by Hailey North
“Mmm, mmm, yum,” she said around the delicious flavor.
“That’s better,” Flynn said.
Sami swallowed the last of the bite. “Bossy man,” she said under her breath.
Flynn handed her a slice of a rare roast beef sandwich. She accepted it. Smiled at him. He smiled back.
The sun had grown warm, but Sami was self-aware enough to know it wasn’t the heat from the earth’s closest star that was causing the slow burn inside her body. Flynn’s smile did that all on its own.
Annoying, troublesome man.
They’d soon be parted. That reminder should provide some consolation.
He offered her a crusty chunk of warm French bread slathered in goat cheese. She bit into it, wondering that parting ways didn’t make her feel nearly as good as watching him enjoy this picnic.
He dug into another bag and pulled out dog treats.
Annoying, troublesome, yes, but considerate, too.
The dogs gathered around him. Appreciative. And fairly well-behaved, too. With her tummy full, Sami realized her drowsiness was about to creep into full-blown exhausted sleep. She covered a yawn with her hand.
“I may need to shut my eyes a few minutes before we can depart.”
“Why don’t we hop in the car and you sleep while I drive,” Flynn said, finishing what was left of the cold roast beef and began to pack up the rest.
“No driving after a concussion,” Sami said, but without her usual strong sense of argument.
Flynn hopped onto the bench, onto the ground and back up, landing on one leg. “I am fine. I only pretended to feel ill so I could whip into the market to shop.”
“Fibber,” Sami said, adding a smile. She was so very sleepy.
Before she could list all the reasons she shouldn’t go along with his plan, he had the dogs, the picnic supplies and Sami hustled into the car.
He slid behind the wheel, adjusted the seat and the mirrors, whistling cheerily.
“I don’t believe I have ever occupied this seat,” Sami said.
“It’s comfortable,” Flynn said. “Close your eyes and leave the driving to me.”
“Do you know the way?”
Flynn pointed to the GPS display. “Impossible to get lost.”
Ruby barked.
“See, even the Corgi agrees with me,” Flynn said. “You may relax now.”
“Mmm,” Sami said, sinking against the headrest. “Feels good. Wake me in an hour and I’ll take over.”
“Right,” Flynn said.
Ruby barked again.
Before she closed her eyes, Sami could swear she saw Flynn wink. At least he was getting along with her dogs. After what she’d learned of his brother’s death, Sami had thought Flynn might hold a grudge against dogs in general. Annoying, troublesome man, but smarter and more forgiving than many Homo sapiens.
A smile on her lips, Sami drifted to sleep.
CHAPTER SIX
By the time Flynn reached the heavy interstate traffic of rush hour Nashville, he didn’t know if he was relieved or frustrated that Sami had gone promptly to sleep and not awakened. Not once had she opened those gorgeous eyes and demanded he turn the wheel over to her. Not once had she noticed that the filmy blouse had slipped free of its top buttons and did nothing to cover the sweet curves of her breasts. Not once did she sit up and roll into her lecture-speak voice. Instead, she breathed in and out, once in a while murmuring and touching her tongue to her lips.
Flynn gripped the wheel and took the exit indicated on the GPS screen. He’d switched the volume off but perhaps he should turn it back on. Maybe then Sami would sit up and do something about the cleavage driving him nuts. Behind him, two of the dogs were snoring. No point in waking them. He left the volume off.
A few more blocks and they would arrive at their destination. Sami’s parents’ home. The houses Flynn passed were two-and three-storied older homes well-maintained. He’d deliver Sami and her menagerie and catch a cab to the Hilton where his assistant had booked his usual suite.
And that would be that. End of story.
Sami sighed and shifted slightly.
Flynn switched his attention to check the house numbers. He had to slow to a crawl as he approached a moving van double parked and hogging most of the street. He waited as an oncoming car passed and then went around the van. Darn if the van wasn’t parked smack in front of Sami’s parents’ house, blocking their driveway.
He parked curbside in front of the van’s cab and switched off the engine. Naturally, the Corgi barked.
Sami’s eyes fluttered open. She turned towards him, sleepy and adorable.
Adorable? Yes, and kissable. Mmm. Whoa! Flynn slapped himself mentally. No point in thinking of Dr. Sami Pepper in those terms.
“Is it my turn to drive?” She stretched her arms in front of her, glancing down. “Oh,” she said, and reached for the buttons that had escaped their buttonholes. “Wait, it’s dark.” She looked out the window. “We’re here!”
Flynn nodded. “You’ll have to move the car into the driveway once that van gets out of the way.” He handed her the key fob. “Guess I’ll be going now.” He pulled out his phone and found the contact for Checker Cabs.
“Don’t you want to come in?” Sami unfastened her seat belt.
“Oh, I’d just be in the way,” Flynn said. “Family reunion and all.”
“The Peppers aren’t that keen on emotional reunions.” She sighed. “There’s something about Nathalie that makes me…”
A sharp rap on the driver’s window sounded. The Corgi and the Lab started barking. Flynn turned his head and in the growing darkness made out a woman, hand lifted to knock again. Wishing Sami had finished her sentence before the interruption, he cracked the door. “Yes?”
“We expected you an hour ago,” the woman said. “Oh, excuse me; I thought you were someone else.” She took a step back.
Sami shifted, muttering something under her breath Flynn couldn’t make out. “Nathalie, I’m right here.”
Flynn cocked a brow. “Your mother?”
Sami nodded and reached for the door handle. “Are you positive you won’t come in? Just for a few minutes?”
Flynn wasn’t deaf to the plea in her voice. Or blind to the guilty knowledge that he had caused her to arrive behind schedule. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal, but the look on both women’s faces told him a different story. “Sure, Sami.”
“Thank you,” she said. She shushed the dogs. “And thank you for driving. I’m surprised Nathalie is home. And I wonder who’s moving. We don’t have many changes in this neighborhood. We’ve had the same families on either side since I was in kindergarten.”
Flynn slid out of the car, Sami still talking. Her mother sure seemed to make Sami nervous. He smiled and held out a hand to the woman still hovering on the sidewalk, glancing at her watch. In the light from the street lamp he saw she wore surgical scrubs. “Hello. I’m Flynn.”
She nodded and gave him a brisk, firm handshake. “Nathalie Pepper.”
Sami came around the car. “Hello, Nathalie.”
“Hello, Sami.”
Flynn waited for an exchange of hugs. Instead, Nathalie frowned. “Whatever are you wearing? That outfit does not look at all professorial.”
Sami shrugged and looked down.
“We’d better let those dogs out,” Flynn said.
“They cannot come into the house,” Nathalie said in a no-nonsense voice.
“Why not?” Sami said. “Why is today different from normal?”
“You may take them on their leashes into the back yard. Come inside. Emile and I need to speak with you.” She turned and headed toward the house.
“How odd,” Sami said. “My dogs are never barred from the house.”
Flynn wasn’t sure what to say, so he busied himself helping get the dogs out of the car. Together, he and Sami led them up the front sidewalk and around the garage. She worked the latch on a gate and shut it behind them. The back yard had lighti
ng around a pool area. Flynn could tell it was a spacious yard for a city neighborhood. They let the dogs off their leashes and the three of them raced around sniffing.
“We’d better go in,” Sami said, sounding as if it were the last thing she wanted to do.
Flynn put an arm around her shoulders, a fairly brotherly gesture. She needed his support. That was obvious. “I like your outfit,” he said into her ear.
She smiled up at him. The light gleamed on her creamy skin. She parted her lips and all of a sudden Flynn forgot about the brotherly arm. He tugged her close and leaned to kiss her.
Floodlights almost blinded him.
Sami pulled away. Flynn dropped his arm. “The place is lit up like a prison yard during a jail break.”
Sami gave a shaky laugh. “Emile’s idea of additional security.” She walked toward the back terrace.
Flynn followed her. Just as well they’d been interrupted. He had no business kissing her. But damn, she had no business looking so sexy and vulnerable if she didn’t want him to kiss her. She knew he was the worst kind of flirt. No, that wasn’t fair, he argued with himself. Sami was vulnerable due to whatever the hell tensions ruled the Pepper trio. Perhaps her father was more of a flesh and blood human than the mother. Just look at his own family. His mom was salt of the earth and his worthless deserter of a father was a dad in the biological sense only.
Flynn followed Sami through the door and almost bumped smack into her. She was staring and gesturing toward the walls and floor, her arms moving in crazy circles.
Given the many windows, Flynn figured they were in a sunroom. Other than the fact that the room held no furniture, he didn’t see anything too odd about it. “Sami? You okay?” he asked.
She whirled around. “The furniture is gone. The plants. The area rugs.”
“Maybe they’re redecorating,” Flynn said. “My mother likes to do that whether a room needs it or not.”
“This room hasn’t changed since…since I was eight years old and we moved here.” She made a face. “Nathalie doesn’t waste time decorating when she can be in the O.R.”
The image of the moving van flickered in Flynn’s mind. Surely Sami would know if her parents were relocating?
“There you are.” Nathalie appeared in the doorway, followed by a tall, rather thin gray-haired man. “Flynn, this is Emile. Emile, Flynn.”
The man advanced and shook hands. “Pleasure,” he said. He extended his hand to Sami and they shook. “Nice to see you,” he said to her. “Flynn, I take it, is a friend of yours?”
Sami glanced at Flynn, somewhat shyly. “Yes. Yes, he is my friend. What happened to the furniture?”
“Emile and I have sold the house. The closing took place today and we must be out within the hour.” Nathalie tapped her watch. “It is most unlike you to be less than prompt.”
“That was my fault,” Flynn said. “I kidnapped Sami and took her on a picnic.”
“Not that we begrudge Samantha enjoying some fun, but today’s timing is particularly critical,” Emile said.
Flynn found the scene unsettling. Sami was right when she said the Peppers weren’t into emotional reunions. But surely these two had an idea what it must feel like to Sami to arrive to find her childhood home a thing of the past? He looked at Sami’s face and could see she was fighting back tears.
“How could you sell the house without telling me?” Sami heard the catch in her voice. She stared at her parents. “That moving van out front—that’s for here. For this house.” She waved her hands around the empty room. “It’s practically a fait accompli.”
“Everything happened at once,” Emile said. “We received a cash offer before the For Sale sign even went up.” He took off his glasses, patted his shirt pocket and brought out his ever-present polishing cloth. “I’m sorry it comes as a shock to you, Samantha.”
“It’s not easy for any of us,” Nathalie said, her forehead pinched in a restrained frown. “Our situation has changed. Emile and I find it necessary to lessen the responsibilities we must manage, and maintaining a house, a yard and a pool are unnecessary drains on our time and energy.”
“But what about me?” Sami realized she sounded like a toddler throwing a tantrum, but she couldn’t help the wail and wobble in her voice.
“Life is not always kind or fair,” Nathalie said. “In my work I see patients day in and day out to whom life has dealt most unkind hands. It’s not a matter Emile and I want to dwell on, but he is experiencing some health challenges that require this change in lifestyle. I am sure you can understand his well-being comes ahead of any concerns over where you will spend the summer.”
Sami turned to Emile. “You’re ill?” She shook her head. “You’re never sick.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Despite my reluctance to accept the matter, I have finally accepted that I have been clinically diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. It’s certainly manageable, but I find my energy resources are not what they once were. And the fall risk is such that this multiple story residence is inappropriate.”
“I am so sorry,” Sami said. She lifted a hand and let it fall to her side. She wished she could offer him a hug, but with Emile one never knew whether such a gesture would be welcomed or rebuffed. “So sorry,” she said, her voice a whisper.
“So you see,” Nathalie said, “our situation.” She rubbed her hands together. “Not that we did not take your needs into consideration. We know you’re committed to teach your summer course. We’ve rented a studio apartment for you, sublet from a pair of post-doctoral students. You will have to board your dogs—I see you have three now rather than the two of last summer—but that too has been arranged.” She glanced over at Emile. “As long as they will take the third one.”
“Board my dogs? All summer?” Sami stared from Emile to Nathalie. As bad as she felt for her father’s diagnosis, the flash of anger was too much for her to contain. “The way you shipped me off to boarding school? And summer camp.” She just kept from stamping her foot. “I thank you, but I do not need your arrangements. I will make my own. My dogs are my family and we won’t be parted.”
“As you wish,” Nathalie said. “We’ve left a few things in your bedroom. If you’d like to take them with you, you have just under an hour before the new owners will take possession.” Her mouth twisted. She averted her head. Emile crossed to her side and put an arm around her.
Sami brushed a hand across her eyes and dashed out of the sunroom. Of course this disruption was harder on Emile and Nathalie than on her. But if only they’d told her she could have prepared herself. Communication wasn’t in their DNA, though.
Her footsteps rang on the hardwood floors, echoing in the empty dining room, empty living room, and empty foyer. She headed up the stairs, running a hand on the banister, unable to process that this time would be the last. Of course she was sorry for Emile, but he of all people knew Parkinson’s was not a terminal diagnosis. He’d been a professor of neurology for Sami’s lifetime. Sami had learned about neurology from Emile from the time she was knee high.
The door to her room stood open. The fan lights glowed softly. She walked in. Three boxes sat in the center of the floor atop the faded blue carpet she’d fought hard to have installed over Nathalie’s objections so many years ago. Sami sank to her knees, grateful for the padding, for the only room in the house that did not have hardwood flooring.
No doubt the new owners would tear out the carpeting. Sami ran her fingers over the gnarly fabric. She’d wanted comfort and her room had been her refuge from the scientific order and precision that ruled the rest of the Pepper household.
The white and blue and rose floral wallpaper didn’t show its weary condition in the dim glow of the overhead fan light. But the paper had been there since the week before the carpet was installed during junior high, two years before Emile and Nathalie had announced they were sending her away to school.
Sami sighed, took a deep breath and peered into the first box. She lifted an overly
large ceramic pencil holder she’d made in pottery class. She’d given it to Nathalie for a Mother’s Day gift. Sami’s mouth twisted. So much for her long-ago attempt to win her mother’s affections. She dropped it onto the carpet where it rolled onto its side. A Barbie doll dressed in surgical scrubs took up the rest of the small box. Sami made a face. She’d purposely left that doll when she’d moved most of her things out of the house after college. Maybe one day Nathalie would cease to torment her for not becoming a “real” doctor.
She glanced into the second box. The gauzy curtains that had fluttered on her bedroom windows were mounded atop the matching duvet and shams from her bed. She’d take those with her.
Reaching toward the third box, she heard a tap at the door. Sami turned her head.
“Hey,” Flynn said, standing in the doorway but not entering the room.
“Hey,” Sami said. And then she remembered her manners. She rose. “I am so sorry,” she said. “This situation must be so terribly uncomfortable for you. I regret you had to listen to the exchange downstairs and that I rushed off and left you standing with two strangers.”
“Shh,” Flynn said. “Hush.” He strode toward her.
The next thing Sami knew his arms were around her, holding her, his hands stroking her back. “Everything’s going to be okay,” he murmured. “Poor baby. You’ve had one shock after another. Your dad being sick. Your home gone. Your summer plans thrown out into the street.”
Sami lifted her head. What was she going to do? She had to think.
“Let the pain out,” he said, smoothing her hair.
Sami relaxed against him. A few tears dotted her eyes. She sighed and sighed again. “Thank you,” she finally managed and eased away from his comforting arms.
“Want me to carry these boxes to the car?” Flynn spoke quietly.
“Yes. No. I mean I can do it, but thank you.”
Typically Flynn, he bent down and lifted the box with the draperies. “An elf could carry this it’s so light. How ‘bout that other one?” He pointed to the one she’d yet to look inside.