Page 103 of A Much Younger Man
She frowned. “I thought they were coming for the Fourth?”
“They moved it up a week. Apparently Mom thinks I need special handling right now.”
“Are they staying with you this time?”
“No.”Thank God.“We get along much better when they don’t.”
She gave a snort and turned to leave.
“April, you’re right, and I’ll do better, okay?”
“Okay, Doc.” She left without closing the door behind her. From the hall, I heard a low-voiced conversation between April and Travis. Lena was making phone calls, double-checking appointment times and dates. The fax machine made its own peculiar noises.
The window in my office looked into the parking lot, and beyond that there was an alley with a little river of foamy runoff moving sluggishly down the center of the street, probably from someone hosing something down or washing a car.
Every so often someone would speed by on a beach cruiser or carve a trail down the hill to the boardwalk on a skateboard.
I wasn’t looking for them, but when Beck and Callie left through the back door, I went to the window to watch them until they turned the corner.
I didn’t know where Beck was headed for the rest of the day. He didn’t tell me, and I didn’t ask. It wasn’t that he’d gone silent—he answered when I spoke to him—but he had a way of looking through me now as if he was trying to focus on anythingbutme.
I never realized how often I’d felt his eyes on me before.
I never realized how hot it was to be the object of his desire until he took that away from me. I felt the loss like a physical blow. Like a change in barometric pressure—no longer presaging the excitement of a storm.
It was no wonder I’d been snapping at people.
Later that afternoon, I left the office for April and Travis to lock up and went home to shower and change. I spent a few minutes with Rico, making sure he had everything he needed and listening to him idly berate me before heading south to the resort and dinner with my parents.
I dreaded it. Mom would want to dig into what we’d talked about the night before. She’d probably try to take my emotional temperature while Dad fussed at her to leave me alone.
There was no way to avoid it, so I parked my car, took a deep breath, and walked toward the resort’s elegant front doors.
We met in the restaurant, which was basically a long room with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the ocean. The sun was in the process of putting on a spectacular show, igniting layers of color—fiery red, orange, gold, and violet—over the sea.
“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.” I kissed Mom’s cheek and patted Dad’s shoulder before sitting. The waiter saw me arrive and came by to pour me a glass of wine.
“We got here a little early. Your mother wanted to watch the sun set.”
“Did you have fun today?”
“Oh my, yes.” Mom’s cheeks were flushed, and her eyes sparkled girlishly. “We rented one of those bicycle surreys.”
Dad grimaced. “Once again, we forgot to turn back before we got sick of peddling. The return trip is always such a slog.”
“It’s a little harder going into the wind too.”
Dad put his arm around her. “We made it, though. Your mom’s a trooper.”
“But I spent the rest of the afternoon in the spa.”
“We’re getting a couples massage tomorrow.” Dad waggled his brows. “Poor masseuse. She’ll have to rub the cycling kinks out.”
“How was your day, darling?”
“It went well. No emergencies, which was nice. Plus, I didn’t have any surgeries scheduled.”
“That’s good. I read online about the case you went on earlier this week. How is it that no one notices someone has a hundred neglected dogs until a disaster happens?”
