Alix opened her eyes to smile at me. “Why?”
“I’m in no condition to return the favor,” I said. “I want to, but I’m not able to yet.”
Alix grinned and stood up. “Then I guess you’re going to have to just tell me what to do while I take care of that myself,” she said.
Chapter 27
Alix
Vince was a good sport the week we were in the hotel, giving me and Kade plenty of privacy when we needed it. Part of it was that Kade recovered his strength remarkably fast, so fast that even Doctor Harrington was surprised. “I’ve never seen a man recover as quickly as you have. Normally, what you had takes five days in the hospital, and then five or six weeks to fully recover. You’re less than ten days post-surgery, and you’re moving like a man who’s halfway through recovery already. What’s your secret?”
“Classic TLC,” Kade said, squeezing my hand. He was lying on his back while Harrington snipped the last of the sutures and pulled it out, then wiped away the tiny pinprick of blood that followed. “You know that makes everything better.”
Harrington glanced up at me and smiled. “The textbooks say different, but my mother would agree with you. In most instances, my mom knows a lot more than UCLA Medical School with disturbing frequency. Now let me help you sit up, and see how everything else is looking.”
“I’m just glad you didn’t have to put a tube in my bladder,” Kade said as I helped him up. Sitting up was still a bit painful for him, but he could do it if he had to by himself. “One of the nurses told me about that.”
“Didn’t have time for it,” Harrington said. “Besides, that’s more important when we’re going further down in the abdomen. You know, I have to say, Mister Prescott and Miss Nova, when the scandal broke, I wasn’t one of the people on your side. But seeing the way you two are together, who can stand in the way of that? Good luck, both of you.”
Harrington wrote up the last of his notes and offered his hand to Kade and me, who both shook with him. Leaving the hospital, Kade slowly stretched his arms over his head and smiled into the sunlight. “That feels better. It’s not a clean bill of health, but at least I can travel again.”
“We should get over to Rita’s and see how she and Vince are getting along,” I said, walking with Kade toward the parking lot. “Think there’s been progress?”
“On what?” he said with a smirk. “Finding Sydney, or the obvious fact to everyone but Vince that Rita has eyes for him?”
I had to laugh, it was funny. “I don’t think that Vince is aware because Rita wants to turn Vince into a sub,” I said. “He’s not used to that situation.”
“How do you know?” Kade asked. We got to the car and I stood by as he carefully got into the passenger seat of my BMW. “Did she tell you?”
“You were taking a nap two days ago,” I told him. “Remember, Rita had come by the hotel to give us all an update on what her friends had done, and Vince had gone out to get Mexican take-out? You went into the bedroom to take a quick nap, and Rita and I sat up and had a little bit of girl bonding time.”
I drove on in silence, twice opening my mouth to say something, then shutting it when I realized it didn’t matter.
We went up to Rita’s apartment, where I was surprised by what we found when we came in the door. Vince was clearly flustered and flushed, while Rita had a very self-satisfied look on her face. I cocked an eyebrow at her, and she winked. “How’s it going, guys?”
“The stitches are out, and I’m going to be sporting a pretty decent scar,” Kade said, chuckling as he gave me a look. He noticed Vince’s condition as well. “How about you guys?”
“We’ve got an opening,” Rita said. “He just used PayPal to put in an order online.”
“So what’s the hold up?” I asked, coming over and sitting on the bubble chair. “By the way, Vince, you okay? You look a bit flustered.”
“Yeah, it’s just . . . hot in here,” he said, fanning himself. “Excuse me.”
He left for the kitchen with Kade following, and I gave Rita a look. “Going well?”
“Very. Later?” Rita asked, looking like the cat that just had a full saucer of cream.
I grinned and nodded. “For sure. By the way, what did he order?”
“I don’t have that yet, but I will soon.” Rita tucked her legs underneath her and frowned. “Kade is recovering so quickly. That means you guys will be leaving for Portland soon, right?”