Today was too awesome to have to consider the future. It was enough to take delight in this moment.
After being plastered to Kirk’s solid back for the better part of thirty minutes, Angelica was reluctant to move when they reached the hospital.
He sat for a second after he stopped and then said, “It’s safe to let go now.”
Burning with embarrassment, she snatched her hands back and awkwardly got off the motorcycle unassisted, almost falling on her face. His arm caught her around the waist while she was still trying to get her legs to move.
Heart aflutter, knees wobbly, she pulled back and took off the helmet. She slicked her hands over her hair; it still felt in place. Tied back as it was, it didn’t get mussed often. Though she’d never worn a helmet before.
He took both helmets and placed them on the handlebars. Then headed for the hospital entry.
“Are they safe here?” she asked, glancing back at the motorcycle in the parking lot.
“Sure.” He shrugged. “If someone needs them more than I do, let him take them. I can buy others.”
She’d never thought about that aspect of theft.
“What if they just want to resell for money?”
“As I said, if they need it more than I do, okay by me.”
She followed, trying to understand his thought process. Where she lived everyone was out to get ahead, to be the brightest and best, to make more money, to protect what they’d acquired. Now this man seemed totally unconcerned about the safety of his equipment.
Entering the hospital, Kirk guided her to the elevator and they rose to the third floor. Angelica kept her face forward, denying herself the opportunity to gaze at Kirk Devon. She hoped he had no idea of how edgy she felt around him—so aware of herself as a woman and him as a man. She wasn’t some teenager. Even thought it almost felt like she was with a crush on the cutest guy around.
Maybe Webb Francis would be well soon enough to help her. If not, she wasn’t sure what she’d do. Having made the break, she didn’t want to return home without having accomplished her goal.
But she hadn’t a clue what she could do in Smoky Hollow waiting for him to recover.
There seemed to be a lot of bustle in the corridor leading to Webb Francis’s room, with doctors jotting notes on charts, nurses checking on patients. Kirk walked confidently along and knocked perfunctorily on the partially opened door.
Entering right behind him, Angelica saw the older man propped up in bed with an oxygen cannula in his nose. His white hair was brushed back from his face. He looked pale and wan to her eyes. He smiled when he saw Kirk, then looked pleasantly curious when he saw her.
“You brought her, I see,” Webb Francis said.
Kirk offered his hand and gripped the sick man’s briefly, then turned to look at Angelica.
“Angelica Cannon, meet Webb Francis Muldoon.”
“Hello, Mr. Muldoon. I’m sorry to learn you’re ill. Professor Simmons suggested I come to see you.”
She pulled out the letter the professor had written on her behalf.
“This explains things, I hope.”
Webb Francis took the letter. He read it through then looked at Angelica.
“Miss Cannon, I’m honored you’d come to learn from me. Seems like I could learn from you.”
“Please, call me Angelica. I’ve had a rather narrow focus lately. I want a change. My favorite class at the Conservatory was folk music. I’d love to hear it firsthand and put some effort into learning the music.”
The memory of her parents’ rejection of her suggestion she follow up with more folk music classes back in her student days flickered. She pushed it away. She was old enough to be in charge of her own life and the direction she wanted to go.
“Ah, a good project. Sorry you found me laid up, eh, Kirk?”
Kirk shrugged.
“If you say so. What’s the latest from your doctor?”
