Instead of watching him come at her, she’d been trying Harvey’s idea of simply waiting for the feel of him, when his cold handle hit her palm.
But thwack!
Yet again, the force of MC knocked her flat.Only this takedown left her a little dazed.
Dom heard heavy footsteps before Nina stood over her, bracketing her body with her feet, holding out her hand.“Time for a break, Thor Two-Point-O.Take my fucking hand.Arch made hot chocolate with those tiny marshmallows I miss like I miss my beating heart, and snickerdoodles.Hot and fresh from the oven.You’re gonna have some in my honor and take a GD break.Get up.”
Dom took her hand but shook her head as she rose to her feet.“No.I can’t stop now, Nina.”
But Nina gripped her hand harder, pulling her toward the group.“You can and you fucking will.Don’t make me haul your ass outta here.I think we know I can.”She pointed to the bench, where Arch and Tottington had set up on one of the concrete tables.
A tendril of steam rose from a large kettle, and the scent of baked goods wafted to her nose.Her mouth watered.Maybe a break wouldn’t hurt.They were Arch’s snickerdoodles, after all…
She let Nina lead her over to the bench, where Arch poured her a steaming mug of hot chocolate with a smile, as Marty fluffed up a heated blanket for her to sit on and Wanda made her a plate.
Arch smiled at her with that genuine gleam in his eyes.“You are a fine warrior, Mistress Dominique.I do hope you know how much we appreciate your relentless efforts to prevent our doom.”
That word “doom” haunted her every night when she closed her eyes.If she wasn’t so exhausted from simply trying to get hold of MC, she’d never sleep.How could someone likeherbe responsible for the fate of the entire world?
Still, she smiled at Arch, his blue nose a tiny bit red from the cold.“If there’s anything that can help whip me into shape, your snickerdoodles have to be high on the list, Arch.Thank you.And you, too, Tottington.”She reached out and brushed his hand with her frozen fingers.“I don’t know where I’d be if not for you two and your gourmet feasts.I don’t think I’ve eaten this well since my papa…”
They’d gone above and beyond to make her feel comfortable by borrowing some of her papa’s old restaurant recipes he kept in a binder, and making some of her favorites for dinner.Their tag team attempt at pastitsio had been a chef’s kiss that almost made her cry with nostalgia.
Tottington grazed her fingers, his typically stoic face lightening, his eyes kind.“It is my deepest honor to fill your belly with whatever you wish, Miss Dominique, in order to fuel your heart and mind for your fight for humanity.”
Taking a sip of her cocoa, she looked up at them both as the sky began to bruise with the coming night.“You’re both the best.My stomach salutes you.”
Arch chuckled as he headed back toward the house, and they all settled in to enjoy the treats he’d bestowed upon them.
Nina plopped down next to her with one of her blood bags, sipping it like a juice box.Nudging her with her shoulder, she asked, “So…when were you gonna tell us it’syouwho owns Remember Me?”
Dom wrapped her hands tighter around the mug and shrugged as she looked off into the distance.“I didn’t think it mattered who owned it.”
Wanda cocked her head with a soft smile on her beautiful face, tugging at one of her pearl earrings.“No.It doesn’t matter, it only emphasizes the good in you, Dom.But you could have told us it was you who turned that place around.”
Marty nodded, brushing the crumbs from her snickerdoodle off her lap with a grin.“You sure did turn it around, Miss Ma’am.Darnell tells us it was on the verge of closing before you stepped in.How’d you save it?”
Dom gulped.That was all true.Try as she might, the nightmare that had been her life before last year never totally left her—even though she’d never have to worry again.She never took the gift she’d been given for granted.
And it had been a gift sent at the eleventh hour.
Susan had probably been chewing Darnell’s ear about all that had come to pass since Dom had bought Remember Me.
Harvey pulled up one of the wire chairs to sit in front of her.“You own the facility?Why didn’t you mention it?”
Her shoulders, sore and in need of a good massage, lifted.“I dunno.I just didn’t.”Dom didn’t want praise for doing what she’d done.She’d had an ulterior motive—her grandfather and his best interests, a comfortable journey toward the inevitable end of his life.
”Because our girl Dominique isn’t one to toot her own horn.But had she not swooped in and done what she did, Remember Me was as doomed as our future foes will be once she gets her hands on them,” MC crowed.
It figured MC knew all about last year.He knew everything else about her, right down to the appendectomy she’d had in sixth grade and the broken toe she’d suffered her sophomore year from a rousing game of dodgeball.
Harvey nudged her knee with his, giving her a teasing glance.“Toot your horn,” he encouraged, with a handsome smile that left her knees weak.
Looking down at her work boots, Dom shrugged.“I guess Susan must have told Darnell all about it.It’s not a big deal, really.Long story short, my grandfather had been at Remember Me for about a year and a half.It wasn’t the best place, the government-run facilities are always kind of a gamble, but it was all his social security afforded, and even then, it took me forever to find him an even halfway decent place that would actually take him.”
Nina grunted, making a face with a wrinkle of her nose.“The fucking state of affairs when it comes to the elderly is a load of bullshit.All that hard work for all those years and they just shit on ’em when they can’t take care of themselves.”
Wanda gripped Nina’s hand.“Nina knows a little something about nursing care facilities because of her Nana Lou, but we’re lucky that money didn’t figure into the equation.”
