“When will you meet him?”
“Well, we’ve been emailing back and forth already, and he knows that I’ve got a few more months in here yet, but I’m hopeful.”
“So—” and she abruptly stopped, looking embarrassed.
He looked at her, leaned across, and covered her hand with his. “So … what does that mean? Is there something you want to ask me?”
She sighed. “I guess I’m asking,” she said, “if you’ll be staying in town then.”
“Well, that was always the intention,” he said. He watched as a tiny smile kicked up at the corner of her mouth. He sat back. “I guess I never said that out loud, did I?”
She shook her head. “I have to admit that I was worried,” she confessed.
“Gunner’s out of Houston, but he wants to set up a Dallas office.” Keith glanced around at all the people seated around them. “You know what? It would be really nice if we could talk somewhere with some privacy for a change.”
“Well, tomorrow is Friday,” she said. “How would you feel about a picnic?”
He looked at her in delight.
“If you can walk out to the animals, that is.”
“I’ll make it,” he said. “Even if I have to bring the wheelchair, I’ll make it.”
And, with that, they heard her name called out from the kitchen. She smiled, lifted her empty plate, and said, “Guess I’ve got to go.”
“Tomorrow then?”
“Tomorrow,” she said with a laugh, then headed back to the kitchen.
He sat here with a silly smile on his face and finished off his plate. Dennis appeared almost immediately. Keith looked up, smiled, and said, “That was the best fish and chips I’ve ever had.”
“Well, it was made with love,” Dennis said, “so it should have been.”
Once he was gone, his words resonated deep inside Keith. Because that’s where they were heading. He really cared about her, and, if she cared about him like Dennis just implied, maybe, just maybe, Keith would be the luckiest man in the world. He understood more about what Iain had said earlier because, if Keith had that relationship with Ilse to look forward to, then he also wanted to make sure that he was as strong and as fit and as healthy as he could possibly be. He didn’t want his health problems to be any more burdensome than they absolutely had to be. Because that burden would fall on her as well.
And when Keith sought out Shane at the gym later that afternoon, Shane looked up and frowned at him. “What do you want?”
“I want another session.”
“What?”
“So, you’re right,” he said. “I was cheating myself. I hadn’t realized it, but now I do.” He took a deep breath. “I have something in my future that I really, really, really want to be my best for. And, for that, I need to work harder.”
Shane stared at him, and then he started to laugh. “Ilse, by any chance?”
Keith shoved his hands in his pockets and said, “Maybe.”
“I’m all for having a great relationship as a motivator,” Shane said. “God knows I’ve seen that happen and work time and time again. But what I can’t have is you doing this work for her and not for yourself.”
“It’s not just for her,” he said. “It’s for me, so I can be the best I can be with her.”
Shane pondered it for a moment and then gave a clipped nod. “How are you feeling?”
“Underworked,” he said.
Shane hopped to his feet, laughing. “You’ll regret those words. Come on. Let’s go.”
Chapter 15
The next morning Ilse was singing and dancing in the kitchen, having such a hard time containing her joy. The closer it got to lunchtime, the quieter she became. When she started packing up the picnic basket, Dennis came over and double-checked to make sure she had what she needed. He added a bottle of wine and said, “I think you should take two.”
“Two baskets? Isn’t that overkill?”
He brought over a second basket, quickly repacked it with a blanket on the bottom, then added the wine and wineglasses. In the other basket, he packed up the food. “There.”
She looked at it and then at him. “You’ve done this a time or two.”
He grinned and said, “I’m starting to feel a bit like a matchmaker in this place.”
She laughed. “If it works, I’m all for it.” She kept checking the clock.
“Did you set up a time?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Well, that was foolish,” he said. “Now you’ll just keep waiting.”
“I know,” she said, “and it sucks. Aren’t you supposed to be doling out lunch?”
“I am,” he said, and he disappeared to help.
As she sat here, she waited and waited and waited.
Dennis poked his head around the corner. “Still no sign of him out here. Why don’t you go to his room?”
She frowned.
He shook his head and said, “Remember the benefits of actual communication?”
She nodded, then slipped out the side door and walked toward his room. She knocked on the door, and he called out to come in. When she stepped inside, he sat there, on the bed, rubbing his face. He looked like he’d just woken up.
He looked at her and smiled. “I’m so sorry. I fell asleep.”
Immediately her heart calmed down. “That’s fine,” she said. “Are you still up for a picnic?”
He looked at her in surprise. “Absolutely. Do we have time?”
“I do if you do.”
He checked his schedule, nodding, and said, “I’ve got an hour and a half until my next appointment,” he said, “but I am tired, so I’ll definitely take the wheelchair.” He hopped to his feet, grabbed his crutches, and went to the bathroom. When he came back out, he put the crutches down on the bed and grabbed the wheelchair. “Do you mind?”
“I’ll never mind if you use a wheelchair or crutches,” she said.
He nodded. “I’m grateful for that too.”
They headed out, and she said, “Let’s take the elevator.”
“Where’s the lunch?” he asked.
“I’ll be right back,” she said with a smile, and she returned to the kitchen, grabbed the baskets, and rejoined him.
When he saw her and both baskets, he said, “Wow, good thing I’m hungry.”
“It is, indeed,” she said, laughing. She gently put one of the baskets on his lap. “You can carry that one.”
He chuckled, and they made their way past the vet clinic and out to the large wide path. She walked beside him as he slowly pushed the wheelchair down the heavily packed gravel walkway. When they got to where the horses were, she wandered around, looking for a spot, then pointed to a nice little low spot over on the left, near the paddock. “What about there?”
Just then, several of the horses came over to greet them. She put the baskets down, opened up the one with the blanket, spread it out, and brought out the wine. Setting the basket to the side, she walked down a few feet to the animals and spent a few moments cuddling them. When she looked over, Keith was at the fence beside her. He was scratching Midnight’s beautiful long nose.