Page 6 of Reacher's Ride or Die

“I can definitely help with that,” Brandi volunteered. “How about if you just relax and let me handle that for you?” Gloria hesitated and Brandi was sure that she was going to push her for more answers, but then, she nodded her head, agreeing to Brandi’s proposal.

“Great, I’ll get started and you find one of those reality television shows that you love,” Brandi offered. Her intake form not only covered personal, and medical questions, but also questions about what her patients liked to eat, what they liked to do for fun, and about their family. Gloria had listed Yonkers and his wife as her family, and surprisingly enough, she also said to put Reacher down too. She explained that he had become familywhen he started helping Yonkers out with her care. She said that her new granddaughter was taking up a lot of her son and daughter-in-law’s time, and Gloria agreeing to let Yonkers help her was the right thing to do. Gaining another son wasn’t what she had expected, but she said that she wouldn’t trade her bonus son, Reacher, for the world. That was when Brandi decided that Gloria was probably the sweetest woman that she had ever met.

She shared all her favorite foods with Brandi, and as for her favorite things to do, her eyes lit up when she started talking about reality television shows. Gloria settled down on the sofa and pulled a blanket over her lap. “You don’t have to stand here to babysit me,” Gloria assured. She looked so frail, Brandi worried that she was in over her head with her new cancer treatment. It was a somewhat experimental drug, but it was also the best hope that Gloria had for a full recovery. Brandi had heard about the side effects, but seeing what they were doing to her patient, firsthand, really threw her off her game.

“I’m good, I promise,” she assured. Brandi nodded and walked back to Gloria’s bedroom, where she kept her medications on her nightstand. Brandi carefully looked through Gloria’s meds and when she was almost done, she heard a vehicle pull up to the house. Brandi crossed the room and looked out the bedroom window, pulling the curtains back to see who it was.

“Reacher,” she whispered to herself. She wasn’t sure if she should hide under Gloria’s bed or walk out to the family room and tell him that it was nice to see him again. She watched as he walked to the front door and must have spotted Gloria because he waved and smiled like a loon. Brandi couldn’t help her own smile just thinking about the whole scene.

The last thing she wanted was for Reacher to think that she was a coward, so she finished up, walked out to the family room, and nodded at Reacher. God, he looked good in his tight jeansand a black T-shirt that did nothing to hide his bulging muscles. And his tattoos had her mouth-watering. For some reason, all she could do was think about licking every one of them.

Brandi took a deep breath and walked from the bedroom into the family room, catching Gloria and Reacher talking about his new job. She wasn’t sure if she should interrupt or go back to Gloria’s bedroom. But it was too late to chicken out now—Reacher had spotted her, and she never played the coward.

Reacher

Reacher parked behind a small silver sedan parked in Gloria’s driveway. He knew that the car belonged to Brandi, and the last thing he wanted to do was run into her after Yonkers told him to keep his hands off Gloria’s hot nurse. Reacher cut the engine of his pickup truck and sat there for a few minutes, trying to figure out if he should go with his plan and go in to tell Gloria his good news or follow his gut and high tail it out of there. His decision was made for him when he spotted Gloria standing in the front doorway, waving him in like a crazy woman. He couldn’t help his smile as he shook his head at her antics. For a woman suffering from cancer, she sure had a lot of spunk.

He stepped out of his truck, and she went back into her home, not bothering to wait for him. Reacher followed her into the house and looked around, expecting to find Brandi there. “If you’re looking for Brandi,” Gloria said, “she’s going through my medicine cabinet to figure out what I’m out of and what medication I need. She’s so helpful.” Every time Gloria told him how wonderful Brandi was, he was grateful that she had her around to help and the other part of him was jealous that hewasn’t the one helping her. It felt like Gloria had kicked him to the curb, even though the rational side of him knew that wasn’t the case. After all, the news that he was about to give Gloria would only show her that hiring Brandi was a good idea. He was going to be working forty-plus hours a week, and he’d only be able to visit Gloria when he had a little free time. And Reacher was sure that free time was going to be hard to come by.

“I’m glad that she’s working out for you,” Reacher said.

Gloria put her hands on her hips and stared him down. “Are you?” she asked.

“What does that mean?” Reacher asked crossing his arms over his chest, staring back at her. He loved that she didn’t back down—not one inch, and why would she? Gloria was smart enough to know that he’d never hurt her, so going toe to toe with him was something that she’d never avoid.

“You’ve seemed a bit distant since she started taking care of me. So, are you sure that you’re okay with her being here to help me?” Gloria asked, cutting right to the chase.

“I am,” Reacher admitted. “At first, it hurt my feelings that you didn’t want me taking you to your appointments. Helping you gave me purpose, and well, I like hanging out with you if we’re being honest here.”

Gloria smiled, “Of course you like me,” she said, “what’s not to like?” He couldn’t help but laugh at how confident she was.

“So, what brings you by today?” Gloria asked.

“I have news,” he said.

“Oh,” she breathed. He could tell from the smirk on her face that she was well aware of what he was there to tell him.

“Yep,” he said, “I got the job. You know the one—as manager of chemical removal down at the three warehouses that I told you about?”

“Of course I do,” Gloria insisted. “I remember everything that you tell me. That’s wonderful,” she gushed.

“Yeah, I’m pretty excited about it. I start in two days. That’s when I’ll meet the team that I’ll be working with,” Reacher said. It felt damn good to be getting back to work, and finding something in his field was a bonus.

“And you ran all the way over here to tell me about it?” Gloria asked. “That’s very sweet that you didn’t make me wait to hear your news. I’m so happy that you got the job.”

“Well, you’re my favorite person in Yonkers, so I decided to tell you first,” Reacher admitted. Plus, there was the fact that he had no one else to tell except for the guys down at the club, and he’d tell them all tonight.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Brandi said, stepping into the family room. “I didn’t know that you had company, Gloria.” Reacher looked her over and he quickly looked away, not wanting to get caught checking her out. She made scrubs look pretty damn good.

“Hey, Brandi,” he breathed, “good to see you.”

She rolled her eyes and smiled at him, “You’re never going to let me live down the fact that I’m polite, will you, Reacher?” He shook his head, making both Brandi and Gloria giggle.

“Oh, James isn’t company,” she insisted, “he’s more like family.” Gloria winked at him, and Reacher had to hide the fact that her declaration had him choked up, and he was pretty sure that he wasn’t hiding it well.

“Still, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I can get started on dinner while you finish your visit—um, I mean, your chat,” Brandi said. She seemed tongue-tied, and Reacher wondered if that had anything to do with him. He kind of liked to think that he could do that to her, but he also knew that his charm seemed to have its limits with Brandi.

“It’s technically your day off,” Gloria said. Brandi looked a bit defeated when she turned to smile at Gloria. Reacher could tell that the thought of having a day off seemed to bug her. He knewhow that felt. He liked to work, and being off for so long was starting to grate on his last nerve.

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