Chapter 17
The hospital smelled of disinfectant tinged with a light citrusy odor.
Kat followed Micah briskly through the halls, feeling people’s eyes on them as they walked.
“Aren’t you going to get in trouble for wearing your uniform?” she asked.
He shrugged. “My son is in the hospital. I don’t give a damn.”
Right. She struggled to keep up in her heels as he held firmly to her hand and navigated past nurses and patients, past carts full of medical supplies. Ben was on the fourth floor—the children’s unit. They’d skipped the ER and admitted him immediately because of his cerebral palsy diagnosis.
They stepped into an elevator and Micah pushed the button for the fourth floor. His whole body appeared tense. Even his jaw, which had been relaxed in a smile most of the night, was tight, the bulky muscle along his cheek clenching and releasing.
“He’ll be okay,” she whispered softly, rubbing her hand along his arm.
Micah turned to her. The heat in his eyes was gone now. To an outsider, he might look calm, cool, collected, but she knew better. He had pushed his emotions aside, like a good Marine. He was on a mission, going through the motions. “I know. This happens several times a year,” he said.
“Several times a year?”
He nodded. “More when he’s on a growth spurt. His bones are growing longer, but his muscles remain tight, restricting his movement. He tries to do more than he should and his muscles won’t let him. Then he falls. I shouldn’t have left him tonight.”
“He was with your aunt, though.”
“Who doesn’t know his limits like I do. If I’d been there, this wouldn’t have happened.” He ran a hand through his cropped hair.
When the elevator stopped, she followed Micah down the hall, stopping at room 407.
“Hey there, buddy.” Micah’s smile was back, but the thick bulk of muscle in his jawline was still knotted. “Looks like you and the wall got into a fight.”
Ben grinned, lying on his back in a white hospital bed, looking smaller and more fragile than Kat had seen him. “Actually, it was the railing of Aunt Clara’s deck. I was trying to stand and look at her flowers.”
“Yeah?” Micah walked up to the bed.
“She has a rabbit that’s been chewing on the leaves. I was keeping a lookout for it.” Ben’s gaze jumped to Kat. “Did you have a good time with my dad? I’m sorry I ruined it.”
“You didn’t ruin it,” Kat insisted, stepping closer. “We had a wonderful time.”
Ben’s smile stretched, making her heart ache in her chest. He was such a sweet kid. He didn’t deserve his plight in life. No one deserved to have a body that didn’t listen to its brain.
“I was hoping you did. I think you and my dad are perfect for one another,” Ben said.
“Perfect?” she asked.
“I made a list. It proves you two should be together.”
From the mind of an eight-year-old.
“Buddy, I’m more concerned about you right now.” Micah sat down on the chair beside him and pushed a hand through the boy’s matted hair, revealing a bandage along his forehead. “Stitches, huh?” Micah shook his head. “You’re going to look like Frankenstein if you keep trying to stand.”
“Dad.” Ben’s grin faded. “My legs still work. I want to use them.”
“And I don’t want to end up here all the time.”
Clara had been quiet since they’d entered. “It’s my fault.” She was seated in a chair against the window. “I told him to keep watch for me. He was glued to the window, watching for you two to come home, so I thought it’d be better if he kept a lookout for my critter instead.”
The knot of muscle in Micah’s jaw was pulsing again. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left him.”
“Dad.” Tears formed in Ben’s eyes. “You can’t stay with me all the time. I’m not a baby. Tell him, Principal Chandler. You told me that I could do whatever I set my mind to. That my disability shouldn’t hold me back. Tell him.”
Her mouth fell open. “I…You can do what you want, Ben—when you’re an adult. But right now you have to listen to your father.”
“Why? He doesn’t listen to me.” Ben folded his arms at his chest.
“Ben—” Micah started.
“No. It’s true. You treat me like a baby. I’m eight. I’m not a little kid anymore.”
“Right now, you’re still a child.” Micah’s voice grew stern, the knotted muscle in his jaw ticking harder, faster.
Kat’s heart ached as she watched Ben’s lower lip quiver.
“I just want you to be happy.” Ben’s voice was as fragile as his bandaged body.
Okay, Kat thought. She should leave. She was Ben’s principal, not family.
“I’m happy with you,” Micah said, taking Ben’s hand. “It’s just you and me, kid. Isn’t that enough?”
Ben looked away, staring off past the tinted hospital windows. “No.”
Heart breaking, Kat took a tiny step backward. This was a private family moment and she didn’t belong, even if she’d relished the idea of being part of this group of people on the way here.
She started to back away and then her heel caught on the foot of the mobile table that held Ben’s food. Damn heels. With a high-pitched squeal, she started to fall backward, landing with a hard thud before she could even try to catch herself. All the attention turned to her, splayed on the floor in a fitted black dress, pain shooting up her body from an indistinguishable place.
“Ma’am, are you all right?” A nurse who’d witnessed the fall hurried to Kat’s side.
“I’m fine.” But that was a lie. She wasn’t fine. Her ankle had twisted in her high-heel shoe as she’d gone down. And her heart was more than a little shattered at the father-son moment she’d just watched play out. Her ego was a little damaged now, too.
She tried to stand. “Ouch, ouch, ouch!”
Taking hold of her hand, Micah helped her as she wobbled on one good leg, maneuvering her to the seat where he’d been sitting. “You two are trying to kill me tonight, aren’t you?”
“I’ll see if I can find a doctor to take a look,” the nurse said, hurrying out of the room.
Kat clutched her ankle. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.”
“You were trying to leave,” Ben said. “I scared my mother away and now I’m scaring you, too.”
“No.” Kat shook her head. “That’s not it. I thought you and your dad could use some time alone.” She swallowed thickly, the ache in her chest overriding the pain in her ankle.
The door opened and a doctor wearing a white lab coat and a stethoscope walked in. “Two patients in one room, huh? Are you Ben’s stepmother?”
Kat shook her head quickly. “No.”
“Not yet.” Ben was smiling again. “But I’m working on it.”
The doctor nodded, the skin between his eyes slightly pinched, but he was too busy to ask. He grasped Kat’s ankle, causing her to flinch in pain. “Sprained,” he said efficiently. “We’ll have the nurse wrap it and get you some ice. No high heels for a few months.”
She laughed lightly. “That’s fine with me.” She might never wear high heels again. Her gaze caught on Micah’s as the doctor headed out the door. Worry replaced the hunger she’d seen in his eyes earlier in the night. A deep, impenetrable worry that she knew too well. She didn’t have children, but she worried about them. She took their fears and burdens home with her every night.
If her ankle wasn’t swelling to the size of a small grapefruit right now, she would have walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.
“Did you guys at least get to kiss?” Ben asked, looking between them. “I didn’t ruin the good-night kiss, did I?”
Micah looked between Kat and his son. “You must’ve hit your head pretty hard to ask your principal a question like that one.”
Ben’s laughter was light. “I have a hard head, Dad. You should know that by now.”
Micah leaned forward and ruffled the boy’s dark hair. “Yeah. I know that. Just like your old man.”
“Sooo?” Ben flashed another toothless smile. “Did you?”
Kat’s cheeks burned as she remembered the many kisses they’d had in the hallway right before the call from Micah’s uncle. And if not for Ben’s little fall, they’d be in bed on round number three right about now.
She stood on wobbly legs. “I’ll just go sit outside.” Before she could embarrass herself any further tonight. “I’m glad you’re all right, Ben,” she said.
“You, too, Principal Chandler,” Ben called back.
—
Micah waited until Ben was sleeping before slipping out of the small hospital room and dialing his father’s number. He’d missed three calls in the hour he’d been in Ben’s room.
“Hey, Dad? You called?”
There was a long pause.
“It’s two o’clock in the morning. Don’t tell me you’re just now getting your lady friend home,” his father finally said, a tone of disdain evident.
Micah ground his teeth. “We’re at the ER. Ben had a fall.”
Another long pause.
“He okay?” his father asked.
“Yeah. Just an overnighter.” Not that his father really cared. “Why’d you call, Dad?”
“I didn’t realize you were seeing that Chandler woman.”
“Just friends. Is this the reason you called? To interrogate me on my love life? Because I have better things to do right now.”
“I don’t think it’s wise of you to connect yourself to that woman, sad as her story is. There’ll be talk, and it won’t have anything to do with you. I don’t see how that can be a positive thing for your reputation.”
“I don’t give a shit about my reputation, Dad. You know that.”
His father took his time answering. “Do you care about hers? I happen to know she’s working hard to polish her own image. Word has it that if she doesn’t, she’ll be out of a job next year, thanks to a few unfortunate incidents at the school.”
Blood was drumming in Micah’s ears. How did his father even know about Kat or what she was going through at the small elementary school? He shouldn’t be surprised, though. His father knew everything that was happening in this town.
“Being seen with the father of one of her students, a man who works for her, that might not be too glowing for Ms. Chandler’s image, wouldn’t you agree? And, really, son, hasn’t the poor woman been through enough?” There was a fake air of concern in his voice.
Micah knew the truth, though. His father was only pointing any of this out because he hated the fact that Micah took “menial” jobs around town. It wasn’t the Marine way—not if he expected to get anywhere in his career. Far be it from his father to understand that maybe Micah wanted something different for his life. Maybe he wanted a job that didn’t take him away for months at a time. Maybe he wanted his son to look at him with admiration rather than the wariness that Micah had grown to have around his own father.
Or maybe, just maybe, Micah wanted a wife who didn’t cry herself to sleep at night the way his own mother had done when his father stayed out too late “working,” or whatever the hell he’d been doing back then.
A wife?
“Dad, Kat’s personal life is none of your business,” Micah said through tight lips.
“You are my business, son.” His father’s voice hardened, like a commander talking to his infinite inferior. “And whether you like it or not, what you do affects my career, too. Make sure whatever you have going on with that woman doesn’t pull our family name down. Understand?”
Micah forced himself to take a calming breath, and not to punch the wall beside him. He couldn’t help being bullied by the old man when he was a child, but now things were different. “If that’s all, I have a son who needs me.”
“I see.” A long beat hung between them. “We’ll speak tomorrow,” his father said. Then the phone clicked and an empty dial tone replaced the silence.
Micah growled low in his throat, stuffing his phone back in his pocket.
“You okay?” Kat was leaning against the wall, watching him.
His gaze flicked to her ankle. “I could ask you the same.”
“Just a sprain. I’ll be fine.”
Which was what she was always pretending to be with him. Fine.
“The bandages look nice with your dress.” He attempted a smile, but the night had been too long.
She limped closer. “You looked angry just now.”
He nodded and tapped his pocket, where his cellphone was. “My dad, the control freak.”
Her lower lip puckered slightly. The movement made him wish they were back at his place, doing what they should have been doing instead of spending the evening here in the ER. This was his life, though. It wasn’t his every day, but Ben had medical issues that other children didn’t. And anyone who was going to be in their lives needed to know that.
His gaze moved to Kat, assessing her. “You disappeared for a while.”
“I thought I’d give you guys some privacy.”
“You didn’t have to leave. Ben missed you.” He stared at her. He’d missed her, too.
“I checked in on him just now,” she said, taking an unsteady step closer. “I’m glad he’s feeling better. He gave us quite a scare, didn’t he?”
“He does that from time to time.” His gaze held hers, and some part of him waited for her to run away. To tell him that she couldn’t do this anymore, whatever this was. That’s what Jessica had done. It’s what Nicole had also done.
Instead of running, though, Kat took another step closer to him. “I don’t scare easily,” she said, standing in front of him now. “And Ben’s worth it.”
Something in his chest shifted as she said those words. This was more than sex between them. He’d known it, deep down, but part of him had been waiting for Kat to realize what she was getting herself into. This was what any woman he dated seriously would be getting herself into, and they needed to know that.
She reached her hand toward his. “Come on. I’ll go back to the room with you,” she said.
“Are you sure?” He stood, pulling her against him. “I can take you home. He’s resting now.”
Shaking her head, she beamed up at him, looking more beautiful than he’d ever seen her. “I’m not going anywhere.”
—
Kat closed the front door quietly behind her the next morning, not wanting to wake Julie down the hall.
“All night long?” a voice said behind her.
Kat screamed and whirled around, her hands flying to her chest. “What—?” Her brows furrowed. Val and Julie were crumpled together on the couch, bleary-eyed and waiting for her. “Are you guys trying to kill me?” she asked, attempting to catch her breath.
“No. Just get you laid. Which, judging by the hour, you did in spades.” Val waggled her eyebrows.
Kat set her purse on the coffee table and plopped down on the couch between the girls, still wearing her gown from the ball. “Wrong. We spent the night at the ER.”
Julie’s gaze dropped to Kat’s bandaged ankle now. “What happened to you?”
Kat waved a hand. “We didn’t go to the ER because of me. Ben had a fall.”
Now Val was gasping. “Is he okay?”
“Yes. Just a bump on the head and some stitches. No concussion, but they’re keeping him overnight just in case. Micah is heading back to the hospital to be with him.”
“Of course,” Julie whispered, frowning disappointedly. “So, you were there all night?” she asked, lifting a brow. “No juicy details at all?”
Kat smiled at the two women sandwiching her. “Well, we may have gotten to the almost naked part before the fall.” Naked and panting, desperate for another’s body in a way she’d never been before.
“The kid has some timing, huh?” Val said, puckering her lower lip.
“But it’s okay. He’s worth it,” Kat said, repeating the words she’d said to Micah earlier at the hospital. And she’d meant them. She adored Ben. He was a good kid with a good heart. She was lucky to be a part of his and Micah’s life.
Julie and Val exchanged a glance.
“What?” Kat asked, looking between them. “Why are you guys looking at each other that way? Did I miss something?”
“You’re drooling over the guy. The ring on your finger has suddenly moved to your neck. And now you’re talking about the kid as if he were your own.” Julie pointed a finger. “You’re falling for him.”
This made Kat laugh. “Love? No way. I like him. A lot. And I’m a principal. I happen to enjoy children. It’s my job.”
Val and Julie exchanged another knowing look that made Kat squirm, because they were more right than they were wrong. Her feelings for Micah had definitely deepened over the past few weeks, and even though she hadn’t thought she was ready, her heart didn’t seem to care.
She yawned forcefully, hoping the girls would buy it. She couldn’t talk about this with them. There was nothing to talk about. Not right now, when she was still figuring things out for herself.
Val’s lips puckered. “I want to hear more details about the naked part. How early can I wake you?”
“You’re staying the night?” Kat asked, noticing the extra blankets arranged on the couch now.
“A regular sleepover. And don’t think for a moment about skipping any of the details,” Val said.
Kat started down the hall, her ankle immediately reminding her of what a klutz she was. “Don’t wake me before noon. It’s Sunday.”
When she got to her room, she dropped her dress on the floor and climbed into bed in just her black thong underwear and lace bra, too tired to shuffle through her dresser drawers for a pair of pajamas. She lay there, eyes wide open, thinking about what her best friend and sister had just said.
She was falling for Micah—another Marine.
But he was getting out of the Corps and making Seaside his forever home, which meant that maybe falling for him wasn’t such a bad thing. In fact, maybe falling in love with Micah was one of the most right things she’d done for herself in a very long time.