<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Kaid pulled into the parking lot at the only apartment building in town. He found an open spot in the visitors’ section and parked his truck there. He sent Delilah a quick text to let her know that he’d made it to Eustace’s home, rather than calling her. That way the text would be waiting for her when she awoke, and he wouldn’t disturb her if she was still asleep.
He got out and started toward the far corner unit. The entire apartment complex was one story. Each apartment was on the ground floor. There were two buildings, each fifteen units long, facing a center parking lot. There was space for two vehicles in front of each door, and a small center area for only a handful of vehicles in the middle of the lot. Those center spaces were for visitors or temporary parking. The end unit on the left side was Eustace's. It backed up to a small wooded area. Kaid had managed to call in a favor from the owner in exchange for a few repairs, to secure that apartment for Eustace once his skulk had disbanded and scattered. He’d wanted that apartment for him, so that he could at least have some grass and trees near his window. Eustace had been very grateful. He’d never complained one single time about the drastic change in his life. He’d even offered multiple apologies to Bam, and to Everly through Bam.
Before Kaid could get even halfway to the front door of Apartment B15, the door opened, and Eustace shuffled out of the door with the help of his walking canes. Kaid took note of the heavy steel enforced braces fitted tightly over Eustace's jeans. He could tell by the way Eustace’s shirt fit that he was wearing his body brace beneath it, as well. But the male was up, dressed and moving about on his own, rather than wasting away in a wheel chair like he was when Kaid first stepped in to try to help him.
“Well, damn! I coulda’ just had you pick me up!” Kaid called, still moving toward him.
Eustace grinned and very carefully took his keys out of his pocket, then turned and locked his apartment door.
“Who dressed you?” Kaid asked.
“Me,” Eustace answered once he turned back to Kaid.
“By yourself?”
“Always do,” Eustace answered, enunciating slowly, clearly.
“And your braces? Even your back brace?” Kaid asked, genuinely surprised at the back brace.
Eustace nodded, a big smile on his face. “Laid down on it.”
“You getting stronger every day, Eustace. I cannot say enough how inspired I am by you.”
Eustace chuckled softly. “Naw. Just ge’ up and do it.”
“Indeed. So… we ready for physical therapy? Anything you need to do before or after?”
“Rea-dee,” Eustace answered.
“Well, come on, then,” Kaid said, walking back toward the truck and unlocking the passenger side door. He waited for Eustace to get settled inside, then pushed the door close enough for Eustace to be able to reach without closing the door completely. He grinned when he heard the door slam when he was almost all the way to his driver’s side. He intentionally did things to make Eustace feel as though he was doing for himself. Was a hell of a thing to watch a grown man reduced to childhood accomplishments. It was very humbling to watch the sense of success as that grown man learned to do things for himself all over again. After taking Eustace's care under his own hat, Kaid never again took for granted something as simple as leaning over to tie his own shoes. He was now all too familiar with how quickly the ability to do things you didn’t even think about could be taken away.
Kaid got in the truck, started it up, and off toward the hospital, the medical offices and buildings around it, they went.
“I was thinking…” Kaid started.
“Annnd?” Eustace asked.
“Wanna get a beer after your appointment?” Kaid asked.
Eustace grinned, nodded his head. “Yeah, I do,” he said slowly.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Just before lunchtime Kaid and Eustace got out of Kaid’s truck and walked across the parking lot toward Vince’s Place. “You worked hard today. We deserve a beer — and a burger, I think,” Kaid said.
“Onion rings,” Eustace added.
“Oh, yeah. Gotta have the onion rings, too,” Kaid answered.
“It’s early. Closed?” Eustace asked, looking at the closed sign in the window.
“Not exactly. They closed for regular customers, but they’re in there getting things cleaned up and ready. They’ll serve us.”
Eustace’s eyebrows crinkled in response to Kaid’s explanation, but he followed along anyway.
Kaid pulled the door open and allowed Eustace to enter first.
“Vince?” Kaid called out as the door closed behind them.
A few seconds later Maria came from the kitchen, pushing an industrial mop bucket on wheels with a wringer attached to it. It sloshed just a little, and they could hear water splashing in it.
“Hey, Kaid! What’s up?” Maria greeted, coming to a stop and dropping the mop in the bucket.
“Hey, Maria, looking for Vince, he around?”
“No, he’s not. He texted me yesterday evening and said that he’d be out of pocket for a while. But said I was to handle everything for him. Gave me the run down of everything that’s on his agenda. Along with everything else I do, I am now his personal assistant, it seems,” she said, laughing.
“We don’t want to add to your list. We can go grab lunch somewhere else,” Kaid said.
“Naw, you have a seat. The last thing I gotta do is mop the floors, then I’m done ‘til opening tonight. I can get lunch for you. Burgers?” she asked.
“Yes, please, if you're sure,” Kaid answered.
“Not a problem,” Maria answered.
“And onion rings?” Kaid pressed.
“Now you pushing it!” she teased. Maria glanced over her shoulder at Kaid, and Eustace. Her heart hurt a bit at the condition the male was in. She remembered when he’d been hurt in a confrontation with Bam, and at the time had not thought too much about it. But since then it turned out that Eustace wasn’t a bad male. His brother, on the other hand, was no longer using up oxygen the rest of the population needed. She’d been around Eustace a time or two when the skulk used to come into the bar from time to time. And there’d been an instance when she’d felt drawn to him, just a small bit. But it had never happened again, so she’d not thought too much of it. But now, standing in the bar facing just Eustace and Kaid, she felt it again. She also felt her beast sit up and take notice. We just feel sorry for him, she thought at her beast. Her beast looked at her and raised a single eye-ridge at her in question before lying back down in her mind to sit quietly and observe.
A few minutes later Maria came back to the table Kaid and Eustace had chosen to sit at. She sat two bottles of beer on the table. “There ya go. You boys mind if I mop real quick while the burgers and onion rings cook?” she asked.
Kaid opened his mouth to tell her to go right ahead, but Eustace spoke.
“Work last night?” he asked slowly.
Maria nodded. “Yep. And came in about an hour ago to finish up whatever we didn’t get cleaned properly when we closed up. Just not enough hands around here.” She made a show of stretching her back and rolling her shoulders. “I don’t mind though. Vince is a good male. He’s in the middle of chasing his Mate, so I don’t mind the extra right now.”
“What extra you having to do other than cleaning in the day?” Kaid asked, realizing that Vince had told her about Eustace needing a part-time job, and she was playing right into it.
“I’m usually the bartender. And I man the grill when Vince isn’t here. But lately between myself, Callie and Shirley, we’ve been having to work the door, check I.D.’s, wait tables, clean and cook, all whenever it’s needed.”
“I’m sure Vince appreciates you,” Kaid said.
“Oh, yeah. And we’re all family here. It’s just we could use another half-set of hands you know. Not enough of a job for a full-timer, but a little more than a part-timer. And they have to be of age to work here, so it’s not so easy
to find someone, ya know?”
“I can help,” Eustace said.
Maria looked at Eustace.
“If you don’t mind these,” he said slowly, indicating the braces on his legs, and his metal arm braces leaning against the chair next to him. He raised his eyes to hers, almost hesitantly, expecting her to say no.
“Really?” she asked, seemingly surprised.
Eustace nodded.
“Vince will have to give the final approval. But, I’m sure when he gets back, if you’ve fit right in and are doing a good job, he’ll have no problem with it.”
Kaid grinned. “So, he’s hired?”
“Far as I’m concerned he is,” Maria said. “Aw hell! I forgot about your burgers!” she said, rushing off to the kitchen.
Eustace smiled at Kaid and slid out of the chair he sat in. He used his arm braces to walk over to the mop bucket, then leaned them against the bar. He took the mop out of the water and fed the soft strings of the mop through the wringer, then plopped it on the floor and started mopping, using the heavy commercial grade mop stick to balance his weight on as he moved across the floor, careful not to slip and not to miss one single spot.
“Here we go!” Maria called, coming out of the kitchen with a serving tray. She stopped when she saw Eustace mopping. He’d covered half the floor already.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said, smiling warmly. “I’d already said you were hired.”
“You were cookin’, I was moppin’,” he answered in his carefully enunciated way, while he smiled at her.
“Well, thank you. Now, come eat your burger,” Maria said, placing the plates of food, bottles of ketchup and barbecue sauce beside them.
Eustace smiled at her and kept mopping. “In a minute.” Once he was done, he put the mop back in the bucket, secured his arm braces on his forearms and made his way back to the table where Kaid was very happily showing off pictures of his new son to Maria.
“He’s beautiful, Kaid!” Maria said.
“Thank you. He looks like his Mama, so he’s gonna be a heartbreaker,” Kaid answered grinning.
“I’m thinking he looks a lot like you, too. Look at that hair!” Maria said, smiling.
“Ya think?” Kaid asked, showing her the picture on his phone again. Then he turned it toward Eustace.
Eustace popped an onion ring into his mouth and looked at the picture. His grin slowly faded and was replaced with a sincere smile. Eustace nodded one single time. “You are blessed. He is a fine young man,” he said in his slow, concentrated way. “Truly blessed,” Eustace said again.
“Thank you, Eustace,” Kaid said. “Maybe you can come by and meet him once he and Delilah are all settled in.”
“I’d like to,” Eustace answered.
“Gotta get some practice in for when you have your own,” Kaid said, finally putting his phone down and taking a bite of his burger.
Eustace didn’t answer. He just shook his head a small bit, not even enough to make his hair move.
Kaid realized that Eustace didn’t think he’d ever have his own son. And honestly, he could be right. There weren’t a lot of shifters that would take on a wounded male they weren’t already mated to before he was injured. But maybe he could find a good woman, a human, who’d love him. Now was not the time to discuss it, though. Today was about getting him a job.
Maria visited with them for a while as they finished eating. Eustace had mopped the floor for her, and that was all she needed to do before she was done.
Once they were done and standing to leave, she reached for the plates, loaded them on her serving tray and started for the kitchen. “I’m really glad ya’ll stopped by today. I’m excited for the extra help.”
“What time do you need him here?” Kaid asked.
“About 6:30 in the evening. Gives us about an hour to get things set up and ready to open at 7:30. Why, you bringing him?” Then she realized she was speaking about Eustace as though he wasn’t there. Very rude. “Wow!” Maria said. “Rude, much?” she said aloud. “I’m sorry, Eustace, I didn’t mean to talk around you. Is Kaid bringing you to work?”
“I’m not sure,” Eustace said, realizing that transportation would be a problem. He didn’t want to have to rely on Kaid to bring him back and forth everyday — the man had a new baby and a wife to think of, he didn’t need to be carting Eustace around.
“I have a duplex out past the hospital. You live anywhere from there to here, I can pick you up and bring you in with me,” Maria said.
“You don’t mind?” Eustace asked.
“Why would I? I’m coming here anyway, and my passenger side seat ain’t being used for a thing other than my purse. You may have to work out an agreement with my purse, she does like her own seat, but other than that — I don’t mind at all. I’m so relieved to have an extra set of hands around here, I’d ride you to work on my bicycle if I had to.”
Eustace chuckled. “I’ll pay some gas.”
“Deal!” Maria said, shoving her finger in the air. “Tell you what; Kaid, you head on home. I’m going to show Eustace the kitchen, where we keep things and a few things about his responsibilities, then I’m headed home. I’ll drop him on my way.”
“That alright with you, Eustace?” Kaid asked.
Eustace nodded slowly. “Fine with me.”
“Come on, E’,” Maria said. “Drive safe, Kaid,” Maria called as she disappeared into the kitchen with Eustace following her.
Eustace stopped shuffling behind her and looked back at Kaid. He mouthed, “E”, and raised his eyebrows in question.
Kaid laughed. “I been called a lot worse than “E”. I’m thinking just go with it.”
Eustace shrugged and grinned, then shuffled into the kitchen to see what Maria was waiting to teach him about the bar and his duties there.
Chapter 19
It was late afternoon when Valerie’s phone rang only twice before she grabbed it up and pressed the button with a flirtatious smile on her face.
“Hello, my love,” she answered. She’d known it was Maverik because his personal ring tone was ‘Wild Thing’.
“I miss you, baby,” Maverik cooed to her.
“I miss you, too. When are you coming home?”
“On my way now.”
“How did it go? Was she angry?”
“Yes, whoooo, she was hot! But she got over it. I did the right thing. I think they’re going to be okay, in time anyway. I’ll tell you all about it, but I need you to do something for me,” Maverik said.
“Of course, what is it?” Valerie asked.
“I need you to contact Maia’s school. See if they’ll allow her to finish her last few weeks online or something. She’s agreed to stay, but she wants to graduate.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but the school is closed for Christmas break. If nothing else, we can go up there as soon as it opens again.”
“Thank you, baby. I figure we’ll get Delilah involved if we have to, and they’ll have to give in.”
Valerie laughed, “Yes, they will. When will you be home?”
“Tomorrow. I’m driving straight through. See you soon.”
“Drive safe, Maverik. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
The line disconnected, and Valerie sat back on the couch. She winced a little at the tiny twinge she felt and rubbed the lower curve of her very swollen, very tight belly with her right hand. “You better just cool your jets, little people. Nobody is coming out until Daddy gets home.”
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Natalie was happily exhausted as she clocked out for the end of her shift. She’d stayed 45 minutes over to make up for the time she’d missed this morning. She slipped her time card back into its slot and went to her locker to gather her purse and her clothes, so she could head home. She planned to stop by her rented room, get a few changes of clothes, and meet Vince back at the suite.
Natalie closed her locker and started for the exit of the nurses’ locker room. She pul
led the door opened as she pulled her phone free of her purse and switched it on. The smile on her face faded as it powered up, and she realized she didn’t have a single missed call or even a text message from Vince. She thought about it. He had dropped her off at work, and he most likely didn’t want to disrupt her day. She dropped her phone in her purse and took a step without looking up because she was zipping her purse closed.
Startled when she bumped into someone, she stepped back against the door right away. “Oh! I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Then she saw it was Dr Fuches. And he was obviously still in a snit from this morning.
“A bit distracted?” he asked.
“A little,” she admitted. She reminded herself that Dr. Fuches was a friend, and her landlord, so she chose to ignore his tone.
“I thought maybe we could get a bite to eat and talk about a few things,” he said, obviously trying to dial back his irritation a notch.
“Sure. We can do that. But tonight isn’t a good night. Can we plan that for another time?”
“I was planning it for tonight,” he said insistently.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve already got plans,” Natalie said, still trying to be polite.
“Cancel them,” he demanded.
“No. I will not cancel my plans. They were arranged before your invitation. We can talk anytime. Tonight is important to me,” Natalie explained.
“Can’t wait to hop in bed with your latest conquest, huh?” Dr. Fuches snapped.
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