Page 60 of Pucker Up
“I must have stood up too fast and passed out. The team medic was here and your brother pulled the defibrillator off the wall. Luckily, I regained consciousness before he zapped me with the damn thing.”
My legs felt shaky and I sat on the edge of my bed. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”
“It’s okay, Ace. Really. Everyone is making a big deal out of nothing.”
“Which medic was it? John?”
“Yes.”
“Good. He’s the best one. Tell me exactly what he said.”
“He said I’m fine. My blood pressure is fine, my vitals are fine. I’m fine.” She sounded a little agitated. “Why are you calling during work hours?”
“I was thinking about getting out into the country for a day or two. Would you and Morton like to come with me?”
She let out a long sigh. I didn’t imagine it. “Ace. There are a few things we need to discuss.”
Shit. That didn’t sound good. “Can we discuss them on a drive?”
The line was so quiet I wondered if the call had been dropped. “Goldie?”
“Sure, Ace. We can go for a drive and have a talk.”
We made arrangements for me to pick her up. She was taking the rest of the day off and tomorrow too.
After the call disconnected, I told myself not to worry about the edge in her voice. What could’ve changed in the last twenty-four hours? As I tossed some clothes into a duffel bag, the answer hit me like a check from behind. Gideon. My brother had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Could he have said something to Goldie to turn her against me?
My truck started right away and I gave it a couple of minutes to warm up. The radio was tuned to the country station and it crackled in the background as I tried to make sense of what had just happened. There was no way Gideon knew that Goldie and I were seeing each other. He wouldn’t have a reason to poison her opinion of me. It didn’t make sense. Unless that bastard wanted to get with her. Was he that conniving? Would he say bad things about everyone in the study to get into Goldie’s pants?
I put the truck into gear and crept out of the garage. With my large tires, the radio antenna hit the pipes in the ceiling of the underground parking, and if I wasn’t careful, so would the roof of my truck.
When I emerged into the sunny day, I put all the shitty thoughts behind me. Gideon hadn’t said anything, and Goldie wasn’t angry with me. The poor girl had just fainted and here I was, making up all these stupid scenarios.
Luke Bryan’s latest song came on the radio. I turned it up and headed to the east end of the city. If Goldie was up for it, I’d booked us an Airbnb in Muskoka. It was only two hours north of the city if we got the hell out of dodge before rush hour.
She lived in an area called the Beaches. All the houses on her street were old and full of character, and had to cost millions and millions of dollars. Before I could even put the truck into park in Goldie’s driveway, Morton bounded out of a small building at the rear of the property. Goldie followed behind him.
When I wrapped my arms around her, she stiffened, but hugged me back. “Nice truck.” She walked away before I could kiss her.
Something was off.
I jogged ahead of her to open the door. Morton hopped into the cab and Goldie set her large purse on the floor and grabbed the handle to get into the passenger seat. It wasn’t technically a passenger seat, but one long bench. “One of you can take the middle seat.” I tried to keep my voice light.
“I think that Morton has already called it.” Finally, there was a hint of a smile on her face.
After we reversed out of the driveway, I headed to one of the main highways that would take us out of town. “Can I stop to get you some water? Do you need some electrolytes? I’m pretty sure there’s a bunch of Gatorade in the back of the truck. It might be frozen though.”
“I’m fine. Everyone needs to stop fawning over me.” The irritation was back.
“I think that means people care about you.”
She sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. There’s a lot on my mind.”
I didn’t want to ask the question, but knew it was the right thing to do. “Is there anything you want to talk about?”
Morton was in between us, and I couldn’t get a good look at her face without swerving off the Don Valley Parkway.
“There’s a rumor going around.”
