A Needful Heart (4 page)

Climbing the stairs reminded her how tired
she was. She debated taking a bath but finally decided against it.
She would probably fall asleep and drown. Wouldn’t that be the
perfect end to a perfect day?

Instead she wet a washcloth, wiped her face
down and used the toilet, then went into her bedroom to find her
nightgown. The sling took forever to get off one-handed, and she
doubted she’d be able to get it on again without some major
finagling. Her bright pink, tomato-stained scrubs went into the
dirty clothes basket beside the door, and she settled her long
t-shirt over her hips. It was soft cotton and immediately made her
want to curl up in bed to sleep. But she delayed and crossed to the
window.

No lights were on in the house next door, but
that could just mean that Chuck had forgotten to pay the bill again
in his drunken stupor. Sticking her head out the window into the
moist night air, she whistled softly, then waited to see if anybody
came to the second story window directly across from her own.

There was a scrabbling in the dark below her,
and she was surprised to see Gabe in the bushes below her window.
“What are you doing down there?” she whispered at him.

Gabe glanced back at his house, as if he
expected Chuck to come running around the corner any second. “Can I
come in?” he whispered back.

Gina motioned him inside. Gabe knew where the
hidden key was. She had shown him the day she had found him huddled
under her porch in the rain. If she was around, though, he always
asked to come in.

Gina awkwardly pulled on a pair of sleep
pants then waited at the top of the stairs for him to come up. The
young boy was nine years old, but his slight form was more the size
of a seven year old. And as he slipped up the stairs in the shadows
tonight, he seemed even smaller, curled in on himself. “What’s
wrong?” she asked, as soon as he crested the stairs.

The boy hung back, afraid to leave the last
shadow to step closer to her. Gina took the step herself and rested
a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong, Little Man?”

He flung his arms around her waist and buried
his face in her T-shirt. Gina felt tears come to her eyes and
struggled to push them away. If Gabe saw her cry over him, he would
man-up and not come to her any more. As young as he was, he had an
amazing amount of pride.

That same pride made him pull away within
just a few seconds, and he avoided her eyes by looking at the
floor. Swiping at his face, he glanced back down the stairs as if
he thought somebody were after him.

“You relocked the door, right?” Gina
asked.

The boy nodded his head firmly and met her
gaze for the first time.

“Okay, then. Let’s go in your room and watch
some tube, want to?”

Once again, his bright blond head bobbed up
and down, and he allowed Gina to lead him into her spare bedroom.
It wasn’t his actually, but any time he needed to get away from the
tension in his own house, he was allowed to come here and chill
out. Gina turned on the small light beside the door and motioned to
the futon. “Park it, my man.”

Gabe crossed the room and melted onto the
mattress in a slump. Gina frowned as she retrieved the remote
control from the top of the TV. This was a little unusual, even for
him. Normally he was all tough-guy, nobody messes with me. Tonight
he seemed, well, defeated. She sat down beside him. “What’s wrong,
Gabe?”

He shrugged his shoulders and glanced up at
her. “Nothing really.” His eyes fell to her wrist on her lap and he
gasped. “What happened?” he demanded.

Gina told him about plowing into a mountain
named Matt and the resulting broken bone. His wide blue eyes barely
blinked as he listened to her story. Holding the heavy thing out,
she turned it over for his inspection. The movements hurt, but it
was more like the weight of the cast was hurting.

“Did he hurt you on purpose?” Grim resolved
tightened his young face.

“No, Gabe. Of course not. It was an
accident.”

Gabe didn’t look convinced. Of course, he
knew about ‘accidents’. His parents had died in an accident and
left him in the situation he was in now. She actually didn’t think
his situation had been much better before they’d died. Gina tried
to distract him from their troubles by pressing a button on the
remote. She flipped to Animal Planet and the popular cop show they
liked was on. “Is this okay?”

Nodding, he settled against the back of the
futon, but he reached out a hand to touch her knee. Just a
fingertip, but it was a connection. Gina rested her right arm
across the back of the couch and let her casted fingers rest in his
hair. She couldn’t move them much, but again, it was a
connection.

***

The night was long and arduous for Gina. She
just could not find a comfortable position to lie in. The drugs
helped a little bit, but there was still an ache that couldn’t be
touched. At six AM she went downstairs to get breakfast and start
the day. Gabe was gone and the door was locked, so she assumed he
had gone home. She hoped Chuck would work this weekend and the
little boy would have some peace. She hadn’t seen anything
physically wrong with the boy, but the verbal abuse seemed to be
escalating. The boy was positively needy last night, and it broke
her heart. Patrice, her friend at Children’s Services, told her
they could not technically do anything until some kind of abuse
manifested in the home. So far Chuck only screamed. And
occasionally forgot to buy food for the boy. From Patrice’s
perspective, though, any relative was better than no relative. Gina
knew better. Gabe was suffering, and she did anything she could to
help him out.

It was Saturday, so she didn’t have to go
into work, but her body didn’t know that. She had several things
she needed to do today. Retrieve her car from the office, buy
groceries she had been putting off getting for the last week, and
look at new cell phones. None of which she actually wanted to do.
Her eyes were gritty, her hair wild, and she was overall tired.

And she didn’t feel any better when Madison
stuck her head in the front door and called out a hello. Her friend
looked glorious today, long, dark hair in an artfully messy knot on
top of her head and her gray eyes twinkling with humor as she
dropped a drive-thru bag on the kitchen table. She accepted
Madison’s hug and sat across the table from her to show her the
cast.

“I swear, Gina, you could get hurt in a
padded room.”

Gina laughed because she was totally right.
“I know. At least it wasn’t my leg or my tailbone like last time.
This should be easier to deal with.”

Madison laughed at her. “Right. You’ll just
have to switch everything you’ve done right handed all your life to
your left. Easy as pie, huh?”

“Well…”

“So how did you get home? I tried to call
your cell phone but it kept ringing busy.”

“I broke my phone at the hospital. Dropped it
in the parking lot and it shattered, so I’ll have to get another
one in a couple days. And Matt Calvin drove me home.”

For several long seconds, Madison just stared
at her. “He stayed that long just to drive you home?”

Gina shrugged. “He took George home after his
check-up then came back for me. I think he feels guilty for me
getting hurt.”

“Huh. I never would have thought he’d do
something like that. He doesn’t seem the Good-Samaritan type. Too
frickin’ intimidating.” Her eyes brightened. “He does have a nice
ass, though.”

Gina knew her cheeks were turning pink when
Madison hooted and pointed a finger at her. “Uh- huh, you’ve
noticed.”

She shrugged, totally guilty. “Just last
night, actually, when he was walking out the door.”

She didn’t tell Madison that he had pretty
green eyes, or that he didn’t intimidate her like he used to.

Madison glanced at her watch and grimaced. “I
have to run, dear. I promised Slade I’d meet him for a round of
tennis.”

“Slade? His name is actually Slade?” Gina
couldn’t help but curl her lip.

Her friend nodded. “I know. Bad, huh?
Actually, I think he picked it himself. Because he’s just that
special.” Madison winked, and Gina knew the relationship was going
nowhere. Madison went through men like she did shoes, and none of
them ever seemed to work out.

They walked to the door and hugged as Madison
let herself out. “If you need anything, give me a call. Have you
talked to the boss yet?”

“No. I’ll call him this weekend.”

“Okay. I’ll check on you Monday if I don’t
see you at work.”

Gina waved her off and immediately deflated.
Madison was a ball of motion, and Gina just couldn’t keep up with
her today like she normally did. She walked back into the kitchen
and wrinkled her nose at the take-out bag. It turned her stomach to
even smell it. She tossed in into the fridge.

Maybe a shower would wake her up. But even
that was going to be a hassle. She dug under the kitchen sink for a
trash bag and wound the thing around her cast. She secured the
excess with a heavy duty rubber band. Twisting and tugging, she
managed to get the thing pretty tightly secured. Then realized she
probably should have put the trash bag on
after
she had
gotten undressed.

Gina clomped up the stairs and decided
everything in town could wait until tomorrow. Tiredness dragged her
down. The car wasn’t going anywhere, and there were security
cameras mounted in the lot, so she doubted anything would happen to
it. She would get her shower done and lay down for a nap. Hell, she
thought, as she crested the top of the stairs, panting. Maybe she
would nap first. Stripping off the bag and rubber band, she fell
across the mattress and pulled the covers over top of herself.

Several hours later, she was downstairs
loading her washer when somebody rang her front door bell. It
wouldn’t be Gabe, because he usually knocked quietly on the back
door when he knew she was home, then let himself in. Smoothing her
hair behind her headband, she navigated through the house.

She certainly didn’t expect to see Matt when
she opened the door. The brilliant burst of happiness at the sight
of his big, bulky body and cagey eyes surprised her with its
intensity. “Matt! What are you doing here?”

“I, uh, brought your car for you.”

Gina frowned and looked at her little
driveway beside her house. Well, damn, it
was
there. The big
dually was backed in front of it and there was a car dolly on the
back. Her little Toyota was dwarfed by the big truck, and Gina
thought Matt probably could have picked the thing up and put it in
the bed of the pick-up himself. She laughed at the imagery and
turned back to Matt.

“I can’t believe you did that. I was going to
go get it tomorrow. How did you get inside it?”

A scraped hand rubbed over his bristly chin.
“Well, you don’t really need to get inside when you haul it on a
dolly like that. I just strapped up your front tires and went.”

Gina felt warmth spread in her chest at his
actions. That was so sweet. “Matt, thank you so much. That is so
far beyond being nice. You didn’t have to do that.”

His big feet shifted on the boards of the
porch, and he settled his thumbs into the corners of his hip
pockets. Pale, grey-green eyes flashed up to meet her own. “I know,
but I didn’t think you’d feel like going to do it in the next
couple of days. Broken bones ache pretty fierce when they’re first
broken.”

Gina nodded her head in agreement. Stepping
back, she held the front door open for him. “Please, come in. Can I
get you a cup of coffee?”

Matt stepped inside, careful not to bump
against her. He crossed to stand at the base of the stairs and
shoved his hands into his hip pockets. Today he was wearing a dark
blue Carhart t-shirt that strained across his body and well-worn,
baggy carpenter jeans. The same faded blue ball cap was on his
head. Gina thought he looked pretty darn cute.

“No, I don’t need coffee. I, uh, won’t be
staying long.”

Gina was disappointed, and she knew it showed
on her face. “Are you sure? I can throw us together some lunch or
something.”

Matt shook his head and reached deep into his
right pocket. For several seconds he played with something in his
hand before he finally pulled it out and shoved it at her.

Gina reached out to take the red thing from
him.

“My phone?” she gasped. She looked at the
device in disbelief. It had been shattered. The screen cracked.
“How did you do this?”

Matt shifted on his big feet and glanced at
her. “I have a similar phone, so I took it in and they replaced it.
Switched your SIM card. You should be ready to go, but you need to
try it to make sure.”

She touched the screen and all her contacts
came up. Tears came to her eyes, and she didn’t try to hide them.
“You did this for me?”

Matt felt like he was falling as he looked at
her blue eyes all awash in tears again, but for a good reason this
time. He shrugged uncomfortably. Maybe he should have just left it
on the car seat or something. No, he did right by bringing it to
her. If this happiness shining in her face was the last thing he
saw before he left, it would be enough.

When Gina stepped forward and wrapped her
arms around him, resting her curly head against his chest, Matt was
floored. And humbled. And shamed. She was beautiful, and sweet, and
had more friends than he had nails in his garage, and she was
wrapped around him like he meant something to her. For the briefest
second he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed, then stepped
back. Or tried to step back. With his feet already up against the
bottom stair, he couldn’t get them untangled fast enough from hers.
He felt his weight shift and knew he wouldn’t be able to keep them
upright. Swinging his right arm out to break their fall, he
encountered the base post of the banister. Clenching fiercely, his
muscles strained as he tried to keep them both vertical.