“It’s whimsical. I got it at this really quirky shop with Pax, my sister. She has a jacket with a tiny little pattern on it that looks adorable and then when you get close to it, you realize it’s kittens! She has a kitten jacket that she used to wear to work, and it was like a secret fun thing you get away with...”
“Why doesn’t she wear it now? Too warm?”
“It’s too big for her, plus she doesn’t have a job anymore. Cancer, remember?”
“I remember. I apologize. It didn’t occur to me that her clothes wouldn’t fit any longer.”
“There’s a lot you don’t think about until you’re in the thick of it.”
“It tears you up to see her this way,” he said with heartfelt emotion.
She nodded, unable to speak for a moment. He seemed sympathetic but uncomfortable, as if he didn’t know what to do.
“You could give me a hug,” she said, not caring if it sounded pathetic. “Because I think that’s what I really need right now.”
Relief flashed across his handsome face to have something he could do to help. He put one arm around her shoulders and drew her in. He held her close. She breathed in the expensive cologne, absorbed the heat of him. Her attraction for him flared, but this was more than that, deeper. This was a strange and powerful crossroads where arousal met comfort and closeness.
She hadn’t known she wanted someone to hold her, to listen to her rail against the unfairness of Paxtyn’s sickness, to stop and feel the fear that she could lose the last member of her family that she had left. It wasn’t only the horror of being unable to fix her sister’s suffering—there was a selfish fright beneath, where she could hardly a
dmit to herself that her biggest fear was being alone and that losing Paxtyn would be to lose the last piece of her family.
Paige choked back a sob she hadn’t expected. His hand was in her hair, stroking and soothing her. Luke tightened his arms around her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and let herself snuggle in as the tears poured down her cheeks.
“How is her prognosis?”
“She has scans next week to find out if the chemo is working or not. The last scans were stable, but there was no progress against the tumors. They weren’t growing, but we didn’t manage to shrink them either.”
“Maybe the new scans will show improvement.”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know. I can’t tell if she’s getting better because the treatments make her so sick that I don’t know if it’s the chemo or the disease killing her.”
“The doctor can surely interpret the results and let you know what her symptoms are from.”
“I think you’re really idealizing this doctor. She had mediocre insurance at her job, and now the disability’s run out, and she’s going to have to go on Medicaid. So, her existing crappy doctor may not continue to provide care.”
“I’m sure the doctors will be qualified to treat—"
She reared back from him, pulling out of his embrace, her face damp and flushed from crying.
“I’m so sorry. I’m going through a really difficult time right now, Luke. I don’t want to bring you down this dark road. You should be with a carefree woman.”
“I’m right where I want to be. And I’m here if you need to talk. I’m a great listener.”
“Thank you. That sure means a lot to me. I need to go home and eat a pint of ice cream.”
He shot her a devilish smile. “Hey, I got something better.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. Want to go for a ride?” he asked. “That always helps me relive stress.”
Her jaw dropped.
“No, not that, I swear,” he said. “A ride on my bike.”
“Oh, okay. You have a bike?”
“A Harley. And riding is one of the greatest joys of my life.”