Dead by Midnight - Beverly Barton [132]
“Pardon?” Lorie asked.
“Has Mike thawed out any where you’re concerned? I know you said that he’s treating you well, but is he…are you two…” Nell cleared her throat. “Has he at least kissed you?”
Lorie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, whether to tell Nell Birkett that it was none of her business or blurt out everything she was feeling.
“Mike and I are still attracted to each other,” Lorie admitted. “But even if something does happen—and it hasn’t—we both know that we have no future together.”
“Hogwash.”
Lorie stared questioningly at Nell.
“You made a stupid mistake when you were quite young and then Mike compounded the problem by acting like a complete jerk for the past nine years. But, honey, it’s as plain as the nose on your face that if ever two people were in love, you and Mike are. As much now as you were when you were teenagers.”
“That’s not true. Mike may want me…” God in heaven, how could she talk to Mike’s mother about the sexual attraction that was driving both of them crazy?
Before Nell could comment, Mike and the kids came in, Mike carrying a wicker picnic basket and M.J. toting a red and white cooler.
“Take that stuff out to the kitchen,” Nell instructed them. “There’s potato salad, deviled eggs, and tea in the cooler. Everything else is in the basket.” As soon as her son and grandchildren did as they were told and headed for the kitchen, Nell put her arm around Lorie’s shoulders and whispered, “Honey, if you want him, my son is yours for the taking.”
Lorie didn’t know how to reply to such a comment. She was beginning to believe that she actually could seduce Mike while he was acting as her protector. He’d probably put up a token protest before giving in to her. But as much as she longed to have sex with him again, she wanted more. A lot more. She wanted forever after.
Tyler Owens spoke to Lila Newton as he walked up to the nurses’ station. He visited his mother several times a week, sometimes staying five minutes, sometimes half an hour. He usually arrived around 7:30 P.M. shortly before Lila’s twelve-hour supervisor’s shift ended. Occasionally, he brought flowers or a small gift of some kind for his mother, and he made a habit of bringing a dessert tray once a week and leaving it at the desk for the nurses and aides.
“How’s Mother been today?” he asked.
“She’s had a good day.”
“I don’t suppose she’s said anything yet.”
“No, sir. She tries really hard during physical therapy. She gets out sounds, of course, so it’s only a matter of time before she’s able to talk again. But she becomes terribly frustrated when she tries so hard and can’t form the words.”
“Has she had any visitors today?” he asked.
Lila hated lying and did so only in the sense that she deliberately omitted his father’s name from the list she recited. “Reverend Harper came this morning. And of course you know your wife brought Mr. Clement by earlier this afternoon for their weekly visit. Seeing her uncle always seems to cheer Miss Terri right up.”
“Yes, I believe Uncle Clement was like a second father to her when she was growing up and they were always quite fond of each other.”
“Yes, sir.”
Tyler nodded, then turned and walked down the corridor past the guard at the entrance to the row of deluxe private rooms.
Tyler Owens was a nice enough young man, cordial and mannerly, but never truly friendly. She always felt as if he believed he was better than she was, better than anyone who worked at the rehab center, even the doctors. He certainly wasn’t the man his father was, not as good a man, not as smart a man. And in the looks department, he was pretty much his mother’s son, all blond and beautiful.
Only Terri Owens wasn’t so beautiful anymore.
Lila checked her wristwatch. She needed to begin her shift change rounds. If she started now, she would have more than enough time to check in on each patient in her care. And since at this time of day, patients often had visitors, it was a good way to be seen by the patients