Page 23 of Operation: Discovery

“I didn’t realize you ate along with your patients.”

She shrugged. “Most nurses don’t. The last few people I worked with asked me to stay because eating alone is depressing. Being needy after a life of self-sufficiency starts making them sad. After a long time, I start seeing signs of real depression. So, if I can help head that off by acting as a friend instead of a caretaker, I will.”

Just like Dee to always go the extra mile, even if she wasn’t asked.

The server brought their food, still steaming, and set the plates in front of them. “Anything else I can get for you?”

Dee smiled and held up her glass. “I would love a refill. Thank you.”

“Coming right up.” The server glanced at Brendon to see if he needed anything, then quickly left.

Brendon bowed his head and prayed, then started his supper. He didn’t get more than three bites in before one of their favorite songs from the past came on over the speakers, pumping through the room. Dee sucked in a breath across the table, and he couldn’t keep himself from looking at her.

They’d had their first kiss after that song, and their first argument. Right after the kiss, Dee had gone off to get a drink and the next thing he’d known, she was dancing with some other guy. They’d worked out what had gone wrong, but that had been the first hint that Dee wouldn’t be happy with a man who couldn’t do everything in a normal way.

“I see I’m not the only one who remembers,” he mumbled.

Dee poked her fork into her meal and sighed. “I’ve never forgotten. Every time I hear this song, I think about us. About what could’ve been.”

“You can’t change the past.” Because if he could, he would. While he was happy with his life, if he could go back and change anything, he wouldn’t have jumped the day he’d broken his back. Then again, if he hadn’t, he never would’ve met Dee. Though maybe that was putting God in a box. If they were meant to meet, it would’ve happened somehow.

For a long time, that fact hadn’t mattered when he thought about regrets. Dee had been a short blip in his life, one that would stay with him forever but one that didn’t affect his day-to-day life as much as his inability to use his legs. But with Dee right here and the promise that she’d be there for a long time, he wasn’t so sure he would still go back and make that change.

“I know you can’t. It wouldn’t matter anyway because I don’t know what I’d change.”

Brendon swallowed his ready retort. Speaking out of anger would only make Dee defensive and he wasn’t ready to ruin a rare night out, nor did he want to hurt her. “Then don’t change a thing.” Even if that meant he’d never know for sure if she’d meant to push him away.

“Anyway, back to the case.” She stuck her fork in her side salad and took a large bite. “There has to be something we can do to help.”

“We don’t have a case. There’s nothing we can do according to Officer Blake.” And he wasn’t about to get Wayside even more involved than it already was.

“But don’t you think we’re in danger? They bombed your car. That equals danger where I’m from. If we’re in danger, we should do something to avoid more.”

He’d gotten the same feeling from where he was sitting too, but that didn’t mean he could go racing after trouble. “I know there’s danger, but the police have all the clues. They’ll find who did this.” He didn’t tell her he had his own doubts. Viceroy had been after Wayside now for six months and they didn’t seem any closer to catching him than before.

“You don’t seem all that convinced yourself.” Dee laid down her fork and looked at him. “As long as we don’t do anything that will get in the way of the investigators, I think we should do everything we can to keep ourselves and Wayside safe.”

If she felt that way, then he was along for the ride because he wasn’t about to let her look into human trafficking on her own. She could wind up lost, imprisoned, or worse. At least when he’d left her long ago, he’d known she was happy and self-sufficient. He’d known she would go on. Investigating this type of crime was way outside the scope of nursing.

“What do you plan to do?” He’d lost his appetite and pushed his plate away.

“I don’t know. I wish one of the nurses had been skulking around or one of the officers had been there still, so I could ask questions.”

“This isn’t the movies. They aren’t going to talk to you.” Even if Nixon Blake had a good professional relationship with Connor and asked for his help when necessary, that didn’t mean the police would be willing to hand over information to anyone, especially if the help contaminated evidence that could be used at trial.

“I know. But life would be a lot easier if it was.” She laughed, then furrowed her brows. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

His dinner wasn’t sitting right in his stomach, but maybe if he gave himself a minute to settle down, he could think. “I just don’t like to talk while I’m eating. Bad manners.” He wiped his mouth and set his napkin aside, too.

Dee held out her hand in a peace offering. “I promise I won’t do anything that gets either of us in trouble. Deal?”

He shook his head. “I don’t do deals. I do promises. Do you promise?”

Her mouth softened slightly, and she nodded her agreement. The moment he slid his fingers across the palm of her hand, delicate lightning spread through his body along with corresponding heat, as if he actually had been struck.

Dee slowly pulled her hand away. “Looks like we’ve got a deal, I mean … promise. But the real question is, am I doing this alone or will you help me?”

ChapterTen

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