We All Sleep Alone (Finley Creek #11) - Calle J. Brookes Page 0,112
stuck in board meetings all day in regard to whatever surgeon they’d chosen to replace Henedy. She’d been called in to work a half shift before her regular shift began. Their schedules had finally overlapped, even a little, but this was the first she’d seen him since he’d left for the hospital that morning. She still had a full shift to work, plus four hours at W4HAV to help Mel plan the next benefit dinner.
Allen hadn’t been happy; she’d heard that. Apparently, the surgeon was someone he and Rafe had both known in med school and not liked.
The board had already made the offer and signed the contracts.
It was not going to be pretty.
“What does this have to do with me?” He had his fingers wrapped around her wrist and was pulling her down the hall, heedless of who might see. “Allen? You’re starting to concern me.”
“In here.” He pulled her into 403, which was currently empty as of an hour ago.
“Tell me.”
His hands cupped her cheeks. There was concern in his eyes. Izzie’s breath caught. “The surgeon’s your father. He came highly recommended to Jordan Carrington personally. I wanted to make certain you heard it from me.”
Izzie felt sick as the words sank in, as her knees practically gave out.
Then she forced her spine to straighten, forced herself to take in a deep breath, and face this. To put it into perspective.
This was not the worst thing she had ever faced. Far from it. At one time, maybe. She’d had fantasies of him walking into her school or work and realizing that he should have stuck it out. Or at least stuck around for her.
Those had been childish dreams long put away.
“Well. This sucks.”
“I know.” His hands slipped around her waist and she let him pull her against his strong hard chest. She pressed her cheek to his shirt, right over his heartbeat. “I’m sorry. I argued against it. Rafe did as well. The contract is ironclad, and Nikkie Jean’s father isn’t budging. Apparently, they’ve known each other for years professionally. He comes highly recommended.”
“I’m sure he does.” All the letters he’d sent from the time she’d been eight until they’d stopped after her mother’s death flashed through her head. Cold, stilted. Clinical.
He hadn’t cared about her. Not one bit. Otherwise, he never would have left her with her mother.
“Well, I’m not going to care about him being here. I gave up on him long ago. Let him have the position. I work thirds now. Not like I’ll have to interact with him often at all. We don’t even have the same last name; I don’t even have to tell people who he is to me at all.”
“I’ll personally coordinate schedules with Wanda.”
“With me. I make the schedules, remember?”
He nodded, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You can do this.”
“I can. Worse things have happened to me, and I’ve been perfectly fine.”
“Exactly. Now…” He shot her a heated look. “Give me a kiss. I need it after all I’ve been through today.”
“I’m on the clock.”
“You’re coming home with me when you’re finished, I’m off tomorrow, and we’re going to figure this out. Together.”
“I rather like the sound of that. I have a four-hour shift at W4HAV. Then I’ll sleep. You can pick me up after your shift ends. Why does this bother you so badly?” She deliberately stepped away from him. Before she did something stupid, like kissed him while on the clock. She wasn’t the kind of woman who did that. Maybe. He could tempt her to break her own rules in a heartbeat. “He’s my father.”
“Exactly. He hurt you. I’ll never forgive him for that, because of you.”
She let him walk her back to the reception desk, where she was still womaning the phones for another few weeks. He looked at her once. “I have plans for you. Plans he won’t mess up. Don’t forget that.”
Izzie shivered. She couldn’t wait. She’d just forget about her father. He was her past.
But Allen…she wanted Allen to be her future.
95
This time Jake was going to say screw it, stop by the hardware store and lumberyard, and get enough wood to build a boat. An ark. He wiped rain off his face as he reached the glass doors that led into the building where W4HAV was located. He’d grab Izzie and get home before the biggest surge of the storm hit. She had a habit of lingering with her friends; it had always driven him nuts. He wasn’t exactly the type