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I’d developed a reputation around there as someone not to cross, thanks to following in his footsteps as I did. Though it made my predecessor feel like a God to intimidate everyone under him, it only made me feel like a dick the older I got, if I’m honest.
I didn’t feel good treating these folks the way I did. Anything I said in my defense would only fall on deaf ears, though, so I avoided them all and went straight for the back stairs.
Twice as on edge as usual for me, I seriously worried I might just keel over from a heart attack on my way across the parking lot.
Like two blinking red stop lights telling me to turn back and check myself in for the night, thumping in my temples, pulsing spots in my eyes, and that sharp pain to the left of the center of my chest warned me I was pushing myself to the limit.
Not that the stress of trying to pull off that house maneuver, the lack of sleep, and the complete disasters the emergency room kept sending me weren’t hard enough on my brain. But the constant voicemails and text messages from my mother added a whole other level of tension that had my head about to pop right off my body.
I got in my truck and pulled her lip balm from my chest pocket, setting it back in the dash cut-out to keep me company for the ride home. Sniffing the cherry-scented dollar store tube of goo was all that got me through my day, like a magic elixir that soothed my pain for a few moments.
Only a few miles separated my house from work. So, by the time I got the air conditioner cold enough to ease the ringing in my ears and the pounding in my brain, I was already turning into my driveway.
Waiting inside the right garage door, Faith’s little black car had its back door open.
A single bag sat on the floor, and I grabbed it on my way inside.
Peeking down at her brand-new soaps and lotions as I walked through the mudroom, I jerked my eyes at myself. “That’s a good sign, I guess.” I tended to hallucinate when I was tired, so I gave the shopping bag dangling from my finger another look when I got into the kitchen and didn’t find Faith anywhere. “Baby, where are you?”
From somewhere under the floorboards, her muffled voice answered me. “I’m folding clothes. Be up in a few.”
Like she might see me doing it, I lifted the bag in front of me slightly. “You left your car door open, so I grabbed the stuff from the back. You want me to put it away or what?”
The dryer buzzed, and I heard her scoffing at herself from the other side of the staircase. “Gosh. I’m such an airhead today. You can leave it by the sink, and I’ll take care of it.”
Even though I left it in shambles this morning, the bed was perfectly made, complete with about a dozen more pillows than we needed this time. But it was the black and white polka-dotted suitcase on top that made my heart skip.
Since it was already unzipped, I flipped the top back and went through the stack of clothes she’d brought.
Sliding on the bathroom light switch, I found all the other things she hadn’t put away yet and pushed them aside to set down the bag.
The basement door shut, and she came around the corner, motioning to the cupboard beside the tub. “You mind opening that for me?” The tall white cabinet door swung back to me, and she pushed in two stacks of fluffy white towels. “Thanks.”
Her finger wiggled into my scrub top and pulled me to her mouth. “You scared the bejeezus out of me. I wasn’t expecting you to be home so soon.”
Softer than the furry gray blanket I tossed and turned under all night, her lips squished under mine when I kissed her. “Doctor Creech came in a little early to get his yearly education out of the way. So, he told me to take a hike.”
She let me go, and I motioned to everything with my eyes as I sat back on the toilet lid. “This can’t be all your stuff.”
Jerking her shoulder a little, she pulled the medicine cabinet open between us. “I had about a hundred boxes waiting on me on the kitchen table when I got to Dad’s. So, I’ll have to go back after work for the next few days to finish up moving the rest of my crap.” She started putting all her things in the cabinet and snapped her fingers at me. “By the way, I couldn’t figure out which bin in the garage had all my cooking stuff in it. So, I got a couple of Greek salads and a six-pack in the fridge for dinner instead.”
I rubbed my hands together, still trying to work away the pins and needles sensation as my blood pressure slowly came down just having her here. “I spoke to the lender about the changes. He sent over a link for an application you can fill out and a list of stuff he’ll need from you.”
Until she spun around to face me, the excitement in her eyes twinkling back at me when she smiled, I wasn’t convinced she really wanted this. “Awesome. I don’t have any patients until late morning tomorrow. So, I’ll do it as soon as I get to work. I promise.”
Stealing one of my hands away, she backed toward the door and pulled on my fingers. “So, let’s go eat.” Clasping her arms around me, she rocked back and forth, letting herself sway with every step I took. “Then we can fill up that big-ass bathtub to celebrate.” As soon as she ripped my ball cap from my head, she seemed to take that headache I had all day with it. “Because I feel like getting a little dirty before we go to bed.”
I shook my head back at her, jerking her to my chest again. “I’m not hungry yet.” She could take me from the edge of sanity to cloud nine in a heartbeat, stomping out every pain in me as her soft breasts peeked up at me from the top of her shirt. “But I’m sure as hell ready to get dirty with you.”
No more crawling through windows, wondering where she was, or worrying about our parents walking in on us anymore. After twenty-three years, I finally had Faith Bennett all to myself.
42
Stamp of Approval
Dominic
My father was the type of person you wanted by your side when you found yourself needing someone to get you out of trouble, for sure. It wasn’t some kind of principle he stood on or anything. He was an egomaniac in it for the glory of being the highest-paid lawyer in his firm and never losing a case. But all that dedication to his social status got him was a massive stroke at fifty and a son he barely even knew.
