about?”
“I’m assuming you don’t want to ruin your welcome home party, for one, by cracking your dome on the side of the tub,” I said dryly. “If you did want to go out that way, you shouldn’t have told me. I think that makes me an accessory or something.”
“I can give myself a bath,” he said stubbornly.
“Day fucking one,” I muttered. Day fucking one and he was already itching to be bounced back to the hospital.
I did a couple of minutes of deep breathing exercises that I’d been taught by an actual monk in a Tibetan village. I gave up on finding my center fairly quickly. No offense to the monk, but spiritual breathing was a lot easier on a quiet mountaintop than in a car with a grouchy old man. I decided to treat him like a three-year-old. I would give him an either/or situation and make him pick one.
“Look, you can either accept my help in the tub, or I can bring you a bucket and some soap, and I’ll help wash you off bedside. And I’m not as cute as the nurse who was doing it at the hospital.” I paused meaningfully. “Or as gentle.”
“When do I get to take a shower?” he demanded.
“If you’re making adequate progress, in a few days you can sit in the shower on a bath bench and use the handheld showerhead. That’s after I install decals and… well, buy and install a handheld showerhead.”
He looked aghast. “You’re not going to be this way the entire time, are you?”
When I took on a job, I did it right, and he should know that by now. “Pretty much.”
“What am I gonna eat?” he asked plaintively.
“I’ll come up with something. Tomorrow I’ll pick up some fresh ingredients.” He made a face, and I rolled my eyes. “You’ll like it. You’ll see. One good thing about all my travels is that I’ve learned all kinds of regional cuisine.”
“Regional cuisine.” His mouth made a little o of horror before he snapped it shut. “Where’s Mark?”
I sent him the gimlet eye. “At work. And the first person to bring you contraband is getting a demonstration on everything I learned from a Judo master in Japan.”
It was mostly a lie—I did meet a Judo master in Japan, but I did a lot of watching and taking pictures, not learning. No one needed to know the specifics.
My dad slumped in his seat. “This summer is gonna be somethin’ else.”
“I heartily concur.”
Chapter 9
Cameron
I pulled into my garage a little after eight.
I was tired as hell, and I wished I hadn’t promised I’d meet Carter for dinner. But I had, so I would. I still had to get Kona fed and let her out before I headed down to the restaurant. Carter wasn’t a stickler for punctuality, but I hated to be late. I glanced down at myself and grimaced. I certainly wasn’t about to show up in dirty scrubs.
I got my but in gear, put out Kona’s food, and then I showered while she ate. By the time she was finished, I was dressed in a casual button-down and nice dark-wash jeans. I grabbed some socks and shoes and tucked them under my arm, hustling Kona outside.
She wasted no time, thundering through the yard in a way that would make even Cujo stop and ask, “What the fuck?” I sat on the top step of my deck to put on my shoes and socks as she got down to serious business. She sniffed down the backyard thoroughly, making sure nothing had changed—grass-wise, of course—since we’d left for work. I watched with a little smile. She let out a joyful howl, which I took to mean everything had checked out and all systems were a go.
Across the fence, the atmosphere at Jack’s house was more lively than usual. The glow of lights graced nearly every window and the driveway was filled with vehicles. I recognized most of them as belonging to Journey’s brothers. From the sound of things, they’d brought reinforcements in kid form. Someone yelled something so loud that Kona paused, midstep, and a child started shrieking with laughter.
I chuckled, shaking my head. Bunch of hell-raisers. No wonder Jack didn’t mind Kona and all her howling—raising that noisy brood had probably left him partially deaf. Journey knew how to wrangle them, though. Always had. Over the din, I could hear his voice as he threatened to knock some heads together if they didn’t settle down.
Usually, Jack’s house was the quietest