Disclosure of the Heart (The Heart Series) (20 page)

“Aw, thanks. I know you’re probably seriously jetlagged. I called as early as I could.”

“I told you I’d wait up for a call from you.” A few seconds lapsed, and he said, “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” I grinned, though no one else could see it. “How are things?”

“Not so good.”

“Tell me.”

It was like he’d held everything in since he’d gotten home. Sylvia had visited recently but hadn’t informed him how sick his father was. Her parents had told her she didn’t have to stay, so she’d left early. Adam was pissed with her and his parents, though I’m sure he was madder at the cancer than anyone. She’d wanted Adam to see it for himself. As for his mother, she was around his father twenty-four-seven. Apparently, she was oddly at peace about his decline, like she’d been coming to terms with it for quite a while.

When he seemed to run out of steam, I asked, “Is your dad still eating?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Well, I just remember with my grandmother that she was doing okay until she stopped eating. I think both she and her body decided they couldn’t fight the cancer any longer. I don’t know if that’s true for everyone, but maybe it’s something you could look out for.”

“Oh. Okay.” He yawned into the phone. “Sorry about that. So do you think I can go back to DC? Or should I stay here in case he gets worse?”

“I don’t know, and I really don’t know your family very well. But if Sylvia thought she should leave, you might want to do the same.”

“But why wouldn’t he want his children here? We’re a close family. It still doesn’t make sense to me that Dad only wants us to visit—not stay.”

“Like I said, I don’t know about your dad. But I’m pretty sure one of the reasons my grandmother liked having me around was that it spared my dad from having to see her so sick.”

“Hmm,” he said, mulling it over. “That sort of makes sense. My father is so goddamn private as well. Maybe there’s something to that.”

“Just a thought.” I let out a dark chuckle. “I’m kind of good with the death thing.”

“I must say you are. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through it, but I do appreciate your insight.”

“Thanks. Happy to help,” I said, feeling warm and fuzzy. After all the times Adam had been there for me, it was nice to return the favor.

We talked each night that he was in Cambridge, and while the conversation did have a lot of gloom and doom, there was also work talk and plenty of lighthearted moments of sexual innuendo. His final night, he didn’t have long to speak because he had to leave early in the morning to get to London and then fly back to DC. He was surprisingly formal when we said goodbye.

“Thank you for calling every evening.”

“What?” I laughed. “Don’t thank me. I love talking with you.” As soon as the words came out, I knew I’d said the wrong thing. I did not need to be throwing “love” around, even if it wasn’t in the I-love-you context. I blurted out my goodbye. “Well, I gotta run. Catch up with you when you get back. Night.” Then I quickly hung up.

I stared at the phone, now regretting hanging up more than what I’d said. It was so childish, but I wasn’t about to call him back. Then a text popped up on my screen.

You didn’t let me say goodbye. Goodnight, Sweetheart.

I leaned in to read the screen again. There it was.
Oh my God. He called me sweetheart
. That had been his name for me in high school. Of course, it was a common endearment and he probably said it to every woman he’d ever slept with, but to me it still felt special.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, I typed a simple response.

:) Goodnight.

The next weekend, DC was in the middle of a spring heat wave. Sylvia was in town, and we made plans that she’d join Adam, David, Lisa, and me for dinner Saturday night. With the heat, though, David decided we needed to be outside, and he and Lisa came up with the idea to go canoeing on the Potomac.

We all met up at the boat rental place. Four of us looked like we were ready for a hot day on the river’s muddy water—we were in swimsuits, shorts, and T-shirts. One of us—Sylvia—looked like she was heading off for a day yachting in the Mediterranean.

“You look great,” I said, giving her a hug. “Very resort-like.”

“Sylvia thinks we’re in the south of France, so she traded in her usual black for white,” Adam commented with some brotherly annoyance.

“It reflects the sun,” she said in a huff as she smoothed out the fine linen of her caftan, but to me, she was kind. “Thank you, Nicki. You look great as well.”

“Yes, you do.” Adam touched my ponytail and planted a swift kiss on my cheek.

“Thanks,” I said, pleased with the kiss. “It’s good to see you.”

Adam smiled and twirled my hair for a moment. He seemed to be thinking something that I was sure I wanted to hear, but David interrupted the scene when he placed his hands on Lisa’s shoulders and declared, “And how is my lovely princess? Are you ready for me to take you on a ride?”

From the way he’d said “ride,” it was pretty obvious what he was really talking about. When she shook her head, he rubbed her shoulders. “Come on, love. It would be the ride of your life.”

“Oh God,” Adam muttered and took a drink from his water bottle. Sylvia turned her back on her cousin and looked at her phone. I couldn’t help but watch the spectacle.

“My life is just fine,” Lisa said, jabbing him in the side with her elbow.

“But you’ve never been on this boat.” David laughed.

“Your
princess
has been on enough boats to know better,” she said. I could tell she was trying to be tough because her lips turned up into a slight smile. “I told you that.”

I glanced at Adam and Sylvia, who were still uninterested in David’s routine, and tried to change the topic. “Uh, David.” I chuckled. “Lisa was the coxswain on the Columbia crew team. She’s been on quite a few boats.”

“Brilliant. That means she knows her way around…a boat,” he said.

“Yes,” said Lisa. “And it means either I’m rowing the boat today or I’ll be shouting orders at you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I like a woman who tells me what to do.”

“Yeah, right.” She lowered her baseball cap over her eyes. “Let’s just get the damn boat, and we’ll see who should row.”

Adam wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pointed to the canoes. “Come on. Let’s take Sylvia on her cruise.”

When we got on the water, Sylvia did look like she was a passenger on a ship while Adam and I were the deck hands. Leaning back at the boat’s bow, she wore a giant hat and equally large sunglasses. As Adam rowed, she took in the scenery and spent half the time chatting with us and the other half making phone calls to her new boyfriend in New York.

It was still a great day to be out on the water. Adam and I talked about work for most of the time, and occasionally we’d hear Lisa barking orders at David in their canoe. After an hour or so, she announced, “David, you’re a lousy boatman.”

“Well, love, I promise you I’m very good at other things.”

“All men say that, and it’s not true.” She laughed.

Leaning closer to Adam so she wouldn’t hear me, I said, “You know, she’s not this mean to other guys.”

Adam snickered. “I think David knows that. It’s what keeps him going.”

Then Sylvia yelled from our boat, “David, what in bloody hell are you doing?”

“David, sit down!” Lisa cried out.

“But I thought we might swap places,” he said as he teetered along, attempting to walk across the canoe.

“David,” Adam shouted. “That’s not how you do it!”

And with that, David capsized their boat. Flailing about in the water, both Lisa and David laughed, even when she was shrieking at him. To his credit, he quickly righted their boat, and both were back inside in only minutes.

As soon as he got in the canoe, David took off his wet shirt and sat in his swimming trunks. With his wet hair and glistening body, he looked even better than at the soccer game. My eyes widened when Lisa also took off her T-shirt and revealed a very skimpy bikini. She really was being a tease.

When David grinned, she chided, “You tipped the boat just so I’d take off my clothes.”

“Maybe.” He pointed to her. “Though I’d say by the size of that bikini you don’t mind me looking. And you do look good, love.”

Lisa smiled begrudgingly. “I’d say the same to you, but I think you hear it enough.”

“Not from you.”

“You know, this is the second time you’ve stripped in front of me.”

“I hope it’s not the last, princess.”

As I watched their conversation, I was a little jealous. First of all, they were wet. While I didn’t necessarily want to go into the gross Potomac, I was hot in my one-piece and clothes. If I weren’t with Adam, I’d have probably taken off my T-shirt by now, but it seemed too forward to strip, especially with Sylvia completely covered in her white caftan.

But I was also envious of how freely Lisa and David talked about sex. All their tension was out in the open, whereas mine with Adam was all bottled up. Yeah, we had some sexy banter occasionally, but I was definitely holding back, and I knew he was as well.

I glanced over at Adam and saw him staring at me. I wondered what he was thinking, and when he gave me a sly smile, I knew. He grumbled under his breath, “I really wish my sister wasn’t on this damn ruddy boat.”

“I heard that, Adam,” Sylvia called out while I looked away.

When we made our way back to the shore, Sylvia announced she would cook dinner for us back at Adam’s.

Lisa came up to me and said, “I need some dry clothes, so I’ll head home. David’s going to come with me. Do you want anything?”

David and Lisa alone in our apartment? That meant only one thing. He’d finally worn her down. I smiled. “Bring me a change of clothes, okay?”

When we got to Adam’s apartment, the place was hot from shut windows and no air-conditioning. He suggested we all take showers, and Sylvia insisted I use the guest bathroom first while she started cooking. With her waiting in the kitchen, I kept my shower short.

I couldn’t bear to put my stinky swimsuit back on afterward, so I decided to go commando until Lisa showed up with my clothes. Adam was still in his room when Sylvia and I exchanged places. She told me not to touch a thing in the kitchen, so I first quickly texted Lisa to ask for a pair of underwear, too. Then I was left alone in Adam’s apartment with nothing to do. I spied his bookcase and went over to investigate.

The giant shelves held books and all sorts of mementos, photos, and art. In the far right corner, higher than I would normally look, a small print caught my eye. I had to stand on my tiptoes to reach it, but as I got closer, I recognized the sketch. I knew it well because it was a famous one in Houston’s Menil Collection, a place I’d been to a hundred times. That particular print was even more familiar to me, though—I’d given it to him.

Oh my God. He still has it.
I gingerly took it off the shelf. Tracing around its edges, I smiled as I saw he’d even kept it in the cheap metal frame I’d bought. I hadn’t known any better at that time.

As pleased as I was that he still had the piece, I didn’t want to be caught being too nosy. I rose again to return it when I noticed a book that had been behind it. It was an ancient-looking collection of Wordsworth, so I exchanged the print for the book.