Page 11 of After You

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Kyle calledDerek on his way to his truck. He’d pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, stuffed his feet into his tennis shoes, and had been out the door in under five minutes.

“She’s staying at Ty’s,” he said to his friend the second Derek picked up. He jammed the key into the ignition of his truck and backed out of his space quickly.

“Oh, fuck,” was Derek’s response.

“I’m taking your guest room,” Kyle told him. There was no way in hell he was staying at Ty’s. Maybe once Hannah was sleeping at Alice’s. If Hannah slept at Alice’s. If she stayed with Alice during the day and at night, went back to Ty’s—and her boyfriend, who had pulled her up securely against his body the second he’d seen Kyle—then Kyle would be camping at Derek’s until she was back safely in Seattle.

He wondered briefly if the house he was building would be enough of a shelter for the next six weeks. It was fully enclosed and the dry-walling was done, and the weather was getting warmer. He could camp out there. Or he could stay at the clinic. The medical clinic was a renovated house, after all. They had storage and offices in the upstairs bedrooms, but obviously the thermostats, plumbing and electricity worked. He could just put an air mattress in his office. Anything to avoid seeing Hannah with Michael FuckingKade.

Oh yeah, he knew who the guy with Hannah was. He was the big shot author who was the reason why Hannah had stayed in Seattle. Alice had assured Kyle over and over that Hannah and Michael weren’t involved romantically. But the guy had sure touched her easily tonight. As if he’d done it many, many times.

“I’ll be here at the bar for a while yet,” Derek said, “but let yourselfin.”

Hell, anyone could let themselves in at Derek’s house. The guy never locked his door. “Thanks.”

“So it’s gonna be a long six weeks, huh?” Derek asked.

Kyle preferred to pretend that his friend did not sound amused by that. “Verylong.”

“Well, don’t eat all my cereal in the morning.”

Kyle wouldn’t be touching Derek’s cereal, and he knew it. Sugary cereals in a variety of shapes with prizes at the bottom were definitely not Kyle’s thing. “Alice will feed me in the morning,” hesaid.

He was making a house call. Actually, he was going over for breakfast and to help Alice with “something” she needed done before her surgery. She hadn’t been specific, but it didn’t really matter what she needed done—he was her guy for the job. Of course, he’d agreed to it before he knew Hannah was already in town. Because Hannah wasn’t supposed to be here for two more weeks. But now that he knew for a fact that Hannah wouldn’t be at Alice’s in the morning, he was more than happy to linger over eggs and waffles with one of his favorite people in the world. Especially considering that after this, he’d be avoiding Alice’s house as much as possible until Hannahleft.

Kyle pulled into Derek’s driveway, parking to the side so Derek could get his truck in next to Kyle’s. He let himself in through the back door and headed for the guestroom.

Thanks to learning to sleep pretty much anywhere, anytime he could during his residency, he fell to sleep quickly. But he did something he hadn’t done in a really long time: he dreamed of Hannah.

And woke up totally pissed off aboutit.

Which was why he was standing at Alice’s kitchen island, mixing the bowl of dough far harder than it required, eight hours later. Or it might have been because he’d just spent the past hour freshening up the paint in the bedroom Hannah had used growing up. The very pink paint.

So he was now wearing a bright green apron with ruffles, had streaks of pink paint on his face and arms, and was elbow deep in homemade pasta dough, while arguing with two seventy-three-year-old women who were drinking coffee that he knew was laced with RumChata in place of creamer.

And if this was the first time he’d worn an apron while arguing with the two of them, he might be questioning his sanity. But the truth was, this was typical.

“Stop encouraging her,” he told his grandmother firmly.

Ruby gave him a wide-eyed innocent look that was complete bullshit. “She’s my best friend, Kyle. If she wants to try to get her granddaughter to fall back in love with Sapphire Falls, there’s nothing I can do but helpher.”

Kyle swallowed hard. Getting Hannah to fall back in love with Sapphire Falls? Sounded like a great plan. If he thought for one damned second it would work. Or if he cared. Because he didn’t. At all. Not even a little.

Besides, how the fuck had Hannah fallen out of love with Sapphire Falls? It had been everything she’d wanted at one time. Yeah, yeah, people changed, things happened. But not to Hannah. She’d been the same person, with the same plans and dreams and goals, for nearly twenty-five years. Then suddenly it had all changed? Just like that? Because she was living in fucking Seattle and had met Michael FuckingKade?

Sure, it was her big research project on chronic pain with the University of Washington that had kept her out there. Supposedly. And Michael Kade had been photographed with and linked to a number of women over the years—and none of them had been Hannah. Still, Kyle knew that Kade had been a big part of her life, the life he had not been a part of, and he hated the guy a little. Or more than a little.

“And what do you think Hannah is going to think or say when she finds out that you gave her the wrong date?” he asked Alice as the flour, water, and egg mixture squished between his fingers. He gritted his teeth. The Diabolical Duo had waited until they were two cups into their RumChata and coffee and his hands were stuck in the dough before bringing the topic up. Because they knew he wouldn’t leave them now. Leaving Ruby’s homemade pasta only partially finished would be a travesty, and they knew he’d never let Ruby drive home tipsy.

“I’m an old lady,” Alice said with a shrug. “You know how my memoryis.”

“Sharp as a tack,” Kyle said. “Which Hannah also knows, I’msure.”

“It will be fine. She can’t stay mad atme.”

No one could. Which was how the sweet little lady got her way. All the time. With everyone.

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