Healing His Heart Page 8

  The more I worked, the less my friends needed me, but then they started inviting me to dinners, get-togethers. I declined all of them.

  Corey was the biggest nuisance after the first week. He kept stopping by, wanting to talk, asking me to go shopping or get out of the house.

  Turned him down, too. I just worked, rested, and played with Harry. I didn't have any seizures or break-ins. Patrick couldn't have been the cause of my seizures, but the more time went by without any break-ins, the more I suspected he had something to do with them.

  Even thinking that, I missed having him around. I missed his laugh, and the way he called me out on my shit. And his cleaning. I hadn't had to lift a finger to clean my own apartment until he left. That was selfish of me, but hell, it had been nice.

  Daisy made me take a day off, two weeks after Patrick left, and I cleaned the whole apartment, threw the ball for Harry more times than I could count, and still felt restless.

  When Corey texted and asked me to go with him to Bend to shop for a birthday present for Brady, I said yes.

  He sent back a gif of a woman cheering, so apparently he was excited for me to go with him. I told him to give me half an hour and hopped in the shower. I dressed quickly, put Harry's service dog vest on, and headed down the stairs to wait for him. He pulled up in no time.

  "You ready?" Corey called through the open window.

  I walked to the car faster than I would've thought possible a few weeks before.

  "I'm so excited you're coming," he said as I let Harry in. "And you, too, Harry."

  Harry woofed at him, recognizing him from the many times Corey had stopped by, dropped in, or was in the neighborhood.

  "Thanks for keeping me from slipping into sadness the past two weeks," I said as he pulled out onto Main Street.

  "So, you noticed what we were doing, did you?"

  Laughing, I shook my head at him. "You guys were super obvious. Discretion doesn't seem to be your strong suits."

  "Yeah," he glanced at me and smiled. "We may have had a group text going."

  I didn't mind. I would've done the same for any of them. "Well, you can stop now. I miss Patrick. A lot. A whole lot. More than I ever would've imagined. But he lied to me."

  "So, I haven't gotten the story from you. I heard Patrick's side. What happened?"

  "How did you hear Patrick's side?" I asked, trying not to get pissed before I heard the story.

  "Brady found him almost out of town, pulled over on the shoulder, bawling his eyes out the day you two split up."

  The idea that he'd been crying over me sent stabs of pain to my heart. "He lied. He was only supposed to be my nurse six hours a day. Not twenty-four. And his assignment ended with me, and he told me it had been extended another week." I crossed my arms in front of my chest in indignation.

  "Right. That meshes with what he told Brady. What was his reasoning?"

  "I don't have the first clue." I held my hands out, still shocked at the whole thing. "Why? What did he gain from staying with me?"

  "Well, have you considered maybe his feelings for you were pure and real, and he didn't want to leave you alone, sick, weak, and recovering?"

  "Then why not tell me the truth?"

  "What would you have done?"

  I looked out the window at the passing scenery as we drove toward Bend. The trees hadn't started changing yet, but they would be very soon. The nights had begun to get more crisp, and that always brought the fall colors. "I would've told him no, that I couldn't accept his help for free and couldn't afford to pay him."

  "Maybe he knew that."

  Even if he did, the lie was big. It was creepy. "I don't know. Let's stop talking about it. How are you and Brady doing?"

  Corey blushed. "Good. I can't believe how different my life is." He'd told me his story. He'd had a rough past. "What a difference a few good friends make."

  "That's true. It's part of the reason I never left Three Lakes." I adjusted the way I sat in his seat. Since being hit, my hips got sore easily and I couldn't stay in the same position for long. "There aren't a lot of prospective partners there, but everyone has been pretty great. My family, close friends. I don't want to leave them."

  He grunted. "Don't take stuff like that for granted. It's not worth the loneliness."

  Corey pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall. "What are you looking for, anyway?"

  "I'll know it when I see it," he said with a frown. "I hope. But it's got to be perfect, so if you see anything that screams Brady at you, tell me."

  "Well, as long as we go to smaller stores and rest often, I'm game to look."

  We went in a boutique gift shop, nothing more than kitschy knick-knacks. "This isn't it," I said as soon as we walked in the door.

  Corey laughed. "You're right. Come on." He turned, and Harry followed him out the door, leading me around.

  The next shop down was antiques. "Maybe," I said. "I haven't been over in ages. Didn't he decorate in a country chic sort of motif?"

  "Yeah, he did." Corey roamed around, studying furniture.

  Eventually, we left there, too.

  A bench outside the antique store called my name. "I'm going to sit a minute while you go in the next one." I looked up at the sign. "Leather. You might find something good in there." Harry and I rested while Corey looked.

  He didn't find anything, but it gave me time to rest. The next few shops weren't right at all, but a chest in the window of a secondhand store caught his eye. "We've been talking about having a place to store throw blankets."

  "Have a lot of throw blankets, do you?" I walked in with him. Secondhand shops had great potential. I loved looking around in them.

  Nothing caught my eye while he bought the trunk. An employee helped him load it in the back of his car. "Thanks," I said. "It would've been embarrassing to try to pick that thing up and have it fall on my toe or something."

  "No problem. Wanna get a bite to eat before we go home?"

  "Sure." We headed to eat at a nice deli nearby, then home. Despite my efforts to keep the conversation on neutral topics, it ended up back on Patrick.

  Corey slowed to go around a big curve in the mountainous road between Bend and Three Lakes. "So, I think you should talk to Patrick."

  "Oh, come on, Corey."

  "Give him a chance to explain now that you've both calmed down. Just hear him out."

  I sighed and nodded my head. "Okay. I'll think about calling him."

  I noticed Corey's hands tighten on the steering wheel. "What's wrong?"

  He glanced in the rearview mirror. "This car is following me. Close. But he's wearing sunglasses and a hat. I can't see if it's John."

  "Surely he wouldn't try to bother you after all this time."

  "I can't be sure of what John would do at all. But whoever it is, he's making me really nervous."

  Corey sped up, trying to get away. "He's staying right on my ass."

  "Is there somewhere we can pull onto a less treacherous road?" I knew the answer, though. This stretch of road had no pull-offs, just the mountain on one side and huge ravines on the other.

  "Not that I recall," Corey said as he gripped the steering wheel and leaned forward, totally focusing on his driving.

  "Me, either." I turned in my seat to try to get a look at the guy, but he was pretty covered up. "It's a hoodie, not a hat."

  "Ah. I can't see it in the rear."

  We made it around a couple more curves before he tapped Corey's bumper. Corey let out a little whimper and corrected the swerve the tap had put him into. "Shit. It's got to be John. Nobody else would do this."

  "Maybe it's whoever has been breaking into my apartment."

  "The likelihood is slim, considering-" He was cut off by another hit to the bumper. I watched his foot go between the brake and gas, trying to keep the car straight. Suddenly, the car behind us sped up, trying to pull beside us. As the mountain gave way to our right and a ravine opened up, he rammed us, slamming us into the guardrail. We both
screamed, Corey clutching the wheel and me grabbing the oh shit handle.

  The only thing that saved our asses was a car coming in the opposite direction. The crazy fucker behind us had to slam on the brakes and get behind us again.

  Corey floored it, taking the curves far too fast. A few times, I would've sworn we were on two wheels. "I haven't been driving long enough for this," he screeched as we went around another curve at a ridiculous speed, staying barely ahead of the car behind us.

  "We're almost to the gas station," I said, praying that we'd make it, and that there'd be at least a few cars in the lot. If there were, maybe the guy behind us would keep on driving.

  The station came into view, and Corey floored it. Slamming on the brakes at the last second, he squealed into their parking lot, which was thankfully busy. We turned in our seats to see the sedan, black with tinted windows, drive past at top speed. Corey checked his phone. "No signal."

  We sat and breathed for a few seconds, then Corey started. "We gotta call the cops. Maybe they can still catch him." He lurched out of the car and into the station.

  I followed at a slower pace, exhausted after the massive adrenaline rush and crash. "Come on, Harry." The fool dog had slept through the whole thing.

  Corey already had the phone from the clerk, talking into the receiver. "Black sedan. Headed toward Three Lakes."

  A few seconds later, he hung up, then dialed Brady. I walked over to the window, watching to see if the car came back.

  "The state police and Brady are on their way." He put his arm around my shoulders. "You okay?"

  I nodded, patting his hand on my arm. "I'm fine. Just overly tired now."

  "Yeah, I know what you mean. We'll get a police escort home, and I'll have them drive us to your place first."

  "Thanks," I said.

  Brady fawned over us, making a big fuss and walking around all puffed up. We answered questions to the state police, then Brady drove us home after calling Ian to come pick Corey's car up. "It's not that damaged," Corey protested. "Not so bad I can't drive it."

  "It's evidence." Brady wouldn't hear another word about it. I didn't care who drove me home, as long as I got there safely.

  14

  Patrick

  Typing in the orders the doctor left, I tried not to let my mind stray to Tyler. Again. We’d been apart for two weeks, and not a day had gone by that I hadn’t thought about him, dreamed about him, smelled his scent in passing.

  I was haunted by Tyler Green, and nothing I did made him go away, or made my memory of him fade.

  My job at the hospital was waiting on me, and they hired me back immediately, but unfortunately, it was nights. I took it, no matter the shift, because if they caught wind of my monumental mistake with Tyler, I’d never find work in the healthcare field again. I only hoped my father didn’t hear of it.

  "Hey, Patrick." I looked up to see Jeremy, the receptionist from the home health company, standing at my station.

  "Hey, Jeremy, how's it going?"

  As luck had it, I'd been assigned to the same floor Jeremy had taken a ward clerk position on. The only good thing was he worked days, and I worked nights, so we didn't cross paths all that often.

  "Not too bad." He leaned against my medical cart that housed all the supplies I needed to care for my patients, and gave me a smile.

  I sighed, knowing exactly what was coming. He'd asked me out every day since I started back. "Jeremy, don't you know why I left home health?"

  Nodding, he looked down and fiddled with a pad of paper on my cart. "I do."

  "Then why do you keep asking me out?" I'd had enough of his pushing.

  "Because I think you're great. And I think you did what you did from a good place." He looked up from his fiddling and met my gaze. "I want to get to know you better."

  I couldn't believe what he said. He knew how nuts I was, but still wanted a date.

  "I think you'd be able to move on if you have a distraction." Looking around the quiet hall, he lowered his voice. "I'm not asking you to bed. I'm asking you to give me a shot. Let's go bowling and grab a slice of pizza."

  I'd never been bowling in my whole life and had zero intention of starting now. "Okay. I'll go on a date with you. But I'm not going bowling, and if I want a slice of pizza, I'll order it at home, in my jammies, while I watch soap operas."

  Jeremy burst out laughing and nodded. "Fair enough. I'll come up with something less rowdy."

  Nodding, I gave him a smile. "Okay. I'm off tonight. Will that work for you?"

  "Yeah. Can I pick you up?"

  "I'll meet you here, we can leave my car in the lot."

  He smiled and walked toward his station with a spring in his step.

  I should've felt the same way, excited and ready for a new possible relationship, but instead, I felt like I was cheating on Tyler.

  We were broken up. There was no relationship with Tyler to cheat on. If I was ever going to move on, I had to start somewhere.

  After I finished my paperwork, I stopped by and said bye to Jeremy. "See you tonight. Eight?"

  He had a phone to his ear, but he smiled and nodded, waving to me as he took a message.

  I went straight to my car and home. The forty-minute drive was killing me. I knew they had it much worse in other parts of the city, but I'd gotten totally spoiled in the short time I didn't have to do it.

  As I did most mornings, I stopped in town, pulling in the gas station to buy a pack of gum or soda. Anything to give me a valid excuse to be there. Back out in my car, I opened my gum slowly and looked across the street at the diner. I never saw Tyler, hadn't in any of the times I'd driven by. I couldn't stop myself from being nearby. Eventually, I knew I'd be able to let go, but it was still too fresh.

  Maybe my time with Jeremy would be a good distraction and I'd be able to find a place in myself to move forward.

  When I got home, I showered the day off, closed my curtains, and lay down. I hadn't changed my sheets since Tyler had slept on them, though his scent was long gone. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. In some ways, it felt like he'd died.

  I fell asleep fast, Tyler on my mind, as always.

  When I woke, I stood and stared at the bed and considered my evening. I was going out with an attractive man, who had a good job, and wanted to spend time with me. Before I changed my mind, I stripped my bed, removing the sheets and all the pillowcases. Carrying them to the laundry room, I stuffed them in the washer and turned it on.

  As soon as the water hit the fabric, I felt like a load had been lifted from my shoulders. Sobbing, I sank to the floor and cried, again. This time, the tears felt less like loss and sorrow, and more like letting go. Cleansing.

  Staggering up off the floor, I went straight for the shower so the water could wash away my tears.

  I didn't put on anything special for my date. Just jeans and a polo shirt. As I pulled to the end of my street, I had a choice. I could turn right and drive past Tyler's, hoping for a glimpse of him, or I could go left and head straight into Bend to meet Jeremy.

  I turned left, letting out a long, slow breath. My heart pounded and ached, but my good sense wouldn't let me keep on pining after a man that wanted nothing to do with me.

  Jeremy waited on me at the front corner of the employee parking lot. I parked beside him and got out. "Hey," I called. "You ready?"

  "Absolutely. You said no bowling, but how do you feel about putt-putt?"

  I laughed as I walked past him. He held the car door open for me. "I guess I can live with that."

  He had a decent car, nothing fancy, but it was clean, which was always a good sign to me.

  We talked about little nothings on the way to the mini golf course. Our favorite colors, favorite foods. What movies we'd seen.

  As I selected a putter and we walked out on to the green, I realized the smile on my face was forced. I was having fun, but I couldn't get my full enthusiasm up. All I could think about was how much more fun I'd be having with Tyler.

&nb
sp; I couldn't even give Jeremy a chance. I threw myself into the date, laughing at his jokes, cracking a few of my own. Before I knew it, we'd finished our last round of golf and turned in our clubs.

  "Now, how does a steak sound for dinner?" Jeremy asked as he opened my car door.

  "Sounds great."

  I tried to think of something to talk about as we drove to the steakhouse, but unfortunately for my heart, we passed the Chinese restaurant I'd gotten takeout from the day it all came tumbling down around my ears.

  "You okay?" Jeremy asked.

  "I'm sorry, I got a little lost in thought. Did you say something?" I knew he'd asked me a question, but couldn't figure out what it had been.

  "I asked how you like your steak." He smiled and then focused on the road again as we turned into the parking lot of the steakhouse. The lot was full, and it took a minute to find a parking spot.

  "Medium," I replied. "You?"

  "I'm a rare man. At least you're not one of those well-done heathens," he joked.

  I laughed at the appropriate time, and studied his profile while he pulled into a spot. There was no reason I shouldn't be attracted to him, yet I couldn't muster up one butterfly in my stomach.

  Dinner turned awkward. "Patrick, I think I was wrong."

  I chewed the last bite of my steak before answering. "Oh? About what?"

  "You're not ready."

  Hanging my head, I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. "Am I that obvious?"

  "Yeah. Listen, take the pressure off the rest of the evening, okay? This is officially not a date. It's two friends enjoying an evening together and talking. Tell me about this one that got away."

  "Tyler?" I shook my head. "I don't want to talk about him."

  "Okay. I'll tell you about my last boyfriend."

  He'd obviously been broken up long enough to be able to joke about it, because he told me a hilarious story about trying to win him back with a mix tape and bad timing. "So, anyway, whatever you do, make sure he's not on a date with his new boyfriend when you try to win him back."