Just then the doctor walked in. She was tall and thin, in her late forties. “The Buchanan clan?” she asked with a weary smile.
Cal stood and nodded. “That’s us. How is she?”
“The good news is your grandmother is very likely to have a full recovery. Your brother, the one who rode in with her…”
“That was me,” Walker said.
“Yes, of course. You were right. It was a heart attack. Not life threatening as such, but there was some damage. Still, with time, rest and medication, she should be able to resume something close to her normal life. However, there is a complication.”
The doctor paused and checked the chart she held. “Your grandmother isn’t a young woman. Unfortunately, when she fell, she broke her hip.”
Walker glanced at Reid, who shifted uncomfortably.
“That can’t be good,” Penny said.
“It’s not. The break is fairly bad. We’re going to have to operate to put things back in place. After that, she has a long road of physical therapy ahead of her. She will be here at least ten days. After that, a skilled nursing facility specializing in that sort of thing. Under normal circumstances, she could be there for months. However, if you wanted to provide home nursing care, she could be released in about four weeks.”
She tucked the chart under her arm. “I know this is a lot to take in. What’s important is that she survived the heart attack and there’s every reason for optimism. Let’s make an appointment for all of you to come see me in a couple of days and we can sort this all out.”
“Thanks, Doctor,” Cal said, offering his hand.
When she’d left, no one spoke. What was there to say?
“As the most neutral nonblood relative, I’ll go first,” Penny said. “There are two problems. Gloria and the company.”
“The company can run itself for a while,” Cal told her.
“The president just quit,” Walker said. “She told me before she passed out. So someone has to be in charge.”
Cal swore under his breath.
“There’s also the home health care issue,” Penny reminded them. “I don’t think Gloria is going to last very long in any kind of skilled nursing facility. You know how she is. They’re going to throw her out and then what?”
“As she pointed out to me so clearly just a few weeks ago,” Dani said, “she’s not my grandmother. So I’m not getting involved in her recovery or the company. I’m sorry to be difficult, but there it is.”
“No one blames you,” Walker told her. Gloria had gone out of her way to make sure Dani understood she would never be a part of the company or Gloria’s world. A difficult situation had been handled cruelly.
“I’ll take care of the home health care,” Reid said.
Everyone looked at him. He shrugged. “I hate her the least. It’s a few phone calls, some interviews. No big deal.”
“You’ll need more than one nurse,” Penny said. “She’ll need round-the-clock care at first.” She smiled. “Please actually look at their resumes rather than hiring them based on their bust size.”
Reid grinned. “Trust me.”
Penny groaned.
“Which leaves the company,” Dani said. She turned to Walker. “I love you to pieces, but you’re the only one without a job.”
He took a step back. “No way. I told her there was nothing she could say or do to get me to work for her.”
“Apparently you were wrong,” Cal said, sounding far too cheerful. “The good news is you won’t be working for her. Not technically.” His humor faded. “Seriously, it’s just for a few weeks. No one expects you to stay there permanently.”
Walker would rather go on an unarmed patrol through downtown Baghdad. “I don’t know the business world,” he said, trying not to sound desperate.
“Management is universal,” Cal told him.
Walker knew he was trapped. Who else was there?
“Just for a few weeks,” he said. “Don’t get any ideas about me taking over.”
“Agreed,” Cal said.
ELISSA SMILED at the bright young woman sitting across the desk. “Zoe is very excited to be starting kindergarten.”
“We’re happy to have her,” Julie Beamer said. “It sounds as if she already has a head start on a lot of what we’re going to cover this year. You said she knows her letters.”
“She recognizes all of them and can write most of them. We’re having a little trouble with G. She’s also reading very simple words.”
“Excellent.” Julie made a few notes on a pad. “I believe you mentioned Zoe’s father is dead?”
“That’s right,” Elissa said easily. As far as the world was concerned, Neil didn’t even exist. Despite his threats, she knew he wanted nothing to do with his child. For him, Zoe was little more than a means of extortion.
“We’re very much looking forward to having her in class. If you would tell her I can’t wait to meet her.”
“I will,” Elissa promised.
Elissa left the meeting and headed to her car. Her baby was starting school. She was both excited that Zoe was ready to take the next step in her young life and a little choked up to have her daughter growing up so quickly.
Had it been like this with her mother, she wondered, then wished she hadn’t. Thinking about her family only made her sad.
Her parents had never forgiven her for running away. While she tried to understand their anger, she couldn’t help wishing they’d loved her enough to let her be a part of their lives. She’d moved back to Seattle partly with the foolish hope they would run into each other. They hadn’t.
Sometimes Elissa thought she would try to speak with them again. But fear of another rejection always made her hold back.
When she got home, she found her daughter waiting impatiently on the porch.
“Did you see her?” Zoe asked as she raced toward the car. “Is she nice? Does she want to have me in her class? Are we going to have fun?”
Elissa caught her and swung her in the air. “Yes, yes and yes. Miss Beamer is very nice and smart and she’s very excited about how much you already know. You’re going to have a wonderful year.”
As she spoke, she found herself glancing up at Walker’s apartment. Of course he wasn’t there. After leaving her a single phone message, he hadn’t tried to get in touch with her. He showed up late and left early.
It shouldn’t matter. She’d made it clear she didn’t want anything to do with him, and he’d taken her at her word. Wasn’t that good news?
She tried to convince herself it was. The thing was, she’d thought he would at least want to know why. She’d thought her sudden disappearance might concern him. Obviously she’d been wrong. She’d read far too much into their conversations. She’d thought he’d been interested and he hadn’t been.
“Can we go look at my clothes?” Zoe asked. “Can we pick what I’m going to wear the first day? And the next day? And the next?”
“Of course.”
Elissa set her daughter down and took her hand. As they walked into the apartment, she felt an unfamiliar sense of emptiness. It took her a second to realize she was lonely for someone who was more than a friend.
She wasn’t looking to get married or for anything permanent, but every once in a while she thought it would be nice to have someone hanging around for a while. Someone to share things with. Someone to care.
SHORTLY BEFORE NINE on Friday evening, there was a knock on Elissa’s door. Her first thought was that the horrible old woman had returned. That somehow she’d found out how much Elissa missed Walker and she was back to exact her revenge.
Instead, when she stared out the peephole, she saw Walker standing there.
When she opened the door, her first instinct was to throw herself in his arms and demand to know where he’d been. Her second was to rip off her T-shirt in invitation. Instead she went for something a tiny bit more subtle and
