by Lynn Cahoon
“No. You won’t talk to her. Destiny is doing her job. Nothing more, nothing less.” Even if had he wanted her to see him as more than a patient, she had set the boundaries early. She wasn’t there for anything but to be a caretaker.
Yet, he still reacted when she massaged his shoulders and arms after a long therapy session. He kept an extra blanket on the bed, telling her he needed it because he was chilled, but honestly, his body wanted the woman. He just didn’t have the mobility.
“Look, Mom, as soon as I’m back to normal, I promise you I’ll go looking for a woman to birth my babies.” He pushed away the plate. “But right now, I’m tired and grumpy, and yes, I do need a pain killer.”
After his mother left the room to clean up the kitchen and run a load of clothes, he thought about Destiny and her pressing engagement. Maybe she was seeing someone. Someone who didn’t like the fact she was locked up in a house alone with Brad. A smile curved his lips. “Too bad, buddy. She’s mine for at least a few weeks.”
Then he took the pill, turned on the television, and drifted off to sleep listening to some talk show where the guy didn’t like his girlfriend’s family so he cheated on her with her sister. People are crazy, he thought, as he drifted in and out of a doze. Love makes you crazy, he amended, and his last thought was of Destiny.
CHAPTER 5
Destiny cursed at the logging truck in front of her. The narrow highway was only two lanes and the truck had ignored the last few slow traffic turnouts. She eased her Jeep over to the left so he could see that he had three cars behind him, which made it a rule he had to take the next turnout. A rule most truckers and slow-moving motorhomes ignored.
Lunch had gone longer than she’d expected and as she looked at her clock, she was already ten minutes late from the time she’d told Sandy she’d be back at the house. She needed this job, but no, she’d gone after the bird in the bush. Although the interview had gone well, Morgan Landue had made it clear he was still interviewing candidates and wouldn’t be ready to make any offer for at least a couple months. Which would be perfect, if he did offer her the job. She just felt bad about making Sandy worry. Besides, Brad was a total grump after lunch. She wouldn’t wish that guy on anyone.
Using her Bluetooth, she had the car dial Sandy’s cell. It rang several times before she picked up, sounding wary. “Hello?”
“Sandy? It’s Destiny. I’m so sorry I’m running late. Traffic on Highway 95 is crazy.” She spoke quickly into the dashboard, all too aware that the cell reception on the road could be spotty.
“No worries, you just drive safe. Brad’s taking a nap and I tucked a book into my purse, so we’re fine here.” Sandy’s voice crackled.
“I think I’m losing you, but I’ll be there as soon as I can.” As soon as Destiny finished her sentence, she lost the signal. “I hope she heard that.”
The truck in front of her eased over to the turnout lane and Destiny put on the gas. She flew by the guy, wanting to show her annoyance in some way, but instead, focused on the road ahead. If she didn’t have any more delays, she’d be back at Castle View in less than an hour.
As she caught up to the next car, she groaned. A minivan puttered in front of her, checking out every large pine and possible deer sighting. She turned up the radio and tried to calm herself down. Sandy knew she was on her way. For now, that’s all she could do. Especially since the traffic in front of her was determined to keep her at a snail’s pace.
Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart, an old Elton John and Kiki Dee duet came on the radio and as she sang along, she thought about Brad. He was handsome, when he didn’t have that sneer on his face. According to his mother, Brad hadn’t dated anyone special for a while. She wondered why. The guy had a nice home, he ran a successful winery, and he was well read, something she wouldn’t have guessed. If she had thought about Brad’s reading list, she would have put him down as a non-fiction business books or history. He had all the attributes for a great boyfriend. So why was he still alone?
“Because he treats people like they’re his servants.” The words came out before she realized she was talking to herself. She’d had that treatment from Brad, when she’d been working with his mother. But getting to know him now? He seemed softer, easier to talk to, and, actually, fun.
Whoa. What? She thought about what she wanted out of life. Brad was definitely not it. So why was she attracted to him?
She changed the station to talk radio. No use getting all mushy about the guy. He was just her patient, and probably her last one. If she took the management job with Martin, she’d be too busy dealing with the administration to actually work with clients. Which was one of the downfalls of accepting the job. The pay, on the other hand, was one of the advantages. Even if she just worked long enough to build her nest egg, she might be able to reopen her own place in five to ten years. Probably ten.
Her mind went back to Brad. His mother had said he was napping. Maybe she’d worked him too long this morning during his therapy. Or maybe he wasn’t napping, just trying to get his mother out of the room so he could spend the unaccounted for hours on his computer running his universe. She’d lay money on the last scenario. Brad Castle didn’t give up so quickly and she knew he’d been sneaking additional time and tasks into his day. If she didn’t crack down, soon, he’d be running the entire show from his medical bed.
The minivan turned on a blinker to move into the turnout lane and Destiny sped by the vehicle filled with kids and harried parents. She needed to get back to the Castle View compound and take that laptop out of his room. That would slow him down.
She kept her foot on the gas as much as she dared on the curvy mountain road. Until she had to slow for another logging truck. This just wasn’t her day.
***
Destiny missed dinner too. Brad looked at the clock, wondering where she could be so late. Then he pushed the thought out of his mind. She wasn’t his companion, just his employee. If mom wasn’t worried, there must be a good reason Destiny still wasn’t here.
He just wished he knew where the girl was at. He finished the meatloaf Maggie had sent up. One of his least favorite dinners from his sister’s restaurant, but he ordered it off and on. She must have a record of what he’d ordered in order to rotate his meals. Of course, no one ever just asked him what he wanted. Not Mom, Maggie, or even Destiny took his feelings into account when they made their plans.
He tried to scoot himself upward on the bed, putting weight on his forearms. He moved his useless body an inch. This was stupid. How’d he even get here? He focused on the night of the accident. He’d been in Spokane talking to a new distributor, and he’d left the city close to nine that night. He remembered turning off from the connector that ran east toward Idaho, then getting on Highway 95. The traffic was light but he still had to keep his speed down due to the curves. He could barely see in front of him, there had been so much fog. Then, he strained for the memory.
Nope, then he woke up in the hospital broken and bandaged. Had he gone off the road? Had he hit a deer? Hit the metal guard posts keeping cars on the road and not in the river? His mom told him they didn’t know what caused the accident, but there were no other cars around. He tapped his fingers on the bedrail, trying to force the memory.
“Are you feeling all right?” His mother’s voice cut through his fogginess.
Brad nodded. “It’s just been a long day.” The Spokane wine festival email had gotten lost somehow or the attachment hadn’t gone through so he’d had to resend and hope they wouldn’t reject the proposal due to missing the deadline. He’d been sure that Tina has said she was sending the proposal, but she said he’d wanted to do it himself. And he’d forgotten. Or Destiny had come in and distracted him. That was probably more reasonable. Man, that girl could be distracting.
“You’re done with dinner?” His mom nodded to the tray. “You didn’t eat much.”
“I’m just tired.” He put his napkin on the tray. “Can you get rid of that? The smell is making
me nauseous.”
“What can I get you instead? Milk and brownies?” His mother smiled at him and for a second, Brad was in first grade again, telling her all about the mean kids on the bus.
“I’m fine. Just tired.” He took a sip of his water. “Maybe a soda? Do we have any lemon lime?”
“I’m sure we do.” She took the tray and moved toward the door.
He hated himself, but before she left the room, he had to ask. “Mom, have you heard from Destiny?”
Just then, he heard the front door open. Destiny came through the door of the room, her coat still on and her eyes wild. She looked around. “I’m so sorry I took so long. There was an accident on 95 and they had the road closed for over an hour. My cell died and I didn’t have a charger in the car. Besides, I was behind Bald Mountain and cell service there is non-existent.”
“No worries, dear, Brad and I were doing just fine.” Sandy nodded to the kitchen. “Why don’t you come with me and eat. I bet you’re starving.”
She shrugged out of her coat and set her purse down. “Let me check on Brad, then I’ll be right there.”
She disappeared into the bathroom and he could hear the water running. When she came back to his bedside, he had already moved the table away and lowered the bed. “Help me to the bathroom. I’m dying here.”
“Didn’t you ask your mom for help?” Destiny swung his leg over the side of the bed. They were getting faster at the process.
“I wasn’t going to ask my mother to help me get to the bathroom. Besides, she’s too fragile for me to lean on,” he groused as he eased backward into the chair. He reached down and undid the brakes, wheeling himself into the bathroom.
“I think she knows you pee,” she called after him. “I’m going into the kitchen to heat up my dinner and grab something to drink. Do you want something?”
“A scotch and soda.” He called back from the bathroom, using the bars to lift himself out of the chair.
“Funny.”
He heard her walk out of the room and smiled. As crazy as it sounded, Destiny was back and he felt like all was right with the world. He shook his head at the happiness that floated through himpla. He really needed to heal and get that woman out of his life and home. Before he became attached.
Later than night, Destiny came into the room with a basin filled with hot soapy water and a pile of towels. He narrowed his eyes as he took in the scene. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“You need a bath and you’re not cleared for a shower. So it’s sponge bath time.” She didn’t look at him as she set up the table with the items. She moved the covers down the bed and then placed towels under his legs and around his body. When she reached his torso, she said, “Lean up.”
“No.”
She paused, looking at him. “What?”
“You aren’t going to bathe me.” He started to pull off his t-shirt. “I can do it myself.”
“In some places, yes, you can. But you still need towels set up so you don’t have to sleep in wet sheets. So stop being a baby about this and lean forward.” She met his gaze and Brad realized she was right. He couldn’t reach his back.
“Fine, but I’m not just lying here like some invalid.” He handed her the t-shirt and leaned forward as she’d asked. “And next week, I’m taking a shower.”
“Fine by me, as long as the doctor approves. You think I enjoy giving you a sponge bath?” She cocked her head and waited for a response. “Well?”
He relaxed into the bed. “It’s been a long day,” he said as some kind of apology that didn’t feel like him giving up to her.
“How long did you work?” She ran a warm washcloth down his arm. He had to admit, it felt pretty good.
He shrugged. “Just the hour you watched me.”
“And you’re a liar.” She reached behind him and lifted him to a seated position, then started washing his back. “I know when Sandy thought you were sleeping you were actually working.”
“I just had to deal with a crisis about the Spokane tasting.” He closed his eyes, trying not to enjoy the feeling of the washcloth and her wet hands on his skin. “So where were you anyway? Big date?”
She laughed as she rang out the washcloth. “Sure, I’m going to have your mother come over to relieve me so I can go out on a lunch date? You don’t think much of me, do you?”
“You have a right to personal time. You’ve been locked up with me for almost a week now. I wouldn’t blame you if you needed some me time.” He closed his eyes as she ran the washcloth slowly over his chest. “If you didn’t go on a date, where did you go?”
“Didn’t you just tell me I had a right to personal time?”
He heard the humor in her question. “So, I’m nosy. Can you blame me? I only recently got to even talk to my staff for an hour a day. My jailer is pretty strict.”
“Now I’m a jailer? Well, maybe you’ll listen better if you think of me that way.” She moved the washcloth down by his legs, avoiding his privates. “If you really want to know, I went to talk to someone about helping him open a new physical therapy in Spokane.”
“Won’t that cut into your business?” He opened his eyes and studied her. “The area can’t be large enough to have clients for several clinics.”
She finished washing his legs and then rinsed out the wash cloth. “I’m going to leave the room and let you handle your man stick.”
“Man stick?” He laughed at the image, taking the warm cloth. “I haven’t heard it called that before, especially from a health care professional.”
“Let me know when you’re done and I’ll clean up the mess.” Her face beet red, she ignored his comment and left the room.
Brad watched her leave and realized she hadn’t answered his question. He was going to have to do some recon on Miss Brooks and St. Joseph’s Physical Therapy to see what was really going on with his helper.
And he knew exactly who to call. His mother wouldn’t break a confidence, especially since she liked Destiny. But his sister knew every piece of gossip there was in St. Joseph’s and thirty miles around the little town. Maggie kept her finger on the pulse of the community. Mostly because she liked to talk to people, a skill Brad had never acquired.
Destiny had him curious. And a healthy dose of curiosity never hurt anyone. At least anyone who wasn’t a cat, he amended.
CHAPTER 6
“Why do you want to know?” Maggie sat on the chair next to his bed flipping through the channels. “Honestly, when you called and said we needed to talk, I never thought it would be about Destiny.”
“Call it idle curiosity. I’m stuck here, at home, bored all day. The least you could do was feed me some gossip.” He put on his best wounded look.
Laughing, Maggie slapped his arm. “That look didn’t work on me when you were five it’s not going to work now.”
“It worked with Mom and Dad.” Brad rolled his shoulders. “So what’s going on that Destiny had to leave yesterday?”
Maggie looked over her shoulder to the open doorway. “I shouldn’t be giving in, but you look so pathetic.”
“Geez, thanks. That’s exactly want a man wants to hear.” Brad ran a hand through his hair. “My hair feels gross. Destiny tried one of her dry shampoos on it yesterday, but I don’t think it did much. Man, what I’d do for a shower.”
“When is your doctor coming by? Maybe he can get you one of those fancy shower chairs all the old people use.” Maggie wrinkled her nose. “You stink.”
“Again, thanks for the running commentary. I’m so glad I asked you to stop by. Besides, I got a sponge bath yesterday.”
“Ohhh, tell me more. Did she strip down just so she wouldn’t get wet too?” Maggie waggled her eyebrows.
He just stared at her.
“What? Isn’t that what all the guys want to know?” She put a flip-flop clad foot on his bed frame. “I just want to be conversational here.”
“You’re reaching for something that isn’t happening.” He’d known Mag
gie would get the wrong idea of why he was interested in Destiny. He had never been good at hiding the feelings he had for people when he had been a kid either.
“All I know is for some reason, you are interested in a girl who a few months ago you thought was the hired help for Mom’s care.” She picked up the book by the bed, looked at the title, then set it back down. “This feels like high school.”
“A few months ago, she was the hired help.” Brad put his hand on his sister’s arm. “Look, just tell me what I want to know and you can leave your stinky brother all alone.”
“You don’t really smell bad. Except that whole boy thing, and I’ve kind of gotten used to it with Josh around.” She flipped back her hair, watching him. “Okay, but I think this is a bad idea. Destiny’s a good person. She doesn’t need you messing with her heart, especially with all the problems she has right now.”
“I’m not messing with her heart. But tell me what I need to know.” Brad didn’t want to show his excitement. His sister had already kind of guessed the level of his interest, even though he’d tried to make it seem like it was just idle gossip.
“Fine.” Maggie told him the whole story. That St. Joseph’s Physical Therapy was closing and Destiny was being courted by a new, bigger company out of Boise. She ended with, “Mom told me this in confidence, so don’t you be blabbing everything you know to Destiny.”
Brad made a zipping motion and then threw the imaginary key over his back.
“Funny guy.” Maggie stood. “Anyway, I better get going. I brought your lunch and put it in the kitchen. Any requests for dinner?”
“Ask Destiny. It all pretty much tastes the same to me right now.” Brad looked toward the door. He saw Destiny peek inside, not wanting to interrupt his time with Maggie. The girl was too nice. People could and probably did take advantage of her. That must be the reason she lost the business. Not being strict enough in billing and collecting processes. He had it easier. His retail shop didn’t allow any ‘tabs’ and he kept a strict hold on the receivables, sending out email reminders when an account passed 60 days and putting a hold on new deliveries when it passed 90. So far, he’d been lucky and no one had stiffed him on a delivery. He’d offer to help Destiny with some ideas about collections, but from what Maggie had told him, the business was lost. He put on a smile, trying to not let his pity for the woman show. “We were just talking about you.”