CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The morning dawned crystalline and golden, making a mockery of all the gloom that had dared to come before its splendor. Sophie walked into the still boggy yard after getting dressed, squinting in the bright summer sunshine as though she’d been secluded in a dark den for weeks. She paused in the front yard and called out in amazement.
Thomas didn’t turn at her shout; he was busy at the moment.
Sophie watched as he overturned the submerged canoe next to her dock with a flex of powerful, gleaming shoulder, back, and arm muscles.
“I heard it hitting the dock the night before last,” she said as she walked onto the dock. She recalled how eerie the cracking sound had been when she’d been in the house all alone while the rain fell ceaselessly around her. “It looks like it’s in perfect condition.”
“It is,” Thomas said from where he stood in four feet of water next to the dock. He found a frayed nylon rope on the bow of the fiberglass craft and clambered up onto the dock. Sophie noticed he was wearing his newly purchased swim trunks and once again admired the way he filled them out.
“With all the drains being opened to the spillway to keep the water level from getting too high in the lake, there would have been some strong currents. The canoe must have broken free and gotten snagged. I saw the underside of it beneath your dock when I came back from my swim. We’ll figure out who owns it, but in the meantime—” He flashed her a grin. “We’re going to borrow it. It’ll help keep us dry.”
“What do you mean?” Sophie murmured, her gaze glued to his mouth. He was an extremely handsome man, but Thomas became nothing less than riveting when he smiled. The radiant sunshine following days of oppressive gloom didn’t even compare.
“I saw some old paddles in your boathouse when I was checking on Guy this morning. He’s doing fine, by the way. That paw is on the mend. I’m thinking your patient is getting used to all the food and hospitality, though. He’s going to take up permanent residence in your boathouse, the little freeloader.”
He chuckled when he saw her mock scowl at his disparagement of Guy. He finished deftly tying a knot in the rope and stood. “Anyway, you said we should take Sherm and Daisy some supplies this morning, so we’ll take the canoe in the lake versus wading through floodwater.”
“Brilliant.” Her eyebrows went up when he put out his arms for a hug. He was teasing, since he was soaking wet, but Sophie went anyway. He laughed, low and soft, when she pressed tight to him, soaking her jean shorts and T-shirt. She wrapped her forearms around his neck. His skin felt smooth and sun-warmed.
“I’m getting used to you being wet all the time,” she said as she urged him down for a kiss.
His hand moved between their bodies and settled between her thighs, cradling her sex possessively.
“I’m getting addicted to the same thing about you,” he murmured gruffly next to her lips before he seized her mouth in a toe-curling kiss.
Later that morning, they paddled the canoe over to Sherm and Daisy’s dock and made their way up to the house. Thomas walked down the road to check on the status of the flooding while Sophie gathered some clothing and personal items.
A night’s rest appeared to have done Sherman and Daisy a world of good, Sophie decided a half hour later when they walked into the hospital room. Daisy was sitting up in bed and she and Sherm were working on a crossword puzzle together, bickering good-naturedly about answers.
They only stayed long enough to drop off the supplies and exchange news. The doctor had given a good report to Daisy after she’d made her morning rounds. Thomas assured the couple that their daughter and her husband should have no trouble making it to Haven Lake, as the water had receded to safe levels on the roads between the hospital and the Dolans’ lake house. When a nurse came in to alert Daisy that she’d be going for some testing, Thomas and Sophie said their good-byes.
Sherm turned his good ear toward the hallway. He’d been waiting for Daisy to return from her testing, steadily working his way through the crossword puzzle they’d started together. He’d just heard a man’s voice coming from the direction of the nursing station saying Thomas Nicasio’s name.
Sherm set down the crossword puzzle book and stood. The gruff baritone hadn’t really sounded like his son-in-law’s voice, but who else would be asking for Thomas Nicasio? Sherm had told Michelle and Tad about Sophie’s and Nicasio’s invaluable assistance over the past
few days.
When he walked out of the hospital room and down the hallway the short distance to the nursing station, however, he knew immediately that the large man with the jet-black hair and thick stubble on his jaw was most definitely not his son-in-law. The man turned toward him when he called out.
“Are you looking for Thomas Nicasio?”
Sherm realized the man was wearing dark glasses. Well, the sun was exceptionally bright today, after all, following all that God-forsaken rain.
“I am. I’m an old friend. I thought I saw him here earlier, but he didn’t hear me when I called out ...”
“You did see him. You just missed him. He and Sophie were just here . . . oh, twenty minutes ago?” Sherm said as he checked his watch. “You say you’re an old friend of Thomas’s?”
“Yes, from the Navy,” the man said, smiling as if in reminiscence.
Sherm noticed the flashing Rolex watch and the suppleness of the man’s thigh-length leather coat. It was a tad strange to wear a coat on a summer day—even a lightweight one like the man wore—but Sherm supposed the air-conditioning in the hospital could get chilly. Thomas’s old friend must have done well for himself since leaving the military. He practically exuded power and money. The guy had fifteen, maybe twenty years on Thomas, but like Thomas, he appeared to take excellent care of himself. His shoulders and chest were thick with muscle, and there wasn’t a sign of a paunch on his belly. Well, the military taught a man the value of keeping fit, Sherm thought with a trace of good-natured envy.
“Does Nicasio live around this area? I’m visiting an aunt here in the hospital, but I’d love to be able to catch up.” The man’s voice had a slight nasal quality to it, and Sherm noticed his nose was swollen, like he’d been hit.
“Oh, no, no. He’s just staying with Sophie.”
“Sophie?” the man asked with a wide smile. “Don’t tell me Nicasio finally tied the knot. He was the youngest officer of us all, but we all said he’d be the last to dangle on the noose.”