Wild Heart (Viper's Heart Duet Book 2) (13 page)

“That’s good. I guess it frees up some time for you to help take care of him.” She pointed a finger toward the ceiling.

“It does. I’m just worried about the kids.” I grabbed a handful of Cheetos from the bag and put them in front of me.

“The kids? Why?” She popped a Cheeto in her mouth and crunched it loudly.

“Well, the last couple of weeks we’ve been doing a lot of driving back and forth to Gam’s house, and now we’re driving Viper everywhere.” I glanced down at the island and picked at the corner of a napkin that was sitting there. “A couple days ago we went to Kacie’s and he was
so
excited to play with her kids. He still has preschool a couple days a week, and that’s great, but he just wants to play.”

“Oh! Oh!” Jodi perked up and held her hand over her mouth, chewing as fast as she could. “Sorry, I got excited. Get this! Vince has a buddy who just rented the house across the street from us . . . and he has a son!”

“Seriously? How old?”

She pinched one eye shut and looked up in the air. “I don’t know, I have to ask, but I think he’s around Matthew’s age. He’s not quite in school yet either.”

“Really?” Excitement shot through me. “You have to find out details for me. That would be awesome!”

“I’ll ask Vince tonight. I’ve never met the guy, but I think he works with him or something. Oh my God, take these away from me before I eat all of them.” She pushed the bag across the island.

“You and me both. I swear I’ve become an emotional eater lately. That’s
all
I’ve been doing.” I grabbed a few more Cheetos and set them in front of me before I rolled the top of the bag down and put it back in the pantry.

Jodi and I chatted for a little while longer until Matthew came downstairs and complained that he was starving to death.

She went home and Matthew and I had a quiet dinner of macaroni and cheese. It was kind of nice spending some time alone together.

“Do you know what Miss Jodi told me today?” I asked.

He shook his head as he shoveled a huge spoonful of noodles into his mouth.

“She told me that Mr. Vince has a friend who is moving in across the street and he has a son who she thinks might be close to your age. How cool is that?”

His blue eyes lit up. “Does his son want to be my friend?” he said through a mouthful of food, sending a few noodles back into the bowl.

I couldn’t help but giggle. “I bet he will. And maybe you guys can have campouts in the backyard and go sledding and do all sorts of fun stuff together.”

“Will he be here tomorrow?”

“Mmm, I don’t think tomorrow, but I’ll ask Miss Jodi later if she knows when he’s moving in, okay?”

He nodded excitedly. “I bet he likes
Ninja Turtles
like I do.”

“You might be right, buddy.
Ninja Turtles
are
the coolest.” I reached over and smoothed his crazy blond hairs down.

Matthew told me all there was to know about
Ninja Turtles
as he finished eating. Then I gave him a quick bath and tucked him into bed. I peeked in on Maura one more time, who not only slept right through dinner, but hadn’t moved a muscle since I put her in there.

“Sweet baby girl,” I whispered to myself as I closed her door and tiptoed to my bedroom. The room was quiet and pretty dark except for the glow of the TV Matthew had left on when he went downstairs. I set the monitor on the nightstand and slipped off to the bathroom for a quick shower.

When I got out, Viper was sitting up in bed, looking down at his phone.

“Hey. How are you feeling? Do you feel better after getting some sleep?” I pulled the towel off my head and squeezed my hair with it.

Viper just shrugged without looking up.

“Are you hungry? Want me to make you something to eat?”

“No thanks,” he muttered.

“Okay then.” I turned and headed back toward the bathroom to brush my hair and put pajamas on.

The TV and all the lights were off when I came back. Viper had rolled over and was facing away from me.

I climbed into bed quietly and nudged him. “You still awake?”

“Mmhmm.”

I picked my phone up from the nightstand. “I need to set my alarm. What time are you supposed to go see Dr. Jennings?”

“Andy’s taking me,” he said flatly.

“
What?
”

“I said Andy is going to take me,” he repeated a little louder.

“I heard what you said, I’m just wondering why.”

“Why not? We were talking a little while ago, and he said he had the morning free and offered to take me, so I said fine.”

I was a little shocked and a little more hurt that Viper didn’t want me to take him, but fighting with him about a ride was the last thing on my mind. “Okay.” I set my phone down. “Will you at least call me and let me know what happens?”

“Sure.”

He was being so cold and dry with me that tears stung my eyes. I’d done as much as I could have done for him the last couple days and he was keeping me at arm’s length. I swallowed the pre-cry lump in my throat and lay down on my pillow, determined not to take any of Viper’s actions too personally . . . and also praying that he’d be back to normal soon.

“Look at you! That’s quite a log you’re dragging around there, huh?” Andy leaned against his car with his arms folded, harassing me as I slowly made my way over. “Could you hurry up, please? I’m hoping we can get there before dinnertime.”

“Shut up, asshole,” I joked as I opened the passenger side of his car.

As soon as we pulled out of the driveway, my cell phone buzzed and Michelle’s smiling face popped up.

“Who’s that?” Andy asked.

“A text from Michelle.”

Michelle:
      
Hey . . . we didn’t get to talk much this morning, but I just wanted to tell you good luck today. The kids and I are thinking about you and hoping for good news. Call me as soon as you can. Love you so, so much!

I knew she’d been trying so hard to keep my spirits up, and I appreciated it, but I just wasn’t in the mood. I also didn’t want to be a dick and completely leave her hanging, so I responded.

Thanks. I’ll take all the good news I can right now. Love you, too!

“You look like someone ran your dog over with a car, dude.”

I set my phone on my knee and stared out the window. “I
feel
like someone ran my dog over with a car. Actually, scratch that. I feel like someone ran
me
over with a car.”

“I know this sucks, but you gotta keep your head up. You’re a boss. You’ll have surgery, kick ass with physical therapy, and be back out there in no time.” His phone rang through the speakers of the car and Blaire’s name popped up on the screen.

“No way. Not today,” he said, hitting a button to reject the call.

Blaire was Andy’s crazy ex-wife, and I mean
crazy.
She sabotaged his friendships, treated their kids like shit, and was an all-around horrific human being. I had literally in my whole entire life never met a bigger bitch than Blaire—ever. “What’s going on with her?” I asked.

“Who knows? She probably wants money. She always wants money.” He clenched his jaw and shook his head. “I pay her more every month than most people make in six, and she still complains it’s not enough.”

“And she hardly sees the kids, right?”

“One weekend a month. It used to be two, but they were coming back so screwed up and weird for a couple days after that I offered her more money to go down to one weekend a month. She takes longer to figure out what she’s having for dinner than she took to tell me yes.”

“I don’t know how you do it, man. She’s such a bitch.”

“I don’t know how I did it for so long. I was so desperate to keep the family together for my kids’ sake that I just didn’t see it. And now they’re happier than they ever were when we lived with her.” He turned the car into Starbucks and looked over at me. “Want anything?”

I shook my head. “I’m good.”

He ordered his drink and pulled around to the side. “So anyway, I don’t know what to say about her. She’s ruined me for all women, I think. I’ve never been so jaded in my whole life.”

“That’s bullshit. You’ll get married again. That’s who you are.”

He laid his head against the back of the seat and turned toward me. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that’s who you are. You’re Andy Shaw, family man extraordinaire. You loved being married, even if it was to a heartless slab of concrete. And you really love being a dad.”

“I do love being a dad, that’s for sure,” he said with a nod as he faced forward again. “We’ll see. Who knows?”

I’d had enough of talking about Blaire. “Speaking of women and relationships . . . do you remember Kat?”

“Thank you,” he said to the barista as he took his cup and drove forward. Setting it in the cup holder, he pulled his brows in tight. “Kat . . . Kat . . . I don’t think I remember a Kat. Refresh me.”

“She was probably the only other girl that I kind of dated. I mean, I wasn’t ever faithful, but she hung around for a little over a year. Long black hair and tattoos all over. Killer body, too.”

He rubbed his bottom lip with his fingers as he thought about it. “Okay. I think I remember her. She was a bartender, right?”

“Yep.”

“And didn’t you cheat on her once, with your maid or something?”

“Yep.”

“And she got really pissed off. Like
really
pissed off.”

“Yep, she launched a picture frame at me and cut my face. I have a little scar on the corner of my eye from her.”

“Okay. I do remember. Why the hell are you asking about her?”

“So get this. Remember how I called and asked Ellie to help me find a nurse for Gam before we left for the road trip?”

Andy’s face fell. “Shut up. No way.”

“Yes way.” I nodded. “She’s Gam’s fucking nurse.”

“When the hell did she become a nurse?”

“I have no idea.” I threw my hands up in the air. “But we went over there yesterday and Gam was sitting on her porch and we started talking. First she yelled at me for hiring a nurse at all, then she was telling me how much she liked this girl.”

“I can’t believe that.” He shook his head incredulously as we pulled up to a stoplight. “What are the odds of that happening?”

“I know. I’m not happy about it.”

“So what are you going to do?” he asked as he rolled his window down.

On cue, an older homeless man who was sitting on the ground against a building walked over. He had a long gray beard and long gray hair and his clothes were full of holes. He took something from Andy’s hand and nodded. “Thank you so much, Mr. Shaw.”

“You got it, Douglas. Do something good with that today.” He rolled his window back up and repeated, “What are you gonna do about Kat?”

I stared at him in amazement. “Wait a minute. What just happened?”

Andy glanced at me quickly. “What? Douglas?” he asked nonchalantly. “He’s a nice man. One day a few months back I was driving into work and there was an accident at this corner. I was stuck and couldn’t move, so I rolled my windows down and turned my car off while I waited. Well, Douglas walked up and asked if I had change to spare, so I told him to get in and talk to me while I waited for the road to clear. We sat here for half an hour, and he told me all about his life and how he served three tours overseas. He was nice, and I liked him, so I offered him a job at my office.”

“You offered him a job? How have I never heard this story?”

The light turned green and he shrugged and started driving again. “I don’t know. I thought I told you guys. Maybe not. Anyway, he said thanks but no thanks. He likes it down here. He likes being free to go wherever he wants during the day and said for the most part, people leave him alone. He’s not unhappy, just homeless. Well, later that day I ended up signing the huge Kenny Sparks shoe deal with Nike. Remember that deal?”

“Yeah, I remember that deal. That was massive. Why can’t you hook me up with one of those, fucker?”