Waiting for You (14 page)

“Can’t say that’s what I was thinking about when I first met you,
either, love.” From Gavin’s smirk, Karise had a pretty good guess what
he’d been thinking about.

The evening passed much too quickly for Karise’s taste. Laughter
had come easily; being nestled against Aidan’s side had come even
easier. And the moments flew by. She wasn’t ready for it to end as she
ambled along beside Aidan, his arms full of a sleepy little girl.

“I called Devon earlier,” Karise told him.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he protested before she could finish
her story.

“I haven’t done anything yet. He was so upset about their adoption
struggles that I didn’t have the heart to ask him to call his friend or if his family had history here I wasn’t aware of.”

“You could probably Google that last one. And don’t worry about
asking him to call that guy. That expansion will happen when it’s
supposed to.”

“I’m going to ask him,” she persisted. “I’m just waiting for a better time. I feel like he’s always helping me, and I never get to do anything
for him. Listening to him today, being there when he needed to vent, it was the first time I did something for him.”

“I bet he appreciated it.”

“I think he misses Alex,” Karise mused as Aidan strapped Zoe into her car seat.

“Alex is your sister, right?”

“Right. And she lives an insanely busy life, so I don’t think she and
Devon are as close as they used to be. They went down separate paths
a long time ago, but I think now that Alex has this growing family and all of its unusual obligations, they’ve really drifted apart.”

“Unusual obligations?”

“Alex’s stepdaughter is royalty for some obscure country nobody’s
ever heard of,” Karise clarified.

“Oh. That’s all?”

Karise snickered. “It is kind of crazy, isn’t it? My family is nuts.”

“Most are.”

“True.” Karise leaned past him to kiss Zoe on her forehead, her whispered goodnight lost on the sleeping child.

Aidan scooped her into his arms. “Do I get one of those?”

Karise gladly obliged. Aidan’s goodnight kiss was lingering; she savored his touch. They parted by degrees, neither willing to be the
first to walk away. When Karise finally did pry herself away, she gave
Clyde a goodnight hug before practically floating back to the cabin.

For the next week, instead of lounging on a beach in Hawaii on her honeymoon, she oversaw the groundbreaking on Kate and Gavin’s new home during the day and spent her evenings with Aidan and Zoe. By day two, she’d used a scary amount of her savings to buy herself a used red Honda Civic so she wouldn’t have to keep hitching rides. It was a momentous occasion because to her it meant she was contemplating staying.

By the third night, she made good on her threat to steal Aidan’s dog. Unbidden, Clyde clambered into the passenger seat of her car while she and Aidan were saying goodnight. Instead of ordering the dog out, Karise had given Aidan an apologetic look and promised to return Clyde the next day.

Once she’d spent a night snuggled up to Clyde’s solid warmth,
she wondered just how bad of a person it would make her if she stole
a little girl’s dog. Aidan reassured her over the phone that he would be in meetings all day and Zoe was in preschool, so Bonnie would be the only one looking for Clyde before dinnertime.

Karise
still felt a little like a
jerk
, but not enough to
dissuade
her from
having a large, furry shadow all day. The foreman at the construction site hopped back into his truck with an expletive when Clyde arrived,
charging ahead of Karise.

“Sorry, Gary,” Karise apologized, jogging to catch up with Clyde.

Upon seeing Karise, Gary visibly relaxed and his scowl turned into
a smile. “Hey there, Miss McAlister. Did you get yourself a dog?”

“Not really. He’s on loan.”

“You borrowed a dog?”

It struck Karise that she wasn’t sure how to explain whose dog
Clyde was. After chiding herself for being a ninny, she explained. “He’s
my boyfriend’s dog.”

Gary nodded as if it all suddenly made sense. Karise was glad it did
to somebody. She felt like every word out of her mouth was gibberish
lately. There were too many things swimming around in her head. When
her phone rang, Gary gave her a quick wave and headed off to do his
job. Karise snagged Clyde’s collar with one hand and answered her
phone with the other.

“Hey, Devon! I didn’t expect to hear from you until after Guyana.”

“Something came up.” His voice was distracted, tired maybe.

“Oh no.” Karise braced for bad news. “Did the trip fall through?”

“No, no, we’re supposed to be getting on the plane this afternoon,
actually. That’s why I’m calling.” He paused.

“What’s up?”

“I really hate to ask you this, and I am so sorry to tell you this over
the phone…” His voice trailed off again.

Karise
began to wonder what it was going to take to pry information
out of Devon before he drove her mad. “Whatever you need, Devon.”

“Love, I just got a call from San Francisco. Mom passed away.”

The wind knocked out of her, Karise sank to the ground. Clyde pressed in closer, sensing that she was upset. “What happened?”

“We don’t know. She’d been living as a vagrant – I had no idea – some poor restaurant owner found her in an alley when he went to empty his trash.”

Karise had no words. She was sickened. She was horrified. She took
a steadying breath, processing what Devon had told her. It dawned on
her what he didn’t want to ask. “Would you like me to go claim her body?”

“It doesn’t seem fair to ask.”

“You didn’t. I’m offering.”

“Let me at least fly in to go with you.”

“No.” Karise wouldn’t hear of it. “You go to Guyana first. I’m the
closest to her; I mean I’m the closest to her location. It makes sense for
me to take care of it.”

“Are you sure?” His tone said he was relenting.

“Positive. Maybe the three of us can video in later tonight to figure
out what we want to do, how we want to handle things. In the meantime,
I’ll make arrangements at work and get Clyde dropped off.”

“Who’s Clyde?”

“Aidan’s dog. I kinda stole him,” she admitted.

“You’re sharing a dog now?” Devon’s voice lightened. “Sounds serious.”

“I’m not ready for serious.”

“That’s usually when it finds you.”

“Very funny. Maybe I just like his dog.” Karise scratched Clyde’s ears as if to emphasize the point to herself.

“Do you? Just like his dog, I mean.”

“Shut up.”

“You love me.”

“I do.” She grew serious. “I love you very much.” It was the first time Karise had ever said those words to her brother.

“YOU ARE NOT BLOWING OFF
your appointments for me.” Karise
hated that the full impact of her scowl was lost on the phone. She’d only
called Aidan to let him know she would return Clyde before heading
to San Francisco. It hadn’t occurred to her that he’d insist on going, too.

“I hadn’t planned to blow them off,” he responded. “I kind of
thought a polite phone call to reschedule might be more appropriate.”

“Cute. Very cute.”

“You don’t have to go do this alone.”

“But I can – you don’t have to drop everything to hold my hand through this.”

“The hand-holding thing is purely selfish on my part.”

“Just make me dinner tonight and we’ll call it square,” Karise
suggested.

“Fine. When you get back, there will be an amazing dinner waiting
for you.”

“Thank you.” She breathed a sigh of relief at winning the argument
before she admitted to herself she was dreading what lay ahead of her.

“I’d better run, love.”

“Oh. Okay. Good luck today.” Karise was a little taken aback by
how abruptly he’d ended the conversation, but it was probably just as
well. She had other calls to make and she wanted to be off the phone before she left. If she tried to talk while driving, there was no doubt in her mind she’d zip right passed Aidan’s farm.

She flitted around her cottage, packing an overnight bag just in case
she
got
held
up in town. Clyde made
himself
comfortable, commandeering
the couch in the process. His eyes followed her about the room with
interest. Karise called Kate to let her know she’d be gone for a day,
possibly two. She filled her in on the status of the house and anything
that might come up while she was away. Not surprisingly, Kate told her to take whatever time she needed.

Once her bag was packed, Karise made sure all appliances and
lights were off, giving the place one last look before calling to Clyde.
She stopped by the jobsite on her way out to touch base with Gary.
Everything was moving along as planned and he assured her he’d call if they hit any hiccups while she was away.

On the way to Aidan’s, it finally sank in. Sadness settled over her like a heavy blanket. “I can’t believe she’s gone, Clyde.”

The dog turned from the window to look at her.

“I never knew her. Other than what I read in magazines, that is.
Lucia was my mom in all the ways that counted. But Victoria gave me
life. She didn’t have to do that; I’ve always felt like I should be thankful
for her giving me that much. And I’m glad she left me with Papa. He
gave me such a good life; there was so much love and laughter. It was
the kind of life I want my own kids to have. But sometimes, I can’t help
wondering why she never even checked in on me. Wasn’t she at least a
little curious about who I’d become? Why was I so easy to set aside?”

Clyde rested his head on her shoulder and sighed, his hot breath grazing her neck as he did.

“Thanks, buddy. Sorry I can’t take you with me, but I think Bonnie
probably misses you anyway. I’m being
selfish
stealing
you away from
your family.”

Clyde’s bark rumbled deep.

“Dude, that was right in my ear. And you didn’t have to agree so quickly.”

He shifted positions eagerly. As they rounded the corner, the house
came into view and Karise saw what he was excited about. Aidan was
kneeling beside his truck, petting Bonnie as she jumped and twisted and
contorted in her exhilaration. It was the dance she did whenever Aidan
had just arrived home. When Karise let Clyde out to greet the pair, she
wondered if Bonnie might spontaneously combust out of sheer joy.

“What are you doing here?” Karise leaned against her car to watch
the happy reunion.

“Hello to you, too.”

“Sorry. Hello, handsome.”

At that, he rose, walking over to stand right in front of her. He placed
his hands on the car, one on either side of her. “Hello, beautiful.”

Karise wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head
on his chest, comforted when he enveloped her in his embrace.

“Please don’t argue with me. Let me ride with you.”

“Why are you so adamant about this?”

“Because if it was me going to claim one of my parents, I wouldn’t
want to go alone. I wouldn’t admit it or ask anyone to go, but I wouldn’t
want to go alone.”

“What about Zoe?”

“I already talked to her. She thinks I should go.”

“What happened to just making me dinner?”

“I only promised dinner when you got back, not that I wouldn’t go, too.”

“Sneaky. Very sneaky.” Karise finally relented, not sure why she’d
put up such a fight to begin with. They were on their way within
minutes. Karise drove, Aidan fiddled with the radio, and they talked
about nothing
consequential. Karise was glad for the diversion, even
happier when conversation stayed light. She was already on emotion-
overload. Traffic wasn’t terrible; less than two hours later, she was
parking her car at the address Devon had sent her.

None of it seemed real to Karise. Sure, her palms were sweating and her heart was racing like a rabbit, but some other part of her felt
more like she was watching events unfold. Was she really at the medical
examiner’s office to identify her mother, a mother she didn’t even
remember meeting in person?

Aidan slipped out of the car, coming around to open Karise’s door.
She looked up at him, still frozen to her seat.

“Ready?” He reached a hand out to her.

“No,” Karise admitted, taking his hand nonetheless. It was warm
and strong, keeping her tethered to reality as they entered the office.
They were led to a room to wait. Neither spoke, though Aidan would
occasionally rub the back of her hand with his thumb. This small,
reassuring act seemed to coincide with the moments when Karise
forgot to breathe. Simple as it may be, the touch would bring her back
from the brink of losing control.

Karise was expecting someone to lead her to a body; instead, they
were joined by a young man who showed them pictures. Karise had
seen enough photographs of her mother to immediately recognize her,
though the woman she saw now was only a shell of who she’d once been. It was obvious the last several years of Victoria McAlister’s life had not been kind.