Right from the Start (28 page)

“My point is you’re worrying about all these things being
unfair to me, when they’re all the things I love about you.”

While he was still trying to come up with an argument, he
watched her small smile grow until she sort of beamed in that glowing light.

“I very much appreciate your special circumstances,” she said.
“And I respect the fact that I’m not living your life, so I can’t know all the
demands. Don’t you think you should give me a chance to find out?”

That stopped him. He hadn’t actually considered that before.
He’d simply made up his mind that he would never put these demands on any woman.
Melinda couldn’t even handle Sam.

But Kenzie wasn’t Melinda.

And that really wasn’t fair, even to Melinda. He understood
better than anyone why she had such a tough time dealing with their son. He
hoped that would eventually change as Sam continued to grow his skills and as
Melinda made peace with the fact that she wasn’t responsible. She couldn’t have
done anything differently to prevent or alter Sam’s autism.

“Don’t you think that if we have something special, we should
at least give it a try?” she asked.

“You think what we have is special?”

She glanced away from the road, her gaze as soft as her smile.
“Don’t you?”

That’s when it hit him—she was a mediator, a skilled
negotiator. She was using her skills on him, mediating on her own behalf for all
she was worth.

Something about that made him smile, too.

Then she wheeled into the parking lot, and he could see the
emergency room sign illuminating the darkness.

“I’ll pull through the circle drive and drop you—”

“Just park in the lot,” he said.

She frowned but didn’t argue. Once she’d pulled into a space,
she tried again. “If you’ll wait here, I’ll go grab—”

“I’ll walk.”

And he did. With her arm around his waist to direct him. He
walked every damned step even though he felt like his arm might fall off.
Actually, he wished it would.

Of course, he had to swallow what was left of his pride and ask
her to grab his wallet out of his back pocket.

She slipped her fingers into his pocket, taking advantage by
feeling up his backside in the process, then sat quietly beside him as he dozed
between triage and x-ray and the interminable wait to have his fractured wrist
set.

And sometime during the night, Will remembered what it felt
like to be cared for, instead of being the one to do all the caring.

* * *

“W
HERE
IN
HELL
—” The growl reverberated across the house,
startling Kenzie all the way in the kitchen. “Where in hell am I? Where’s my
phone?”

She replaced the coffeepot and carried a mug of steaming coffee
into her bedroom.

Will was sitting up in bed, disoriented and frantic, a man
wholly unused to not having life firmly under his control. He looked like a wild
man in the midst of her white lace bedding with his glossy black hair askew and
stubbled cheeks drawn.

“Where the hell—” He stopped in midsentence and did a double
take when he saw her. “Is this your place?”

She nodded.

“Where’s my phone? I have to—”

“It’s okay. I spoke with your mom last night while you were
having your wrist set. She has Sam, and she was going to call Melinda. One of
them will get Sam to Guadalupe’s on time this morning. She said not to worry and
to call her when you wake up.”

Kenzie grabbed his phone off her dresser and brought it to him
with the coffee. Poor man. They’d drugged him last night, and he appeared to be
having trouble shaking the effects. She wanted to ask how he felt, but didn’t
want to bombard him with questions. She had no idea how he awoke in the
mornings, whether he hit the ground running or needed time to face the day.

She wanted to know.

But now was the time to help him regroup. She pointed to the
boudoir chair, where the clothes he’d worn yesterday sat in a freshly laundered
pile. That had been the best she could do since they’d arrived home so late.
“Clothes.”

He lifted his hand then winced, taking in the sight of the
cast. He scowled and thrust his left hand through his hair instead, making the
dark strands stand on end.

“Oh, man. Nothing can ever be simple. Did they mention how I’m
supposed to shower with this?”

She nodded. “And the doctor said when you follow up with your
orthopedic surgeon, you might be able to have that cast replaced with a
waterproof one to make life a little easier.”

Her good news didn’t have the effect she’d hoped. The frantic
edges were creeping into his expression.

“Did they say how long I’d have to wear this? I don’t
remember.”

No surprise there. Will had been operating under the assumption
he was exhausted last night when he’d actually been in shock. “Sounded like it
could be six weeks. I put your discharge papers with the doctor’s orders by your
clothes.”

Blinking, he opened his mouth as if to speak then closed it
again, apparently robbed of any response. He closed his eyes as if he might
block out reality.

“The doctor said you were very lucky, Will.” She gave him some
good news. “He said, and I quote, it was a miracle the fracture didn’t sever
tendons. If that had happened you’d have spent last night in surgery and could
have had permanent damage.”

Will inhaled deeply, an effort from where she stood.

“If you’re interested in showering, I can grab what we’ll need
to wrap your cast.”

He opened his eyes, and that clear gaze cut across the
distance, a gaze with the ability to drop the bottom out of her stomach. To her
surprise, he managed that charming smile of his, dimples flashing. “Yes.”

She whirled and headed out of the room, her heart suddenly
pounding hard. And by the time she returned to fit a plastic trash bag over his
cast and secure it with duct tape, her pulse still skittered at their closeness,
at the sheer maleness of this man all rough-edged from sleep.

He’d dropped the bottom out of her world, too.

“Thanks for taking such good care of me.” His voice was a
throaty whisper.

“It’s been my pleasure.” She wondered if he truly understood
how much she meant that. When he slipped a warm finger beneath her chin and
tipped her face toward his, she thought he might.

“Am I remembering last night right?” he asked in that gravelly
voice. “Did you totally take advantage of me?”

“I did,” she admitted, not just a little proud. “I seized the
opportunity. It’s called gumption.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “You were so busy being noble that you left me out
of the equation. I wanted to weigh in.”

He exhaled a small laugh. “A control freak, hmm?”

“I can’t honestly say I’d argue too hard with that
assessment.”

His gaze settled on her mouth, and she knew right then he was
thinking about kissing her. He pulled her onto the bed beside him instead,
didn’t let go of her hand, but twined their fingers together as if testing the
fit.

“I’m not noble, Kenzie. Just wanted to do things right. I’ve
been married already.”

“I know.”

He arched an eyebrow and admitted, “Twice.”

She squeezed his hand. She’d known that, too.

“Melinda mentioned that while she was divorcing me?”

“You knew we’d met?”

“It took a while to put two and two together, but yeah. She’d
mentioned when she’d first gone to see you.”

Kenzie wasn’t sure what to say. She’d tried not to judge, had
been very well aware that she didn’t have the whole story about this man...and
that she had formed so many impressions.

None of them good.

But many were based on her own idealistic views about love and
marriage. While she still believed in what she taught, Will had helped open her
eyes to the bigger picture, to what was really important about love.

“I was too young to get married the first time,” he admitted.
“Way too young. But I tried to do things differently the second time. Did
everything different, in fact, and it still blew up in my face.”

Maybe he had. There were some pretty special circumstances that
had surely factored into his second marriage. That much Kenzie knew. “You figure
out what the problem might be?”

“I think so. Maybe. Probably should get a lock on it before I
attempt another walk down the aisle. How long are you willing to wait?”

“For a marriage proposal?”

He chuckled, so close to her ear the throaty sound rippled
through her, sparking that incredible awareness that only he could ignite in
her. “I don’t want to wait to have sex. In fact, if I didn’t smell so
ripe...”

His words trailed off beneath the sound of her laughter.
Exploring their relationship and waiting for his marriage proposal seemed like
exactly the right thing to do. “And I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than
have sex with you.” Kenzie tipped her face to his and they sealed the deal with
a kiss.

* * *

W
ILL
TRIED
TO
keep the situation in
perspective while sitting beside Kenzie in her car as they left her house. The
sight of her in contrast to his drowsy memories of the night before helped a
lot.

She looked lovely and fresh and ready to face the day, with the
calm that was so uniquely hers firmly in place. But Will knew beneath that
exterior was a kind and caring woman whose gentleness was actually her source of
strength, a deep strength that didn’t waver in the face of opposition or
adversity or challenge.

The kind of strength that weathered life’s storms and made her
emotions run equally deep. Emotions like loyalty.

And passion.

The memory of the way Kenzie had danced for him, had made love
to him and come apart in his arms stunned him. How had he ever gotten so
lucky?

He didn’t know how they could make a relationship work given
the parameters of his life, but they would figure that out together. He was
determined to keep understanding the skills that would help him be a more
effective parent and a partner worthy of the blessings he’d been given. At the
moment that included not freaking out because he’d need a doctor to sign off on
a release before he could even drive his truck again, which created more
problems than he could even comprehend at the moment with transporting Sam and
traveling to job sites.

That meant accepting the fact that he’d blown precious hours
needed to complete the work at Angel House. He remembered what Deanne had told
him, “You can’t finish the building if you kill yourself.”

He hadn’t killed himself, but he hadn’t listened to her,
either. Had he not pushed himself to the edge, he might not have been so
careless last night. He had only himself to blame. He knew the rules, knew very
well accidents happened on the job when workers were tired or distracted.

Those rules applied to him, too.

Reaching across the console with his uninjured hand, he took
Kenzie’s hand. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. But you already thanked me.”

“I thanked you for last night. Now I’m thanking you for not
taking no for an answer.”

“Then you’re very welcome. I’m really pleased with the result
of that choice, too.”

He chuckled, bringing her hand to his mouth, brushed a kiss
against her smooth skin. He felt a peace he hadn’t known before. She was so
lovely, so completely right for him and Sam, and he found himself touched by the
way her breath fluttered and her mouth parted, as excited by him as he was by
her.

How had he ever gotten so lucky?

God only knew.
Seriously.

The color rode high in her cheeks and she slanted a glance his
way with sparkling eyes as she turned onto Main Street not far from their
building.

Will braced himself for the sight of protestors as he had every
day for the past few weeks, for the emotional drain of standing his ground in
the face of opposition.

But the scene was worse than Will imagined when she wheeled off
the side street. The lot was packed with cars and trucks, busier than he’d seen
it yet.

“Oh, come on.” He groaned. “You’d think they’d at least have
the courtesy to park in a public lot and not take up our spaces.”

“Who?” Kenzie leaned forward to gauge the distance between two
cars that hadn’t left much room to pull through.

Will opened his mouth to reply, but then it hit him. He hadn’t
seen any protestors on Main Street, and the big van on the far end of the lot
wasn’t a television van but a panel van with a magnetized logo that read:
Atteberry Construction.

He glanced more closely at the cars and trucks in the lot,
mostly trucks with toolboxes and equipment packed in the back.

Kearney Developers.

Tom & Al’s Redi-Rooter.

Nunez & Son Flooring.

Van Brocklin III Painting.

“What is— How is this even possible?” he said,
disbelieving.

Kenzie put the car into Park and turned to face him, beaming.
“Well, you have Jason to thank. Apparently he called his uncle last night and
told him what happened. Then his uncle called while you were having your wrist
set. I answered your phone, and we had a nice conversation. He said he would
take care of everything. He cares about you a great deal.”

Will could only imagine a conversation between Bob and Kenzie.
The very idea might have made him laugh if he still wasn’t still trying to wrap
his brain around the fact that all these people weren’t on their jobs but his.
Guys he knew well. Guys he’d only worked with occasionally. But he could guess
that Bob had sounded the alarm and folks had responded.

The magnitude of such generosity was so big that Will could
only stare through the windshield at the crowded parking lot, so overcome that
he had no words, couldn’t even look at Kenzie because the enormity of his relief
and profound sense of gratitude felt a lot bigger than he was right now. But he
could practically hear Deanne reminding him, “God provides.”