Ensenada Escapade: Destination: Desire, Book 6 (7 page)

“Something like that.” Ben slammed the trunk closed and turned to Nora. “Did you want me to drive?”

She shook her head. “No, I’ll go until we drop them off, then we can switch.”

“As you wish.”

Hazel chuckled. “I always think of
The Princess Bride
when someone says that. Though in the movie, it’s supposed to mean…”

I love you.

Hazel coughed to cover the awkward pause. “Never mind. Forget my adoration of quirky 80s films.”

“My name is Inigo Montoya,” Ben quoted with an accent remarkably like the actor in the movie.

Priya jumped in. “You killed my father.”

“Prepare to die!” Everyone finished together, breaking into laughter. On that festive—if slightly morbid—note, they piled back into the Impala and headed north again.

Chapter Five

“Nora, I…I don’t feel so good,” Hazel said, voice strained. Her fingers knotted tight in the hem of her shorts, and she swallowed audibly.

“Are you getting car sick, sweetie?” Nora glanced to the right and saw the chalk-white cast to her sister’s features. That wasn’t a good sign. “You haven’t done that since we were kids.”

Priya made a little choking noise from the backseat. “No, I think it was the fish tacos.”

“Pull over,” Ben barked, enough urgency in his tone that Nora didn’t hesitate. Ben was many things, but a drama king wasn’t among them. She swerved across two lanes, earning a few irate horns blares, and she was fairly certain Ben flipped the other drivers the bird. Not legal in California. Normally, she’d make a snarky remark about him being a lawyer who should know better, but Priya made a gagging noise that had Nora fishtailing to the side of the road, slamming on the brakes, unsnapping her seatbelt and flying out of the car faster than she ever had in her life. Hazel was right behind her and barely managed to make it out.

Priya wasn’t quite so lucky. Tweedle Dumber hadn’t been to enough frat parties in his life to figure out that gagging was a bad omen and meant he needed to get out of the way fast. Nora closed her eyes as the awful sound of retching came from inside her car, following by the grotesque screams of two mostly-grown men. Both rear doors exploded open.

At first, she thought Chuck was bending over beside Priya to check on her, but then she noticed his ribs jerking spasmodically. He was heaving his guts up too.

Ben frowned at him. “You didn’t have the fish, did you?”

“Sympathetic vomiter,” Tweedle Dumb choked out. “I see it, I hear it, I smell it, I do it.”

Great. Just fucking great.

“It’s been about two hours since we ate, so…that’d be right for certain types of seafood poisoning.” Nora turned to Ben. “Assuming it is seafood poisoning, we need to get them to a hospital. They should be fine, but they need to be cleared by a doctor. Tests need to be run.”

“Understood.” He nodded, reached into the car to turn off the engine she’d left running, and pushed the button to pop the trunk. After a minute of digging through the luggage, he came up with a handful of something white.

“What’s that?” she asked, while she laid a hand on Hazel’s back.

“Plastic grocery sacks from our bathroom stop at the Walmart in San Diego.” He shrugged. “I figure they’re as good as we’ll get for barf bags for the time being.”

Better than any idea she had. “I thought only Priya and Chuck bought stuff. Do we have three?”

“Yeah,” he replied, tone nonchalant. “I made a purchase from the pharmacy.”

“Really? What did—?” She cut herself off. Condoms. He’d bought condoms. She grabbed the bags from him. “Well, that turned out to be handy.”

Tapping on his cell phone screen, he met her gaze. “Found the nearest hospital. You want to drive or hold people’s hair back?”

“You’d hold their hair back?”

He appeared baffled. “Yeah. We don’t need a bigger mess. Long hair whipping puke around the car isn’t going to make this any more fun.”

Okay, that alone made her respect for him inch up a bit. Not many people would be practical about this—many would be bent over, heaving in sympathy like Chuck.

“You can drive and we can put their hair in buns. Fewer hands needed.” She went to the still-open trunk. “We’re going to need water to make sure they stay hydrated in the meantime.”

“Just tell me what you need and I’ll do my best to make it happen.”

She dug to the bottom of the luggage for the case of bottled water she kept for emergencies. “Let’s get to the hospital and out of the car as quickly as we can. The girls need a doctor and Sympathy Vomiter Boy over there won’t stop until we separate them.”

Ben joined her to take a few of the bottles and murmured, “I thought he was Tweedle Dumb.”

“Why would we limit him to one nickname?” she whispered back.

“Good point.”

They stood for a moment and watched Chuck, Priya, and Hazel toss their cookies into the bushes and weeds alongside the highway. Jeremy just wrung his hands helplessly, looking utterly appalled.

“Okay.” She drew in a breath, squared her shoulders, and let her nurse’s training take over. She had three patients who needed treatment. “Let’s do this.”

* * * * *

She was magnificent.

Sure, it was under some truly disgusting circumstances, but Ben wouldn’t have wanted to be with anyone else in this situation. Nora was a fantastic nurse. She knew exactly what questions the doctors would have, and made sure they got all the information they needed. She understood how Priya and Hazel would be treated, so was able to keep them calm and explain things that the busy hospital staff didn’t have time to. She stayed with them through every test so the physicians knew what kind of toxin they’d ingested, rubbed their backs as they puked while waiting for the anti-nausea meds to kick in.

Whichever toxin had been in that fish left the girls unable to tell the difference between hot and cold, had given them skull-splitting headaches, and made them feel as if their teeth were loose and might fall out.

It was, in short, a nightmare situation.

And Nora hadn’t even flinched, not even when she’d gotten a full frontal psychedelic yawn from Priya. The nurses at the hospital had taken pity, let Nora use a shower and given her an extra pair of scrubs, but Nora had been more concerned about her sister and Priya than anything else.

She was magnificent. That was all he could think. No one else he knew would have handled everything so well. It also made him regret making snide remarks about her nursing skills. They’d never really treated each other kindly, but her actions today showed just how below the belt his comments had been. Damn. He was going to need to apologize. Some time when they didn’t still have to get the grad students home.

He made a run to get dinner for everyone, because even fast food was better than the cafeteria. It was early evening by the time the hospital released Hazel and Priya, and he could only be grateful they didn’t have to stay overnight. That would have been the crowning insult to this already clusterfucked day.

Fortunately, it was only another thirty minutes to campus, because the moment they opened the car and Chuck got a noseful of the lingering puke stench, he started heaving again. It didn’t help that he was the first one to get in the vehicle.

“Bloody hell, I am not sitting next to him,” Priya insisted, shoving Jeremy into the middle of the back seat. “Get over your Yank homophobia and cuddle up.”

“But…but…” Jeremy stuttered.

“For fuck’s sake, Jeremy,” Hazel snapped. “Suck it up and do what she says. You haven’t been food poisoned.”

“I had my car stolen,” he groused.

“Look me in the eyes, Jeremy.” Her voice turned low and deadly. “Get. In. The. Car. Is that clear?”

The fact that Hazel—usually the mellowest person on the planet—appeared ready to rip his arms off seemed to finally register with Tweedle Dumber. He went almost as deathly pale as she was.

“Clear,” he whispered and did exactly as he’d been told.

Everyone else crawled in without incident. Ben slipped behind the wheel, Hazel settling in the middle of the front seat. He leaned toward her. “Well done.”

She offered a wan smile. “I might be the quietest Kirby, but I’m still a Kirby.”

“All four of you are bad-asses, in my book.” He winked and started the car. “Note I said four, meaning just the Sisters Kirby. Dinah is a terrifying waste of space.”

She tucked a limp lock of hair behind her ear. “I was so glad when Mom remarried a very tolerant man who will, God willing, outlive her, thus sparing her daughters from having to figure out how to support her in her old age.”

“Amen, sister,” Nora murmured. “I don’t know how Stanley does it, but sometimes it’s best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“Seriously.” Hazel rested her head against Nora’s shoulder, sighed and closed her eyes. “Take me home, Ben. I want my own bed, a shower, and about fifteen minutes of quality time with a toothbrush.”

“For all our sakes.” Nora dropped a kiss on the top of her sister’s head, and Hazel chuckled.

“Everyone seat-belted back there?” He glanced in the rearview, waited until everyone gave him an affirmative and backed out of the parking space.

Within twenty minutes, he was the only one in the Impala left awake. Or so he thought. Nora turned her head to look at him, though her sister was still crashed out against her shoulder.

“I think you’ve had your comeuppance for forcing your way onto this little excursion,” she mused.

He glanced at her. “So you’re not going to TP my condo’s porch or shrink wrap my car when we get home?”

“Those options are still on the table, of course,” she returned mildly. “But considering you’ve got a few chunks of vomit on your sleeve…”

He rotated his right arm and saw that she wasn’t joking. Awesome. “Wow, thanks for telling me six hours later.”

“You’re welcome.” She giggled, and the sound warmed his heart.

“You had it worse.” He cast a pointed look at her borrowed scrubs.

She tilted her head in acknowledgement. “I’m a nurse. Trust me, I’ve been splattered with way worse than barf.”

“The possibilities turn my stomach.” He made a face. “I’ll stick to the law, thanks. I occasionally have to see pictures of horrific crime scenes, but I don’t have to be present for the carnage.”

She tsked. “Imagine that, someone not in the medical profession being grossed out by the consequences of medical emergencies.”

“We chose our vocations well, then.” He took a breath, unsure how she’d take what he said next. “You were great today, Nora. These ladies were lucky you were with them when this happened. You knew what to do, helped them keep a level head, and you were a wonderful comfort to them.”

A long pause followed that, and he wished he could see her expression clearly, but the sun had dropped below the horizon, and the glow of the dashboard lights revealed little.

“Are you mocking me, Ben? This sounds like the kind of set-ups you used to pull in school—you say something nice, I assume you’re sincere, and then you turn it into a joke at my expense.” Her voice was so even, so lacking in judgment, that he wanted to crawl in a hole.

“We should talk about that kind of thing some other day, when we haven’t gotten puked on.” He eased his suddenly tight grip on the wheel. “But I’m being sincere. You’re a wonderful nurse, and I’m sorry I ever implied otherwise.”

He was sorry for a lot of things, but that was also a discussion for another time. A time in the not too distant future, he hoped.

“Thank you. I take my work very seriously.”

“So do I.” He chuckled quietly. “See? We do have something in common.”

“Always the one who has to win the argument.” She shook her head. “I guess you did choose the right profession, Mr. Lawyer.”

The last topic he wanted to broach was arguing. They did too much of that. He’d rather save it for the courtroom. “I can only hope I’m as a good a lawyer as you are a nurse.”

“You’re laying it on thick tonight,” she said,
sotto voce
.

His teeth locked on a sharp retort. No. He wasn’t going to go there. “The truth is what it is, Nora. I don’t need to lay anything on thick.”

She hummed but made no other reply. He didn’t know what that meant, if anything. She didn’t believe him? She didn’t care what he thought in any case? The problem was he’d so rarely been sincere with her, so rarely allowed any vulnerability to show. Because they’d exploited weaknesses in each other for so many years, it was just a default. They expected it now. He thought they’d made some strides toward changing that in the last two days, but it would take more time than that to break the cycle.

Time was the one thing he feared they didn’t have.

Chapter Six

“We made it.” Nora sighed and flopped back on the dilapidated couch that seemed to be standard issue for any college student’s apartment. If yesterday had been insane, today had been hell. She really wasn’t doing well at the moment, and her sister was doing worse. Of the Kirby girls, Hazel was the closest to her in age, and they had always loved as fiercely as they’d gotten on each other’s nerves. It was inevitable when all those teen hormones hit at the same time. That had faded to a good friendship as they’d become adults. It was difficult to see her so unwell. Sure, Nora saw unwell people for a living, but it wasn’t the same when your loved one was the patient.

Today had only been beaten out by the time she’d gone to stay with Camille after her auto accident. God willing, nothing would ever top that. She closed her eyes and shook her head, feeling leaden with exhaustion. Why were her sisters determined to send her to an early grave from worry?

“Yep, we survived.” Ben dropped down beside her, offering his signature dimpled half-smile. “I had my doubts there for a while.”

“You and me both.”

“Nora,” Hazel’s plaintive wail carried from her bedroom.

“Poor thing.” Nora heaved to her feet. “I’ll check on her and Priya. You might see if you can crash on this lovely sofa for a while.”

“I’m going to go put some gas in the car, if you don’t mind. Then we don’t have to think about it in the morning.” He rose beside her and walked with her toward the hall, which was also the direction of the front door. He picked up the keys to the Impala and Hazel’s house keys, both of which had been dropped on a side table.

“Good idea. Thanks for doing that.” She braced her hand against the wall. Otherwise she might have actually wilted to the ground. About twelve hours of sleep would be welcome after the last couple of days.

He brushed a soft kiss over her mouth, and she didn’t even have time to react before he slipped out of the apartment. She heard the snick of the deadbolt sliding into place.

Of course, he wouldn’t leave them alone with the door unlocked, especially knowing how wiped they all were. That warmed her heart the way she knew it shouldn’t. Or should it? Hell, she didn’t know anymore. Everything with Ben was muddled, and she was too tired to dwell on it now.

Poking her head into Priya’s room, she found the young woman sprawled on her back, snoring loudly enough to rattle walls. Holy crap, they weren’t kidding about that. No wonder she’d seen a white noise machine on her sister’s nightstand earlier.

She headed for Hazel’s door, knocking softly. “You decent?”

“Never.” Her sister retorted, sounding utterly spent. “You know me better than that.”

After pushing into the room, she went to curl up beside Hazel on the queen-size bed, propping herself up on the spare pillow. “You’re well enough to tease, so that’s an improvement.”

“I feel like road kill. Day-old road kill.”

“It might be a couple of days before you feel any better. Do your ribs hurt from all the heaving yet?”

“Yep.” She rolled bloodshot eyes. “I swear someone took a baseball bat to me. I never knew puking could hurt so fucking bad.”

“Ibuprofen. It helps reduce inflammation.” Nora sat up. “Want me to get you some?”

Her sister set a staying hand on her arm. “I already took some. It just hasn’t kicked in.”

Sighing, she settled back on the bed. “If it doesn’t kick in soon, let me know.”

“Yes, Nurse Nora,” her sister sing-songed.

“Ingrate.” She sniffed.

“I am grateful.” Hazel shook her head, her hair rustling against the pillow. “You’re the best. I have amazing big sisters.”

“When she was still in high school, Anne gave up her chosen university and career to raise us after Dad died. She worked nights and weekends to keep food on the table for us while going to a state college because she knew Mom was too much of a spastic flake to properly care for three young girls. Hell, I think Cami wasn’t even out of diapers yet.” Nora arched her eyebrows. “A road trip to Mexico is nothing compared to that.”

“I have older sisters who would drop everything to help me for as long as I need help.” Hazel’s look dared her to disagree. “How long did you take off work to help Camille get back on her feet—literally—after her catastrophic wreck?”

“A couple months.” Nora shrugged, discomfited. “I had vacation time saved up, plus there’s emergency family medical leave. It was fine.”

They were quiet for a few minutes, and she tugged a throw blanket at the bottom of the bed up to cover her legs.

“Can I say something else that’ll make you uncomfortable?” Hazel shifted around so she faced Nora.

“Someone barfed on me.” She snorted. “Uncomfortable is the norm today.”

Hazel stated bluntly, “He’s in love with you, has been since the moment he pissed you off so bad you punched him in middle school.”

Neither of them needed to specify which
he
was being discussed here. A massive tangle of emotions somersaulted through Nora’s chest at her sister’s words. She didn’t know what that reaction might mean. “He’d publicly humiliated me. Not for the last time, I might add. You don’t do that to people you love.”

“Did you ever inform Mom of that little love rule?” Hazel quirked one eyebrow.

“Family is different.” Nora swatted her arm. “You don’t get to choose them, but we’ve all chosen to distance ourselves as we got older, as self-protection.”

“True,” her sister conceded. “I’m still right about Ben though. Want to know how I knew for sure?”

Dubious, she wrinkled her nose. “Okay, I’ll bite. How?”

“He didn’t make a peep of protest about the
as you wish
equals
I love you
thing.” Hazel tapped a finger against the tip of Nora’s nose. “If he’d had a problem with that, he’d have said something. It is Ben, after all.”

“He does like to debate. Everything. Do you think he’ll argue with St. Peter when he gets to the Pearly Gates? I vote yes.”

Not to be sidetracked, Hazel stuck doggedly to her topic. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, has always looked at you, when he knew you wouldn’t see. He may not even have admitted it to himself—though I think he’s starting to clue in—but that’s the way Gabe looks at Anne, the way Tate looks at Karen. Trust me on this.”

Nora huffed. “I don’t even know how to respond to that.”

“You don’t have to, but think about how you’d feel if he does love you.”

She let a breath filter out of her lungs, groping for some semblance of reality in a world that seemed to have tilted sideways. “We’ve been enemies for a long time, Hazel. More than half our lives.”

“And you slept with him last night.” There wasn’t a hint of question or doubt—it was a statement of simple fact.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Shit.”

“I won’t tell anyone, but I know you too well not to notice the signs of intimacy.” Hazel’s gaze was frank, if sympathetic. “You don’t screw around lightly, so now you’re confused about what it’ll mean to screw around with a man you’ve never been on friendly terms with.”

“Don’t analyze me, Dr. Kirby. You’re getting your doctorate in marine biology, not psychology.”

She gave a disdainful sniff. “I’m your sister, Nurse Nora. That’s more than enough to be able to diagnose you.”

“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that, right?”

And she was wrong, that was all Nora could think. There was no way Ben was in love with her. It wasn’t even within the realm of possibility. He apparently felt this crazy chemistry too, and since he’d been the one to kiss her first, he might have felt it before she did, but that was about as far as her mind would go down that particular rabbit hole. Anything else was too ridiculous to contemplate.

Hazel let the topic go gracefully, grinning. “You’ve been calling me a pain since I popped out of the drama llama mama’s womb.”

“I was right then and I’m right now.” Nora flicked a lock of her sister’s hair, a characteristic shade of Kirby red. Their mom had auburn hair and their dad’s was bright, fiery red. Their kids had been doomed to be gingers from the start.

“Love you.”

“To the moon and back.” Nora tucked the covers in around Hazel. “Try to get some sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

The younger woman grimaced. “If I ever feel worse than I did today, it would have to mean I died and went to hell.”

“Just think of what joy is ahead of you with childbearing,” Nora rejoined, tone light.

Hazel contemplated that for a moment. “I’ll adopt. There are enough redheads in the world.”

“Not. We’re a dying breed. I can talk genetics on that one if you’d like.”

Making a face, she said, “That’d definitely put me to sleep.”

“Well, I’m fresh out of bedtime stories, kiddo.” Nora snuggled down in bed, ready to watch over her sister for a while after she passed out. “I forgot to bring my copy of
Where the Wild Things Are
.”

“Man, that was my favorite book as a munchkin.” Hazel’s smile flashed brilliant for a moment. “I always loved how Anne would do all the voices when the Wild Things roared their terrible roars.”

“She copied Dad. That’s how he read the story too.”

“Did he?” she asked. “I don’t really remember him, just kind of a hazy feeling of him holding me in his arms and that being the safest place in the world.”

“He made all of us feel that way.” Nora shut her eyes for a moment, trying to bring him to mind. “I remember the bedtime stories. I have to look at photos to picture his face, but his voice, reading us stories…yeah, those memories are clear.”

“Ben has a nice voice too.” Hazel poked her side. “I bet he’d read you bedtime stories.”

Nora cracked one eye open. “It’s not the stories I want from him in bed.”

“Make him read you
The Princess Bride
,” Hazel suggested with a straight face. “It’s a kissing book.”

They both dissolved into smothered laughter, then tried shushing each other, which made them giggle harder.

“Oh. Oh.” Hazel held her sides and winced. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts my ribs.”

“As you wish.” Nora smooched her sister’s forehead and stroked back her hair. “Just close your eyes and try to catch a few Z’s. You need it.”

Within a few minutes, they were both fast asleep.

* * * * *

The sun beamed between the curtains and hit Ben square in the eyes. Wincing, he turned his face away, then winced again as his body made it clear that he was too old to be crashing on a lumpy couch. With a small groan he hoisted himself up, stretched his arms overhead, and felt a few joints pop.

Not a single peep came from anywhere in the apartment. He could hear the sound of Priya’s snoring, but there was no talking or rustling or anything to indicate either Hazel or Nora were up yet. Okay, so he needed to keep himself occupied for a while.

He grabbed his phone and checked the time. Not quite 9AM. There were definitely a few things he could get done. He found a pad of Post-Its on the kitchen counter and scrawled out a note that he’d be back by 10AM. He stuck the little piece of paper to the bathroom door, figuring it would be one of the women’s first stops of the day. Making quick use of the toilet, he decided to wait on the shower until he got back. First, he didn’t know how loud the pipes were and didn’t want to chance waking anyone. Second, if he had to get in a car redolent of vomit, he wanted to wash up afterwards, not before.

His primary mission was going to be getting the heinous stank taken care of—he was not driving hundreds more miles in the pukemobile.

While the car was being detailed at a nearby shop, he jogged across the street to a grocery store to buy a few items he thought might come in handy. Then it was back to the apartment, with a quick stop on the way at a drive-through diner to pick up breakfast for everyone. He’d guess no one felt like cooking this morning. He’d be surprised if Hazel or Priya even wanted to eat…then again, they might wake ravenous because they clearly had nothing in their stomachs.

He brought the bags up the stairs, and Nora met him at the door, holding it open for him.

“What’s all this?” she asked, eyeing the plethora of sacks in his hands.

After walking in and kicking off his sandals, he set everything on the kitchen floor. “The girls need electrolytes, right? Sports drinks. Also, I got them some easy-on-the-stomach items that should last them the rest of the week. That way they don’t have to worry about shopping.” He held out one of the bags to her. “And this is breakfast for you.”

She tugged out a dish covered with a clear plastic lid and examined it. “Omelet, sausage, and toast.”

“Egg white omelet. That’s what you like, yes?” Unless she’d completely changed her eating habits, he knew he was right. He had a memory for details, and he never forgot anything about her. Even though he’d really wished he could many times over the years. Right now, he was glad he hadn’t gotten those wishes.

“Yes.” She blinked at him, seeming befuddled. “Thank you, Ben.”

He tipped his head in the direction of the hall. “Do you think it’s safe to leave them or should we stay another day?”

“They both say we can go, but…” Her brow furrowed. “The nurse in me agrees, the big sister wants to coddle until they’re actually well. I got them showered, but neither had the energy to do anything other than curl back up in bed. Not having to worry about food this week will be a big help.”

“I’m glad to be of assistance.” He nodded. “I’m willing to stay an extra day if that makes you feel more comfortable.”

She sighed, running a palm over sleep-disheveled hair. “No, we should go. I’m going to make them swear they’ll go to the campus health center if they throw up again.”

“Should we have Tweedle Dumb and Dumber check in on them?” He hated to ask, but they did seem to be the best alternative if neither he nor Nora could see them in person.

“Probably.” She wrinkled her nose. “Those two are halfwits.”

He couldn’t agree more. “Somehow I’m not shocked the car was stolen, that’s all I can say.”

“True, but…” Her eyes widened. “Oh God. My car.”

He reached out to set a staying hand on her shoulder. “I took it this morning and had it detailed. Not even a hint of puke left, I promise. I made them do the back seat twice to be sure. And they were also able to repair your flat tire, so it’s good as new in case we blow another one on the way home.”