Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! When the hell did I sendthese? He checked the time on the first message. Apparently he’d started at10:33 p.m. Well into the Jameson. His jaw clenched ashe began reading.
T.J.: What urdoing?
Natalie: Did you mean to text me? This is Natalie.
T.J.: Absolutely. Ur the one I want. Ur amazing.
Natalie: Just figuring this out?
T.J.: Suspected it since I met u.
Fuck! His other self had text-flirted while he’d beenchecked out.
Natalie: See you in a couple days.
T.J.: My dog seriously loves u, Natalie Amber Eyes. Gonna paint emright now.
He nearly slapped his forehead, remembering at the lastminute that it would hurt like a mother if he followed through. He groanedinstead.
Natalie: Um, not sure I understand?
T.J.: Making pickle of u.
According to the time stamps, some period passed before heranswer. Smart girl.
Natalie: Are you ok?
T.J.: No but ill make a pickle n everything will b gd cuzill cu.
Another groan escaped him. Jesus H. Christ on a damn fucking cracker! She must think I’m nuts! Or brainless. Or both. He gulped a lungful of air andread on, dreading it to his very core but unable to look away from the carwreck that was the text conversation.
T.J.: U there?
Natalie: I’m here but signing off now. See you later.
T.J.: Yes u will my dog loves umore than he loves me.
Natalie: I’m sure that’s not true. Good night. Heading tobed now.
T.J.: Wannacome with u. Sooooo bad. U haveno idea. I thnk about it.All. The. Time. In the shower in bed on the couch all thefucking time. Promise ill let u come first trust me imgood that way.
He stared at the last text, and his baked brain went in alldifferent directions. Who could he blame this on? A monkey broke into my condoand stole my phone! Autocorrect on crack! I swear! How soon could he catchone of those space station shuttles and get dropped on another planet? Shouldhe just tell her who he was and blame it on the Shanstromgene?
An undecipherable orange word flashed at him beside thetext. He scrunched his eyes and peered closer. “Draft,” it said.
His heart surged and pumped relief into every limb. “Ididn’t send it!” he exclaimed aloud, then broke into a maniacal laugh. “It’s inmy fucking drafts!”
He pulled in three cleansing breaths and prepared himself asthough he were one of those bomb guys on TV about to cut the red wire thatwould either annihilate the entire fucking world or save it from destruction.
“You can do this,” he told himself. His hand shook.
Back arrow, back arrow, back arrow. Andagain. And again. Then he shut off his phoneand dropped it on his counter like it was on fire, palmed his face, and satperfectly still for what felt like hours. At last, he found the wherewithal toput himself to bed. But before he did, he stole one last glance at thepainting.
Enough alcohol remained in his system that his internalbattle stations were compromised. His cloaking device or the cloak ofinvisibility or whatever the hell it was that hid him from himself wastemporarily on hiatus. In his weakened condition, he acknowledged an inner,undeniable truth—a confession of his closely guarded heart. Natalie Amber Eyeshad not only taken up residence in his head, but she’d brought all herbelongings and was making herself comfortable in his heart.
He had to evict her.
CHAPTER 16
Karma’s a Bitch
Natalie awoke like an EnergizerBunny whose batteries had just been replaced. It was going to be a great day, damnit! She raced through her chores in record time and arrived at the hospitalahead of schedule—conceding that, yeah, having fewer dog clients might havespeeded things up a bit, but hey, she wasn’t going to dwell on it.
When she reached Kevin’s room, a nurse said he was intherapy, so Natalie settled into one of the chairs and waited. And waited. Andwaited.
An hour later, she was pacing the room, beating herself upfor not having brought work with her. She had so much to do!
The door swung open, and Natalie spun, gluing a smile on herface. Only to have it land on Kristin.
“I’m glad I caught you, chica,”Kris said.
“Pretty even chance since I’m always here this time of day.”Natalie regretted the snark as soon as it escapedher.
Kristin dismissed Natalie’s remark completely, insteadbouncing in place and silently clapping. “They’re talking about moving Kevin toa rehab home. It might happen as early as tomorrow.”
“That’s great news!”
Kristin seemed to grow misty-eyed. To Natalie’s horror, shechoked out a, “Yeah, but he won’t need me as much.”
Not up on the latest etiquette for comforting one’ssemi-boyfriend’s ex, Natalie approached like a one-legged goose and gave her atissue and an awkward shoulder pat.
Pooling blue eyes looked into hers. “Natalie, you have tohave asked yourself, ‘Why is this crazy bitch here all the time?’ I knowI would have.”
Huh? “I assumed because you still care.”
Kristin let out a mirthless laugh. “That’s one way ofputting it.”
“Kris, I’m not sure I—”
Dabbing at her watery eyes, Kristin sat. “Sit for a minute?”
Natalie lowered herself into the chair beside her.
“Did Kevin ever tell you why we broke up?”
Natalie shook her head, bracing herself for what, she wasn’tsure.
“I cheated on him,” Kris whispered.
Whatever else Natalie might’ve expected, it wasn’t thisconfession, and her head jerked before she could stop herself. “You what?”
“I know.” Kristin drew in a breath. “Looking back, it wasbeyond stupid, but hindsight and all that crap.” She swiped her eyes. “I feltfat and ugly after Emma was born. Kevin was on the road a lot, and I felt likeI wasn’t getting enough attention when he was home.” A faraway look cameinto her eyes. “So I looked for attention elsewhere. And got it.”
Fascinated, horrified, Natalie sucked in a breath.
Kristin huffed out a sigh. “End of story, end of marriage.”Her eyes filled again. “But I’ve never stopped loving him, you know? And now Ijust want to give him whatever he needs. Maybe I’m still trying to make up formy sins.”
“And maybe you still love him. Do you ever think aboutgetting back together?” Natalie cringed inside, unsure which answer she wishedfor.
Nodding, Kristin dropped her gaze to her lap and
