“Kari, I’ve hardly seen you in days,” Ryan said. “I think we both need a couple of hours to relax together.”
His words and the insistent tone behind them both touched and amused her. “You do realize that a month ago you didn’t even know me, right?”
Maya and Ben walked outside, but Ryan stopped short of the door. “Yeah, but now I know what I was missing.” He lowered his lips to hers and moved his hand to rest on her waist. She felt herself sliding into the kiss and the warmth of his embrace. She had missed this. She had missed him.
How was that possible when they had known each other for such a short time?
He pulled back and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I guess I’d better walk you to your car before Ben comes looking for you.”
“I guess so.” Her head still spinning from the kiss, she let him lead her outside. “Any idea where you want to go for breakfast tomorrow?”
“I have a couple of thoughts.” Ryan looked at his watch. “How about I pick you up at eleven?”
“Eleven? Do you normally eat breakfast that late?”
“After a night game, that’s pretty normal for me.”
“Will that be cutting things too close for you?” Kari asked. “What time do you have to be at the ballpark?”
“Not until two. If it’s okay with you, I thought you could come with me to work so we’ll have more time together.” He slowed when they were a few yards from Ben’s car. “Unless you don’t want to hang out at Nats Park before the game.”
“That’s fine. I normally come early anyway.”
“I know. I like being able to see you in the stands.” Ignoring Ben’s presence beside the driver’s side door a few feet away, Ryan leaned down and gave her a brief kiss. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Kari reached out and held up his hand so they could both see the watch he wore on his right arm. “Ryan, I hate to break it to you, but it’s already morning.”
“Oh yeah.” Ryan reached out and opened the back door for her. “I’ll see you in a few hours, then.”
“Get some sleep,” Kari said, hoping he would do just that.
“I will.” He helped her into the car and said good-bye to Ben.
As they started to pull away, Ben glanced at Kari in the rearview mirror. “Should I be worried that you’re spending as much time with Ryan as you are with me?”
“The only thing you should be worried about right now is the fastest way home,” Kari said. “We’re all exhausted.”
“I know I am,” Maya agreed. She put her hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Honey, I think tomorrow you should win your game a little faster. You need your rest.”
“Right. I’ll be sure to tell my team you want a short game tomorrow.”
Maya turned to look at Kari. “See how easy that was?”
“We’ll see tomorrow if he’s really paying attention.”
* * *
Ryan led Kari to a grassy area overlooking the Potomac River, a takeout bag from the local bakery in his hand. He had spoken to his mother that morning and replayed some of the same arguments about getting her the help she needed. Now, with Kari’s hand warm in his, he realized how much he needed this time away with her where he didn’t have to be anyone but himself.
He heard Kari’s cell phone chime and was oddly pleased that she didn’t bother to see who was texting her.
“What a great spot,” Kari said, stopping to look out at the various boats on the water, the skyline of Washington, DC, visible on the other side of the river. “What city are we in right now?”
“This is old-town Alexandria. My apartment is technically in Arlington, but I love this area.”
“Why don’t you live here, then?”
“My place is a little closer to work, and when I first moved up here, I was only planning to keep the apartment during baseball season.” They found an empty bench and sat facing the water, a sense of contentment settling over them.
“Are you living up here year-round now?”
“I was. With my mom’s surgery, I’m wondering if I’m going to have to reconsider that idea, but I can’t imagine going back to living in the tiny place I grew up in.”
“Still no luck convincing her to move?” Kari asked.
“None. In fact, she’s insisting that she won’t move somewhere else even temporarily while she recovers,” Ryan said with frustration. “She can’t do stairs for at least six weeks, but her apartment is on the third floor.”
“And there isn’t an elevator?”
“Nope.” He opened the paper bag he held and took out a wrapped breakfast sandwich. He handed it to her before retrieving one for himself. “I can make sure she gets into the apartment okay, but I don’t know how she’s going to manage the basics. She’s not the type to want to stay shut in.”
“Have you thought about having someone stay with her?” Kari asked. “When Maya was first going through chemo, she hardly ever went out.”
“I thought about hiring in-home care for her, but when I talked to her about it, she wasn’t very excited about the idea.” Frustration stewed inside him. “If it was during my off-season, I could take care of her myself, but right now, there’s no way.”
“I could do it.”
“Kari, I couldn’t expect you to do that.” Surprise reflected in his voice and was undoubtedly written all over his face. “You came here to spend time with your brother and Maya, not babysit my mother.”
“Ryan, I’m here trying to figure out what I want to do next in life. I can research colleges from anywhere as long as I have Internet access.” She looked at him. “She does have Internet, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, she has Internet.”
“And I’m planning on going into medicine. It wouldn’t hurt for me to get a little practice taking care of someone.”
“It sounds like you already had plenty of practice with Maya.” What she was offering was too much. Or maybe he wasn’t quite ready to take their budding romance to the next level. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go through the emotions of seeing his mother disapprove of yet another girlfriend. Even with Brandi and their two years together, he had never felt like his mother had really accepted her as a part of his life.
“Taking care of Maya was mostly making sure she made it to her doctor appointments and putting food in front of her. I have a feeling your mom’s recovery will be heavier on physical therapy.”
“I just can’t ask you to do that. I know you’re going to want to help Maya and Ben move into their new place.” Ryan shook his head. “Besides, if you’re at my mom’s place, that means I’ll hardly get to see you.”
“I guess that’s true.” A wrinkle formed on her brow. “Of course, you are getting ready to go on a three-week road trip.”
“Starting in New York,” Ryan said. He surprised himself when he added, “I was kind of hoping you would come up for the series.”
“Maya and I were talking about it, but we thought it would make more sense to wait until your series in Philadelphia. It’s closer, and the hotel rooms are a lot cheaper.”
“I’ll pay for your hotel room.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not?” He shifted to face her.
“I don’t know. It just feels weird to have you pay for something like that.”
“Kari, I’m asking you to follow me because of my work so I can spend time with you,” he said, pointing out the obvious. “It’s hardly fair to expect you to pay for that.”
“It still feels weird.”
He stared at her. Here she was, a college student who wasn’t currently working, and yet she was insisting on paying her own expenses. “You know, you really aren’t like anyone else I’ve ever dated.”
“Is that a good thing?”
Unable to resist, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. “Yeah. It’s a good thing.”
Chapter 17
She couldn’t put it off any longer. Kari sat at Ben’s kitchen table with h
er laptop, a notebook, and a pencil. She had been in DC for nearly a month and hadn’t yet looked into the local colleges. She opened an Internet browser and started her search with the universities Ben and Maya had mentioned to her: Georgetown, George Washington, George Mason. Apparently George was a more popular name around here than she’d realized. She spent two hours comparing programs, expanding her search to Mary Washington University and University of Maryland.
Her head was spinning with possibilities by the time Maya came in and put a plate of naan and buttered chicken in front of her, along with their tickets to the upcoming game.
“You need to eat something before we head over to Nats Park.”
“I was wondering if maybe I should skip tonight,” Kari said, even though she had been looking forward to seeing Ryan. “I really need to spend some time visiting campuses and deciding if I’m really going to transfer from Vanderbilt or not.”
“The team leaves town for three weeks on Friday morning. You’ll have plenty of time to visit schools while they’re gone.”
“We’ll only have three days before we meet them in Philadelphia.”
“And we can make school visits a priority,” Maya countered. “It actually makes sense to do it then anyway. Ben and I close on our house two days after we get back from Philadelphia.”
“How are you going to manage that if he’s still traveling with the team?”
“He signed a power of attorney so I can sign for him.”
“Doesn’t that make you nervous, buying a house by yourself?”
“Yes, which is why he has an attorney coming with me to look over everything first.”
“Smart.” Kari wavered, looking at the notes she had made this morning. “I guess I could start visiting schools tomorrow.”
“Why don’t you check out George Washington tomorrow since Ben will be home and it’s literally right down the road? Then on Friday, we can drive out to George Mason. I wanted to drive by the new house anyway and take another look at the area.”
“That would work.”
“Good.” Maya picked up a piece of naan off her own plate and took a bite. “Now hurry up and eat. We don’t want to get stuck in traffic on the way to the game.”
“Maya, this is DC. We always get stuck in traffic on the way to the game.”
“Okay, I don’t want to get stuck and end up being late.”
“That I can understand.” Kari took a bite of her lunch. “Have you decided for sure where you’re going to go to school?”
“I was looking into it some more, and I think I’m going to start out getting my associates degree from the community college. They have a great nursing program, and then I can transfer to a four-year university,” Maya said. “That will give me a little more time to be sure where I want to go, and the scheduling from the community college is a little more compatible with baseball season.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“Not really. With the location of the new house, I’ll probably end up at George Mason.” Maya tucked a leg up underneath her. “You know, you’re always welcome to stay with us while you’re in college.”
“You guys need your space.”
“Have you seen our new house?” Maya asked pointedly.
“Yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re newlyweds. Plus, I really don’t want Ben playing big brother every time a guy asks me out.”
“Seems to me you’re only interested in one guy asking you out,” Maya countered. “Is it safe to say you’re over Austin?”
“I’ve been over him,” Kari said. “If it wasn’t for his dad teaching there, I’d probably go back to Vanderbilt for my last two years.”
“But then you’d have a thousand miles between you and Ryan.”
Just the thought of having so much distance between them left her heart heavy. She tried to push aside her growing attraction in an attempt to be practical. “Maya, Ryan’s a lot of fun, but there’s no way of knowing if we’ll last past the summer. I don’t want to make my decisions based on a guy.”
“I don’t think Ryan should be the only thing you consider, but I think you should factor him in. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
Kari looked up from her food. “How does he look at me?”
“Let’s just say it’s pretty obvious you matter to him.”
Her heartbeat quickened at the thought.
She let her gaze shift to the pile of notes about colleges and the baseball tickets beside them. Her internal debate was short-lived. She couldn’t deny that she wanted to go tonight and that her primary reason was so she could see Ryan. The question was whether she was letting the Nationals’ third baseman matter enough to influence her decisions about her distant future or only her immediate one.
* * *
Something was off with his mother, but Ryan couldn’t put his finger on what it was. For the past two days, when he spoke to his mom on the phone, she sounded like herself, but some of the things she was saying didn’t make sense.
He supposed it was possible that one of his mom’s friends was getting married in the hospital, but he couldn’t figure out why anyone would choose that as a venue for such a special day. And her talk about going shopping for something to wear was definitely out in left field. She’d worked in hospitals her entire adult life. Surely she knew she couldn’t just check herself out, go to the mall, and check herself back in.
He walked into the rehabilitation center late Thursday morning with the hopes of finding some answers. Dr. Michaels met him at the door.
“Doctor. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Do you have a minute?” Dr. Michaels asked.
“Yeah, sure. Is everything okay?” Ryan’s sense of unease hiked up a notch when the doctor didn’t answer, instead leading him down a hall and into an empty office.
“Please, sit down.” Dr. Michaels motioned to a chair even as he leaned against the front of the desk.
Ryan didn’t want to sit, but he complied in an attempt to speed up the flow of information. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been concerned that the swelling in your mother’s knee hasn’t been going down. It looks like there may be some blood pooled there that is keeping the new joint from healing properly.”
“What does that mean?” Ryan gripped his hands together.
“It means I’d like to go in and operate again. The procedure shouldn’t take long, but it needs to happen as soon as possible.”
“Do whatever you need to, Doctor. I just want her to get better,” Ryan said. He replayed the doctor’s words through his mind and asked, “Exactly how soon is ‘as soon as possible’?”
“Two o’clock. An ambulance will be here shortly to transfer her back to the hospital.”
“Is her condition serious?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t think so, but I don’t want to wait to find out what we’re dealing with.”
“I thought you just said you know what we’re dealing with.”
“I’ll know more after I open that knee back up.” His voice was grim. “In the meantime, you’ll need to wear a gown, gloves, and mask if you want to see her.”
“Why all the precautions?”
“We’ve seen some indications that she may be suffering from hallucinations. Emergency protocol demands that we treat her as though she’s suffering from an infection until we rule out the possibility.” He pushed away from the desk and took a step toward the door. “I need to go prep for surgery. If you go to the front desk, they can let you see your mom before we transport her.”
“Doctor,” Ryan called out before the physician could escape the office completely. “How long until I know what’s really wrong with her?”
“A few more hours.” His voice held compassion. “I know it isn’t easy, but try to be patient. I’ll let you know as soon as I have any information for you.”
“Thank you.” Ryan watched him go and rolled his eyes heavenward as he fought against a wave of fear and concern. He t
ook advantage of the privacy of the office for a few minutes before he forced himself to approach the front desk.
Donning the protective gear took several minutes. When he finally walked into his mother’s room, he found her staring across the room, glassy-eyed.
“Hey, Mom. How are you feeling?”
“I’m ready to go home,” she said, her voice weak.
“I know you are, but the doctors need to run a few tests before they can let you out of here.”
“I don’t need any more tests. I have to get home. I have to take care of Fibi.”
“Fibi?”
“My dog. You know Fibi.”
Ryan stared at her, unsure how to react. He did indeed know who Fibi was, but the little toy poodle from his mother’s childhood had been gone for more than thirty years.
He was saved from further debate when the ambulance attendants arrived, also dressed in protective gear, and began to prepare her for transport.
Ryan stepped out of the room, and one of the nurses approached him. “Dr. Michaels said they are taking her straight to pre-op, so you might want to get something to eat before your mother goes into surgery. It’s going to be awhile before you get to see her again.”
“Thanks,” Ryan managed to say. He stripped off the protective clothing and headed for the exit.
When he reached his car, he climbed inside and started the engine. He rolled down the window to let some of the heat escape only to turn the engine off again. What was he supposed to do now? His stomach was in too much turmoil for him to think about eating, and he didn’t want to sit around a hospital waiting room for the next four hours.
He wasn’t sure how long he sat staring, but after several minutes, he saw the front doors of the rehab facility open and the ambulance attendants wheeling his mother outside.
He watched them load her into the back of the ambulance, one of the attendants climbing into the back with her while the other took his place behind the wheel.
At a loss of what else to do, Ryan started the engine again and pulled out of his parking space. Without another destination in mind, he followed the ambulance, praying that the doctor would have good news for him before he went completely insane.
Chance for Home Page 10