Page 123 of Last First Date

“Go home,” I told her gently. “I’ll sit with him for a while.”

I stood back while she gave him a kiss goodbye. She patted my arm. “I’ll see you at home.”

After she left, I slid into the seat she vacated. “You look better,” I said. “Did you eat today?”

“Your grandmother snuck me in some real food.” He chuckled. “She tried to trick me. There was no salt.”

“Yeah, I’m looking for a house in a hurry,” I joked. “The housekeeper hauled out a bunch of food and took it to the shelter. There won’t be any salt in the house. Or bacon.”

“Oh shit.” He scoffed. “What’s the point of living if you can’t have bacon?”

Listening to him, I couldn’t help but give out a hearty laugh. Life was too short to not savor the small pleasures, like a crispy slice of bacon. His cheerful disposition, despite the situation he was in, was a refreshing contrast to my recent conundrum.

“Who knows, Grandpa?” I said, still laughing. “Maybe I’ll start smuggling bacon into the hospital for you.”

He chuckled at that and gave me a playful wink. “That’s my boy. So, how have you’ve been? And I don’t mean the work stuff.”

“Things have been complicated.”

His eyes twinkled with curiosity. “Complicated? In what way?”

“I’m just going to be honest,” I told him. “Waverly and I, well, we, had some time together.”

I wasn’t sure how to explain what we had. I didn’t want to tell my grandfather we had hot sex a couple of times.

“Some time together,” he said with a nod. “I’m going to assume that is code for a relationship.”

“Yes.”

I waited for him to lecture me. Fortunately, he didn’t.

“I see.”

I gave him the G-rated version of our time together, telling him how I felt and making it clear she wasn’t just a casual fling. “It’s complicated,” I told him.

A knowing smile played on my grandfather’s lips. “Complicated isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Knox. Sometimes, it means there’s depth and substance. What’s been bothering you about her?”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “A guy I went to high school with showed up and wanted a party. I put Waverly on the job. The guy is a slimeball. One night, I punched him when he got a little too mouthy talking about Waverly.”

He nodded. “I see.”

“He said he wouldn’t go the police if I handled his party. So, I did, but I took Waverly off the event. The guy is horrible. He told Waverly he and I had a bet to see who could get her into bed first.”

“Asshole,” he hissed. Then he looked me directly in the eyes. “Did you?”

“No! I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff, but I would never do that.”

“Good. Did you tell Waverly?”

I shook my head. “Everything happened an hour before I got the call about you. She had stormed out of the office. My plan was to give her some time to calm down before I went after her. But then I left.”

“You haven’t explained things to her?”

“No,” I said, sighing. “It’s complicated.”

“Do you care about Waverly?”

I didn’t hesitate in my response. “Yes, I do. But it’s not that simple. We work together, and there’s so much at stake.”