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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
MELANIE
“How is she?” I asked Dominic. When I walked into the office, he’d been on the phone with the hospital again.
“They just gave her some more pain meds,” he said. “But the CT scan came back good, and Tara just said the surgical team stopped by. Her hip repair is scheduled for tomorrow morning at eleven.”
“And she’ll need to stay in the hospital for a few days?”
“At least.” He stretched his arms and sat down at the desk chair he never used, because he was always in the thick of the restaurant action and almost never in here. “I think the nurse’s station is ready to ban my calls. Even Tara’s tired of dealing with my constant check-ins.”
I got behind him and put my hands on his shoulders, trying to squeeze the tension out. He relaxed under my touch, his eyes closing and his head rolling back slightly. I had to admit I thought it was utterly adorable the way this big, strapping man worried so much about his grandmother. All day I’d kept telling him that he could leave the Esposito’s business to me and stay with her at the hospital, but he’d declined. He said Donna had already ordered him out of there once today, and he didn’t want to risk incurring the stubborn, old woman’s wrath.
“That feels good,” he said with a moan as my fingers massaged deeper into his hard muscles.
“Quiet,” I warned with a smile. “The staff will think there’s something erotic going on in here.”
He cracked open an eye. “There could be.”
“Down, boy.” I slid my hand down the top of his shirt and tickled his chest because I knew it would make him flinch. Then I headed over to sit at my own desk so I wouldn’t be as tempted to hike my skirt up and swing one leg across his lap.
“Can you handle the dinner crowd?” he asked. “I was going to take off at six and head over to the hospital whether Donna thinks I ought to be there or not.”
“Of course I can handle it,” I said. “Are you coming over later?”
Dominic looked serious all of a sudden. He laced his fingers together on the desk. “Do you think we should talk, Mel?” he asked slowly. Then he sighed. “I’m worried that we’ve been avoiding a serious discussion for weeks.”
I picked up a pen, mostly because it was there and I had to do something while I collected my thoughts. I didn’t like the heavy sound to his words. If I didn’t start clicking the pen repeatedly to ease this sudden nervous energy, then I’d start pacing or wringing my hands like a comic book character.
“We’re not avoiding anything, Dom,” I said, congratulating myself on my even tone. “And you can talk anytime you’d like. I’m not stopping you.”
He looked troubled. “Baby, please don’t look at me like that. I’m not blowing you off, if that’s what you’re thinking. Not even close.”
Part of me exhaled with relief, and part of me was annoyed. Why didn’t he just come out and say whatever it was he wanted to say?
Why don’t I?
I didn’t really have time to piece together a response, because Patsy burst through the door without knocking.
“Oh!” she exclaimed when she saw Dominic. Her face instantly turned a color that matched her frizzy, red hair. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. I thought it was just Melanie in here.”
“It’s okay,” I told her. “What’s up?”
Patsy nervously glanced at me, then at Dominic, then back at me. “Ashlyn’s school called. They think she has pink eye again. I’m sorry. I’ll be back as soon as I can. I just need to pick her up, get a refill on her antibiotics, and drop her off at my sister’s. I’ll be back before the crowd gets heavy.”
“Go ahead,” I said. “It’s early. Take care of your little one.”
Patsy flashed me a grateful, bucktoothed grin and scampered away.
“She sure has a lot of emergencies,” Dominic commented.
“So what?” I snapped. “She’s a single mom. What the hell do you expect her to do? She’s always here when we need her.”
“Okay, okay.” He held up a hand. “Truce.” He got to his feet with a sigh and started for the door. He had his hand on the knob when something occurred to me.
“Wait,” I said as I stood up. “Do you remember that you have a meeting tomorrow with Cal Destin, the head of the Phoenix Restaurant Association?”
He exhaled with irritation. “Nope, I forgot. Can you take care of rescheduling that?”
