In Love with John Doe (13 page)

“Swiss steak, yuck.” Addie wrinkled her nose. “I’d rather have pizza.”

“I’d rather have dinner with the two of you,” Jack said with a gallantry that warmed her heart.

“Well, we’re happy to have you,” Lexi said. “If you could pour the drinks while I cut the pizza, we should be ready to eat.”

Jack opened the refrigerator door, reached inside and grabbed a liter of soda.

“Jack,” Lexi said in a hushed tone.

He shifted his gaze.

“Milk,” she mouthed.

Of course. A growing girl needs milk, not soda.

Jack put the soda down, grabbed a carton of milk instead and filled three glasses.

Addie stared at hers. “I want soda.”

“I like milk,” Jack declared. Before Lexi could respond to her daughter’s whine, he took a big sip. “Yum. Nice and cold, just the way I like it. Is yours cold, too, Addie?”

Addie picked up her glass with both hands and took a drink. “Very cold.”

Lexi smiled her approval. “After dinner, it’s movie night. Addie chose
Bambi
.”

“Bambi?”

“Bambi is a deer,” Addie explained, her young face earnest. “And Thumper is his friend. Thumper is a rabbit.”

“I know you said you had time for pizza, but I don’t remember if you had something else planned for later tonight?” Lexi said.

She was giving him an out. Jack took another sip of milk. It wasn’t really too bad. In fact, given time he might acquire a taste for the white stuff.

“Jack?”

Yes, she was giving him an out, but it was one he didn’t want to take. He wanted to spend the evening with his girls. If that meant watching a movie about the adventures of a deer and a rabbit, that’s what he was going to do.

“I’ll carry her into the bedroom and you can take it from there,” Jack whispered.

“Works for me.” Lexi stood and stretched. “Addie’s getting so big it’s getting hard for me to carry her.”

“Another reason for having a man around.” Jack scooped the child up into his arms. When they reached her bed, he carefully placed her on the top of the covers then impulsively brushed a kiss on her hair. “Sleep tight, little one.”

He straightened to find Lexi staring. “Something the matter?”

“I was just thinking how much Addie’s missed by not having a father around.” Her gaze grew distant and he knew she was thinking about the ex-boyfriend who’d deserted her.

“You realize that a guy doesn’t have to be a child’s biological father to be her dad.” His tone was light but his expression was serious.

Lexi met his gaze and smiled. “I’m beginning to see that.”

“If you need me for anything, I’ll be in the other room.” He grinned. “I have to see how the movie ends.”

The one time she had gone out with him, they’d laughed and talked until almost two. When she’d gone to bed that night, it had been Steve, not Nick, who’d filled her dreams. That’s when she’d come to her senses. She was almost engaged to Nick. That meant she shouldn’t be seeing other men. Period. End of story.

“I was going to stop by Hanabi tonight.” The tall attorney ambled into the room and took a seat. “I thought we could eat then get started on the Thompson case over dinner.”

Ellen’s refusal died in her throat. She hadn’t had sushi since last summer when she and Steve used to stop by Hanabi at least once a week. After she’d started dating Nick, she’d tried to get him to go with her a couple of times. But Nick was a meat and potatoes kind of guy. A true Texan. Steve, well, surprisingly the former football player liked the bluefin tuna almost as much as she did.

Ellen leaned back in her chair and felt her heart pick up speed. It sounded like tonight would be business, not social. “The Thompson case?”

“I can fill you in over dinner.”

“Let me sign off.” Ellen had planned to surf the Internet and see if she could track Nick down. It had been over three weeks since he’d taken off. Though his father still wasn’t concerned, Ellen worried.

“Is something the matter?” Steve leaned over the desk, his eyes filled with concern. “If tonight doesn’t work for you we—”

“It’s fine.” Ellen inhaled the tantalizing scent of his cologne. “I had something else I was going to do, but it can wait. It’s not that important.”

Still, he and Lexi kept displays of affection in front of her to hand-holding and a kiss on the cheek. And he didn’t spend the night.

Today he’d finished his chores around the lodge and had caught a ride with the van driver into town. It had been exactly a month since he’d first met Lexi and he wanted to surprise her for lunch. He knew she didn’t have plans because she’d told him she’d be using the time to go through her mail and do her bills.

He was banking on the fact that the bills could wait until tonight. After checking on her whereabouts with the hospital receptionist, he headed to the emergency room. She was just coming out of a room when he got there. His heart flip-flopped when he saw her. “Hello, beautiful.”

“Jack.” Her lips widened into a welcoming smile before worry filled her gaze. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is wonderful. The sun is shining. The temperature is supposed to hit seventy today. And I’m here to take my best girl to lunch. That is, if you’re available?”

“I am,” she said. “Except we’ll have to eat in the cafeteria.”

“Works for me.”

A doctor in a white lab coat followed by a nurse emerged from one of the exam rooms. It amazed Jack that less than a month ago these two were strangers to him. Now they were friends. “David. Rachel.”

“What brings you by the hospital today?” David cast a sideways glance at Lexi. “As if I didn’t know.”

“I came by to take Lexi to lunch.”

“That’s sweet.” Rachel smiled. “Where are you going?”

“We’re eating in the hospital cafeteria,” Lexi said.

“Oh,” David said. “Good luck to you.”

“I heard a rumor that you’re the new handyman at Wildwoods,” Rachel said.

“It’s true,” Jack said. “My money ran out and Coraline was gracious enough to allow me to work for my room and board.”

“What does she have you doing?” Rachel asked.

“Changing lightbulbs, keeping the parking lot and the common areas clean, stuff like that.” Jack didn’t feel challenged by the work, but he wasn’t about to complain.

“I bet you’re hoping you remember who you are soon,” Rachel said. “Or that a family member or friend shows up to ID you.”

“I saw they ran your story again in the Jackson Hole News,” David said. “It was a nice article. I’m sure the wire services are all over it.”

“The nurses upstairs were saying they saw the story on a couple of Internet sites.” Lexi’s expression gave nothing away.

“Well, so far no phone calls.” Jack wished they were alone so that he could reassure Lexi again that whoever he was before didn’t matter. “The sheriff said he’d call if he got any response.”

Lexi glanced down at her watch. “I have a meeting with a family of an intensive-care patient at two, so if we’re having lunch we better go now.”

Though Jack couldn’t put his finger on it, there was something different about Lexi today. Something was troubling her but he couldn’t tell if it was work-related or personal. He tried to take her hand on their walk to the cafeteria, but she pretended not to notice.

A rock settled in the pit of his stomach. This had to be related to the conversation in the E.R. Though the last thing he wanted to bring up over lunch was the possibility of him leaving, once they’d sat down with the food, he didn’t see that he had a choice. “Finding out who I am isn’t going to change how I feel about you.”

“I know you think that.” Lexi dipped her spoon into the yogurt but made no attempt to pull it out. Instead she leaned forward, resting both her arms on the table, her expression earnest. “What if your family doesn’t like me? Or like the fact that I have a child and have never been married?”

“All that matters are our feelings.” This wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation. But he was willing to have it a hundred times a day if it would allay her fears.

A smile lifted her lips. “You’re right. I don’t know why I feel so anxious. Maybe it’s because my day started off badly and I’ve had this uneasy feeling, like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“What happened this morning?” he asked, curious but not overly concerned. If it had something to do with Addie, he knew Lexi would have called him.

“Mimi called,” she said. “From Hawaii.”

Jack cocked his head. “Mimi? As in Hank and Mimi?”

“The same. Except there is no more Hank and Mimi.” Lexi’s lips twisted. “Now it’s Mimi and Kyle.”

Jack straightened in his chair. “Who’s Kyle?”

“Her Pilates instructor,” Lexi said. “They eloped.”

“Wow.” Jack wasn’t sure how to respond. After all, Mimi was Lexi’s friend. He took a sip of iced tea. “How did Hank take the news?”

“Apparently he went out and got drunk with his buddies.”

“I bet you’re disappointed that you don’t get to wear that gorgeous bridesmaid’s dress.”

Lexi laughed. “Yeah, I’m crushed.”

“It’s not all bad,” Jack said, trying to find the silver lining. “At least she’ll get the flower deposit back.”

“She made me take out the clause,” Lexi said. “So now she—or rather she and Kyle—will have to pay all that money for flowers she’ll never use.”

Jack shook his head. “You put in so much work on her wedding.”

“And it’s not over yet,” Lexi said with a rueful smile. “She asked me to forward her mail to her.”

“Forward her mail?”

“She and Hank were looking for a place to live once they married. Apparently his current apartment didn’t meet her high standards.” Lexi rolled her eyes. “Because she was in such a state of transition—her words, not mine—she gave the wedding vendors my address. I can tell you I’m getting rid of those suckers right away. In fact…”

Lexi’s gaze dropped to her purse. She reached inside her large bag and pulled out a small stack of envelopes. “I bet some of these are hers.”

Jack took a bite of hamburger and chewed while Lexi flipped through the stack. She stopped and an odd look crossed her face. “The return address on this envelope is a law firm in Columbus, Ohio.”

“Does Mimi know someone in Ohio?”

“No, but I do.” Lexi lifted her gaze to meet his. “That’s where Addie’s dad lives.”

“Didn’t you tell me you’d asked him to relinquish all claim to her?” Jack said in a matter-of-fact tone. He didn’t like seeing Lexi so upset over something that was probably nothing. “I bet he had an attorney draw something up and send it to you.”

“You’re probably right.”

“I know I’m right. Open it and see.”

“Lexi Brennan, report to intensive care. Lexi Brennan, please report to intensive care immediately,” the voice over the loudspeaker said in a monotone.

Lexi heaved a sigh and rose to her feet.

“Aren’t you going to open it?”

“No time.” Lexi dropped the envelopes back into her bag. “Looks like my two o’clock appointment came early. I’ll open it when I get home. I’m sure you’re right. It’s probably nothing.”

He knocked on the door, wondering if somehow they’d gotten their signals crossed. “Lexi. Addie.”

The door slowly opened and Addie peered around it. “Shh.” The child brought a small finger to her lips. “We have to be quiet. Mommy doesn’t feel good.”

Jack stepped inside the silent, dark house. “What’s the matter?”

He kept his voice casual and offhand, not wanting to worry Addie. But he was worried. Lexi had been fine at lunch.

“She has a migraine.” Addie’s brows drew together. “And maybe her tummy hurts, too.”

“I’m going to see how she’s doing.” He handed the steaks wrapped in butcher paper to Addie. “Could you put these in the refrigerator for me?”

Addie nodded solemnly. She started toward the kitchen then turned back. “Mommy is going to be okay, isn’t she?”

“She’s going to be just fine.” But even as Jack hurried down the hall, an uneasy feeling slithered up his spine. As his hand closed over the doorknob to her room, he found himself praying that whatever was wrong was something that could be easily fixed.