I tried not to laugh. Hand to God, I tried. I failed. It came out my nose with a distinctive honk. I clapped my hand over my mouth to try to contain it, but how could I not laugh? Her chagrined expression was just too much. It had been so long since I’d had a good belly laugh that the sound I made into my hand was that of a barking dog, and what was worse, I couldn’t stop.
“Go ahead,” she said. “Let it out. You don’t want to strain yourself by trying to keep it in.”
The harder I tried to get it together, the worse the laughing fit became. Finally I just gave in. I laughed until I cried, actual tears. When I finally caught my breath and gave my abs a rest, I asked, “What about your other ex? No surprise second proposals there?”
“No, thank goodness. Soph calls him the ‘big disappointment,’ or the ‘BD’ for short, so that’s about all you need to know there.”
I chuckled. Her eyes sparkled at me, and I knew it had been her intention to make me laugh. As I took in her big brown eyes and delicate features, I actually felt sorry for her ex-husbands. “It seems to me, any man stupid enough to lose you is going to spend the rest of his life learning exactly what disappointment is.”
A faint blush swept across her cheeks, and again I was one hundred percent beguiled. If I were a different man in a different circumstance, I would make it my mission to cause this woman to blush at every possible opportunity, preferably with no clothes on. I gave myself a mental shake. There really wasn’t much point in going there. I tried not to feel bitter about it and mostly succeeded.
“So this woman,” she said. “If she’s not an ex, then who is she?”
I thought about telling her, and for one brief moment, the idea of unburdening myself to her, telling her about me and Lexi and our parents and all of it, was so tempting, I felt my mouth open with the words right there. Instead, I said, “She’s someone I knew very well a long time ago, but we drifted apart over the years. She’s back in town now and I . . .”
“And you want to help her out but maintain some distance.” She finished my sentence for me when I paused for a beat too long.
“Exactly.” My gaze met and held hers. Much to my relief, there was no pity in her expression, no judgment, just acceptance. No wonder her first ex had wanted her back. Annabelle Martin was a rare and exotic bird.
“And what will I be designing?” she asked.
“Lexi Brewer is breaking ground on a net-zero housing development in the middle of Phoenix, and she will want you to design every bit of the identity, logo, advertising, etc., attached to it. The media is going to go bananas over this project, which I am quite certain is going to garner national attention.”
Her eyes went wide. “That’s huge.”
“As I said.”
One corner of her mouth turned up. “This would make me look really, really good.”
“And I’m sure you’ll do the same at the gala for me.” I held out my hand. “Deal?”
She studied me for a second as if she was looking for the fine print, the hidden warnings, the buried clauses. Then she reached across the space between our chairs and took my hand in hers. So impulsive! The skin-to-skin contact sent a thrum of awareness through me. It occurred to me in that moment that Annabelle Martin was much more dangerous than I’d realized.
“Deal,” she said.
* * *
“Are you sure?” Jackson stared at me as if I’d announced I was planning to skydive without a parachute.
“Yes,” I said. It had taken me two days to get the nerve up to do this thing, and my anxiety was making my impatience razor thin and just as cutting.
“Okay, I don’t want to discourage you in any way, but you haven’t left the house, other than to go to the doctor, in over nine months,” he persisted. As if I wasn’t painfully aware of this fact myself.
“Yeah, well, Lexi isn’t taking my calls, so I have no choice,” I said. “I’m going.”
“To her office on the jobsite,” he clarified.
“Did I stutter?” I asked.
Jackson shook his head. Good thing the man had a hide like a rhinoceros and was virtually impossible to insult. “Okay, I’ll bring the car around front.”
“Thanks,” I said. I made it short, because, in truth, I was trying not to freak out, and even thinking about being out there in the world where anything could happen—okay, a stroke, a massive you’re-now-a-potato stroke, could happen and I might not be able to get the care I needed in time—made me feel levels of discomfort found only at a proctologist’s office.
Jackson strode down the hallway, leaving me to ponder possible death or worse in his wake. Always a good time.
Lupita arrived with a water bottle and that indefinable air that everything was going to be okay. In the days following my stroke, she’d been there in the hospital advocating for the best care for me. She’d never left my side, and I’d never forgotten how reassuring it was to wake up and find her there, day or night. I didn’t know when I’d hired her and Juan that she would come to mean so much to me, but she had. Lupita was the only person on earth who could mother me and I accepted it. I knew her concern was genuine, so I believed her when she reassured me that all would be well.
“You’re doing the right thing, Nick,” she said. She straightened the collar of my shirt and smoothed the fabric on my shoulders. “Family is the most important thing, and your sister needs you.”
I glanced down at her and nodded. She was right, I knew that. It was why I was going on this fool’s errand for a sister who suddenly wouldn’t take my calls. Stubborn brat. Sure, I hadn’t acknowledged any of her overtures, and it had likely hurt her feelings. Okay, I’d been a total jerk and I was sure she was paying me back, so mature, but she could have saved us both a lot of trouble if she’d answered any of my calls over the past couple of days.
Lupita stood beside me as I leaned against the wall, trying not to obsess about every little twinge in my leg. I am not going to collapse, I kept repeating in my head like a mantra. I began to sweat and my heart was racing. Somehow I had to get through this meeting without Lexi catching on to my true condition. Sure, it was a pride thing, and too much pride was bad, but when I’d been scrambling to survive on my own in the city, not even a legal adult yet, my pride had been the one thing that kept me going.
Jackson pulled up and I nodded at Lupita, hoping the next time I saw her, I was still walking under my own power. I climbed into the passenger’s seat, stored my water in the cup holder, and buckled up. I had left my house a million times to go to the doctor. Surely this would not be that different, or so I tried to tell my racing heart.