Page 4 of Hush

After dressing, he added his watch, the one his mother had set aside for him after his father’s death ten years ago. It wasn’t fancy, but that didn’t matter. Then he picked up his bag and left the locker room, saying goodbye to Kelly on his way out.

Then he remembered his hoodie, left behind in the bleachers, and jogged back along the hallway to the stairs. A class was in session in one of the rooms, some kind of dance thing, he figured, because of the way the attendees stood perpendicular to a bar along the wall. He knew these types of classes were good for flexibility and core strength and all that, but he preferred to sweat the old-fashioned way.But the view in a class like this is better, he thought with a grin, noting the attire of the students.

After grabbing his hoodie and hurrying back down to the exit, his eyes roved over the dance class, which consisted almost entirely of women, all dressed in tights or leotards with skirts, their feet tucked into pink slippers. The group turned to face the front, and his skin shivered with a jolt. A woman in the middle of the row arched up on the balls of her feet, her arm sweeping gracefully over her head. It was Elise, the mom from his exam room. Before she could spot him, he hurried past, feeling a strange heat rise through him.

He pushed through the exit doors into the bitingly cold November night. Why had he not wanted her to see him? That was a first. He almost wanted to go back to prove to himself that he wasn’t scared.

I’m not scared, he told himself.I’m just being professional. Doctors don’t leer at their patient’s family members.

Chapter 4

Elise

Sitting on the floor with the pieces of Jaden’s new bed half-assembled, Elise read the directions again. They were definitely created by someone unfamiliar with English. Even the French version read like nonsense.Too bad it’s not in Latin, she thought.I’ll bet they wouldn’t screw that up. Though Latin didn’t offer terms for things like “bolt” and “nut” and “clockwise.”

Behind her, Jaden was “helping” by taking apart a broken radio she had bought at Goodwill, a pile of tiny screws, plates, and wires slowly accumulating on the carpet the more extensive the evisceration became. He was humming a tune she didn’t recognize. Even the bright pink brace on his wrist didn’t slow him down.I should gethimto put this bed together, she thought, abandoning the directions. She tried to problem solve, pretending she was the engineer who had crafted these pieces. What made sense? She used trial and error, working up a sweat in the process with all the screwing, unscrewing, and lifting the heavy pieces.Why don’t I own a drill?she thought for the first time.

That was the thing nobody told people about being single.I do everything: all the chores, the driving, the repairs. When the washing machine broke,shehad to call the repair guy. She took a day off work to meet him. She scheduled the delivery of a new one when the repair guy charged her five hundred dollars to tell her he couldn’t fix it. Oh, andshehad to buy it with the savings she didn’t have.

Her phone rang from the other room. Elise rose from the floor, following the sound to the kitchen table. She didn’t recognize the number, but it was local so she answered. An automated voice reminded her of Jaden’s appointment the following day. She also saw she’d missed a call from her sister Caitlin. Elise hit “call back” while striding down the hallway to Jaden’s room.

“Took you long enough. What, you had company?” her sister’s voice crooned in her ear.

“Very funny,” Elise replied, re-entering Jaden’s room. He paused to look up at her, his face blank—a sign of total focus—his spare glasses slightly crooked, then returned to his project.

“How’s Jaden?” her sister asked.

“Much better. The doctor was right. Now that the swelling has gone down some, it doesn’t seem to hurt him as much.”

“Well, that’s good,” Caitlin replied. “You find out tomorrow about the surgery, right?”

“Yeah…” Elise sighed. Her gut tightened with nerves. Garrett had insisted on coming to the appointment. She couldn’t fault him for wanting to be involved. It was just that being around him, especially in a situation like this, always made her tense.

“I looked up his doctor,” Caitlin said, her voice turning coy.

“Why?” Elise replied, instantly suspicious.

“Hey, I’m a concerned auntie, making sure my nephew gets the best care.”

“Hmm, then why are you using that tone of voice?”

“Explain to me why you are not jumping this doctor’s bones right now? He’s about the hottest slice ofyes pleasesince the rodeo came to town last summer.”

Elise couldn’t help but laugh, thinking about her sister flirting with cowboys.

“He moved from California a year ago. Did you know one of his hobbies is French cooking?”

Elise scowled into the phone. “You made that up.”

“Okay, I did, but I heard that little beat of hope in your voice.”

“Shut up…” Elise groaned.

Jaden looked up sharply.

Elise covered the phone with her hand. “It’s Auntie Caitlin,” she whispered.

Jaden frowned, then returned to his work.

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