thirsty.”
After she’d downed the glass and he’d brought another, Griff asked, “Do you get migraines often?”
Arden sipped, sighed, then frowned at him. “Do you always ask so many questions?”
“An occupational hazard, I guess. The animals can’t tell me what’s wrong, so I have to get as much information from the owners as I can. And that usually means asking questions.”
“Could you bring me my bag? I have some pills….”
“Sure.”
With the tablets swallowed, she set her empty glass on the table between the beds and slid down to rest her head on the pillows. She remembered that she hadn’t answered his question. “I haven’t had a migraine in months. But before I moved to Chaos, I was enduring at least one a week. Stress, the doctors said.”
“I’m sorry.” Griff sat down on the other bed, propping his elbows on his knees. “I didn’t intend to bring stress and pain into your life with my proposal.”
“Of course not.” The medicine was beginning to take effect, making her sleepy and a little drunk. She stretched out her arm to drop her hand onto his wrist. “I’ll be fine tomorrow. Just need…sleep.”
She wasn’t sure, but she thought she felt him kiss her fingers before the world faded away.
ONCE CONVINCED THAT ARDEN was fast asleep and would stay that way, Griff left Igor on guard and went to the hotel lobby to make a phone call. His first act upon reaching the ocean six months ago had been to throw his cell phone as far as possible—and considering he’d played right field for his high school and college baseball teams, that was far enough to be sure the phone never washed up on shore.
Now, he had to call collect. Fortunately, his mother answered. “Yes, of course we’ll accept the charges. Griff? Is that you?”
“Hey, Mom. Happy New Year.” Hearing her Southern belle accent exposed a soft place in his chest. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. We’re all just fine here. When are you coming home?”
Somewhere in the house, his sister Dana screamed, “Griff? Griffith Major Campbell, you get your butt home right now!”
He chuckled. “That was clear enough. As a matter of fact, Mom, I guess I’ll be there sometime tomorrow afternoon.”
“Oh, Griff, that’s wonderful.” Now she sounded a little teary, too. “Can we have the family over for dinner? Is that too much for your first night back? Where are you planning to stay? I’ll air out the guest cottage—no one’s lived there since last summer, but I can have it ready in a jiffy.”
“That would be great, Mom.” The moment was on top of him before he’d planned how to deal with it. “Um…I’m bringing someone with me.”
“That’s nice, son. You know friends of yours are always welcome.” Her words slowed, then stopped for a second as she interpreted his tone of voice. “Do you mean a girlfriend?”
“That’s right. Arden Burke is her name.”
“Is this an important relationship?”
“As a matter of fact…” He took a deep breath. “We have been talking about getting married.”
Which wasn’t a lie—he and Arden had discussed pretending to be engaged to be married.
A long pause followed his announcement.
“Mom? You still there?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m here. Just surprised, is all. You haven’t mentioned meeting someone. When you called.” Which wasn’t nearly often enough, her tone implied.
“It happened pretty suddenly.” Now he felt guilty. His family didn’t keep secrets more important than surprise parties, or birthday and Christmas presents. “But I’m sure you’ll like her. She’s terrific.” He sounded like the dumb hero in a two-star romantic comedy. “I thought Arden could stay in the guest house and I could sleep at the house, in my old room.”
“Of course. That will work out perfectly.” Her voice had cooled from its usual warm tone. “Here’s your dad. I’ll see you tomorrow, son. Oh, I’m so glad to be able to say that!”
In the next instant, his father said, “It’s about time you called to say you’re coming home.”
Griff grinned, at the same time shaking his head over the familiar, irascible voice. “Better late than never.”
“You’re way past late. I’m too old to be working this hard.”
“Right, Dad. You’re so ancient.”
“Without a second vet in the practice, I’m feeling ancient. Be prepared to do some serious overtime, ’cause as soon as you get home, your mother and I will be taking a long vacation.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it. But we’ll show up tomorrow afternoon sometime.”
“We?”
“Mom will explain. See y’all then.”
“Griff—”
“Kiss the girls for me. Bye.” He hung up without letting his dad