by Lisa Dyson
Regardless, his ego was probably quite inflated after last night.
Instead of skulking out, she straightened her shoulders and went down the steps. Then she walked with confidence into the kitchen to face Kyle as if nothing had happened between them.
“Hi, Aunt Ashleigh!” Ryan greeted her. “Uncle Kyle is making pancakes!”
“I see.” She couldn’t stop the beginning of a smile at how enthusiastically the boys were eating. “You guys are chowing down like you’re starving. I know I fed you dinner last night.”
Both boys laughed and continued to bolt down their food. Ashleigh helped herself to a cup of coffee, ignoring Kyle at the stove flipping another batch of pancakes. He must have gone home before retrieving the boys because his jeans and Grand Oaks hospital 5K T-shirt weren’t the clothes he’d stripped off last night.
Her face flushed at the memory of his solid chest and broad shoulders. She blew out a breath in an effort to cool herself.
“Good morning.” Kyle’s voice was deep and sexy. Damn him.
“Good morning.” She tried for curt, but wasn’t sure if it worked.
Kyle sidled up to her and whispered, “I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Mmm-hmm.” She kept her eyes on the boys rather than on Kyle. His fresh-shower smell was difficult to ignore. “You didn’t.”
He ran his fingers through her hair and she stifled a moan. She was glad now that she’d left her hair loose.
“You’re beautiful when you’re sleeping.” His arm came around her back and he pulled her closer to whisper in her ear, “You’re even beautiful when you snore.”
Her mouth formed an O and she jerked away from him and his teasing laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Mark asked.
Ashleigh was startled by the question. She’d forgotten they weren’t alone. “Your uncle thinks he’s funny, but he’s not.”
“He tells funny jokes,” Ryan told her.
“Yeah,” Mark agreed.
Ashleigh opened her mouth to speak, but Kyle said, “Aunt Ashleigh’s sense of humor isn’t working this morning.”
The boys shrugged as if this made sense and they went back to finishing off their pancakes.
“The neighbor keeping the boys called my cell early this morning, a little after seven-thirty,” Kyle explained. “The boys were concerned about their mom, so I went and got them.” He popped a piece of pancake into his mouth and kept his voice low. “I went to my place to shower and change first.” He continued in a moderate volume. “I told the boys we’d visit their mom after breakfast.” He offered her the plate of fresh pancakes.
“No, thanks.”
He put the plate on the table in front of the boys. “Your car needed a new battery.” Kyle’s abrupt change of subject caught Ashleigh by surprise. “The auto club said they could do it, so I said okay.”
Ashleigh stared at him. He’d taken care of her dead battery? “Thank you.” She cleared her throat. “You’ve been busy this morning. Picking up the boys, calling the auto club...”
He walked over to her where she leaned her lower back against the counter. He glanced over his shoulder at the boys, who weren’t paying them any attention. Then he kissed her quickly but deliberately on the mouth before whispering in her ear, “There was just one thing I didn’t get to do this morning.”
He pulled back, a mile-wide grin on his face and a sexy twinkle in his eye.
Damn if that indomitable heat of arousal didn’t travel willy-nilly to every cell of her body. “Oh, yeah?” Her voice came out raspy. She fought for control of the situation...as well as her emotions.
He winked, acutely aware he’d gotten to her. “Yeah. Want details?”
She coughed, embarrassed to be so turned-on by the man she’d been ready to completely ignore a few minutes ago.
“Hey, Dad, look at this.” Ryan pointed to the pancake on his plate, getting both Kyle and Ashleigh’s attention. “I mean Uncle Kyle.”
Taking Ryan’s slip in stride, Kyle replied with a chuckle, “Is that a monkey pancake?”
Unlike Kyle, she couldn’t get past Ryan’s slipup. Who would Kyle find to give him children to call him “Dad”?
The rest of their exchange didn’t register. Ashleigh had become light-headed.
Her hand grabbed the counter so forcefully that she might have left indentations.
Who was she kidding? She had no business getting involved with Kyle again. They had no chance for a future.
She could never make Kyle a father.
CHAPTER TEN
ASHLEIGH HAD GONE PALE. “Are you okay?” Kyle placed his hand at her waist, afraid she might keel over. “What’s wrong?”
He took her hand that gripped the counter into both of his and brought it to his lips. Her unfocused gaze centered on his collarbone.
To get her out of earshot of the boys, he guided her into the living room.
“Hey.” He lifted her chin until she had no choice but to look him in the eye. “Talk to me,” he whispered. “If you’re having second thoughts about last night—”
His words must have reached her, because suddenly she glared at him. “Are you kidding?” If her eyes had been lasers, he’d be dead. “You think I’m upset about last night?” She jerked away from him and hissed, “I can’t believe you don’t understand what happened in there just now.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for her to explain. Anything he said right now would be wrong.
Ashleigh cleared her throat and in a slightly calmer but shaky voice she said, “Didn’t you hear Ryan call you ‘Dad’?”
“Kids make mistakes like that all the time.” Kyle didn’t see what all the fuss was about. “When Scott and I were kids, people were always confusing us. I bet I remind the boys of him.”
Ashleigh’s color heightened as if she were about to burst an artery.
“It’s all right, Ash.” Kyle spoke soothingly. “Ryan knows Scott is his dad and not me.”
She swung her arms out, palms up, punctuating each word. “Don’t you think I know that?” she practically shouted. Then she lowered her voice as if remembering the boys were in the other room and added through clenched teeth, “If you weren’t being so dense, you’d realize I’m upset because I’ll never be able to give you a child to call you ‘Dad.’”
He froze, stunned by her admission. She flew past him, jerking away when he put a hand out to stop her. She ran up the stairs and slammed the door.
He was torn between going after her and giving her some space. He took a few steps toward the stairs and stopped himself. Better that they not kid themselves by getting close. Last night had been a mistake that would be best not repeated, no matter how perfect their time together had been.
He couldn’t assume she’d stick around because of one night together.
A long time ago, he’d accepted they’d never have a child together. She obviously hadn’t.
* * *
TOM HAD SPENT the past hour in his hospital office laboring over a contract the hospital administrator insisted had to be vetted by Monday morning.
Would have been nice if he had received the contract before the end of the day on Friday, but that tended to be business as usual around here.
Tom added a few more handwritten notes to the cover page he’d started and put it and the contract back into the manila envelope it had come in. After straightening his desk, he headed to the administrator’s office to drop off the contract. He tossed it into the administrative assistant’s in-box, glad to have that off his plate.
Next he would go see Stan—a visit was overdue. Tom pushed the elevator button to take him to the cardiac intensive care unit and quickly made a mental list of subjects to talk about since he didn’t know the man that well. Ashleigh filling
in for Stan, Washington Nationals opening day of baseball, the tornado that barreled through North Carolina yesterday.
He got off the elevator and waved to the female ward clerk at the ICU desk. “Stan Mitchell?”
“Hi, Tom,” she said pleasantly. “Last cubicle on the right.”
Tom entered the large room, waved to the two nurses near the bank of monitors in the center and continued straight to the glassed-in area considered Stan’s room. “Hey, Stan!” he said from the entryway.
Stan’s complexion was pale and his light gray hair matted. His bed was raised to a partial sitting position and he had tubes and wires coming from several areas on his body. “Tom! Nice of you to stop by.” He waved him in.
“Looks like they’re taking good care of you.” Tom gestured to the blinking and beeping machine where electronic numbers kept changing, as well as the IV pole and various paraphernalia next to Stan’s bed.
“Nothing like having a doctor as a patient.” Stan smirked. “They want me healed and out of here as soon as possible because I’ll know if they make a mistake. The only thing keeping me from complaining are the painkillers.”
Tom chuckled. “I’m sure you’re anxious to go home. How are you feeling?” He couldn’t imagine what Stan had been through and decided right then and there that he’d have the fruit plate for lunch instead of the Reuben he’d been planning to order. The hospital exercise room also sounded like a good plan. Or maybe he should get his bike out since it was finally spring. He’d been only halfheartedly exercising these days.
Now that he thought about it, regular exercise hadn’t been part of his routine since Theresa called off their engagement several months ago.
“You know, almost dying makes you take a long, hard look at your life,” Stan said. “You realize what’s important and what’s not.” His sudden drug-induced philosophizing made Tom a tad uncomfortable.
“I haven’t been a very good husband,” Stan went on. “In fact, I almost singlehandedly destroyed my marriage.”
“Maybe I should let you get some rest.” He didn’t want Stan to confide more than he would when not medicated.
“No, no, I’m fine,” Stan insisted. “My wife, Linda—have you two ever met? She and my daughters are around here somewhere.”
“Yes, we have. At a hospital fund-raiser, I believe.”
“Anyway, Linda’s the best wife I could ever ask for and I’ve treated her like dirt.” He lowered his voice. “Even worse than dirt, but she doesn’t like me to use bad language.” He smiled as if revealing a secret. “You know, just in case I slip in front of one of my patients. Parents don’t like their children exposed to bad language, especially from their pediatrician. Can you imagine?” He let out a loud guffaw.
Tom couldn’t help but smile. “That makes sense.” He didn’t know where Stan’s rambling was headed. “Maybe I should leave so you can rest,” he suggested for a second time.
Stan ignored him. “Back to my wife. You know, that’s why we moved here. She said I worked too much out there in California and never had time for her. She was actually going to leave me if I didn’t change. Said I took her for granted.”
“You grew up here, didn’t you?” Maybe that would turn the conversation in a different direction.
“She said I knew I could count on her to have dinner waiting for me whenever I got home. Sometimes I didn’t even call if I wasn’t going to make it home to eat it.” Again Stan ignored Tom’s question, choosing to continue focusing on Linda instead. “She always attended social functions with me, even if that meant changing her own plans. The woman’s a saint.”
Tom considered Stan’s words, reminiscent of what Theresa had said to him when she called off their engagement.
“Did you know she saved my life?” Stan became animated and Tom worried he’d unhook a wire or something. “Without her giving me CPR, I wouldn’t have made it to the hospital.” He swiped at a tear and his mouth turned down as his emotions overwhelmed him. “All I’ve put her through and she has stayed right by my side through all of it.”
Finally, the arrival of a nurse to check on Stan gave Tom an excuse to leave.
“Thanks for stopping by.” Stan gave him a cheerful wave, apparently recovered from his melancholy—and oblivious to Tom’s rushed departure. Stan’s words were like a slap upside the head. A wake-up call.
Tom was exiting the elevator on the first floor when he ran into Kyle and Ashleigh and their nephews. “Hey, what brings you all here?” Tom forced himself to act naturally. He peered at the boys and gestured to Ryan’s cast. “One of you hurt again?”
“We came to see our mom,” Mark told him, his usual smile missing.
“Is she in the hospital?” Tom looked to Kyle and Ashleigh for an answer.
“Early labor,” Kyle told him. “They stopped it but decided to keep her here.” Kyle shifted the overflowing reusable shopping bag he carried from one hand to the other.
“You should stop by and say hi,” Ashleigh said. “I’m sure Paula would appreciate visitors.”
“I’ll do that,” Tom promised. “I’ll be up after I grab some lunch.”
They went their separate ways and after lunch, true to his word, Tom headed directly to Paula’s room.
Laughter spilled into the hallway as he neared her door and he couldn’t help but smile.
The expression froze on his face when he suddenly came face-to-face with his ex-fiancée. Theresa was just leaving Paula’s room.
“Hi” was all he could think to say as he stepped back so she could exit completely and shut the door behind her.
Before the lunch with Ashleigh, he hadn’t seen Theresa in a month or even longer. And then, only in passing. Now she seemed to be everywhere.
“Hi, Tom.” Again he noticed her new haircut. She looked different, and possibly even more beautiful. Her eyes sparkled with laughter, even when her joy turned to surprise at seeing him.
“I can come back later.” He didn’t want his presence to make her uncomfortable.
“No, no, that’s not necessary,” she said. “I’m leaving.” She gestured to Paula’s room. “Ashleigh, Kyle and the kids are in there now.”
“How have you been?” He wanted to prolong their conversation.
“Good. How about you?”
“Busy with work, as usual.” He swallowed. “I like your new haircut.”
Her eyebrows rose and she touched a hand to her hair. “Thank you.”
Pretty sad exchange. He didn’t know how to broach the rumor about her and Kyle.
“Tom?” Her tone said she was waiting for his response. Her mouth mesmerized him—the pale pink color of her lipstick against her bright white teeth, the way her tongue flicked out to wet her lips.
He blinked to clear his mind. “What?”
“I asked if you were seeing anyone.”
“Who, me? Um, no, not right now.”
She nodded. “Oh, well, it was good seeing you.”
“Yeah, you, too.” This was the lamest conversation they’d ever had.
She gave him a little wave and sauntered down the hall toward the elevator.
He had this overwhelming urge to go after her. Though he still loved her, she obviously didn’t feel the same. Otherwise, wouldn’t she have stuck around to chat longer? Wouldn’t she have shown a little more interest in him?
He’d been devastated when she broke off their engagement. Unable to function for quite a while.
She’d said he took her for granted. He didn’t appreciate her.
How could she have thought that? They’d been together for three years. He’d planned to spend the rest of his life with her.
Would he always be unable to breathe around her?
* * *
ASHLEIGH DISTANCED HERSELF from the group in Paula�
�s hospital room, standing in the far corner, only speaking to Kyle when necessary. He’d never understand how deeply saddened she was over not having a child who would call him “Dad”—or her, “Mom.”
Paula had both her sons on the bed with her, one on each side with her arms around them to keep them from falling off. Kyle was on the other side of the bed and Tom stood awkwardly against the wall at the end of the bed. He hadn’t said much since he’d arrived a few minutes ago.
The boys giggled, their laughter contagious. Paula was so good with her sons, teasing and joking around with them. And not once did they disrespect their mother.
Her sister kissed the tops of her boys’ heads and Ashleigh automatically reached out to carefully straighten the kink in the IV line attached to Paula’s arm.
Ashleigh’s attention was drawn to the modern piece of artwork on the far wall. Her world spun. She’d been in this very room when her first miscarriage had been confirmed. She clutched at the unoccupied chair near her and lowered into it before her wobbly legs gave out.
Kyle gave her a concerned look from across the room, but she ignored him.
“Boys, why don’t you hand me my purse,” Paula suggested when they began to get riled up. “There’s a snack machine down the hall.” She rummaged in her wallet for change. “Pick something that’s not all sugar. I’m sure your aunt and uncle would appreciate that.”
Tom lifted his arm to check the time on his watch. “I’ll go with them. Great seeing you, Paula. Take care of yourself.” He waved and followed the boys into the hall.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Paula said to Kyle, “Did you see Theresa and Tom run into each other when she was leaving? I wonder if he’s heard about the two of you.” Paula immediately slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide as she looked at Ashleigh. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to blurt that out. It’s not what you think.”
Ashleigh spoke for the first time since entering the room. “That’s okay,” she said softly. “I know it’s a rumor that Theresa perpetuated to make Tom jealous.”
“How did you find out?” Paula asked. “You’ve hardly been in town more than a few days.”