“Were you being a demanding asshole when you made this quote-unquote offer?” When I glared daggers at him, he said, “What? Like I’m wrong."
“No, I was genuinely trying to be nice. I’ve seen her at her most vulnerable these last few days, and what I saw made an impression on me. She actually cares about Dad and his health, and she’s kind of a loner.”
Gio folded his arms. “In what way?”
“In the way that she has no family, and her coworkers spend too much time gossiping about her.” I’d heard the last thing they were saying; it was about something covering her stomach. Was she the type of person to hide a tattoo?
“That sucks.”
“So, yeah, I was trying to do a nice thing, but she blew up at me and told me not to waste my money on her.”
“She’s an odd duck, for sure, but I think she’s been forced to form an icy exterior. And if what you say is true, then how would she even know to accept basic kindness?”
Finally sick of standing in the cold, I walked to the limo. “You’re probably right. I was going to offer again when Dad is discharged tomorrow.”
Gio followed me, picking his way across the rubble. “How will you word it to convince her? Because we both know you can ooze charm when you want to.”
“Just that I’d feel more comfortable if Dad has twenty-four-hour care for the first few days out of the hospital. I plan on tugging her heartstrings where it comes to him.”
“You won’t persuade her if you make it sound like it’s for her sake, that’s for sure. In the meantime, we’d better lay low for a while. I’ve got Brennan making the deal for us, and then we’re all gonna pretend we went to Aruba or some shit.”
Shivering as I turned up the heater in the back, I said, “I’d love to go to Aruba for real and beat this stupid fucking cold weather.”
“We could, but then how do we keep dear old Benito in the care of someone overqualified?”
“No way on earth Sailor would agree to come along.” Shaking my head, I added, “Never in my life have I had to convince a woman to allow me to frivolously spend money on her.”
“You’re not used to someone with morals, Noah. That's the only reason she seems so foreign to you.”
He had a point; I dealt with unscrupulous bastards on a daily basis, and I wasn't used to someone standing by their principles. Or, frankly, anyone actually having any.
I asked our driver to head to Grandview, and sat back to get comfortable. “Okay, I get that, but I do want to give her this after what she went through. It’s my fault she had to be in the hospital in the first place, and that gave the nurses reasons to speculate and sling mud.”
“I can’t imagine why anyone would gossip about their straitlaced coworker being in the company of a mafia don.”
The back of my neck prickled at his sarcasm. Had I really made things worse for her? “Are you saying I should drop it?”
“If she balks a second time, I think you should, yeah.”
“Well, shit.”
Why did I care so much now when I basically hated her a few days ago? I suppose I could say it was guilt, because that emotion most definitely overwhelmed me. An innocent woman had gotten caught up in this war between two families. One of us had no idea what we’d done wrong while the other one seemed hell-bent on punishing us for existing.
I made a point of avoiding Sailor’s room when I visited my father throughout the evening. Unfortunately, I now felt pulled in her direction when she wanted so little to do with me. For the night at least, I could give her a break from the rumors and other bullshit circulating around the nurses’ station. Come morning, though, I would ask her if she’d been the subject of any more gossip and meet with Richard Hogan again if I had to. I paid the man well to look the other way, but this time I needed him to be focused and present.
By morning, I was sleep-deprived and irritable. Staying in a luxury hotel room should have been enough to ensure a perfect night’s sleep, but I was plagued by bad dreams wherein my father was taken from me with a bullet to the heart.
I was fairly certain I would always worry more for him than myself, but my gut told me he was the actual target in this shadow attack. Checking again for any signs of a hit going through the back channels, I sipped some coffee and finally turned off the news. Dad would be released today, and I made sure the hotel staff knew to have his room ready for him. With any luck, Sailor would check in to the adjoining suite, and I might be able to breathe a sigh of relief for the first time in a week.
To my surprise, she was in his room when I arrived, wearing her hair down for the first time since I’d met her. I’d never realized just how long her straight blonde hair was, and for some reason, I couldn't stop staring at it.
“Good morning, son.”
Blinking, I looked over at Dad. “Morning, Dad. Sailor.”
“Good morning, Noah,” she responded quietly.
She stood by the window, crossing her arms defensively as I was inevitably drawn into watching her. “How’s our patient this morning?"
