Body Shot (Last Shot)(49)

She felt bad that she’d never realized how much Aunt Gina had done to look after Uncle Colin and their home. It had only become evident when Aunt Gina had been out of the picture, in the hospital. At first, Hayden hadn’t even thought to check in on her uncle; she’d been busy visiting Aunt Gina and making sure she had everything she needed and talking to the health-care professionals involved in her care. She’d assumed that Uncle Colin could make himself a sandwich and replace the toilet paper on the roll. She’d assumed wrong.

Then she’d been running from the hospital to their home to take care of things there. She’d discovered unpaid bills and dirty bathrooms, Uncle Colin living off fast food and happily caring for his rosebushes.

She suspected that Uncle Colin was in a bit of denial about his wife’s health situation, and disappeared into the yard as a coping mechanism. Hayden had to talk herself out of being angry at him, deducing that he was probably feeling afraid and worried and overwhelmed himself. She just wished he would deal with it some other way. And she wasn’t sure it was her role to tell him to man up. Maybe if they were her parents, she’d do that, but since they were her aunt and uncle, she was a little unsure of her role, other than she knew she had to help them however she could.

Gina was her dad’s sister. Dad had been a lot older than Mom, nearly forty when Hayden had been born, and Gina was now seventy-four, Uncle Colin seventy-eight. And Hayden was starting to suspect that even before her fall, Gina hadn’t been able to care for the house as well as she’d used to. Which made Hayden feel even guiltier. She should have noticed sooner. She should have talked to them about moving out of the house before this had happened. They could be happily ensconced in some seniors’ complex, being waited on hand and foot. They had the money, and especially after they sold this big house they’d have no financial issues.

But Uncle Colin refused to leave his yard. Growing a couple of pots of plants on a balcony wouldn’t be enough for him.

These thoughts ran through her mind as she cleaned up the kitchen and put away groceries.

“I have to pop out to the store, Aunt Gina,” she called a while later. “But I’ll be right back. You’re out of dishwasher detergent. Is there anything else you need me to pick up?”

“Oh, Hayden. You don’t need to do all this.”

Hayden smiled at her aunt. There wasn’t anyone else to do it. Her cousins Jeff and John lived on the other side of the country, in New York. They’d been home briefly when their mom had been hospitalized, but they both had families and demanding careers, and couldn’t get back often. Also, neither of them was very nurturing, having freaked out a little at seeing their mother in the hospital doped up on pain meds and blood thinners. “It’s not a problem,” she assured her aunt.

“I don’t think there’s anything else we need. You picked up that Black Forest ham Colin likes?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Thank you, dear.”

Hayden made the trip to the nearest supermarket, grabbed the detergent, and was back in a short time. She threw together a couple of casseroles and was making ham and cheese sandwiches when Uncle Colin appeared from the yard. She debated having a discussion with him about getting more help, since it was likely Aunt Gina was never going to get back to the level of function she’d had before the accident—or the level of function she’d had five years ago, if they were being honest. But Uncle Colin sat with Aunt Gina in the living room while they ate and then disappeared back outside; so she glumly put that plan on hold. Again.

At home, she tried to get a couple of hours of work in before changing to go to Conquistadors.

Beck had invited her to come to the bar tonight.

She sucked in a deep breath at the thought of seeing him again. She wanted that. But walking into a bar alone was never a comfortable thing to do, even though Beck had invited her. And he was working, so she was going to be sitting by herself.

“You’ll be busy,” she’d said last night when he’d asked her to come. “Working.”

He’d smirked. “We won’t tell the boss.”

She could do this. She cleaned herself up, changing into jeans and a top she hoped Carrie (and Beck) would approve of, and walked over to Conquistadors.

She spotted Beck behind the bar, laughing. Next to him, also smiling, was Marco, his teeth flashing white in his bronzed face. She wished Carrie was around so she could’ve at least had someone with her.

Then Beck spotted her and his expression changed. And the way he looked at her made her feel less nervous, because clearly he was happy to see her. He immediately moved around from behind the bar to stride toward her. “Hi, gorgeous.” He set a hand on her shoulder, bent, and kissed her, his hand sliding gently up to the side of her neck.