Keith (Hathaway House #11) - Dale Mayer Page 0,51

but the two siblings hadn’t spent anywhere near enough time together in their adult lives, and this was a great opportunity for that.

Ilse had also seen Keith with Iain earlier, and they appeared to be hitting it off wonderfully. That was something else that she liked because, from what she had seen, Keith didn’t make friends easily. Neither did she, for that matter. She had plenty of friendly acquaintances but not so many true friends. Of course she had all the guys and gals she worked with, but she was their boss, so it didn’t count.

When lunch rolled around, she stepped out and stood behind the cafeteria line with Dennis, helping to serve. He looked at her a couple times and asked, “What if he doesn’t show up?”

“Then he doesn’t show up,” she said with a smile. “From the reactions of the people so far, fish and chips apparently wasn’t a bad idea.”

“Isn’t that the truth? Several people have been through and just had fish and chips, instead of a mixed plate full of some of it all.” When she looked up the next time, Keith walked in the cafeteria door on crutches. He was moving slowly, holding on to the crutches, but also taking several steps without them. When he reached the cafeteria line, she smiled at him. “That’s another stage of progress.”

“A little scary though,” he said. “This is Shane’s idea.”

“It seems like a good idea,” she said. “It’s too easy to become so accustomed to having wheelchairs and crutches that we forget we were never meant to use them.”

“But falling is not fun,” he said, “so it’s nice to have something, at least until I have a little more confidence in my legs.”

She smiled. He took one look at the food and said, “Fish and chips, huh?”

Such joy was in his voice that Dennis reached over and nudged her. “Just for you,” Dennis said in a low voice.

Keith flashed a bright smile at Ilse. “And I certainly will make good use of this opportunity.” He quickly reached for five pieces of fish and a few chips.

She laughed. “Hey, we’re always looking for good menu ideas,” she said.

“Well, you can repeat this anytime,” he said. And obviously not able to stop and talk because a crowd formed behind him, Keith flashed her a quick smile and whispered, “Thanks.” Then he headed over to a table. When he’d gone by her again to grab coffee, he glanced back and asked, “Join me?”

She looked over at Dennis, who smiled and said, “Go. And take some fish and chips with you.” He quickly served her up a dish with the fish, but she stopped him from putting chips on too. Instead she grabbed a Caesar salad and a fork.

Then she headed out to the cafeteria table to spend some time with Keith. He looked up when he saw her and laughed. “I’m pretty stoked to try this out,” he said, gesturing to the fish and chips.

She sat down beside him, content that at least she’d managed to put that smile on his face.

“It’s delicious,” Keith said warmly.

“Good,” she said. “All I ever wanted to do since I was little was cook.”

“That’s not the most normal career path for a child,” he said, “but I’m grateful you did so well because this is awesome.”

“This is simple,” she said. “The stuff you have to learn in culinary school? That’s a whole different story.”

“Well, I, for one, would much rather have a plate of real food like this,” he said, “than all that fancy stuff any day.”

She said, “You look a little bit better today.”

He nodded. “Another one of those mind-bending twists,” he said. “I think I even made Shane happy today.”

“Is he a taskmaster?”

“He is, and apparently I haven’t been completely showing up for the job.”

She was surprised that he even mentioned it, and she looked at him in shock. “What does that mean?”

“Apparently I’ve been holding back, out of some internal fear that truly giving it my all wouldn’t get me the results I wanted,” he said. “So I’ve been dogging it, giving myself a fallback excuse.”

“Ah, got it,” she said. “I did that in school.”

He looked at her in surprise.

“I was afraid to challenge those I considered the better students in the class. So, instead of getting grades in the nineties and one hundreds, I would do solid seventies and eighties. It was enough to get me through everything, but it wasn’t enough to make me a top student.”

“Wow,” he said.