad’s floor. “Mr. Carter. I’m so glad you could join us this morning.”
I glanced at my watch. It was only eight thirty, so I didn’t really understand the sarcasm. “We would have been here sooner. I’m just not used to Atlanta traffic.”
The gleam in her eyes I’d mistaken for cynicism softened to what appeared to be happiness. “Your dad is awake and asking for you.”
I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly. Everything that had come out of that woman’s mouth since I’d arrived on Friday had been combative, so I was almost afraid to question her even though I needed clarification. “Like with words?”
“That’s usually how adults make requests.” Her overly tweezed brows arched, and I had to force back a snarky response.
“I didn’t think he could talk with that tube down his throat.” I glanced at Masyn who’d put the pieces together before I had.
Masyn’s grip on my hand tightened. “I think she’s saying they took it out.”
The crony giggled and directed her eyes at whatever she was working on when we walked up. “Clearly the brains of the duo,” she muttered under her breath.
I didn’t care what she had to say. I never let myself get my hopes up for fear of being knocked down. Wanting facts before drawing conclusions didn’t make me stupid, it made me logical. “Can we see him?”
“That’s against visiting policies in ICU.” She took a deep breath without raising her head and peered at me through her stubby lashes. “But since he’s going to be moved a step down to the cardiac ward today, I guess I can make an exception.” She flipped through the pages as if she were actually paying attention to anything on them. “Don’t get him overly excited. Just because he can see the light through the trees doesn’t mean he’s out of the forest yet.”
I wasn’t going to quibble over the fact that she’d totally botched that saying or even bring it to her attention. “Got it.”
She hit the button that unlocked the doors to our right, and the familiar release of the vacuum was like music to my ears. I tugged Masyn’s hand and dragged her down the hall, her legs barely able to keep up. She took two steps to my one and had to practically jog to match my pace. Her laughter bounced off the sterile walls and breathed life into a place that reeked of death.
The door was closed to my dad’s room, and before I knocked, I bent down to thank her. The kiss was brief, and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment when she looked around to see if we had an audience.
“Thank you for being here with me.”
“No place else I’d rather be.”
My knuckles tapped out a deep thunk on the wood. Since I wasn’t sure he’d be able to answer loud enough for us to hear him through the door, I cracked it before barging in. “Dad?”
“Yeah. Yeah. Come in.” His voice was hoarse and rather raspy, but the same deep bass I’d heard my whole life rang through.
“Hey, old man. You look a hell of a lot better.”
“Jesus, boy. You could’ve told me you had a lady with you. I don’t even have any drawers on.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Carter. I promise I won’t peek under the sheets.” Masyn grinned.
He winked at her. “Sugar, you better get over here and give an old man some love.” He was putting on a show. It was easy to hear how winded he was and the effort it took him to give her a half-hug was obvious.
I dragged the chair up to the bed so Masyn could sit with him. She was the only female I’d known since my mom died who brought a genuine smile to my dad’s face. And today was no different.
He patted the mattress next to his leg. “You come sit with me. I can use you to block the view of Lee’s mug from sight.” When he tried to laugh, pain etched his brow, and he gasped for air.
Masyn immediately coddled him, which was exactly what he needed, while I took a seat and crossed my ankle over my knee.
“Tell me what you’ve been up to and why you’re still hanging around with the likes of this one.” He tossed a thumb in my direction without actually looking at me.
I grinned and shook my head. Even nearly dying hadn’t changed who he was. Masyn was the apple of his eye, and she always had been. Beau and I were just nuisances he had to tolerate to get the pretty girl in the room. Blood wasn’t thicker than water in George Carter’s world; charm played a far greater role.
Masyn turned her head and looked at me over her shoulder to silently ask for permission to tell him about us. I wasn’t sure what all she planned to share, but if she wanted to tell him, I was all for it. I’d scream it down the hall and poke my head into every room in the place to announce my feelings for Masyn if I didn’t think they’d kick me out.
“He might think less of you,” I said with a nod. “But if you’re willing to take that chance, by all means tell him.”
“Tell me what? I’m right here, you know? My heart might have taken a lickin’, but my ears and brain work just fine.”
I needed to find him a woman like Ouiser Boudreaux in Steel Magnolias—except then I’d have to admit to having watched it—the two would be shriveled up little peas in a cranky old pod.
He patted Masyn’s knee and looked at her like a father would his only daughter. “What has this boy gotten you into now?” His tone was soft with her, loving. Then he turned to me, and Masyn had to lean back so he could make eye contact. “You better not have done anything that might make people talk. Harden’s an unforgiving town. One thing for boys to be idiots, but girls have to maintain their reputation.”
I held up my hands and chuckled. Thank God she wasn’t about to tell him she was pregnant or that we’d eloped. He’d get up out of that bed with the wires dripping from his body just to slap me upside the head…right before he kicked my ass.
“Mr. Carter, Lee is always a gentleman.”
He cocked his head and furrowed his brow. Watching him attempt to be stern with Masyn was entertaining. “Now he has you lying for him, huh? I thought better of you, Masyn Porter. Did I teach you nothing over the years?”
“Yes, sir. More than you could imagine.”
His gaze cut in my direction. “Good to know someone was listening.” The wheezing when he breathed became more prominent the more he talked, and I knew we were on borrowed time before we’d have to let him rest. “Now, what is it you want to tell me?”
“Lee and I are moving in together.”
There was a long silence between the three of us, and I wondered if she’d caused him to go into cardiac arrest again. Ratched was not going to be happy if she had to come in here and revive him.
“Masyn, you know I love you. And Lee’s a good boy even when he’s s
tirring up shit. But sugar, make him buy the cow to get the milk.”
If I’d had anything in my mouth, I would have spit it all over him. “Did you really just say that to my girlfriend?” The label flowed from my lips without any bite or sting. I didn’t feel the constrictive pinch around my neck I always thought I would if I ever made a commitment to a woman.
“Mr. Carter!”
I couldn’t see Masyn’s face, but I knew that tone all too well. She hovered between embarrassed and giddy, and I’d bet money her face was candy-apple red.
“Excuse me,” a tiny voice came from the doorway.
I turned to see who was here, and an older woman about my dad’s age had poked her head in. “We need to get the patient to his new room, and he probably needs some rest. It’s been a big morning.”
“Yeah, okay.” I watched her exit as quickly as she’d appeared. When the door closed, I stood and held out my hand to Masyn to help her off the end of my dad’s bed. She’d managed to scoot past the railing and had to navigate her way off without jostling him.
Masyn kissed my dad’s cheek, and he beamed with pride. “I’ll let you two have some time together. Lee, I’ll wait in the hall for you. And Mr. Carter, get some rest so I can come back to see you once you’re settled.”
She reached out to me. She grazed her fingertips across my palm and then she left, closing the door behind her.
“I raised you better than that, boy.”
“Huh?”
He’d been all grins and giggles with Masyn, yet the moment she left the room, his expression soured and he mustered the energy to lecture me.
“If she’s the one, you do it right. Asking her to move in with you is disrespectful, and she deserves more.”
“Dad, we’re only twenty-two, not to mention, we just started…this.”
“Your mama was twenty-four when I lost her, so don’t give me crap about how young you are. Apparently, you haven’t learned nothin’ watchin’ me lay in the bed like a wet dishrag all weekend. So I’m going to spell it out for you.”
“Umm, okay.” I wasn’t sure what to say. This wasn’t at all what I’d expected from him—not that I’d thought about it, but I figured he’d be thrilled for me because Masyn was so far out of my league.
“You don’t bed a girl like Masyn Porter. And you sure as hell don’t shack up with her. You want her, you put a ring on her finger and do it honorably. If you ain’t ready for that, then you court her like a gentleman until you are. You hear me?”
“Yeah, Dad. I hear you.” Loud and clear. Like a slap across the face.
“For once in your life, Lee, don’t just hear me…listen.”
I nodded and allowed him the courtesy of a pause, feigning that I contemplated his advice.
After several moments, I said, “Well, we’ll be back later, okay?”
My heart was heavy with his demands, and I couldn’t bring myself to lift my voice to pretend anything differently.
Chapter Twenty-Two
My dad moved down two floors, and we followed, even though he’d gone to sleep by the time they allowed us back in his room. At least now we didn’t have to sit in a waiting room and stare at the walls…and there was no more Nurse Ratched to deal with, although I was certain every floor had their own version of her.
This room was a little larger than the one in ICU and had a loveseat to sit on and a television to watch. Masyn flipped through the channels and settled on some talk show I wasn’t interested in. It held her attention, which I was grateful for since I’d gotten lost in my thoughts and my father’s warning. Sitting in the corner of the two-seater couch, I’d angled my body toward the TV slightly, and Masyn had situated herself with her back against my side. She played absentmindedly with the fingers on my left hand, and all I could think about was the weight of a ring on the fourth one she held.
My future always included Masyn. I never knew if it would be as my wife, since I hadn’t had the balls to tell her how I felt, but in my mind, it was always her. I’d never really heard her talk about marriage or kids—hell, I didn’t even know if those were things she wanted or just something she tossed out when she exposed her heart. And my vision for our future might not be hers. For all I knew, she hadn’t thought that far ahead.
But if I allowed myself to believe what my dad spouted off, which I had a hard time denying, then I was faced with two choices: tell Masyn we needed to date and not live together—I wasn’t sure I could give up the sex regardless which way this went—or ask her to marry me less than a week after I’d kissed her for the first time. I tried repeatedly to convince myself that the first option was the rational choice, but my heart screamed at me to legally make her mine.
Oddly enough, I had no apprehension over the second choice because I knew it was inevitable. She might say no, but there was no question about whether I’d ask—only when. There wasn’t much I could recall about my mom; the cancer hadn’t been caught in time, and it took her quickly. But I remembered vividly the way my dad loved her, and I had witnessed her profound effect on his life even after she was gone. There was never a day that went by that he had even a hint of regret. He’d do it all over again knowing how painful his time without her would be. She was truly the love of his life.
His story—with my mom—wasn’t all that different from mine and Masyn’s, except they’d realized it sooner. They’d grown up together in Harden, friends since childhood, and in high school, he made his move. Neither of them ever dated anyone else, and when they graduated, they got married. I came along two years later. Barely five years after they tied the knot, she was gone.
It was unlikely that history would repeat itself to that extreme, but if I only got five years, I’d treasure them the way my dad had. If Masyn were to disappear from this earth today, there’d never be a soul who replaced her. Not as a friend or a lover.
“Awww.” Her heart-filled sigh drew my attention back to the woman in my arms, at my side.
I glanced up at the screen to see a guy holding a little boy. “What?”
“He’s raised that little boy, not knowing if it was his son, because his wife cheated on him. And the DNA results just came back.”
“So, is he?”
Masyn hadn’t turned away from the screen. “Is he what?”
“The kid’s dad?”
“Yes. Isn’t that romantic?” The dreamy tone of her voice confused me.
“What about his wife cheating on him is romantic?” This I had to hear. No woman in their right mind could ever twist this into a happy situation.
“He loved her enough to forgive her mistake. And he didn’t care if the baby was his biologically, it was his son because he made him that way. Being a daddy isn’t about genetics. I think it’s a true testament to his character, and that little boy is lucky to have him.”
“So much for his trifling mama, huh?” I chuckled.
“I don’t know why I bother.” She wasn’t put off or even irritated. Masyn pulled my arm across her chest and held onto it with both hands.
I kissed the top of her head, missing the smell of the shop. The grease stains around her nails were already fading, and beneath the mask of everyday life was a dainty girl who loved a happily ever after. She hung tough with all the men in her life: her brothers, Beau and his brothers, her dad, my dad, me, all the guys at the shop—they never batted an eye at her presence. They also didn’t act the way they should in front of a lady because she’d proven over the years how tough she could be. But I didn’t want her to have to be tough or just another one of the guys—not with me.
Hearing her act like a girl and seeing her dress like one when she was away from work, reminded me of how feminine she could be when she was able to let her hair down. My dad was right. Asking her to live with me—while it wasn’t quite the same as treating her like a man—didn’t offer her the respect she deserved. It screamed more about me than her, and I didn’t want her to settle—not for me or anyone else.
The show ended,
not that I’d watched anymore, and she stood to stretch her legs. “I’m going to grab some coffee and find a snack. You want anything?”
I pulled my wallet out to hand her some cash.
“What’s that for?” Masyn pushed my hand and the bills back toward me.
It was rather obvious from my point of view. “For you to get some coffee and food.”
“I asked if you wanted anything. I didn’t ask you for money.” She laughed, although I didn’t see the humor. “So, do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Want anything?” She bent over and put her hand on my forehead. “Are you feeling all right? You’ve been acting weird since we got up here. I figured you’d be thrilled that your dad got moved.”
“Oh, no. I’m good. Sorry, I haven’t slept very well, and I zoned out. You want me to come with you?”
“Nah. You should stay here in case your dad wakes up. I’d hate for him to think we bailed and he was alone.”
When she turned to walk away, I grabbed her hand, and she toppled back onto my lap with a grunt.
“That could have hurt.”
I silenced her bitching with my lips and tongue, dipping her back into my arms to allow myself better access. Once I had my fill and knew she’d be thinking of me while she was gone, I stood with her in my arms and set her on my feet. With a pop on the ass, she jumped and walked out, and I went to take a leak.
The bathroom door creaked when I came out, but my dad’s eyes were still closed as I crept back across the floor, trying not to wake him.
“You shouldn’t lie to her, son.”
So much for being quiet. “You’re awake and spying, huh?”
“Just doing my job. I don’t get to do it often with you so far away. Gotta get in my time while you’re here.”
“Dad…”
“Hush. You know what they did with my clothes when I came in here?” The man was senile.
“What do you need your clothes for, Dad? They’re not going to let you put them on until you check out.”
“Backtalk was never a habit of yours I was able to break. Instead of giving me lip, how ’bout you just do what I told you and find ’em.” His head moved with his eyes as he searched the room. “You know I’m still bigger than you and won’t hesitate to bend you over my knee.”
Label Me Proud Page 27