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“So am I,” Nate said, walking forward. He took the flowers Riley had left on the chair and placed them in an empty vase, carrying it over to the sink in the corner of Ally’s hospital room. “Thank God you were. Even if it means Riley’s grounded for life.”
“I don’t ever want to go out again, anyway,” Riley said, slumping down on the chair and crossing her arms over her chest. “This place is way more dangerous than Seattle.”
Ally gave her a sympathetic look. “Angel Sands is the safest place I know. Just as long as you don’t hurl yourself into the ocean.”
“Yeah, well I’m not planning on doing that any time soon, either.” Riley grimaced. “Not that anybody’s talking to me. Dad called all my friends’ parents and now everybody’s grounded.”
“I thought you didn’t have any friends,” Nate said, his voice light.
“Hmmph.” Riley picked up a magazine that Brooke had left for Ally and started to thumb through it. Nate sat down in the chair on the other side of her.
“The doctor said you’ll be out of here tomorrow, so that’s good.”
“It is. One night in the hospital is enough.” Ally sighed. “I’m not sure I’ll be making it into work this week, though. Not until I get the hang of walking with crutches.”
“You won’t be working at all,” Nate said, raising an eyebrow. “You can’t come back until the doctor gives you the all clear.”
Ally tried to sit up taller, but her damn leg wasn’t playing ball. She ended up sliding to the left like she’d been drinking too much. Nate reached out to steady her, his hands gentle against her bare arms.
And if she’d thought it was warm in here before, now it was feeling tropical.
“You need some help getting comfortable?” he asked her.
“I just need another pillow,” she said, trying to ignore the way her heart started to speed. Surely it couldn’t be good for her, not with the cocktail of drugs that were already pumping through her veins. What happened if they got delivered too fast? Would she explode?
Nate gently pulled her forward and plumped a pillow up behind her, then helped her scoot back a bit until she was fully sitting up. “I had to do this for Riley when she was in the hospital having her tonsils removed,” he told her as he moved his hands from her arms. Her exposed skin felt suddenly cold.
Ally knew she needed to stop reading too much into things. It was obvious that she felt something toward Nate, but even more obvious that it was all mixed up in her father’s leaving and the sudden loss of the café. In spite of their frequent spats, there was a connection between Nate and Riley that made Ally’s heart ache. It made her feel wistful and achy and a little bit envious.
Whatever weird kind of daddy complex she was feeling needed to take a hike right now.
“I need to work,” she told him, trying to push all those crazy feelings out of her brain. “I have a mortgage to pay. Bills. And we both know I’m not owed any more paid time off.”
“You’ll be paid your full wages while you’re off,” Nate told her, his voice firm. “Boss’ orders.”
“I can’t accept your charity,” she told him, shaking her head. “I’ve always paid my own way.”
“You think this is charity?” Nate asked. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s all business. First of all, you’d have every right to sue me, as Riley’s guardian, for lost wages which would cost me a hell of a lot of money in lawyer’s fees. And secondly, what do you think it would do for business if everybody heard you were on unpaid sick leave? You think Lorne would send any more of his surf buddies my way? Or that Frank would put fliers up next to his register to tempt his customers? How about Deenie at the bookshop? She’s your best friend’s mother-in-law, right? I’m pretty sure she’d run me out of town if she thought you were being treated badly.”
“So you’re not doing it out of kindness?”
Nate blinked a couple of times. “No, not at all.”
“You clearly don’t know him if you think he does anything out of kindness,” Riley said from behind her magazine. There was no malice in her voice. “Just let him pay.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be taking some of it out of Riley’s allowance. Since she’s the one responsible for all of this.” He shot his daughter a look that she had no chance of seeing behind the magazine.
“I get an allowance?” Riley retorted. “Could have fooled me. You stopped it after I got arrested in Seattle.”
Ally laughed. She couldn’t help it. The two of them were so damn cute. They reminded her so much of the good times she’d had with her dad. And yes, there had been good times. Nate shook his head and started to laugh, too, the corners of his eyes wrinkling up in the most devastating way.
“It’s not funny,” Riley said, pulling the magazine down. Her lips were twitching like crazy. “Okay, it kinda is,” she said, finally letting her smile shine through. “But it’s true, Dad. I have no money at all.”
“You could take some of my shifts,” Ally suggested. “If you wanted to contribute, too.”
“But I have school.”
“Not on the weekends,” Nate said, raising his eyebrows at Ally. “I like it. It’s natural justice. You incapacitated one of my employees, so now you have to take her place.”
