Page 37 of The Last Straw

They were used to the rich and famous mingling among them. Famous athletes from the Dallas Cowboys football team were always out and about, and movie stars came and went here, as well. It wasn’t unusual for a film crew to be in the state somewhere filming.

Wyrick was in the same category—someone who deserved the right to be left the hell alone. But it didn’t stop them from looking, and today she was looking fine. She was, in fact, a sight to behold—and always in the company of Charlie Dodge, who had his own reputation going even before she became a part of his world.

Wyrick felt the energy in the room, but it was nothing threatening, so she ignored them as they sat down.

A waiter appeared, took their drink orders and left them reading the menus. Wyrick glanced at hers briefly, then closed it and set it aside.

Charlie was still looking at choices when he noticed what she’d done.

“That was fast,” he said.

Wyrick shrugged. “They have chili-cheese fries.”

“No burger to go with them?” Charlie asked.

“An order of chili-cheese fries is all the grease my veins can take in one sitting.”

He laughed, and a warmth settled in Wyrick’s heart.

They waited without conversation. Charlie answered a text, and Wyrick did a quick check of her email.

When their food finally came, Charlie’s double-patty burger was too thick to bite into, so he squished it down with the flat of his hand before he took a bite.

Wyrick fussed with her food, stirring the chili and cheese into the fries with her fork until they were equally coated, then forked up a neat bite.

“Mmm... Oh, my God,” she said and closed her eyes.

Charlie looked up just as she said that, saw the ecstasy on her face, and for a few moments forgot what he was doing. She so rarely exhibited any kind of emotion, and seeing that look on her face made him wonder how she’d look making love.

Then the moment he thought it, it shocked him. That had no place in their relationship. It was business or nothing, and he didn’t want to lose her. So he reached for the salt shaker, salted his burger, then took another bite.

Wyrick had finished her fries and was still sipping on her drink, waiting for Charlie to finish, when she caught movement from the corner of her eye. She glanced over, then stilled.

There was a little girl coming straight for her with a look of awe on her face, and she knew why. The child was frail, and thin, and as bald as Wyrick, and she was about the same age as Wyrick had been when UT took her away from her mother.

The little girl stopped at the table, looked up at Wyrick’s head.

Wyrick leaned over. “It’s okay if you want to feel it,” Wyrick whispered.

The little girl smiled, then slid her hand across the soft, smooth skin and began rubbing it.

In turn, Wyrick reached for the little girl, laid her hand on her head and closed her eyes.

Immediately, she saw the child’s sickness—the cancer cells in her blood and in her bones, the tumor in her brain, and then the beating heart in the frail little body it was trying to keep alive.

She didn’t think about consequences. She just focused on what was wrong, and with all of the healing energy she could gather, started working to make it all right.

The parents were dealing with a toddler who’d made a mess, and when they suddenly realized their daughter wasn’t at the table, they began to panic. Then the mother saw her across the room, and saw what she was doing, and quietly sat as her eyes filled with tears, letting the moment between Wyrick and her child play out.

Charlie had a lump in his throat, and couldn’t have spoken if he’d had to. He’d never seen this tender, gentle side of Wyrick, and it struck him to the core. They didn’t know the moment was being filmed by the child’s father, along with a roomful of diners.

And then all of a sudden the little girl let go, and when she did, Wyrick drew back.

“What’s your name?” the child asked.

Wyrick leaned down again and whispered in her ear.

“My name is Jade.”

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