Page 2 of Reacher's Ride or Die

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said, “especially the part about you telling your new nurse that I’m handsome.”

She giggled, “Well, you are handsome, James. Brandi will be here in twenty minutes,” she said. “And I want to hear all about your meeting tomorrow when you stop by to see me.”

“How do you know that I’ll be back tomorrow?” he asked.

She smiled at him and shrugged. “Just a hunch,” she breathed.

Brandi

Brandi Washington didn’t know much about her new home care patient, other than the fact that the woman was battling breast cancer for a second time. As a home care nurse, she got to see a lot of people, and most of them were in the end stages of cancer treatment. She knew not to get attached, but sometimes, that was easier said than done. Her last patient proved to be nearly impossible to forget, especially since the woman had left Brandi her cat after she passed. How could she say no? She couldn’t and that’s how she ended up with a geriatric, overweight cat named Mr. Cuddles Worth. Agreeing to take him wasn’t her finest decision, but she couldn’t just let the pound come and grab him after he had just lost his owner.

Sneaking him past her landlord was a pain, but she couldn’t keep him concealed forever. The old cat must have weighed about twenty pounds or so and he was probably half deaf, given the way that he shouted at her every morning for food.

When her new client called her to come over for a couple of hours, she wanted to tell her no. It had been an awful week, and the thought of putting back on her scrubs and wrapping herdinner up wasn’t one that she relished. She’d just have to eat dinner later—something that she was used to working all hours of the day and night. She never had a regular meal and catching up on cleaning and laundry was nearly impossible. Brandi usually threw herself into the job, no matter the circumstances, and that left her very little time for anything else.

She got dressed while her cat gave her the death stare from her bedroom doorway. “I’m sorry, Mr. Cuddles Worth. I need to go over to a new client’s house for a little bit. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she assured. The cat squinted his eyes at her and for some crazy reason, she thought for sure that he was calling her a liar with just a simple look. “Judgey,” she accused.

She grabbed her bag and jacket, tugging it on as she walked out the front door, turning back to lock up. With any luck, she could meet Gloria and do a quick intake before leaving her for the evening. Brandi hoped to sleep in her own bed tonight for a change.

She was pleasantly surprised to find that it took only fifteen minutes to drive over to Gloria’s home in Yonkers, although she knew that wouldn’t be the case tomorrow morning during rush hour. Her fifteen-minute trip would most likely become an hour ordeal, and she made a mental note to get up thirty minutes earlier to accommodate the traffic.

She pulled up to the cute little cape cod house that sat on the corner of the street, to find a man standing in the front door waiting for her. He was covered in tattoos, and she was guessing that the motorcycle parked in the driveway was his. If she remembered reading Gloria’s records correctly, she had listed her grown son as her emergency contact. Maybe he was the guy standing in the doorway waiting on her, but she couldn’t be sure.

She walked up the sidewalk to where the big, tattooed guy stood and smiled, extending her hand to him. “I’m Brandi,” she said. “I’m here to see Gloria.”

“Great,” the guy said, looking her hand over but not shaking it. “She’s in here,” he said.

“Okay,” she mumbled pulling her hand back down to her side. “I’ll follow you then,” she offered. Brandi followed the guy into the house, looking over the space. It was neat and everything seemed to have a place. She liked finding people who were like her—a little bit OCD and a whole lot of a control freak.

“Hello,” an older woman greeted her, walking into the family room. “I’m Gloria,” she said, holding out her hand to Brandi. She looked back over her shoulder and smiled back at the guy who had just rejected her hand as she shook Gloria’s.

“It’s nice to meet you, Gloria, I’m Brandi.”

“I take it you met James?” the woman asked.

“Not really,” Brandi admitted. “I tried to introduce myself, but your son seems to be in a hurry to get out of here.”

“I’m not her son,” the guy grumbled, “but you’re right that I’m in a hurry to get out of here.” He crossed the room to kiss Gloria’s cheek, promising to see her tomorrow, and turned back to Brandi. “The name’s Reacher,” he said, holding his hand out to her. This time, it was her turn to look his offered hand over before shaking it.

“Nice to meet you, Reacher,” she said. “I’ve got things here if you need to go.”

“Thanks,” he breathed. “You’re a lifesaver.” She wasn’t sure how she had just saved his life, but the guy seemed a bit nicer than when she had first met him at least.

“You’ll get used to him,” Gloria promised. “Reacher is a hard nut to crack, but once you peel away some of the layers, he’s a good guy.”

“I’ll take your word for it, Gloria,” she said. “How about we sit down and get to know each other a bit?” Brandi asked. Brandi looked out the front screen door to see Reacher sitting on his bike, looking back at the house as though he was trying to decideif he wanted to leave or not. Maybe she had misjudged the guy from their initial meeting, but then again, she was usually a pretty good judge of character.

Brandi had spent most of the last evening going over intake questions with Gloria. She seemed like a wonderful lady and Brandi was looking forward to taking care of her.

She told Brandi all about her new granddaughter and her son who had just moved back to Yonkers from Alabama with his new wife. She didn’t miss the way that Gloria smiled every time she mentioned any of them. But what really surprised her was the way Gloria gushed over Reacher. She told Brandi all about how he had been helping her son out, taking care of her when no one else was available and Brandi had to admit that was nice of him.

After Gloria was tucked in for the night, she went home to her tiny apartment at about midnight and crashed, getting up with the sun because Mr. Cuddles Worth was standing on top of her, shouting for food. Brandi got up and fed him, putting on a pot of coffee that she planned to drink all by herself.

By the time her brain finally woke up, and she showered, it was time to leave to go back over to Gloria’s house to get started for the day. She had a few appointments with doctors and then, Brandi was going to take her for her chemo treatment. That was the part of her job that she hated the worst. Sure, she liked the fact that she was helping her patients, but the chemo usually made them so sick, and that was the part that she hated. It was hard to watch her patients suffer so much.

She pulled up to Gloria’s house and noticed the same motorcycle sitting in her driveway. How had Reacher beaten her to Gloria’s when she practically left her apartment at the buttcrack of dawn? He stood in Gloria’s doorway again and when she smiled at him, he nodded at her. Brandi decided to take that little gesture as a win as he held the door open for her.

“Good to see you again,” she said. Reacher threw back his head and laughed, and Brandi wondered what she had said that was so funny.

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