“Maybe I'm not the only one who thinks he's attractive,” Zoey teased. “Adele does have excellent taste.”
He didn't find it very funny. Ocean had nothing against Lund. In fact, he'd had always liked the other man's professionalism and no-bullshit attitude. What he didn't like, though, was the idea of Lund and Adele having some sort of relationship outside of the hospital. Could a nurse and a former patient date? Didn't that violate some kind of ethics code?
“I don't know,” Zoey shrugged after Ocean asked her. “I mean, a therapist probably shouldn't date a patient they're treating, but it's not illegal. Besides, this guy and Adele never even met until after she woke up, right? Like way after. You should be happy, he's a great guy. Even I can't find anything wrong with him.”
“Yeah, I know. But still, doesn't it seem kinda fast, she just -”
“Ocean.”
She said his name so sharply, he stopped talking and blinked at her in surprise.
“Yeah?”
“We all get it. Adele is your favorite. She's practically your child. No one or nothing will ever be good enough for her. But if Adele wants to see this nurse dude, or any dude, or several dudes, it's ultimately none of your business,” Zoey said.
“None of my business? She's my sister, Blanke, I'm not gonna -”
“You're not gonna lose her again.”
Zoey's voice was actually soft. It shocked him. Zoey Blanke was anything but soft. She was all hard edges and sharp angles and biting tongue. It made him stop and think about what he was saying.
“You're right,” he sighed, combing a hand through his hair. “I just ... I feel like I just got her back.”
“Yeah, and she's still here. She's just living her life. You should try it sometime,” Zoey suggested.
“You're very annoying, you know that, right?”
“It's a talent. So what about you, Ocean? All the Reins kids have lives except for you,” she pointed out.
“I know, I'm trying to figure that out,” he said.
“Gonna go home?” she asked. Her voice and attitude were nonchalant, but he thought maybe, just maybe, he detected something else. Curiosity? Regret? Sadness?
“Would you miss me if I left?” he asked back. She snorted and grabbed her loose cigarette from the table.
“I'd be devastated. Would cry myself to sleep every night,” she chuckled as she climbed to her feet and began putting on her jacket and gathering all her things.
“Oh, please. You already do that,” he said, and she laughed for real while she patted down her pockets.
“You know what, Ocean?” she started, and he realized she was looking for a lighter. He pulled a book of matches out of his jacket pocket. “Yeah, I would miss you.”
Once again, he was shocked. She had that affect on him. She made him forget who he was and how to act like himself. So when she put the cigarette between her lips and leaned towards him, he didn't even think about it. He just struck a match and held it up for her.
“I'd miss you, too, Zoey,” he said softly, and they stared at each other while she inhaled the flame. When the cigarette caught light, she finally backed away.
“Then you probably shouldn't go,” she replied, blowing a stream of smoke away from him.
Just as a barista started yelling across the room, Zoey winked and turned around. A couple click-clacks from her boot heels and she was out the door, a thin line of blue smoke trailing behind her.
Stay in Los Angeles? For her? A woman you barely know, who's also ten years younger than you? You must crazy.
But as his gaze focused on the fading line of smoke, he realized he was smiling. It was raining in L.A. and he was probably having an almost-midlife-crisis and he was ...
Happy.
25
Adele squinted at her phone on its dash mount, then picked up a physical map from the seat next to her, glancing between it and the road.
“Have faith,” she grumbled under her breath, mocking herself. “Just believe in yourself.”
Charlie had been a little surprised when she'd asked to borrow his new car, and he'd asked a lot of questions in return. She'd done her best to answer him without outright lying ... but also without telling the whole truth. I'm going to track down the man I fell in love with in my dreams, at a location that may or may not exist in real life, just didn't sound good.
He'd eventually loaned her one of his company cars – a Honda Civic with his club logo splashed across the back doors. As long as it got her from point A to point B, though, she didn't care what was painted on it.
The real issue was figuring out exactly where point B was; she honestly had no clue. When River had said “lake up north”, she'd assumed Tahoe. But after she'd looked it up and seen pictures and maps of the area, she'd decided it wasn't right. It was too big, too ... public. Jones' cabin had been old, and rustic, and small. A vacation spot not often used.
And nothing about Tahoe resonates with me – it doesn't sound or look familiar. It doesn't stir anything in my soul.
So she'd searched for other lakes in the same area, and had found Donner Lake. Fairly large, but not on the same level as Tahoe. Lots of cabins around it, and something else. Something she couldn't put her finger on, like a stirring sensation in her heart. It just felt like a good location for a small, old, rustic cabin – a place where a father could teach his son to fish in relative peace and quiet.
So roughly eight hours after leaving Los Angeles, Adele finally found herself rolling along side a scenic looking lake. There were huge, luxurious log homes everywhere, and she worried she'd completely missed the mark and had wasted her time.
“You're crazy,” she sighed, pulling into a convenient store's parking lot. “Everyone was right, and you're fucking nuts. He's probably in Vegas right now, drinking with buddies.”
With a groan, she crawled out of the car. Eight hours sitting down had felt like torture – how had she survived laying down for four months!? She stretched her arms as she walked into the small store, wondering what she was going to do. Were there hotels in the area? Would she have to drive to Tahoe, after all?
“Good evening,” the young girl behind the register called out. Adele smiled and walked up to her.
“Hi. I was wondering, I have kind of a weird question,” she chuckled. The girl closed her magazine and smiled back.
“Okay, what's up?”
“I'm looking for a friend,” Adele started slowly, choosing her words carefully. “He said he was coming up here for a vacation, but you know, I'm such a ditz – I can't remember if he said he was here, or at a different lake.”
“That's a bummer.”
“Yeah. But see, he comes all the time, so maybe if he did come here, maybe you know him,” Adele babbled.
“Oh, yeah, maybe! What's his name?” the girl asked, getting into the spirit of it.
“Johannes Lund.”
“Hmmm, I think I'd remember a name like that. Doesn't sound familiar, sorry.”
“That's okay. He's tall, maybe six-foot-two? Long legs, dark blond hair,” Adele described, knowing she was doing him no justice at all.
“I'm really sorry, but that sounds like a lot of people around here.”
“He might go by Joe,” Adele offered, remembering how the waitress had called him that. “He's a nurse, and he has the most amazing green eyes.”
“Don't know any nurses named Joe,” the clerk replied. “But green eyes ...”
Adele's heart leapt while the girl searched her brain, but then they were interrupted. A woman with two young children bustled into the shop, desperate for a bathroom. Before she could even get an answer, her little boy leaned forward and vomited all over the linoleum. The mother and the clerk leapt into action, one grabbing napkins off the counter while the other ran for a mop.
“I'll, uh ...” Adele called out, skirting around the sick. “I'll come back when you're not so busy.”
She stood outside the front door and scowled across the parking lot. Really, what were the chances? River says “I'd camp and fish”, so Jones has to be here? It was ridiculous. She had a better chance of winning the lottery. She should turn around and go home, just wait for Jones to go back to work in a week.
As she stepped into the parking lot, a large Ford pickup truck started pulling in. She glanced at it, taking in the light blue paint job for a second, then looked back at her own car. Paused. Glanced back at the truck. Then openly stared.
“Oh my god,” she breathed, her car keys falling to the ground as her hands went slack.
From inside the truck, Jones looked back at her, his expression mirroring her own. His hands also seemed to have gone numb, as well. While he stared at her, the steering wheel in front of him lazily turned, and Adele winced when the front of his truck crunched into a cement post at the end of a parking spot.
“Shit!”
Adele tried to remember if she'd ever heard Jones curse before – he'd always been so prim and proper.
In your dreams. He was prim and proper in your dreams. Don't scare him off again.
“I'm sorry!” she called out automatically.
Jones didn't respond. Just sat for a minute in his truck, staring straight ahead. He hadn't turned off the engine and it was making a strange noise. When she looked down, she could see some sort of liquid dribbling out from under it – surely not a good sign.
Adele knew he probably wanted nothing to do with her, but of course, she'd known that before dragging her ass into the countryside. So when he finally opened his door and stepped out of the vehicle, she scurried over to him, trying her best to ignore his glare.
“I'm really so, so sorry,” she gushed.
“What are you doing here?” he grumbled, pushing past her to survey the damage.
“I ... I ... I was stopping to ask for directions,” she babbled. “I shouldn't have stared, or should've said something, or -”