INFERNO (The HEAT Series Book 4) (4 page)

"How long has he been awake?" I ask as soon as I rush back through the doors that lead to the ICU. "I shouldn't have left. Shit. I wanted to be here."

"He just woke up." A woman dressed in pink scrubs approaches me. "We called you as soon as he opened his eyes, Ms. Firi. Dr. Reynolds is in with him now."

I rub my hand over my forehead. I'd rushed back as quickly as I could when I got the call. It was moments after I'd waved goodbye to Sophia by the ER doors as I watched her get into a taxi. Once I heard a nurse tell me that Sergio had woken up and was asking for me, I'd run to the nearest elevator.

"Can I go in?" I ask even though I'm already nearing the open door of my dad's room.

"Give her a minute." The nurse walks toward me. "We have a snack cart set up by the nurses' station. Do you want anything? There are muffins and cookies. We have yogurt too."

I eye her suspiciously. "Is something wrong? Is he not okay?"

"The doctor just needs time to check him over." She smiles gently. "It's protocol. As soon as we get the word, you can go see your dad."

That's not soon enough. I clutch my purse tightly to my side. The watch is still buried deep inside and I'm anxious to put it on his wrist.

"Let me get you a cup of coffee." She motions toward the small food cart. "You can sit while you wait. It won't be long now."

***

I enter the dimly lit room quietly. Dr. Reynolds had warned me that Sergio may drift in and out of sleep when I talk with him. She assured me that his vital signs are strong and that he knows his own name. He knows mine too. While she was examining him he asked her repeatedly to find Cady for him.

The only issue she had any concern about is his memory. He has no idea how he ended up in a hospital bed with broken bones. Those details will come to him, she told me. I'm not to push.

"Do you want me to open the curtains for you, dad?" I ask from the foot of the bed. I know that if I stand here he'll be able to see me. The collar around his neck restricts his movement.

"Cady." His voice cracks as he says my name. "Open them so I can see the sun."

I do. I walk over to the window and yank the curtains to the side. The only light that invades the room is the moonlight and the reflective illuminations that are shining through the windows of the building that is adjacent to the hospital.

"It will be morning soon," he says quietly, his voice hoarse from the tube that had been in his throat. It's gone, but everything else remains. There are still a series of thin tubes in his nose.

"How do you feel?" I ask as I approach the side of the bed.

"Happy," he answers quickly.

"Happy?" I parrot back through a veil of tears. "You're happy?"

"You called me dad."

I nod as I reach for his hand. "You're my dad."

"I was asleep."  His lower lip quivers as he speaks. "I missed you when I was asleep, Cady. I felt like I hadn't seen your pretty face in a long time."

Years, daddy, before a couple of weeks ago it had been years since you'd seen my face.

"I'm here now." I lower myself onto the bed next to him so I'm seated, facing him. "I have a present for you."

"A present for me?" He coughs so violently that the bed shakes.

"Should I get the doctor?" I move to stand but his hand grips mine.

"I'm good," he says through a wheeze. "You're the one who graduated, Cady. I have a gift for you."

"For graduation?" I arch my brow. He's confused. I graduated from culinary school months ago. He didn't get in touch at the time. I hadn't expected it.

"You looked beautiful." He smiles gently. "Your hat was too big. Why do they insist on those hats for graduation?"

He's confusing my graduation with one of the many he's attended as the honored speaker. I'd secretly hoped that by some strange twist of fate he'd be asked to speak at mine. He wasn't.

"The chef hats?" I laugh. "I haven't worn mine since that day."

He winces as he tries to move but the pain pushes him back into place. "You hit that boy next to you when you tried to throw your hat in the air."

Tears stream down my face as I nod my head up and down. He's right. At the end of the ceremony we were all supposed to throw our chef hats in the air in unison. I misjudged and as I went to raise my hand, I accidentally punched the newly graduated chef beside me right in the nose.

My dad couldn't have known about that unless he was there.

"I didn't think you'd come home, Den." Sophia pours me a mug of coffee as I kick off my shoes.

I sigh before I take a drink of the steaming hot liquid. "My dad fell asleep after we talked about graduation. Dr. Reynolds told me he likely wouldn't be awake for a few hours so I went to see Tyler, but he was fast asleep too."

"It was a good call to come home." She slices an apple on a plate. "Are you going to try and sleep before you go back?"

"No." I shake my head. "The nurse promised she'd call me as soon as my dad wakes up again, but I want to get back before that happens."

"What about Tyler?"

I look into her face. If she slept at all it wasn't for long. She looks as exhausted as I feel. I'm weary to the bone. Talking to my dad briefly took the edge off the anxiety I've been feeling but it added a new layer of something. It might be guilt. I'm too tired to tell.

If Sergio was at my culinary school graduation that means that he's been following my career. He didn't just abandon me completely when Asta lost her baby. He was there, in the shadows, somewhere beyond my reach.

"I'll talk to him today," I promise myself, not sure that I'll be able to live up to it. I can't wrap my brain around everything that I've learned about him and Neela. I need a quiet place, and a few hours, to process it all.

She tugs on the bottom of the light blue blouse she's wearing. She's paired that with faded denim shorts and flats. "I was just about to come to the hospital when you called to tell me you'd left. Since I'm dressed, I'm going to head down to the bodega that's two blocks over. He's always the first to have the new editions of Vogue on display."
              I lift my head a little to make eye contact with her. "It meant a lot that you were there for me last night, Soph. I've never had a friend like you before."

Her eyes mist over before she swipes her hand across them. "I always wanted a sister. I got one when I moved in here."

"I love you," I say the three words I've always kept close to my heart. "I hope you know that I really love you, Sophia."

She smiles broadly. "I love you too, Cadence. You'll get through this. I'll help. That's what bestie-almost-sister-friends are for."

***

              "Holy shit!" I scream as I walk into my bedroom completely naked after my shower. "Oh, God. You scared the hell out of me."

"Cadence." Tyler slowly rakes my body before his eyes settle on my face. "Ben told me I need to stay calm, but fuck me. Do you walk around like this all the time? If you do, can you move in with me today?"

I smile in spite of everything I'm feeling. I brush past where he's sitting on the edge of my bed. I pull a short white robe from my closet and wrap it around me. "You scared me, Tyler. How did you get in here?"

"I passed your roommate in the lobby." He pats the area of the bed next to him. "She let me in before she left again."

"Did you check yourself out of the hospital?" I sit next to him, pulling the edges of the robe closed over my lap. "Did a doctor tell you it was okay for you to leave?"

"Yes."  His eyes scan my face. "Tell me about your dad? How's Sergio?"

I comb my fingers through my damp hair stopping when I reach a tangle of knots. "He woke up for a few minutes overnight. We spoke. He recognized me."

"That's good news, right?" He leans forward to run his fingers over my hair. "You're even more beautiful without any makeup and with wet hair."

I pause to stare at his face. The bruising has deepened. His cheek is even more swollen than it was last night. His lips have calmed slightly but there's still a crack in the top of them that looks primed to bleed with just a lash of his tongue against it.

He's wearing dark blue dress pants and a matching suit jacket. The blood stained white shirt I saw him in last night is gone. His tie is tucked into the pocket of his jacket, the end dangling out and into view. Even after everything he's been through he's still incredibly gorgeous.

"Did you come straight here from the hospital?" I raise my gaze to meet his. "You haven't gone home yet?"

"I went to the ICU first. One of the nurses there told me you'd left for a few hours." He stares into my eyes. "I was relieved. You'd been at the hospital all night, worrying about me and Sergio. I'm glad you came back here."

"I need to go back to see my dad." I feel breathless from the way he's looking at me, into me. He knows that I care for him. I can't hide it, especially not now when my emotions are hovering so close to the surface. "I'm going to get dressed so I can do that."

"Can we talk first, Cadence?"

I pause, unsure of what to say. I don't have time to delve into everything I want to with him. "What do you want to talk about, Tyler?"

"I want to know why you're suddenly pulling away from me." He brushes the pad of his thumb over my top lip. "You were uncomfortable last night when you came to see me in the ER. At first I thought it was shock over what happened."

I don't respond. He's right that I'm pulling away. I'm surprised that he hasn't figured out why yet. He knew I was going to Nova. He couldn’t have been so naïve as to think that I wouldn't see Neela there.

"It's more than that though." His fingers graze my cheek. "You looked at me differently. Something was missing. Something's changed. You never came to see me after I was moved to a private room. I want to know why."

"You were asleep," I answer quickly. "I didn't want to wake you."

His dark brows shoot up, causing him to wince. "Be straight with me. All I wanted after the accident was to see you. All you wanted was to avoid me. Tell me why."

I clear my throat. I can say it now or I can prolong the inevitable. Either way the thorn in the side of my relationship with Tyler isn't going anywhere. "Neela."

"Neela?" He shifts back, his hand darting to his chin. "What about her?"

"Why didn't you tell me you hired her to work at Nova and why the hell did you give her a ring last week?"

"Everything you just said is totally fucked up." He bolts to his feet. "Why would I hire her to work at Nova? I don't want her near the place."

I stand too, my mind trying to register what he just said. "Neela is Nova's new executive chef, Tyler."

"That's news to me." He shrugs his shoulders. "Who the hell told you that she's working at Nova?"

"Maribel introduced Neela to me as Nova's new executive chef," I say each word slowly, suddenly wondering if he suffered from memory loss too when he hit his head during the crash.

His hand darts into the air between us. "Wait. Did you just say that Maribel introduced Neela to you? When did that happen?"

"Last night." I wring my hands together. "When I was at Nova, Mirabel called Neela over and told me that she was your new executive chef. She said that you needed someone you could trust and that Neela is that person."

"I'll never work with Neela again. I wouldn't hire her. That would never happen, Cadence."

"I don't understand." I try to catch his gaze but his eyes are cast to the floor. "Why would Maribel say that? She made it clear that you needed an executive chef and Neela had the job."

"I asked an old friend of mine to pitch in a few days a week to get new Nova up to speed." He rakes both hands through his hair. "His name is Doug. He's a retired executive chef but he wants nothing to do with the restaurant once we launch. He likes hanging with his grandkids too much."

"Why would Maribel say that Neela has that job?" I rub the front of my neck.

"I made a joke at our staff meeting that if anyone could find me someone like Doug, I'd hire them on the spot as an executive chef. Having him around has made me realize how much easier it would be for me to have a chef at that level to help run the kitchen and Darrell doesn’t want the job." He hangs his head. "Maribel told me two days ago that she had someone in mind. I told her to bring them by for an interview and if they were as good as she claimed, I'd bring them on board before Nova's official opening. If that person is Neela, the job will never be hers."

"It makes no sense." I tug on my wet hair. "Neela was at Nova last night. She was at the hospital too, Tyler. She was upset."

"I haven't seen Neela in months, Cadence." He turns to me. "She's my past. I swear to you I would not hire her. I wouldn't risk what we have for anything."

***

Sophia's comments about Maribel race through my mind as Tyler stares at me. Maribel has no reason to undermine my relationship with Tyler. There's nothing she can possibly gain from it.

"You said something about a ring, Cadence." He scratches the skin above the bandage on his forehead. "I know what that is. It's a ring that was at Nova last week. Did Maribel tell you about that too?"

"No." I look around him to the open door of my bedroom. Sophia will be back soon. I don't think she'd listen to our conversation, but I wouldn't put it past her to barge in here if she heard Maribel's name being bandied about. I could tell, by the expression on her face last night when she was talking about Maribel, that she has reservations about her. I'm beginning to understand why.

"Who told you?"

"Dr. Reynolds," I say quietly. "She thought it was a ring that you had bought for me so she brought it up. She didn't know that Neela wears it on a chain around her neck."

That last bit of information draws no reaction at all from him. "All I know about the ring is that it's a family heirloom. That ring was Neela's mom engagement ring. Neela used to wear it on her left hand sometimes. People actually thought we were engaged."

I'm one of those people, Chef.

"You and Neela weren't engaged?"

"No," he spits back. "I never loved her enough to want to marry her. Christ, I'm not sure I loved her at all. Neela's a great girl but there was no chemistry between us. We weren't a good match."

"Why did you have the ring last week?" I swallow hard. "Sadie said it was in the office at Nova."

"It was in the safe at old Nova." He faces me. "Neela must have locked it in there during her last shift. Apparently it never crossed her mind again until last week."

"Oh," I manage to say.
              "Something jarred her memory and she called Nova to ask me if it survived the fire." He crosses his arms over his chest. "I asked the front of the house manager to sift through the stuff they recovered from the safe and she put the ring there so we could courier it back to Neela in Boston."

It's plausible. It explains the ring away but the job, and Neela's presence at Nova last night is still sitting heavily in my belly like a lump of uncertainty.

"You had to deal with all this bullshit on top of the accident?" His chest heaves with a sigh. "Let me make something crystal clear to you right now, Cadence."

I skim my tongue over my lips as I stare into his eyes. "What, Chef?"

He looks at me intensely. "I would never risk losing you over anything. I love you, Cadence. If I knew you'd marry me tomorrow, I would ask you today. I knew that I would spend the rest of my life with you when you turned to look at me in Nova's kitchen that very first day."

Closing my eyes, I lean forward so my cheek rests on his bare chest. "Love scares me."

"I know." He grazes his lips over my forehead. "I'm going to show you that it doesn’t have to be scary. I'm not leaving you. The world would have to stop spinning for that to happen."

I wrap my arms around his waist, taking comfort in the way his body fits with mine. "I want to believe you."

"You will." He skims his hand over my hair. "We're going to start with talking to Maribel together. We're going to get to the bottom of what happened at Nova and why the hell Neela is in town."