Call Me Crazy (Bellamy Creek #3) - Melanie Harlow Page 0,73
I realized how badly I wanted it all.
That night, I broke down and pestered Bianca again, kneading her hip with my hand. “Come on, it’s so close. Can’t we try?”
“No,” she insisted. “It’s not time. One more night.”
“Is it me,” I asked irritably, “or are these last couple days somehow way longer than twenty-four hours apiece?”
“They’re not.”
“Maybe we should at least rehearse tonight.” I rolled up close to her. Kissed her shoulder. “You know, make sure we remember how to do it.”
She shook her head. “Nope. We have to time this perfectly. According to my predictor kit and the doctor’s instructions, tomorrow is best, so we’re waiting until tomorrow.”
“But we can do it tomorrow too.” I slipped my hand beneath her pajama top.
“No way.” She removed my hand. “We can only do it every other day. Too much sex can decrease the number of gold medal swimmers.”
I gave her a dirty look, and she gave it right back, her eyes steely behind her glasses. “Fine,” I said. “I’ll wait.”
“Thank you.”
“But it won’t be easy. You’ve got this very angry librarian thing happening right now. It’s turning me on.”
That made her laugh. She pushed her glasses up her nose and nodded in satisfaction. “Good.”
My secret seduction plans for Wednesday night nearly got derailed when my father fell off a ladder on a job site that afternoon and had to be rushed to the emergency room. As soon as I got the call, I raced over to the hospital, dialing Bianca on the way.
“I’ll be right there,” she said.
“You don’t have to come,” I told her. “They said he only lost consciousness briefly and just needs an X-ray. I’m sure he’s fine, and it’s in the middle of your workday. Don’t you have meetings this afternoon?”
“I’m canceling,” she said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She hung up on me before I could argue further.
Just under an hour later, I was in the waiting room listening to my mother fret and ask the same questions over and over again—why hasn’t anyone been out here to talk to us? How long can it possibly take to get an X-ray? Those people came in after us, why did they get seen already and we haven’t?—when Bianca rushed into the room.
“Because, Ma, they already told us, they’re short a radiologist today and it’s taking longer to get results. They said it would be a few hours, and they’re sorry for the delay. Those people brought in someone having an asthma attack who didn’t need an X-ray.” I smiled tiredly at my wife as she hurried toward us.
“Hey,” she said, her face concerned. “Any news?”
I stood up, and she hugged me tight. I inhaled the scent of her perfume and took comfort in the softness of her body against mine. “Not yet.”
She hugged my mother next. “How are you?”
“I’m angry,” my mother said petulantly.
“At the doctors?”
“Yes, and at Carlo! He had no business being up on a ladder at his age!” She sat down in a huff.
Bianca smiled patiently. “Why don’t I get us all some coffee?”
“Thank you, dear. That sounds perfect. We haven’t wanted to leave in case one of these doctors decides we’re worth his time and comes out to talk to us.”
“I’ll get it.” She touched my arm. “I’ll be right back.”
“Thanks.” I sank down next to my mom and watched Bianca leave the room and turn left.
“She’s a gem, isn’t she?” my mother asked.
“She is,” I agreed.
I was still thinking about her and trying to tune out my mom, who was back to alternately praying for my dad’s quick recovery and cursing him for acting like an idiot, when Bianca returned with a tray of coffees from Starbucks.
She sat down on the other side of me, and we waited another hour and a half, during which my mother hardly paused to draw breath. “He’s trying to kill me, that’s what he’s doing,” she insisted.
“By climbing a ladder?” I asked, laughing although I felt like I was nearing the end of my rope.
“By doing something I’ve told him a million times he shouldn’t do! He knows damn well he doesn’t have the balance anymore, and that he’ll fall and cause me to have a heart attack when I hear the news!” She scowled at me. “Don’t laugh at me. You know it’s the truth. He does things like this on purpose just to make me mad!”
I leaned toward Bianca and whispered, “This is why.”