“Of course, I want your advice. She means everything to me, Adam. I don’t want to screw this up.”
“That woman loves you, Ike. You can’t mess this up. Just let her know that you’re there, and that she can come to you.”
Isaac’s gaze rolled up and over the header of his car. “She already knows that.”
“Of course, she does. But tell her again. Tell her every day. Show her.”
“Show her?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“By being there. By doing what you’re already doing, man. Making her feel special. Letting her know that you love her, and that she means the world to you. It’s like I already said, Ike. Sidney loves you. You’ve got this.”
Isaac sighed, but he didn’t respond. He didn’t think Adam was fully understanding his plight.
“You’ve got this,” Adam repeated, more forcefully.
“Yeah. Thanks for the pep talk, man.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Kiss my niece for me, will ya?”
“I’ll do that.”
Isaac ended the call and sighed. Again. Adam didn’t get it.
His Sidney was light and sunshine. Only now that light inside her had gone out, and Isaac was desperate to get it back.
He started up the car and slowly pulled out of the parking lot, thinking about his conversation with Adam. His big brother hadn’t really given him any advice he could use. Nothing helpful anyway.
“Show her!” Adam’s voice seemed to scream at him.
Hmm. Show her.
Show her what? Show her how?
His brain rolled those questions over and over in his mind.
Maybe Adam’s advice hadn’t been completely useless.
He drove home thinking up all the different ways that he could show Sidney how special she was to him.
By the time he got home, Isaac had a solid plan of attack.
Or, at least, he had sort of a plan. Do things to make her smile and show her how much she means to him.
Would that cheer her up? Maybe. Maybe not. But at least she would know how much he loved her.
He let himself into the house and was surprised when no kitten came to greet him at the door. In fact, the house was quiet.
“Sidney?”
“In here.”
He headed down the hall and found her in the home office at the computer, where the growing kitten sat on her lap pawing at the keyboard.
“Hey, darlin’.”
“Hi, baby.”
He bent down and kissed the top of her head.
“How was your day?”
“It was okay. Uneventful.”
“Yeah? I see you got some help at the keyboard there.”
Sidney grinned and scratched the kitten’s head.
“Yeah, I think he’s having fun.”
Isaac glanced at the screen and saw what looked like elementary level math problems.
“Whatcha doing?”
“One of the new residents at Hope House has a third-grader who needs some extra help with her math. So, I’m just looking for appropriate worksheets I can download to tutor her.”
“Oh. I didn’t realize tutoring the residents’ kids was part of your job description.”
“Well, it’s not really. I just offered to help. Might be fun.” She looked up at him. “What about you? How was your day?”
Isaac grunted. “A little disjointed. That 4 am call out had me yawning all day long.”
“I didn’t realize you’d gone that early. I didn’t even hear your phone ring. Guess I finally wore myself out crying.”
Her voice was soft, and she turned back to the computer.
Isaac ran the back of his finger down her cheek.
“Yeah, you did.”
Sidney clicked the mouse and the printer started up. When she stood, Alfred Hitchcock jumped from her lap and trotted away. She stepped closer to Isaac.
“Thank you.”
“For?”
“For holding me and letting me cry.”
Isaac wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “You’re welcome.” He planted a soft kiss on her lips.
“Dinner is in the oven. Should be just a few more minutes.”
“Okay.”
He kissed her forehead and then left the room. He put away his gun and changed out of his work clothes and into a pair of old sweats and a ratty old Cleveland Indians t-shirt that had definitely seen better days. Then he joined her in the kitchen.
“Want to set the table while I throw together a salad?”
“Sure.”
He carried plates and flatware to the dining table, and when they finally sat down to eat Isaac looked at the dish she’d placed in the center of the table.
“I don’t know what that is, but it smells delicious.”
Sidney grinned at him.
“It’s a homemade chicken pot pie. Well, semi-homemade. I didn’t have time to make my own crust. Don’t tell Bree! It’s her recipe.”
Isaac chuckled. He and Adam loved how close the two women had gotten.
“Well, it looks good to me, so I won’t tell her a thing.”
He dished up his plate with an overly generous portion and took a bite.
“Mm, mmm. Wow. That’s really good.”
Sidney smiled and took a bite.
They ate in silence for a few minutes, and Isaac wondered how to set his plan in motion.
“So, how’s Zoe doing?”
“Good,” Sidney nodded. “She seems to have made a full recovery. No lasting ill-effects of her run-in with the butt of that maniac’s gun.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear that.”
“She leaned pretty heavy on me today about the reason for my two-day absence.”
“Oh, yeah?”
Sidney nodded.
“Did you tell her?”
She looked down at her plate and silently shook her head.
“I just didn’t want to get into it. It feels so personal right now. Like a piece of my soul. I don’t want to hand that out to just anyone.”
Her voice was soft and so full of pain, and Isaac just wanted to hold her. He reached out and placed his hand over hers.
“Hey. You don’t have to tell anyone ever if you don’t want to. If you feel like you need to protect it, and hide it in your heart forever, then you do that. You don’t owe anybody an explanation. Okay?”
Sidney looked up and met his gaze.
“I love you.”
Isaac brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“Right back atcha, darlin’.”
They turned back to their dinner, although he noticed that Sidney did more pushing food around her plate than actual eating.
“Did you tell anyone at work?”
Her question surprised him, but part of him was glad that she
