“Give me a minute, would you? My head is killing me, and I’m afraid a rib will pierce my lung if I move right now.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I heard you whimpering in the night, so I came in and checked on you. I must have fallen asleep before I could leave.”
“That’s a flat-out lie, because I never whimper.”
“What in hell did they give us at the hospital?”
“Obviously some very powerful pain pills. Um . . . you don’t happen to have any spare ones in your pocket, do you?”
“Boxers don’t have pockets.”
“I have some for both of you. Max, get down,” Fiona said, walking up to Camry’s side of the bed. “You, too, Ruffles. Go on, shoo!”
Camry felt the bed dip and cracked open her one good eye to see Fiona holding a pill and a glass of water. Cam opened her mouth and the girl popped in the pill, then lifted her head to give her a drink. As soon as she was done, Fiona got up and headed around the bed to do the same for Luke.
“The doctor warned me that you’d both be pretty sore this morning. Max! I told you to go in the living room!”
“Whisper,” Cam whispered.
“Sorry.”
“Why is Luke here?” Cam asked.
“The nice EMT from the ambulance called his wife, and they both hung out in the waiting room with me. Then they gave us a ride home and helped me get you both settled in for the night. John put Luke in my bed, and his wife, Glenna, helped me put you in yours. I slept on the couch, so I don’t know how you two ended up in bed together,” she finished, sounding way too delighted.
“No, I mean why is Luke in my house?”
“Oh, that. When the doctor gave me instructions for both of you, I figured Luke should come stay with us for a few days.” She smiled at Cam’s one-eyed glare. “After he so gallantly came to my rescue last night, I thought it was the least we could do.”
“ Hedoesn’t care to be talked about as if heisn’t here,” Luke said. “And thank you,” he muttered, only to groan when Tigger jumped up on the bed, jostling them both. “How the hell many dogs do you own, anyway?”
“None,” Cam told him. “But I babysit four.”
“You babysit dogs? Why?”
“To pay the bills.”
Camry heard Fiona sigh. “She’s still trying to decide what she wants to be when she grows up.”
“Excuse me?” Luke said.
“Right now she’s torn between being Suzy Homemaker or president of the United States. I told her she’s smart enough to be a rocket scientist if she wanted, but she doesn’t think that would be all that exciting.”
Apparently Luke was so impressed, he couldn’t comment.
Cam felt her arm being patted, and found Fiona standing beside her again. “Don’t worry about the dogs. I’ll take them for their runs for the next few days. The doctor said you need to stay off that ankle.”
She looked over at Luke, then back at Cam. “And Luke’s got some badly bruised ribs, and Doctor Griswell said they’ll probably hurt worse than if they were broken.” She grinned. “But don’t worry; he sent you both home with plenty of pain pills.”
“Can he at least walk back to his own bed?” Cam asked.
“ Hecan, just as soon as Fiona leaves,” Luke said. “Because heis only wearing boxer shorts.”
Fiona swept Tigger into her arms, spun around with a giggle, and left.
Luke still didn’t move.
“She’s gone.”
“I know. How about giving me enough time for the pill to kick in?”
“You get five minutes, Pascal.”
“So, you babysit dogs and wait tables for a living?”
“No, I babysit dogs through the week and tend bar on the weekends. I was just waiting tables last night so I could keep an eye on Fiona.”
“How long has she been . . . missing?”
“I found her on the beach this past Friday. She told me she’d run away from home four days prior to that.”
“And you can’t get her to tell you anything about her family?”
“No. And I don’t dare push her, because I’m afraid she’ll run away from me.”
“Christ, her parents must be going out of their minds. Did you at least call the police to see if they have a missing child reported?”
“First thing Friday, while she was taking a shower. They said no one fitting Fiona’s description had been reported missing. Um . . . thank you for rescuing her last night. Dave’s right, a lot of men wouldn’t have gotten involved, especially considering there were four of those drunken jerks. Hell, there were plenty of other men sitting right there last night, but I didn’t see any of them jump out of their seats.”
“I have a half sister about Fiona’s age.”
“Fiona said you’re on sabbatical. From what?”
He was silent for several heartbeats, then softly chuckled. “Would you believe rocket science?”
Camry went perfectly still, not even daring to breathe as she tried to calculate the odds of two physicists getting into a barroom brawl and winding up in the same bed the next morning.
“And you know what?” he continued. “Contrary to what you told Fiona, I happen to believe it’s an exciting profession.”
“How can crunching numbers until your eyes cross be exciting? Especially if those numbers suddenly stop making a lick of sense?”
“You know something about mathematical physics, do you?”
“I know it must be frustrating as hell.”
“And babysitting other people’s dogs is exciting?”
“The dogs don’t question every damn thing I say in an e-mail, or kindlypoint out my mistakes.”
“I didn’t know dogs used e-mail,” he said, amusement lacing his voice.
Camry gave him a shove. “The pill’s obviously working now.”
“Ow, my ribs! It definitely isn’tworking yet.”
“Sorry.”
She felt the bed jostle and cracked open her eye just enough to see that he’d rolled toward her, propping his head on his hand. “So you babysit dogs because they think you’re the smartest thing since sliced bread, is that it? You don’t care to have an engaging argument with a worthy opponent once in a while?”
Camry pulled the blanket up to her chin and tucked it down between them. “I like a good argument when the person I’m arguing with isn’t so full of himself that he insists on coming to America to set me straight in person.”
“Hmm, I’m a little lost here. I thought we were talking about arguing in general, but you seem to be talking about something a bit more specific. Mind elaborating?”
“No. Go away, Pascal.”
He eased back onto his pillow and sighed. “I’m hungry. I never did get supper last night.”
“There’s some mayonnaise in the fridge. You’re welcome to it.”
“That’s it? You don’t cook?”
“Why bother, when I can just go to the Go Back Grill?”
“Maybe you should lean more toward being president when you grow up, instead of Suzy Homemaker.” He sighed again. “I don’t suppose anyone delivers in this half-deserted town. Maybe Dave or one of his waitresses could bring something over to us.”
“Dave brought Cam’s SUV home last night,” Fiona said, walking back into the bedroom carrying a tray of food and setting it down between them.
Cam slowly sat up, the smell making her mouth water. “He brought food, too?”
“No, I drove to the grocery store this morning and was able to get back before the mutts arrived,” Fiona told her, placing the pillow behind her against the headboard.
“You have a driver’s license?”
“Almost,” Fiona said, going around to set Luke’s pillow in place. “And since those pills will knock both of you out soon, I’ll wait until then to run to Luke’s hotel and get his stuff. Is your room key in your pants, Luke? What’s your room number?”