Calling Kupid (Kupid's Cove Book 1) (11 page)

I leaned both hands on the counter and closed my eyes.
Why does my mouth constantly get me in trouble with this woman?
I counted to ten once, then did it again for good measure, while I prayed for guidance.

You have to think before you speak, Gideon.

Lord, I was trying. I’m worried that she lost the weight because of me.

You should have said that instead then.

She didn’t give me a chance! She’s always jumping to the wrong conclusion.

Why do you think that is?

Because I hurt her. I get that, but I’m trying to regain her trust.

Ahhh, my child, that is your problem. You never had her trust. You never had anything of hers, except her heart.

I never had her heart. We spoke for mere minutes that night. All she was willing to give me was her body.

If you’re so sure about that, why are you standing in her apartment worrying about her safety? Why did you pray for so many months that I give you a second chance with her?

I don’t know the answer to that question. If I did, I wouldn’t be standing here begging for guidance, again.

I will tell you why, Gideon, but then you must do the rest. You will be the one who fixes Kate’s heart. You didn’t meet that night by chance. You met that night by fate, my fate. You met because soul mates are destined to be together. You were right when you said then wasn’t your time. It’s your job to make sure this time you seize the moment.

I nodded my understanding. I will do everything I can. Lord, can I just ask one thing?

Gideon…

I know, but this doesn’t have anything to do with me, and everything to do with her. Please keep her safe. I don’t know who is after me, but I don’t want her hurt because of it.

Son, you do your job and I’ll do mine.

I opened my eyes and felt the turmoil fade. We were going to be okay. All I had to do was figure out how to show her that.

I heard a click and looked up. She stood in the doorway of her bedroom with her hair down around her shoulders, a long nightshirt on, with flannel sleep pants under that. There was a light on in her bedroom that shined from behind to make her hair glisten.

I looked at my watch, surprised to see I had been standing there for twenty minutes.

She pointed at the cupboard. “I forgot to take my pills.”

“Katie, I’m sorry,” I said, but she held up her hand as she took a bottle of water from her fridge. She swallowed a handful of pills and I finally put my hand on her shoulder.

“I asked because I was worried about you, no other reason.”

“Or because you felt guilty that I lost weight because of what you said.”

“Yeah, that did cross my mind,” I admitted, massaging her shoulder.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Gideon. My weight loss has nothing to do with you.”

She tried to get away, but with a little coaxing, I convinced her to let me hug her. “Does the weight loss have anything to do with those pills you just swallowed?”

I felt her shoulders deflate and I did a mental forehead slap. I really am the dumbest man on the face of the earth.

“I meant, are you sick,” I clarified, lest she think I thought she was taking pills to lose weight.

She didn’t answer, so I kept hugging her. The room was silent except for our breathing. My arms were around her back and it was taking everything I had in me to keep from thinking about the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra under her thin cotton nightshirt. Being this close to her was going to make any excitement that started to grow very evident. I heard a click and pulled back a little.

“Shhhh,” I said, putting my fingers to my lips and waited. I heard it again. “Did you hear that click?”

She nodded her head and I cocked my ear again, listening. In the silence of the room, I heard it coming from her.

“You’re clicking.”

She took my hand pulling me over to the sofa, sitting down. I sat with her and she patted her chest with her hand.

“The click is here. Listen.”

I laid my ear on her chest. Sure enough I heard a click within her heartbeat. I lifted my head again to search her face.

“What is that?”

“It’s my prosthetic heart valve, Gideon. That’s why I take the pills.”

I sat up and took her hand, kissing it. “Is that why you’ve been losing weight?”

“Have you really noticed that I lost weight or are you just saying that?”

I shook my head. “Not just saying that. I noticed right away. I mean you weren’t overweight the last time I saw you, but your face has changed and you seem almost, I don’t know, just smaller all over.”

She looked down at our hands on my lap. “At first, after we got back from Hawaii, I decided I was going to start dieting and lose some weight. I was still harboring the freshman fifteen from college, and being so short it wasn’t easy to hide. The problem was I couldn’t stop eating. I was hungry all the time, but to my surprise, the weight started coming off anyway. Soon I had lost the fifteen plus ten. I was confused and scared, so I went to see my cardiologist, Dr. Sawyer. She did some tests and told me my heart was working so hard to pump the blood through my body that I was burning calories as fast as I ate them.”

“You have a cardiologist?” I asked, tipping her chin up. I could tell she didn’t want to tell me any of this. Her face was always an open book and I could read everything she was feeling. “It’s okay, doll face. Be open with me. That’s how we get to know each other.”

She leaned her head back against the cushions to stare at the ceiling. “Dr. Sawyer has been my cardiologist since I was a baby. I was born with an extremely messed up heart.”

“Messed up?” I asked, trying to understand.

“Holes in my heart, the arteries were in the wrong places and the valves were too tight to let enough blood pass through them. Four open heart surgeries later, an artificial pulmonary valve when I was sixteen, and things were good for about ten years.”

“But now?”

“Now I’ve developed new problems. When she did the work-up she found I was in right heart failure, which is why I was so tired all the time, and losing weight. She changed my medications, which seemed to fix the problem, mostly. I saw her yesterday for a follow-up appointment and she started me on a new medication. She said I should give it two months to see if it helps.”

“Helps what? The weight loss? I‘m confused.”

“No, the weight loss has evened off, but there’s a new problem. My heart races when I get scared or overexert myself. Sometimes it just does it for no reason at all. She tells me there’s a problem with the electrical conduction of my heart.  I have a kind of tachycardia that people with my cardiac issues can develop. If the medication helps, great, then I can stay on it.”

“And if it doesn’t?” I asked, certain there was more to the story.

“If it doesn’t then she will have to do more invasive tests to determine the reason for it and then possibly surgery.”

“Maybe you should have the tests now?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t have great insurance and any testing, and subsequent treatment, could cost me upwards of ten grand out of pocket. Right now I’m okay with trying the medication.”

I took her hand and held it to my chest. “Promise me you aren’t going to ignore a problem because of money. I have money. I’ll pay for the treatment.”

She smiled tenderly at me, like she was seeing me in a new light. “Thank you, it means a lot that you would offer that without hesitating. I’m not ignoring the problem, that’s why I started the medication. When you have a heart with as many issues as mine, you start small and work your way up. Sometimes I can buy an extra six months before I have to have a procedure done. That can change the picture of how my heart functions again and the rules change.”

“That makes sense. I’m sorry. I had no idea you were dealing with any of this. You said you have heart failure. Will you eventually need a heart transplant?”

She chuckled. “God willing, no. It’s not as if my heart will give out, Gideon. It’s learning how to treat a heart that isn’t like anyone else’s. As long as I take my medications and continue under Dr. Sawyer’s care, it will pump for a good long time.”

I rubbed her face and leaned forward, kissing her soft lips gently, for no more than a few seconds. “I knew you were unique the moment I met you.”

She kept her eyes locked with mine. “That’s why, that night in Hawaii, I seemed drunker than I should have been after having only a few drinks. I don’t drink because one of the medications I take thins my blood. If I drink too much alcohol that makes it even thinner which, for obvious reasons, isn’t a good thing. Apparently I didn’t care what happened to me that night, and here we are.”

“No wonder…” I whispered.

She cocked her head. “What?”

I leaned forward to kiss her. “Nothing, just kiss me.”

Her lips came down on mine and I reached for her, pulling her to me. I heard His words run through my mind again.
Your job is to fix her heart.
I’m going to fix it, Lord. I’m also going to win it.

Kate

Saturday mornings in Snowberry are usually bustling, even when it’s cold and blustery. The weatherman kept predicting snow, but it seemed to stall out over the Dakotas. With any luck, it would die off before it got to us, but I wasn’t holding my breath.

Today’s main event in Snowberry was the snowmobile race held on the lake. Everyone was going. Well, everyone but me. I have no desire to stand out in the cold and watch snowmobiles jump over holes of open water while spectators cheer. Maybe something is wrong with me, but I don’t find that entertaining.

What I do find entertaining is hanging out with Gideon, the way we did last night. We watched movies, ate popcorn, sipped wine, laughed, talked, and stole kisses. He lay on the couch, his head on my chest for the longest time. When I asked him why, his answer made my heart ache. He told me he liked to listen to my heartbeat. It was unique, he said, completely different from any other heartbeat he had ever heard. When I tried to push him away, he convinced my lips that those words were a compliment, not an insult.

I couldn’t explain to myself why I second-guessed everything he said, and why I jump all over him when he asks a simple question. I want to say it’s because of what happened in Hawaii, but that event had faded so much over the past months I barely remember any of it. If I was honest with myself, I knew the answer. I was pushing him away because I was trying not to like him. Being angry with him was easier than investing any part of my soul in him.

Chances are it’s far too late for that, because I didn’t want him to leave last night. It was so late by the time we finished an old Carey Grant flick that we turned the TV off and fell asleep on the sofa, together. It was strictly platonic, if cuddled together on a small sofa with his hand resting at the edge of my breast is platonic. All I know is I haven’t slept that well in, well, ever. I was sad to let him go this morning, but I would be seeing him later for lunch.

I picked up a block of cheese and contemplated buying it. Maybe I should invite him over for dinner. I can make a mean chicken parmesan. Paired with the right bottle of wine, it might be better than The Firebush even. At least we could eat it naked in my bed, if we wanted to. I scolded myself immediately. You promised Winifred you would keep your pants on this weekend! Now, finish your grocery shopping and stop thinking about Gideon.