Midnight Betrayal (Midnight #3)(94)

“What have you been doing?”

“At first, nothing except wallowing.” He exhaled hard through his nose. “Then the dean paid me a visit. He dragged me to an AA meeting every day for a month. I’ve been sober for nine weeks.”

“Is that what you were going to tell me on Thanksgiving?”

He nodded. “I need to start over. I don’t want to go back to Maine or Stockholm. There are too many bad associations with both those places.”

“I know all about needing a fresh start.” Louisa took a deep breath. Despite the pain in her ribs, her lungs felt looser. Her father was going to be all right. “Where are you staying?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to look for an apartment. Or a hotel. I came here right from the airport.” He rubbed the back of her hand.

“You can stay in my guest room while you look.” She smiled. “Kirra and I are pretty high-maintenance right now. Conor could use a hand. He can’t be here all the time.”

“Just until you’re healthy. These last couple of months have been the hardest of my life. But I need to do this myself if the changes are going to be permanent.” Her father handed her a tissue. “Conor seems like a good man.”

“He is.” Louisa sniffed.

“I talked to Margaret.” Her father squeezed her hand.

Louisa stiffened. She wanted to crawl under the covers and hide.

“I wish you’d have felt comfortable enough to tell me.”

Louisa picked at the edge of the sheet.

“But that’s my fault, not yours.” Her father exhaled. He released her hand and scrubbed both his palms down his face. “My sister is a bitch, which I didn’t realize because I was hiding in Sweden.”

Louisa’s throat was too raw for words. She sipped her water and swallowed her discomfort. Dad was here. He was talking to her.

“I’d like to beat him senseless.” Her father’s hand clenched.

“Conor already did that.”

“Did I tell you how much I liked him?” Despite the joke, he lightly punched his thigh.

“I’m glad you’re here.” Louisa put her hand over his fist. “What are you going to do?”

“My first order of business is to find an AA meeting. They’ll hook me up with a sponsor. I still need daily meetings. It’s too easy to slip up. I’ve done that once already.”

The outer door opened. Dog tags jingled. Kirra trotted into the bedroom, dragging her pink leash.

“Get back here.” Conor chased after her. “No jumping.”

“I’ve got her.” Louisa’s father intercepted the dog at the bedside. Stroking her head, he set her gently on the mattress. Kirra padded to Louisa’s side and stretched out beside her. The big head was heavy on her thigh, but she didn’t care.

“She isn’t allowed to jump up or down for another couple of weeks.” Conor unsnapped her leash and coiled it in his hand. His eyes met Louisa’s. His brows lifted, asking a silent question. Are you all right?

She nodded. “Dad is going to stay in the guest room.”

“I’ll put his bag in there.” Conor had made himself comfortable in her bedroom—and in her bed—claiming to be there in case she needed anything during the night. Last night, she’d woken up and found him watching her sleep. The image was comforting. She closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted.

“You look tired. I’ll let you get some rest.” Her father stood.

He walked out with Conor. Content, Louisa closed her eyes and listened to the dog snore.



Two months later

She stared at her e-mail. She’d spent her first morning back at work sorting through her inbox. Dr. Cusack had stopped by twice to tell her not to tax herself and to leave early if necessary. Apparently, he’d been starstruck by her father, who had visited the museum several times and would be guest lecturing at the university. Cusack had even been reading Ward’s latest book on the sly, which he’d been hiding from Louisa in his desk.

Her office door opened. “Honest, April, I’m fine.”

“Do I look like April?” Conor walked in, a thermal lunch bag in his hand. He closed the door behind him and leaned on it. “I wanted to make sure you weren’t working too hard.”

“You drove me here this morning. I’m fine. The doctor cleared me for all normal activities.”

His eyes glinted. “All normal activities?”

“Well, no triathlons, but other than that I can do whatever I feel up to.”

He locked the door behind him. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry.

Conor stalked to the desk. He knelt in front of her.

She cupped his unshaven jaw. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He turned his head into her palm. “I have two things for you.”

“Two?” Louisa could only think of one thing at that moment.

He set the bag on her desk. “The first one is your lunch.”

“Is that a grilled cheese sandwich?”

“It is, though you should be sick of those by now.” Conor shook his head. “You’ve eaten one nearly every day for two months.”

“Never.” She kissed him hard on the mouth.

The renovations on Conor’s apartment were finished weeks ago, but he’d never left Louisa’s condo. Instead, he was renting out the unit over the bar to Sullivan’s new bartender and parking his motorcycle boots next to her bed. He had a chunk of space in her closet—and her heart.