Her Unexpected Admirer Page 0,39
a stiff glass of bourbon, hissing as the liquid burned down his throat and glaring at the closed door. He heard movements inside, but had no idea what she might be doing. The sounds weren’t even steady, like she was exercising or something. They were sporadic. A thump one moment, odd sounds next and a swishing sound. What the hell?
He thought about going to her door and knocking, or even storming inside uninvited. His curiosity was driving him nuts. But he was trying very hard to respect her privacy. He knew that he needed to understand her, to get to know her. Otherwise, he wouldn’t ever be able to figure out what was holding her back from acting on the obvious feelings they had for each other.
So he sat in the chair directly across from her room and proceeded to get drunk. Unfortunately, it didn’t work very well. Probably the heat from his aching body was burning off the alcohol faster than he could imbibe the stuff.
When his cell phone rang, he considered ignoring it. But he looked at the number and almost smiled. It was Ella, his niece who was only thirteen years old and in her freshman year of high school. She was the most gregarious little lady he’d ever met. “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed by now?” he growled in answer.
Ella knew him well enough not to take offense at his grumbling and all he heard was her giggling. “I know you won’t tell on me, Uncle D,” she replied back with her saucy attitude coming through the phone lines. “What has you in such a grouchy mood?”
Davis looked at the still-closed door and sighed. “Just some idiots at work,” he replied, thinking of those men back in the restaurant he wanted to trounce for daring to look at his Kate. “How is high school treating you lately?”
There was an excited intake of breath and Davis braced himself for the next whirlwind of words. “Uncle D, you just have to come to my play. I tried out for one of the parts and I think I did a really good job. So will you come?”
He was so surprised that she’d stopped speaking that it took him a moment to react. “Absolutely,” he promised. He didn’t know when the play was, but he would be there no matter what. “Send Jenny the details and tell her to rearrange anything I have planned. You know I’ll be there. Tell me what the play is about.”
He sat back and talked with Ella, laughing at her most recent high school horrors and teasing her about the three boys that she was interested in. He thought about asking her advice with Kate, but stopped himself. Kate was his own puzzle and he might not like his present situation, but he was definitely enjoying the chase.
“So where are you off to tomorrow?” Ella asked, breaking into his concentration of Kate.
“Umm…” he thought about it for a long moment. “I believe I’m off to Seattle but I might have a bit more to do here in Denver.”
“What are you going to do in Seattle? Are you going to that restaurant down by the Fish Market that we loved the last time we went?”
He laughed, thinking of Ella and the way she’d scrunched up her nose when a plate of calamari was put in front of her. But she’d bravely tried the squid and learned that she liked them, gobbling down the tentacles.
He thought about taking Kate to that restaurant and immediately agreed. “Yep. I think I’ll manage to swing by there. Want me to send you a picture, just so you know what you’re not getting?”
She laughed. “You’re cruel, Uncle D. Just for that, you’re no longer my favorite uncle.”
He chuckled as well. “I’m not afraid. I know exactly how to get back into your good graces.” He thought about the chocolate shop they’d found after dinner. His sister, Ella’s mother, hadn’t allowed any other treats that night, but Davis had snuck her some and they’d feasted on chocolate truffles late that night in secret which was one of the main reasons he’d been elevated to “Favorite Uncle”. That title had only lasted for a few months and he suspected that his other brothers had probably stolen that title away from him with similar tactics.
He heard her gasp of excitement. “You mean…?”
He laughed again. “Only if you get an A on that Geometry test you have tomorrow. And I’m not taking your