Page 26 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

FORD

I showed up to my physical therapy appointment with Rook in tow. The therapist slammed on the brakes when he came to open the door to his practice for me and saw my dog. The guy gave me an apologetic smile, suddenly no longer moving to let us in.

“I’m so sorry, but I’m deathly allergic to dogs. I’m afraid he’s going to have to wait outside.” He glanced at Rook, seeming pained as he let out a deep sigh. “I would’ve loved to let you in, buddy. Really. This hurts me too.”

“Can I move my appointment to this afternoon?” My gut clenched with frustration, but I hadn’t mentioned a service animal and the guy hadn’t asked, which meant neither of us had been prepared for this. “I’m going to have to find someone to watch him or drop him off at home.”

The therapist inclined his chin, finally tearing his gaze away from Rook to look at me. “I really am sorry about this. If I’d known you had a dog, I would’ve warned you before.”

“Yeah, I should’ve mentioned him.” I backed away from the door and Rook moved dutifully with me. “What time should I be back?”

“Make it two.” He grimaced as he watched me hobbling back a little further. “Have you got a crutch or any other kind of walking aid?”

“Nope, and I’m not going to get one either.”

He should know that going in.

The guy nodded, but I felt his gaze on me as I turned and limped back to my truck.

Rook’s head cocked as he looked up at me.

Those soulful brown eyes held mine, as if he was trying to ask if I was sure I didn’t just want to leave him outside, but my lips tipped into an involuntary smile and I shook my head.

“I know it’s annoying, but I’m not leaving you out here alone.

Let’s head to the office for a minute to grab some paperwork and I’ll come back later.

” His head cocked a little more and I groaned.

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s just an excuse to see her, but she met with the Fierras for me this morning and I want to find out what happened. ”

I swore I saw disapproval in his eyes before he turned his head away, and he didn’t look at me again until we got to the office. I wonder what his problem is. I admitted that I wanted to see her.

Shaking my head at the judgmental mutt, I strode out of the elevator with the heat of him against my leg. Jared stood at the reception desk, his eyes widening when he saw me. “Ford, this is a surprise! I’m happy to see you back and on your feet, bro. How’s that leg treating you?”

“I’m not back,” I said, smacking my palm into his to shake his hand. “I had to postpone PT, so I figured I’d drop by and pick up some of the stuff I need to work from home.”

“You could’ve just asked Lila to bring it over for you,” he pointed out, smirking as he fell into step beside me. “She’s become a force to be reckoned with around here when you’re not around. Seriously, man. She’s awesome.”

“You should tell her that.” He’d hired her and she’d done the work, so this didn’t really have anything to do with me. But I still felt a surge of pride hit my chest. “Is she staying on top of everything?”

He shot me an amused frown. “Dude, I just said she’s a force to be reckoned with. Obviously, she’s staying on top of things.”

“Good.”

“I heard she’s been coming over to your place to keep you in the loop.” He paused for a beat, but when I didn’t confirm or deny it, he sighed and moved on. “I’ve been thinking about that offer I made way back at the beginning when she started working here. Are you sure we can’t swap assistants?”

“They’re not Pokemon cards.” I bristled, the thought of him poaching her to the commercial, civil engineering projects so much more grating than I would’ve expected. “Just drop it.”

I knew he was trying to fish for information about my feelings for Lila, how I felt about her coming over to my place and whether I’d let her go work for him, but I was pretty good at keeping that kind of thing hidden.

Jared just had no reason to know that since I hadn’t felt anything for anyone in a long time.

I had kind of thought I was done having those kinds of feelings, until Lila.

He arched an eyebrow, a knowing gleam in his eyes, but he accepted that I’d brushed him off with a shrug. “Okay, well, the offer stands.”

I scowled but an excited squeal from Lila’s office drew my attention away from my friend—and made me realize that Rook had left my side. He was bounding over to her and Lila shot up from her chair, laughing as she dropped into a crouch to greet him.

“Hey, beautiful boy. What are you doing here? It’s so good to see you.” She pushed her fingers into his gleaming coat, grinning as she petted him vigorously. “What happened to PT? Did he skip out on it?”

Oh, so she didn’t completely forget that I exist . I watched her with him from the doorway, morning sunshine casting a golden hue over the both of them. Strangely, it stirred me a little, this sweet, heartfelt reunion of theirs.

It’d only been a day, but they were acting like it’d been years. Finally, she pushed to her feet, still smiling at him before she looked up at me, her hands quickly running over her ankle-length, yellow dress to smooth it out.

“Hi,” she said, eyes a little wider than usual for a beat. “I didn’t know you were there. Sorry, uh, how are you feeling? Why aren’t you working with the therapist?”

I pushed away from the frame and shrugged. “It turns out he’s allergic to dogs, so I had to postpone the appointment to this afternoon. I’ll just go drop him off at home before I go.”

“I can hang out with him,” she offered without skipping a beat. “Since you’ve taken a step back from most of our projects for the next few weeks, I don’t have that much to do. I’ll bring him home later. Once you’re done.”

Rook sat by her feet, his tongue out and tail wagging as he glanced at me like he was pleading with me to agree. I looked between them, her hand still in his fur, and nodded.

“Yeah. Sure. If you want to hang out with him, be my guest.” It was none of my concern if she wanted him to stick around the office with her. “You’d be saving me the trip home, so, uh, thanks.”

She beamed at me, blue eyes bright and happy as they dropped back to Rook. “You hear that, boy? You and I are going to be spending some quality time together today.”

“I need to grab some paperwork,” I said suddenly, my voice curt. Unless I was completely losing touch with my emotions—which was entirely possible—I’d just felt a stab of jealousy. Of my dog . For getting to spend quality time with a human Iwouldn’t have minded spending some time with myself.

“Let me know if you need any help!” she called after me, but I waved her off and shut my door behind me, more frustrated than I reasonably should’ve been about the situation that was developing within.

I finally left the office with some time to kill, but I’d chosen to get out of there before I got too caught up—with work or with Lila.

On my way over to the therapy rooms, I drove past the church where I was supposed to be attending a support group meeting tonight and it dawned on me that I should probably let someone know I wasn’t going to be here.

“Shit,” I muttered, flipping the turn signal and pulling into the parking lot. I knew some of the guys would be worried if I just didn’t show up.

Dan, the organizer, sat in his office in the basement, a thin stream of sunlight coming in through the long, rectangular window above his head. He looked up when I walked in, surprise registering on his deeply lined features.

“Ford, is everything alright, son?” He rose slowly to his feet, regarding me with a mix of patience and apprehension in his gaze. He reached out to shake my hand. “I don’t see you around here often outside of our meetings.”

“Yeah, I, uh, I was wondering if you’d let Joey know that I won’t be here later.” I shook with him before I slid my hands into my pockets. “I got injured on a job and I’m on my way to physical therapy. If history is any guide, I’ll want to head straight home after.”

He chuckled. “Those therapists sure do know how to torture a person ethically. Thank you for stopping by to let us know. I’ll tell him. I’m sorry you were hurt, Ford.”

I shrugged. “It was a freak accident. I’ll be fine. They’re telling me I just need to take it easy and get some rest.”

“Don’t we all?” He offered me an easy smile, pausing in way that made me wait instead of simply nodding and going on my merry way. “Joey and I keep in close contact.”

“Okay?” I hadn’t seen Dan at any of our most recent meetings, but he attended every so often. Joey, our group leader, would naturally keep the organizer in the loop when he couldn’t attend in person. “What’s this about?”

Dan waved for me to have a seat and I did.

He sat down again too, his gaze intent, but soft on mine.

“You’re one of the older marines in this group.

There are a lot of new guys who would benefit from someone like you sharing your experiences, not only as a marine, but as a civilian as well.

Especially one who has made such a success of himself after a medical discharge. ”

I sighed as the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. “You want me to talk more?”

He lowered his chin in a nod and smiled.

“Sometimes, it’s easier if the guys bring along a loved one when they plan on sharing.

There’s even a second support group for family and friends that runs alongside ours.

It’s at the same time, but in another room.

Just something for you to consider. No pressure. ”

I honestly didn’t know what to say. No was the first word on the tip of my tongue, but in the end, I just nodded and stood up again. “I have that PT appointment to get to.”

“Of course. Good luck, Ford.” Dan walked me out, and as I left, I felt slightly off-kilter. After being on my feet for a good part of the day, my injury was starting to ache, but it was more than that.

Before, I’d been fine staying in my bubble of delusion, ignoring the world beyond the dark cloud festering within, but now?

I thought back to that day Lila had drawn the curtains in my living room to let the midday sun in.

I thought about Dan and what he’d said about the younger guys.

I thought about whether I might actually be able to help those guys if I invited the sunshine into my life a little more often and fought like hell to keep those curtains open.

As I arrived at PT though, I put all that out of my head. The session would be grueling enough without carrying extra baggage into it—and it was. Although I felt like I could get around okay, I was reminded while I was there that I needed to take this seriously.

“If you don’t,” the therapist said as he walked me to my truck after. “You’ll become my youngest client to get a knee replacement. Let’s try to avoid that.”

The warning made my mood plummet. Thanks, dude. As if I didn’t have enough to worry about before.

The afternoon didn’t get any easier when I walked into my house and Lila greeted me at the door. All smiles as always, those blue eyes looked me up and down slowly, as if she was trying to assess the damage before she brought her gaze back to mine.

“I made some food,” she said, weirdly not following me in as I blew past her. “It’s in the fridge.”

Noticing that she was hovering in the doorway as if she was about to leave, I frowned. That’s odd.

Normally, she lingered, talking my ear off and trying to find excuses to stay so she could keep helping me do stuff I was perfectly fine doing by myself.

Rook trotted up to come say hi, distracting me from Lila’s strange behavior.

I caught a whiff of… blueberries as I stroked my fingers through his fur.

I focused on him for a moment. He was shockingly clean. My eyebrows shot up. Still standing in my own foyer like some kind of awkward guest, I turned back to Lila, spotting several new dog toys scattered around the living room.

I shook my head, opening my mouth to ask exactly what they’d been up to in my absence, but she inched a little closer to the door. “Alright, then. Good luck with the leg, boss. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Rook scrambled over to her and she bent her head close to his, that golden halo of red falling across her face to hide it from me as she murmured something to him. As soon as she’d straightened up, she spun around and darted away from my house on foot.

I watched her walk away and Rook came to me, whining before he slumped down on the ground. Scoffing down soft laughter, I finally tore my gaze away from her to glance down at my weirdly sweet-smelling dog.

“What a strange woman,” I muttered under my breath. “Should we keep her?”