Keith (Hathaway House #11) - Dale Mayer Page 0,53

I’ll make it.”

And, with that, they heard her name called out from the kitchen. She smiled, lifted her empty plate, and said, “Guess I’ve got to go.”

“Tomorrow then?”

“Tomorrow,” she said with a laugh, then headed back to the kitchen.

He sat here with a silly smile on his face and finished off his plate. Dennis appeared almost immediately. Keith looked up, smiled, and said, “That was the best fish and chips I’ve ever had.”

“Well, it was made with love,” Dennis said, “so it should have been.”

Once he was gone, his words resonated deep inside Keith. Because that’s where they were heading. He really cared about her, and, if she cared about him like Dennis just implied, maybe, just maybe, Keith would be the luckiest man in the world. He understood more about what Iain had said earlier because, if Keith had that relationship with Ilse to look forward to, then he also wanted to make sure that he was as strong and as fit and as healthy as he could possibly be. He didn’t want his health problems to be any more burdensome than they absolutely had to be. Because that burden would fall on her as well.

And when Keith sought out Shane at the gym later that afternoon, Shane looked up and frowned at him. “What do you want?”

“I want another session.”

“What?”

“So, you’re right,” he said. “I was cheating myself. I hadn’t realized it, but now I do.” He took a deep breath. “I have something in my future that I really, really, really want to be my best for. And, for that, I need to work harder.”

Shane stared at him, and then he started to laugh. “Ilse, by any chance?”

Keith shoved his hands in his pockets and said, “Maybe.”

“I’m all for having a great relationship as a motivator,” Shane said. “God knows I’ve seen that happen and work time and time again. But what I can’t have is you doing this work for her and not for yourself.”

“It’s not just for her,” he said. “It’s for me, so I can be the best I can be with her.”

Shane pondered it for a moment and then gave a clipped nod. “How are you feeling?”

“Underworked,” he said.

Shane hopped to his feet, laughing. “You’ll regret those words. Come on. Let’s go.”

Chapter 15

The next morning Ilse was singing and dancing in the kitchen, having such a hard time containing her joy. The closer it got to lunchtime, the quieter she became. When she started packing up the picnic basket, Dennis came over and double-checked to make sure she had what she needed. He added a bottle of wine and said, “I think you should take two.”

“Two baskets? Isn’t that overkill?”

He brought over a second basket, quickly repacked it with a blanket on the bottom, then added the wine and wineglasses. In the other basket, he packed up the food. “There.”

She looked at it and then at him. “You’ve done this a time or two.”

He grinned and said, “I’m starting to feel a bit like a matchmaker in this place.”

She laughed. “If it works, I’m all for it.” She kept checking the clock.

“Did you set up a time?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Well, that was foolish,” he said. “Now you’ll just keep waiting.”

“I know,” she said, “and it sucks. Aren’t you supposed to be doling out lunch?”

“I am,” he said, and he disappeared to help.

As she sat here, she waited and waited and waited.

Dennis poked his head around the corner. “Still no sign of him out here. Why don’t you go to his room?”

She frowned.

He shook his head and said, “Remember the benefits of actual communication?”

She nodded, then slipped out the side door and walked toward his room. She knocked on the door, and he called out to come in. When she stepped inside, he sat there, on the bed, rubbing his face. He looked like he’d just woken up.

He looked at her and smiled. “I’m so sorry. I fell asleep.”

Immediately her heart calmed down. “That’s fine,” she said. “Are you still up for a picnic?”

He looked at her in surprise. “Absolutely. Do we have time?”

“I do if you do.”

He checked his schedule, nodding, and said, “I’ve got an hour and a half until my next appointment,” he said, “but I am tired, so I’ll definitely take the wheelchair.” He hopped to his feet, grabbed his crutches, and went to the bathroom. When he came back out, he put the crutches down on the bed and grabbed the wheelchair. “Do you mind?”

“I’ll never mind