Mr. Baxter had given her the tour, he’d explained, because he wanted her to check in on his brother every time she came to the house. In the quiet of the upstairs, he’d told her that Mr. Blakewood had recently fallen and hit his head, and she could see that his brother worried about that happening again. She shuddered at the thought of someone lying on the floor, incapacitated and alone.
Meredith knew this happened to the elderly all the time, and that made her sad, but the thought of it happening to a young person — who lived and worked alone — just seemed wrong. She’d reassured Mr. Baxter that she’d check on his brother every time she came over, and she planned to come by every day if she could.
Thus the cookies. She needed to pick up a prescription for him at Walgreen’s, and she wanted to bring him something to make their first meeting a pleasant one. She also wanted to let her new boss know that he could call her if he needed anything, day or night. After all, she was only a few blocks away.
“His house is huge for someone who lives by himself,” she said, spooning dough onto a greased cookie sheet.
“I guess being a big-deal author has its perks,” Brooke said. The tone of her comment chafed a little because it didn’t seem to fit the person Meredith had begun to picture.
“I mean, the house is big, and it’s nice, but it’s not… garish. It’s comfortable… and charming.”
Brooke gave her an impish grin. “It sounds like a great place to disappear once Jamie gets back.”
Meredith blinked. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
But it would be.
AS SOON AS Leona came home, Meredith kissed Oscar goodbye and headed to Walgreen’s. Picking up the prescription had taken all of ten minutes, but it had given her a little more information. Gray Blakewood’s date of birth was September 21, 1987, which made him only twenty-eight. His medication — Topiramate — was an anti-seizure drug, which would explain his falls and his inability to drive — if his condition wasn’t under control.
But if he were epileptic, wouldn’t he have been dealing with it for most of his life? Wouldn’t it be something he’d be used to sharing with others?
She was still puzzling over this when she pulled into his driveway that swept around a massive oak tree and ended behind a stone wall. At the front door, she could hear Vulcan and Juno whimpering — the dogs didn’t seem to bark — and even though she had a key, Meredith knocked on the door and waited for her boss to answer.
Ten seconds passed. Then twenty.
She knocked again, and the only sounds she heard from within were the dogs. Meredith found the new key on her key ring and unlocked the door, clutching his medicine and her container of cookies in one arm. Two gray-and-white noses poked out of the doorway as she slowly opened it, feeling weird about entering the house of a man she’d never met.
“Mr. Blakewood?” she called.
Silence.
The dogs snuffled at her through the crack in the door, but they didn’t growl or threaten. She pushed inside and shut the door behind her. Vulcan and Juno both wagged and whined as though she were a long-lost friend they’d never forgotten.
“Hey babies,” she cooed, stepping in through the foyer into the kitchen and finding it empty.
“Where’s your daddy?” She petted each dog in turn, running a hand over their furry heads as they circled, sniffing her up and down.
“Mr. Blakewood?” she called again.
Nothing.
Meredith made her way down the hall toward the living room and saw that the door to the master bedroom again was closed. At the sight of it, her stomach tightened.
How would she know he was okay if he never answered? Could she enter his room? Would she be able to make herself do that?
How do I walk into someone’s bedroom when I’ve never met him before?
“Mr. Blakewood?” This time, her voice was just above a whisper, but she suspected that if he lay in his bed behind the closed door, he could hear her — if he was conscious.
She crept up to the door, and the instant she did, her phone chimed. She dug it out of her purse with her free hand and saw a number she didn’t recognize.
Gray: I have a headache. Please stop shouting.
“Shit,” she hissed. Her thumb raced over the screen.
Meredith: I’m so sorry! It won’t happen again, Mr. Blakewood!
Meredith held her breath. She looked up at the bedroom door, half expecting to see it open, but the door didn’t move.
Gray: It’s Gray.
She blinked at the words. What was gray? And then it hit her. Grayson Blakewood. Gray. Meredith sighed. He was her boss. She’d always addressed her bosses with respect. But he was only twenty-eight. And he was sick. And his head hurt. She gave in.
Meredith: Hi, Gray.
Gray: Hi, Meredith.
Meredith’s stomach relaxed a fraction. She walked back to the kitchen and set the cookies and meds on the granite-topped island. The dogs followed.
Meredith: I’m sorry about your headache. I have your medicine. Will it help?
Vulcan bumped her knee with his nose, and she stroked his ears, waiting for his master’s response.
Gray: No. But thank you.
Juno joined her brother and tried to muscle in on the petting.
Meredith dropped to the floor and crossed her legs, scrubbing each dog before typing again.
Meredith: I also have homemade cookies. They’re on the counter next to your meds.
Juno leaned in and licked her cheek.
Meredith giggled and ran her fingers over the dog’s beautiful face. Both of the wolf dogs were beautiful. Their coats were variations of smoky gray and white, but each had a dusting of gold along their snouts, over their brows, and around their shoulders. Their eyes were a warm maple. And even though their coloring was the same, their markings were distinct. Vulcan had a broad patch of white on his chest, where Juno’s was a mottled gray. Even without that difference, it was easy to tell them apart. Vulcan’s larger frame gave him about fifteen pounds on his sister.
Gray: That’s very kind of you. Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.
Meredith took her hand off Vulcan to type, and the dog lay down against her right thigh. His sister collapsed on her left.
Meredith: I know. I wanted to. They’re good cookies. Don’t let the cornflakes scare you.
A moment passed.
Gray: I’m not usually scared of cornflakes, but your statement has me worried.
She laughed aloud, and then covered her mouth with her hand. Had he heard her?
Meredith: Even though we haven’t officially met, you’re just going to have to trust me. Good cookies.
She settled back against the island with her phone on her knee and a hand on each dog. Gray Blakewood’s house was so quiet. So peaceful. All she could hear was the tick of a clock in the hall and the gentle breath of each dog.
It was nothing like Jamie’s house. The TV was almost always on at the McCormicks’. As soon as Leona woke up, she turned it on. Good Morning, America. The View. Ellen. The Bold and The Beautiful. In any corner of the house, a TV could be heard. Big Jim was just as bad. Fox News. SportsCenter. And when Jamie was home, it was Duck Dynasty and Swamp People. Every conversation had to be held over the noise, which meant conversations were loud.
Everything was loud.
The McCormicks’ house was vastly different from her own family’s. Of course, the Ryans had watched television at night, but their one TV was in the den all the way in the back of the house, and it couldn’t be heard past the kitchen. She and Becca weren’t even allowed to have TVs in their rooms. That hadn’t stopped her from watching whatever she wanted on her phone, but it did make for a quieter household.
Her parents wouldn’t have approved of half the stuff she’d streamed on her Netflix account, but they weren’t ever tech savvy enough to figure that out. In the last few years, they’d gotten so involved with their new church, there wasn’t time for much else.
; Becca once told her their devotion to the church had only grown after they threw her out. Instead of going to Lafayette High like Meredith had, Becca now attended Lafayette Christian Academy. For Halloween, the kids couldn’t even dress up. No ghosts. No witches. No Minions. No Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The school, instead, had a Fall Festival, and students could dress up as their favorite saint.
“Go as Saint Denis,” Meredith urged.
Becca’s blank stare almost made her laugh.
“He’s the saint Montmartre is named after,” she explained before licking the whipped cream off her toasted-marshmallow latte. “Saint Denis was the bishop of Paris, and he was beheaded.
“Oh, gross…”
Meredith nodded. “Legend has it that, after he was decapitated, he’d picked up his head and carried it six miles up the hill, preaching the whole time about repentance.” She gave her sister a disapproving frown. “That’s how Montmartre got its name. Mount Martyr.”
“That’s freaky,” Becca said, eyes wide.
“Well, going to school carrying a bloody head would at least make it feel like Halloween.”
“How do you know this shit?” Becca asked, laughing. They sat in Johnston Street Java. Becca held Oscar on her lap and tried to keep him from grabbing her chocolate Sucre. She was supposed to be seeing a movie with friends, but she’d walked from The Grand to the coffee shop to meet Meredith and Oscar instead.
“AP European History,” she said, smiling at her sister. Halloween was in a week, and Meredith wished Becca could come with her to take Oscar trick-or-treating.
Becca squinted at her. “Didn’t you do really well in that class?”
She nodded. “I made a five on the exam… despite the fact I was the only student in the room leaking breast milk during the test.”
“Wow. Thanks for that.” Becca made a face.
“Anytime,” Meredith shrugged. “I’ve got some childbirth stories whenever you’re ready. Believe what they tell you about the hemorrhoids.”
“Ugh!” she shrieked, making her older sister laugh. Becca shuddered and passed Oscar back to her. “Mom and Dad are crazy to ban me from seeing you. Hearing that is enough to keep me from having sex. Forever.”
Meredith tried to laugh at that, but she couldn’t.
Becca apparently saw the hurt, because her laughter died too.
“They pray for you every night, you know,” her little sister said.
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t need prayers. I need my mom and dad.”
Tears filled Becca’s eyes. “Well, you’ve got me.”
Meredith’s phone chimed in her lap, pulling her out of the memory. She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands and tried to read the text through the blur of tears.
Gray: Are you still here?
“Oh, shit.” She scrambled to her feet and wiped her eyes again with her sleeve.
Meredith: Just about to leave. Do you need anything before I go?
Gray: Would you let the dogs out into the back yard for a few minutes?
Meredith started moving through the house while she typed.
Meredith: Of course.
Juno and Vulcan knew exactly where she was headed. They led her to the French doors along the back of the living room, and Vulcan even scratched at the exit with impatience. As soon as she opened the door, both dogs took off across the porch and into the back yard, sending squirrels scurrying up two great oak trees.
Meredith stepped out onto the broad wooden planks of the porch, admiring the view. A cypress rocker, a cypress swing, and an outdoor settee formed a welcoming space. She made her way down the steps and into the yard. A brick skirt fanned out past the porch steps, and Meredith stood there, waiting for the dogs to do their business. The trees made an otherworldly canopy over the yard, their dark branches and leaves filtering the already muted winter light. The resurrection fern that covered most of their limbs only added to the fairytale feel of the yard.
It was stunning.
Meredith wiped her eyes again, breathing in the cold January air and welcoming the natural beauty.
Sometimes she let herself cry about her parents, but only when she was alone. That left the shower and her pillow — but only when Jamie was offshore and only after Oscar went to sleep.
But she hadn’t even made the choice in Gray Blakewood’s kitchen. The tears just came. Under the shelter of the oak trees, she let them fall unchecked.
CHAPTER SIX
GRAY HAD LIED.
Against all odds, he’d not had a headache when Meredith Ryan arrived. He was hiding again. When she knocked, he’d known exactly who was at his door, and, like a coward, had grabbed his laptop off the kitchen island and retreated to the bedroom.
As soon as she came in, Gray had wanted her to leave. He contemplated sending her away for good, but he was almost certain Bax would be checking in with her to keep tabs on him. If Gray fired her, he’d have his brother back in his face before the weekend was out.
But she’d surprised him with her apologies and her kindness. He’d heard her tell Bax she’d make him cookies, but he hadn’t really thought she’d do it. Not on her first day. And her line about cornflakes amused him. Who put cornflakes in cookies?
He’d let himself forget how beautiful she was until she took the dogs into the back yard. Unable to help himself, he walked to the window and peeked through the blinds.
When she stepped off the porch onto the brick patio, he knew he hadn’t been mistaken. For the second time in two days, he looked at her and couldn’t pull his eyes away.
Beautiful and tiny.
If Bax hadn’t said she was a nursing student, Gray would have thought she was still in high school. But that was because she was so petite. She stood in his back yard wearing black leggings and an ivory sweater that slouched off her shoulder and hung past her hips. The leggings and her boots accented her shapely legs, but Gray could see there was little of her to spare. Still, what little there was, indeed, was all woman.
“I’m a creep,” he whispered to himself, ashamed to be secretly ogling a girl he now employed.
As soon as the words were out, she turned her face directly toward him, and he froze, fearing she’d heard. But then he watched her wipe her eyes. Her head bowed and her shoulders shook.
And Gray realized she was crying. He frowned. Why was she crying?
He gripped the window frame and leaned closer, squinting to try to see her better through the gaps in the screen. She sunk down on the wrought iron bench where he sat to throw tennis balls for the dogs, and she dropped her face in her hands.
Gray knew next to nothing about her. They hadn’t even met, really. But his heart twisted at the sight of her sadness.
Cecilia.
Had his sister cried alone when no one was watching?
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Vulcan approach. Sure enough, the dog had a tennis ball in his mouth. He dropped it at her feet and sat, wagging expectantly.
Meredith lifted her head and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Her cheeks were still wet, but she smiled at Vulcan. She bent down to retrieve the ball, hesitated for a moment, and then tossed it halfway across the yard.
Vulcan bounded after it, drawing Juno from the corner of the yard to give chase along with him.
She was smiling by the time both dogs ran back to her. Vulcan dropped the ball again, and this time, Meredith turned toward the house as though to make sure the coast was clear. Gray picked up his phone again.
Gray: If you’re still here, could you play with them for me? I’m not up to exercising them today.
He sent the text, telling himself it was okay to lie about this if tossing the ball for the dogs got her to stop crying.
He watched her pick up her phone, and she typed. Gray smiled before his phone chimed.
Meredith: Already at it. Vulcan is fast!
Grinning, he texted back.
Gray: Juno is faster. Just give her a chance to warm up. Both of them need zoomy time every
day or they start to wrestle in the house. My furniture can’t stand up to that.
He watched her tip her head back, and even through the closed window, he heard the percussion of her laugh. The sight of it made his abs twitch. It was the best sensation he’d had in three months.
She tossed the ball again, and this time Juno got ahead, but the tennis ball bounced off a tree root, and Vulcan caught the rebound. He watched her type again.
Meredith: How long can they go at it?
His thumbs sped over the screen.
Gray: Pretty much as long as you can. They’ll go to the door when they get tired.
The ball sailed across the yard again, and this time Juno snagged it. Gray watched Meredith clap her hands, and she said something to Juno he couldn’t hear. Both dogs returned to her, and she petted them lovingly before sending the ball flying. Then she typed. Her smile had softened, and Gray found himself counting the seconds until his phone trilled.
Meredith: You have a lovely home, and Vulcan and Juno are so sweet.
He didn’t hesitate.
Gray: You’re welcome to stay as long as you like.
Gray found he meant it. Even if he had to remain locked in his bedroom until she decided to leave. He hadn’t changed his mind; he absolutely did not want her to see him, but he knew the truth. As humiliating as it was, he needed someone to help him — despite what he’d told Bax. He couldn’t predict his seizures, and if he wasn’t going to take the Topiramate every day, driving did put other people in danger.
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