by Naomi Niles
She pursed her lips together and I braced myself for more argument, but she didn’t give me one. Instead, she said, “I can promise that I’ll try – how’s that?”
I laughed. “That’s good enough,” I told her. When we came back out of the office smiling, Kyle looked from his sister to me and raised an eyebrow. I winked at him. I seriously do not know what is wrong with me. We moved on to some leg exercises, which I showed him how to do on his own, and we also worked on wheelchair transfers using his arms and his good leg. He’s really strong, so it won’t be long before he’s able to do it all by himself, with or without that other leg. When we wrapped up for the day, Sarah seemed satisfied with me.
As I watched them go, I must have had a goofy smile on my face because Joyce walked up next to me and said, “I think you have a little thing for that one.”
“No, he’s a patient.”
“Oh, who cares? This is therapy, not surgery.”
I laughed. “I don’t have a ‘thing’ for him.”
“We’ll see,” she said with a sly smile. I didn’t want to protest too much, so I just silently walked away.
Chapter Five
KYLE
I was lying in my bed, exercising my legs like Amber told me to, thinking about Amber and watching mindless afternoon television on Thursday when Sarah called. I thought about not answering it but, she would just race over here and beat the door down if I didn’t. She had no idea how hard talking on the phone is for me. I accepted the call and put her on speaker. “Kyle? Can you hear me?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, good. I know you don’t like talking on the phone right now. I just wanted to let you know that I’m sending Michael to pick you up at six tonight. Wear a clean shirt and shave – and don’t wear one of those ugly ball caps-”
“Sarah. What for?”
“For dinner.”
I wondered why the clean shirt and the shave, but I didn’t have the energy to get all of that out so I just said, “Okay.”
I was able to do a lot more for myself already. Dad got me a shower chair, and I was able to stand enough to get into it. So after I got off the phone, I went in and showered and shaved. I know my sister too well. If she’s telling me to put on a clean shirt, she’s having someone besides just me for dinner. I can only hope she doesn’t have a wild idea and think that she’s going to fix her brother up with one of her friends. Surely, she has to get that a guy who still talks like he’s got a mouthful of shit and has staples in his head isn’t up for meeting anyone new in the romance department. Speaking of which – I’m wearing the hat. Sarah was on a mission before I got sick to try and set me up with anyone she thought would make a good wife. She thinks I should be married before I’m thirty. Look how good that worked out for my dad.
When Michael got to Dad’s place to get me at six, he took one look at me and whistled. “Well, look how pretty you are.” I flipped him off and he laughed.
“What’s your wife up to?” I asked him. He grinned and held the door open so I could wheel out.
“Who knows with that one? I haven’t been home yet, but I was given strict orders to pick you up at six and not be late.”
“Great.”
He laughed. “Yeah, whatever it is should be fun.” On the way to their house Michael said, “So…Storelli signed on.”
You have to fucking be kidding me. I had waited for that man who owns a quarter of the real estate in Dallas to finally pick an agency to design and build his new home. It would be his family’s private residence and if his current house had anything to say about it, it would be a lavish one. “Fuck,” was all I said out loud.
Michael laughed again. “Nope, it’s a good thing.”
I felt guilty. I knew it was a good thing for his firm. I was just jealous that I wouldn’t be the one to do it. “I know, sorry.”
“It’s a good thing for you. Storelli picked us because of your designs and mock-ups. I told him what happened and that you might be out for a while. He’s okay with that – as long as it’s you who handles it when you come back.”
Excitement coursed through my veins for the first time since the day I took the nosedive. If I got this contract, it would be the biggest one I’d ever gotten. Not only would it bring in a fortune for the firm and me in commission, it would get my name out there. Storelli is one of the most connected guys in Dallas. His company designs and builds the rigs they use in the oil fields. He’s connected with anyone who is anyone in Dallas…this is huge. “Fuck,” I said again, only this time with a smile. Michael laughed.
When we drove into my sister’s driveway, there was a little blue Honda sitting out front. “Looks like you were right, kid, we’ve got company,” Michael said. I’d wasted all my “fucks” already, so I stayed silent. Michael got the chair out and sat it next to my door. I put myself in it as he went and opened the front door so I could roll myself inside. I hadn’t gotten two feet before I was treated to a full-on frontal assault. My niece Kimber launched herself at me and landed in the chair on top of me.
“Uncle Kyle! I was so worried and Mama and Daddy wouldn’t let me see you!”
“Oh, baby, I’m okay.” She hugged me tightly and when she leaned back, I could see she had chocolate all over her face and hands. I looked down and it was all over the front of my “clean” shirt. I looked back up at her, and she giggled. I laughed, too, and tickled her before I made her laugh again by swiping my finger against my shirt and tasting it. “Mm!” I looked up and that’s when I saw a little blonde-haired girl with big green eyes standing a few feet back looking at us. “Hi.”
She looked down at the floor. “Hi,” she said. I looked at Kimber.
“Your friend?”
“Oh, yeah! This is Nona. She’s in first grade.”
“Wow. Hi, Nona.” That was a hard name to pronounce, but the little girl didn’t seem to notice. She peeked up at me through her hair and smiled.
I looked back at Kimber and she said, “Can I see your owie?”
“I’m not sure you can handle it, little girl.”
She giggled. “I can handle it, mister!”
“Are you gonna scream?”
“No!”
“Cry for your mama?”
“No.”
“Okay, but remember you promised no screaming.” I slid off my ball cap and just as I knew she would, she said,
“Ew! Gross! Does it hurt?”
“Not so much anymore.”
“Can I touch it?”
I laughed and put the hat back on my head. “No. Where’s Mom?”
“In the kitchen. Can I have a ride?”
“Of course.” I rolled the two of us into the kitchen, and I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw who the surprise guest was.
“Mama, Uncle Kyle is here!” Kimber jumped off my lap as I stared at Amber in shock – and maybe a little bit of lust. My sweet little niece “whispered” the way five year olds do and said, “I didn’t say nuthin’ about the way he talks, either.”
I laughed, Amber looked like she was trying to hold it in, and Sarah gave Kimber a stern look. “Why do you have chocolate all over you right before dinner?”
I reluctantly took my eyes off of Amber. Damn. she looks hot in a pair of jeans. I looked at my niece and saw her little eyes filling with tears. “I gave it to her,” I said.
Sarah looked at me and her eyes fell to the chocolate all over the front of my clean shirt. “Aye! What am I going to do with the two of you?” She took Kimber’s hand and led her out of the kitchen. I looked back up at Amber. She was smiling.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
“You look like you didn’t know I was coming.”
“My sister,” I said with a shrug.
She laughed. “I’m sorry. I picked my niece up from school today and ran into her and Kimber. She invited us.”
“Good,” I said. I didn’t want to try and say too much. Between the impediment and the goddess in blue jeans, I wasn’t sur
e I could manage much more than that.
Sarah came back way too soon and tossed one of Michael’s shirts at me. “Go change,” she snapped. “And, stop covering for her when she does things she’s not supposed to,” she yelled after me. Fat chance that was ever going to happen. I changed my shirt and when I got back, they were putting things on the table. Michael was already in his spot and the two little ones sat at Kimber’s small table next to the big one. Sarah had moved out one of the chairs and I parked there. Of course, she put Amber next to me. I wasn’t complaining, but sometimes I just had to shake my head at the not so subtle way my sister has of doing things.
“Michael, say Grace please.” Michael bowed his head and reached for Sarah and Amber’s hands. I took my sister’s hand on one side and Amber’s on the other. “Take off the hat, Kyle.”
Shit! My sister is a pain in my ass. “I’d rather not.”
“Kyle John Cloud!” She was using her stern mother voice. I’m not afraid of her, but I didn’t
want to bicker in front of Amber. I took it off and felt the cool air of the room waft across the bald spot on the side of my head. It was mortifying, to say the least. That was until I felt the gentle squeeze of Amber’s soft hand in mine. I looked at her from the corner of my eye and she winked at me. I felt that simple wink all the way down to my core, and even as my brother-in-law thanked God for the food we were about to eat, I was having carnal thoughts about the woman sitting next to me.
“So, Amber,” Sarah said as we began passing things around. “How long have you lived in Dallas?”
“My whole life,” she said. I passed the potatoes to her and our fingers brushed as she took them. I wanted to brush my fingers over a lot more of her skin. “My folks have a ranch just out near Seagoville. That’s where I grew up.”
“Oh, how nice,” Sarah said. “Do you have any siblings?” I handed her the meat and gave her an apologetic look. She smiled, and my heart sped up.
“I have three sisters,” she said. “They’re all older than me.”
“Oh, you’re the baby like Kyle.” I shot Sarah a look, but she just smiled at me and said, “Kyle loves to ride horses, don’t you Kyle?” That time Michael gave her a look, too…she ignored him the same as she did me.
“Yeah,” I said. I took a bite of my bread and hoped she wouldn’t ask me a stupid question while my mouth was full.
“Do you ride, Amber?”
“Yes. Not as much as I used to. Between work and…life, I don’t have a lot of free time.”
“You’re so young, you should be out having fun every chance you get,” Sarah said as if she were forty years old herself. “Have you ever been married, Amber?”
I dropped my fork. “Sarah.”
Amber laughed. “It’s okay. No, I’ve never been married.”
“I’m just trying to get to know her, Kyle.”
I rolled my eyes and gave Amber another apologetic look. I was surprised when I felt her touch my hand lightly. I looked at her, and she mouthed, “It’s really okay.”
I mouthed, “Thank you” – or something that hopefully looked like that.
Sarah did most of the talking through the meal. She told Amber how she and Michael met and talked about our dad and his job in the oil fields. After dinner, Amber tried to help her do the dishes, but Sarah insisted poor Michael help her and pushed me and Amber into the den.
When we were alone, I said, “I’m really sorry about her.”
“I think she’s cute. She’s just trying to help out her little brother.”
I shook my head. “She hasn’t noticed that I’m not so little anymore.”
She was still smiling. She went over to the mantle and picked up a picture of me and Sarah that was taken when we were small on the Reservation where our grandparents lived in Oklahoma. “Is this you?” she asked.
“Yeah, me and the pushy one in there.”
“So cute,” she said. “Where is this at?”
It took me three tries, but I finally said, “The Cherokee Nation Reservation in Oklahoma.”
I was rewarded with her pretty smile. I thought I might just stand on my head for that. “You’re doing so well with your speech,” she said.
“I like to talk,” I told her. “Not as much as my sister, though.”
She laughed, and then I saw her look at the clock. “I should get going. Nona has school tomorrow, and her mother will be by to pick her up soon.”
“You didn’t have dessert.”
“Maybe another time,” she said, putting her hand on that gorgeous, flat stomach. “I’m so full…and skipping a dessert or two isn’t going to hurt me a bit. I’ve been trying to shed my winter coat.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Smiling, she said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that to sound like I was fishing for a compliment.”
“You should be. You’re gorgeous.” She gave me a long, piercing look, like she was trying to figure out if I was being serious or not. I couldn’t believe that she didn’t know how drop-dead gorgeous she was.
“Thank you, Kyle,” she said after a long pause. “I’m going to get Nona and say good night to Sarah and Michael.” She started to pass me, and then she stopped and bent down and kissed me on the cheek. “Have a good night.”
“You, too.” I knew exactly what kind of night I was going to have: it was going to be a sexually frustrated one. That tiny little brush of her lips had turned my insides into hot liquid and sent the blood all racing down south.
Chapter Six
AMBER
Dylan didn’t come home until the following Monday. I was okay with that because I’d decided that I was going to end things with him. I’d talked to Marlene about it the night she picked Nona up and the next day when I saw Kyle again in the clinic, I knew that I had to do it. It wasn’t that I thought I had any chance of a relationship with Kyle, but the attraction I was feeling towards him really brought home that Dylan wasn’t the man I was meant to be with.
Dylan got home just as I was getting home from work. As soon as I stepped out of the car, he grabbed me and started putting his hands all over me and trying to kiss me. He smelled like horses, whiskey, and stale smoke. It made my stomach turn.
I pulled away from him and he said, “Jeez, nice welcome home.”
“I’m sorry, but I haven’t even gone inside yet. Give me a minute, okay?”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. How about some help unloading the truck?”
I wanted to say no. He spends my money to go gallivanting around the country instead of getting a real job and then acts like it’s a real job. I didn’t want to piss him off before we had our talk, though, so I started pulling his tack out of the back end while he put the horse away. By the time we finished, I needed a shower.
“I’m going to shower and then I’ll make dinner,” I told him. He was already at the refrigerator getting a beer. He gave me a backwards nod as I went into the bathroom. Thinking about how grabby he was when he got home, I locked the door. I’d just stepped in when I heard him fumbling with the knob.
“What the fuck, Amber? Why is the door locked? I’ve seen your fat ass naked before.”
My stomach clenched in knots. “I’ll be out in a few minutes,” I tried.
“No…fucking let me in.”
“No, Dylan. Let me take my shower in peace.” That was when he started banging on the door. Shit. “Knock it off! I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Why don’t you want me to see you?”
“Jesus, Dylan, I don’t want to have this conversation through the door.”
“Then open it.”
“No.”
“Open it or I’ll kick the fucking thing down. Who do you think you’re saving that ass for? You should be grateful I still want to fuck you.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as the warm water cascaded down across my neck and shoulders. God, I’m so tired of living like this. I hoped if I ignored him he would go away…and for a few minutes, it
seemed to be working. I hurried through the rest of my shower, and just as I stepped out and reached for the towel flying pieces of wood came crashing in on top of me. The house was old and Dylan didn’t do anything to keep it up. The door splintered when he kicked it and pieces of it rained down on top of me. One of them knocked me off balance and I slipped on the wet floor, striking my forehead on the vanity as I went down.
I must have blacked out because when I woke up, I was lying in bed with a washcloth on my forehead. I was dried off and under the covers, but I was still naked. The room had gotten dark since I came home and I was disoriented. I panicked a little bit, not knowing how long I slept.
I pushed myself up to a sitting position and looked around. Dylan was in the chair next to the window, asleep. I lowered my feet to the floor and tried to ignore the pain and the nausea as I stood up. As soon as I was on my feet, the room began to spin and I had to sit back down. My stomach was rolling with acid and I felt like I was going to throw up. Shit. “Dylan!” He groaned, but he didn’t open his eyes. I was really going to be sick. I got back to my feet. I was still dizzy, but not as bad. I used the furniture to hold onto as I made my way into the bathroom. It looked like he cleaned it up after putting me to bed. The only evidence of what happened earlier was the dangling hinges where the door used to be. Asshole.
I took a towel down and kneeled in front of the toilet. I hadn’t eaten since lunch time, so my stomach was empty and I sat there and dry heaved for what seemed like hours. When I finally thought I was finished, my whole body was shaking and I didn’t feel like there was any way I’d be able to stand and walk back to the bed. Instead, I curled up on the towel and went to sleep.
*******
“Amber…Amber wake up.” Dylan had his hand on my shoulder, and he still stunk. I didn’t want to open my eyes. My head was pounding and my whole body hurt from the retching – the last thing I wanted to see was his face. “Amber.”
“Leave me alone!”
“I’m not going to leave you on the bathroom floor.”
“All of a sudden you’re filled with compassion?”