Sheryl Lister - Giving My All To You

“I...um...” Brandon eased his hand from hers. “Get some rest.” However, he didn’t move, his interest clear as glass. After another moment he walked to the door, but turned back once more. “Good night.”

“Good night.” Faith watched as he slipped out the door, her heart still racing. Her life seemed to be a mess right now, but knowing she would see Brandon again made her smile.

* * *

The next morning Faith was coherent enough to think. But the nurse had just given her more pain medication and she needed to call Kathi before it kicked in, to let her know about the accident. She dug inside her purse and pulled out her cell.

“Hey, girl,” Kathi said when she answered. “Have you seen your father yet?”

“I didn’t get a chance. I had an accident last night on the freeway.” She shared the details of what happened.

“Oh, my God! I’m taking the first flight out,” Kathi said before Faith could finish. “What hospital are you in?”

“Kathi, you don’t need to come down here. Luckily, the windshield deflected the momentum of the pipe and the wound isn’t too deep. My face stings from the cuts and it’s swollen where the airbag hit me. They said I have a mild concussion and that’s why they’re keeping me. I’ll be fine.” Her friend was a natural-born worrywart and, if she came to town, would stand over Faith like a mother hen guarding her chicks until Faith was completely healed.

“When are you going home?”

“The doctor said most likely tomorrow.”

“Fine. I’ll be there Saturday morning. That’ll give you a day to get settled into the hotel. Do your parents know?”

“I talked to my dad and he said he’d tell my mother.” Faith had called her stepfather purposely because she didn’t want to run the risk of hearing her mother say, “I told you nothing good could come from you going to visit that man.”

“What about your biological father?”

“How would it look if I called him out of the blue and said, ‘Hi, I’m your long lost daughter, and oh, by the way, I was in a car accident. Can you come take care of me?’ No, I’ll wait until I’m better.”

“Why? He’s the one who extended the invitation. I’m sure he’d be okay with it.”

“But I’m not.”

“If you say so. What about the car and your stuff?”

“I’ll call the rental company after I get out of the hospital to deal with the car. Thankfully, I got the insurance. But a really nice guy stopped on the side of the road and stayed with me until the paramedics came and brought my stuff to the hospital.”

“You were lucky. What did he look like?”

“The man is drop-dead fine, over six feet, muscles and has the greatest smile.” Rich walnut skin, nutmeg-colored eyes and a voice smooth as velvet...definitely sexy.

Kathi laughed. “I see the accident didn’t affect your eyesight.”

Faith chuckled, then moaned. “Oh, don’t make me laugh.”

“Sorry. I’m hanging up so you can get some rest. I’ll call you tomorrow to let you know what time my flight gets in.”

“Sounds good. These pain meds are kicking in and I’m feeling dizzy again.” She told Kathi when she thought she’d be at the hotel and ended the call. Gradually, the throbbing pain in her shoulder started to dull, as did the other aches in her body. Her mind went back to Thaddeus Whitcomb. Rather than tell him she would visit, she had decided to come to town and drive by his house with the hopes of catching a glimpse of him first. Would he really be as glad to see her as his letters indicated or was her mother right—that she should leave it alone? Faith had to figure out what to do about him, find another car and a whole slew of other things, but at the moment, she just needed to sleep.

* * *

“Hey, Justin,” Brandon said to his brother-in-law Thursday morning. “Have a seat.”

Justin took the proffered chair. “Siobhan said you wanted to talk to me.”

“I wanted to see how the tests were going and find out when you think the system will be ready to go.” Justin had partnered with the company to manufacture his in-home alert system. With the use of sensors placed around the home, real-time data could be sent directly to a smartphone from a wireless hub—whether a door had been left open, a stove left on, or if a person hadn’t moved in hours—that allowed elderly relatives to remain at home and gave caregivers peace of mind.

“I want to do a few more tests before running the consumer trials. If all goes well, maybe six months or so.”

Brandon sighed. “That long?”

“I’d rather work out as many bugs in the system before it hits the market than risk putting it out there and failing.”

“You’re right. I’m just anxious.”

Justin laughed. “Yeah, so am I. Oh, Siobhan told me about you stopping to help some people in an accident last night. Are they okay?”

“It was just one woman and she’s going to be okay. A truck hit a pipe in the road and it went through her windshield. She crashed into the divider. The pipe caught her in the shoulder, but it didn’t do as much damage as it could have.”

“Whoa. What are the chances of something that freaky happening?”

“I know, right? The kicker is she doesn’t live here and had just gotten to town Tuesday.”

“Not a good way to start a trip. If I were her, I might not want to visit LA again,” he said with a wry chuckle and stood up.

“True that.”

“If you’re not busy, you can come over for dinner. Siobhan and I are planning to grill some salmon.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I told Faith I would stop by to check on her.”

“Who’s Faith?”

“The woman from the accident.” And the one who’d kept him up all night thinking about her.

A slow smile spread across Justin’s lips. “Well now.”

Brandon shook his head. “It’s nothing like that. She doesn’t know anyone in town and I’m just being neighborly. If it were Siobhan or Morgan, I’d want someone to do the same for them if they happened to be hurt and alone.”

Justin nodded. “I hear you. I’d want the same for Yvonne and Jocelyn.”

Brandon knew Justin would understand since he had two younger sisters.

“I’ll see you later.”

After Justin exited, he turned his attention back to work, but Faith was never far from his thoughts. True, he was being friendly, but something about her intrigued him. He hadn’t been able to get her beautiful face out of his mind since leaving her last night.

Brandon managed to finish going through and signing all the documents his assistant had left by late afternoon. For the second day in a row, he was packed up and ready to leave at closing time. Most evenings, he didn’t leave until seven or eight, not late enough for his father to fuss, but still late. Nolan Gray believed in working hard, but he also tried to teach his five children that there was more to life than work and sometimes had to force Brandon and Siobhan out of the office at a decent hour. Brandon worked hard, but he did make time to play on occasion. Although lately, he’d been more focused on work.

By leaving at five thirty, Brandon ended up right in the middle of rush-hour traffic. It took him more than an hour to get to the hospital, a drive that would have normally been twenty minutes. He parked in the lot and entered the lobby. Passing the gift shop, he saw several floral bouquets lining the window. On an impulse, he ducked inside and bought one, surprising himself. He usually steered clear of those types of sentiments because he didn’t want women to read anything into the gesture.

He took the elevator to her floor and poked his head in the door. Seeing that Faith was awake, he walked fully into the room. “Hi. These are for you.” He placed them on the small table.