Part 6 (2/2)

Her eyes closed, Denise was leaning her head back against the seat. He could easily guess what was going on in her mind right now. He'd been there himself not all that many years ago. Thinking about it only made the situation worse.

”He'll be all right, Denny.”

Denny.

Her eyes moistened instantly at the sound of the nickname. She wanted to cry out and tell him that he had no right to call her that. That only her father could call her that.

But the words never came out Too many other words, too many other emotions got in the way. She felt so horribly confused. And so very afraid.

Denise pressed her lips together. She couldn't keep las.h.i.+ng out at Will. He was just trying to be helpful. And yet, when she opened her mouth, the words that seemed to find their way out were antagonistic. It was as if, if she didn't cling to her anger, she would fall completely apart.

”How do you know that?” she demanded of him. ”What if-”

He knew where she was going with that. To a very dark, hollow place.

”Don't do that to yourself,” he warned. ”'What ifs' don't necessarily happen and there's no use torturing yourself over them. Just wasted effort all around.” He could see by the set of her jaw that he wasn't getting through. He continued at it doggedly. ”Doc Black's a good cardiologist. He treated my father. Back then, he was at St. Augustine's in b.u.t.te.”

It had been a h.e.l.l of a drive there that night, Will thought Quint driving the van as if it were a sports car and the very wind was under its wheels, he and Kent in the back, holding on to their father between them. And their mother talking to Jake all the while as if this was just another Sunday drive. Morgan had met them at the hospital, as pale as Denise was now. Things like that shook you down to your very roots, made you aware of what was important in life and what wasn't.

He'd almost forgotten that lesson, he realized. Until today.

”He was one of the first doctors to sign on when Serendipity Memorial opened,” Will told her, wondering if she was hearing any of this. He was desperately trying to keep her mind occupied.

She nodded absently. ”It looks new. The hospital,” she tagged on as an afterthought.

”That's because it is.” The quarter moon hung above them in a perfect crescent, guiding him home. ”It opened its doors June 1, 1996.”

Denise sat up and looked at him. ”You know the exact date?”

He grinned. He knew the exact date of all the buildings he'd had a hand in designing. Until he had one of flesh and blood, the buildings were like his children. ”I should. I designed it.”

Denise should have realized that by the way he knew his way around so well. She'd just a.s.sumed it was because he'd brought his father there.

”Nice work,” she murmured. She s.h.i.+fted in her seat, feeling as if every bone in her body ached. No matter what she did, she just couldn't get comfortable tonight Not after leaving her father in that room, even though she knew it was the only right thing to do.

”Thanks, I try.” Will read her restlessness correctly. ”Denny, there are worse things to face than an angioplasty.” His own father had had to have bypa.s.s surgery. Out of the corner of his eye, Will saw her frown. ”As a matter of fact, your father's a lucky man.”

He was lying in a strange bed in a strange hospital, waiting for a man whom he didn't know to make a hole in his thigh and snake a tube up into the chambers of his heart in the morning. And all of it was going to cost a fortune. A fortune they didn't have. She hardly saw that as being lucky.

”How do you figure that?”

She had to ask? Will thought. ”He was diagnosed in time. In a couple of weeks, he'll be like a new man.” He looked at her. ”Really.”

She merely nodded her head. Will was probably right. She really, really wished that she could believe in something again. That she could believe that every cloud in the sky had a silver lining and didn't just represent another thunderstorm.

Her mouth quirked. ”I kind of like the old one.”

The woman could probably find something to argue about in everything she came across. ”Then he'll be that, except better.” Will paused, knowing that she was probably going to hand his head to him for pus.h.i.+ng. He pushed anyway. ”Denise, what else is wrong?”

She tried to look nonchalant as she slanted a glance at him. ”Else?”

She didn't do innocent very well, but maybe that was to her credit. Lying was never an admirable attribute. ”There's something else eating away at you. What is it?”

”There's nothing else eating away at me,” she snapped, then instantly felt guilty. She looked down at her hands rather than at his face. ”I don't know how I'm going to pay for this.”

So that was it Part of Will had thought that perhaps it had something to do with what happened between them earlier. Heaven knew, it was still on his mind. On his mind and weaving itself into a knot in the pit of his stomach. A knot he wasn't sure what he was going to do about.

But they were discussing her problem, not his.

”No insurance?”

Denise shook her head. It was always something she meant to look into, but had just never gotten around to it There had never been any money left over to splurge on that So she'd kept on playing the odds, hoping to win each hand.

”No nothing. Not even a nest egg to fall back on.” Denise laughed shortly. It was either that, or bury her head in her hands, and she wasn't about to do that in front of anyone, least of all a man who had kissed her with a mouth hot enough to set off a forest fire. ”All the eggs fell out of the nest a long time ago.” She sighed, trying to rally. ”I'll come up with something.”

It sounded to Will as if she had a great deal of practice being creative. Eventually that had to get really difficult. ”You always do?”

”Yeah, I always do.” Denise glanced in his direction and saw the smile on his lips. Was he laughing at her? ”What?”

”I was just thinking of your father.” The road ahead of them forked. He took the right branch. ”I thought, weak as he was, that he was going to have to be tied down to his bed when Doc Black said he had to stay in the hospital overnight and that he had to have surgery tomorrow.”

She laughed softly to herself, picturing him. ”He's a feisty soul when he has to be.”

His eyes touched her lightly. A sliver of moonlight had made itself comfortable inside the car, caressing her face. ”Must run in the family.”

”Yes, it does,” she said proudly. The ranch house was taking shape in the distance. ”Well, there it is.” She felt a twinge of guilt. ”We'll be getting out of your hair soon. I'm sorry you have to drive all the way back to town.”

The outskirts of town was where he lived, so driving back was no inconvenience to him. But he wasn't thinking of his home now. He was thinking of her. ”I don't have to drive all the way back to town.”

”What do you mean?” She wasn't following him.

He glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was close to midnight. ”It's late. Why don't you and Audra stay at the ranch for the night? Longer if you like. My folks have got plenty of rooms. I ought to know, I helped add them on.”

She knew how to put together and dismantle the rides with her eyes shut, but to be responsible for erecting a permanent structure, now that was something to be proud of.

Though she believed that the less she knew about Will, the better it was for her, curiosity got the better of her. ”How long have you been at this?”

He didn't even have to think. ”Ever since I built my first fort at the age of six. I can't remember a time when I wasn't sketching plans and then trying to make them a reality.”

Denise could hear the pride in his voice. ”It must be nice, having a gift like that.”

He brought the car to a stop before the house. ”Everyone's got a gift, sometimes it just takes a while to find it.”

She shook her head with a tinge of disgust. ”I swear, you sound just like a greeting card.”

If she thought to insult him, she missed her mark. ”Nothing wrong with greeting cards.”

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