Hot Sauce (Suncoast Society #26)(63)

“While we were waiting for the chopper, I kept thinking about being in the ICU with Tony. I remembered the last time he told me he loved me, and I said it back before he lost consciousness the final time.”

“If the last words you said to each other were, ‘I love you,’ then cherish that. Many people don’t get that. They don’t get a final good-bye. He died knowing how much you loved him.”

He knew she’d have to get it out of her system, and that’s exactly what she did, finally crying herself to sleep in his arms.

His heart ached, breaking for her. He didn’t know if she’d ever get past that emotional hump and it wasn’t like they could walk that journey for her.

Today’s events had only driven it more deeply into her brain that she felt she needed to take care of everyone…everyone except herself.

Once Reed was home and they could talk alone, he’d have to discuss this with him. They might have to order her to a counselor. It wasn’t what he wanted to do, but depending on how she handled this over the next few days, it might be the only option.

The past two months spent with her had cemented in his mind how much he was in love with her, how much he wanted her to be a permanent part of their lives, not just as a friend and play partner and lover, but as a family. He knew Reed loved her, too, and while they’d discussed asking her to make it “official” with them, they hadn’t actually decided it.

Today decided it for him.

It wasn’t simply reactionary on his part, either. It was fate smacking him around, getting his attention, and reminding him of the lesson Tony’s death had started teaching them—life was short. Too short to waste it on not being happy.

She made them happy.

As far as he knew, they made her happy.

It was time to stop wasting time.





Chapter Twenty-Three


Tilly had called that one right. By late Tuesday evening, Reed was out of recovery and in a hospital room. Frequently it was an outpatient surgery, but since it’d been late in the day when the surgeon could wedge Reed into his schedule as an add-on, he preferred Reed spend the night for observation.

Relieved, Vanessa cuddled with Lyle in her bed. She’d taken the day off, and tomorrow. Reed’s charters were covered until next week, and Tilly would stay with Reed on Thursday and Friday while Vanessa and Lyle were at work.

And as Reed recovered pretty much exactly as his doctor predicted he would, Vanessa forced herself to relax and not think about the what-ifs that hadn’t happened.

She also tried to stop thinking the woulda-coulda-shoulda thoughts that had plagued her since Tony’s death.

Stu called her on Wednesday morning. She was working from home on her laptop.

“I don’t see any leave for you scheduled on the calendar.”

Actually, that had totally slipped her mind. Between being busy at work, and being busy on the weekends with her men, scheduling time off for herself had been the last thing on her mind.

Especially after Saturday’s events.

“Sorry. I’ll have it on my schedule by next week.”

“What day?”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Fine. By next Wednesday.”

“Good. Expect another call from me if you haven’t put it on there.”

When she got off the phone with him, she pulled up her calendar on the corporate server.

Finally, after thinking about it, she blocked two weeks out at Thanksgiving.

Whether or not she’d actually take that time, or change the dates later, remained to be seen. But it would, hopefully, shut Stu up.

Her phone rang.

Stu.

“Yeeesss?” she answered.

“Okay, smart-ass. You’d better really take that time off.”

Her face heated. “I will.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

“What’d you do, put an alert notice on my calendar?”

“Yep. I flagged it to watch for changes. Good-bye.”

He hung up on her.

Dammit.

“What?” Reed asked from where he was laying on the couch.

“I have to take vacation time.”

“Then take it. You should visit your parents.”

“I know.” Her parents weren’t calling her every day anymore, but they were texting her. She knew they missed her, and she missed them.

It was time to face this next step.

She just had to figure out how.





A week later, their lives had returned to some semblance of normal. Reed was back to work, taking out charters while grumbling about expensive insurance copays.

While they were heading to Vanessa’s house the next evening, Lyle finally found time alone with Reed to discuss his thoughts on the future. Lyle had bought Vanessa a king-sized bed, moving her bed into the garage for storage.

She still hadn’t gone through Tony’s room, and no one was bringing that topic up to her. The men knew she’d do it when she was ready. For now, she was still paying for his storage unit, those items also untouched.

The only thing she had done was sell his car, and that had only been three weeks ago. Someone at the club needed one, and she’d offered it to them for a fraction of its blue-book value.

When Lyle and Reed had asked her why, out of curiosity, she’d shrugged. “It feels right. He’d like that I did that.”