Wildcard: Volume One

Without this trial, the chances of him surviving past his teens without a transplant are pretty slim. He’s her whole world. I can’t even imagine how hard it must have been for her, raising Jake alone, and losing her mum. Everything she does, she does for that little boy.

She can’t lose him too.

Chapter Thirteen

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” I smile.

It’s Thursday evening, and I wanted to do something special for her.

Only, I never knew picking a restaurant to take her for dinner would be so damn hard. Did I go expensive and try to impress her? But then knowing her, expensive wasn’t going to do the trick. Maybe she’d like somewhere more intimate?

In the end, I compromised and booked us into one of the top restaurants in London that caters only for couples, and only twenty at a time. I glance over at her. She looks stunning. Her black dress, although short, is elegant with a high neckline and a low cut back.

“Do you always drive?” she asks me. I’m surprised by her question.

“Yes, unless I plan to drink excessively. I like driving. Why?”

“I don’t know, I’ve been watching too much TV. People with money always seem to have drivers,” she smiles.

“Maybe over in the States it’s different, but here,” I shrug. “I travel so much that I don’t get that much time to drive. I feel bad for her.”

“Her?” she giggles and I smile. “It’s a car, Ryder. It doesn’t have feelings.”

“You can attach emotion to any object. And if you can do that, you can feel emotion for anything.”

“So you feel for your poor little car, but not for anything that’s actually significant?” she teases.

“I never said that,” I protest, laughing. “Is this you believing everything you read again?”

“No,” she replies, tilting her head. “When was your last serious relationship?”

“Define serious,” I say, narrowing my eyes.

“Ha! See, you don’t even know the definition of the word!” Her tone is triumphant. “When was the last time you were in a relationship that involved contact with that person more than once? When was the last time you couldn’t breathe without having that person near you? When was the last time you’d have done anything for someone else?”

Does this count?

“Honestly? I don’t think I’ve ever felt that strongly about another person. I’ve had relationships—serious ones,” I add, in reply to her grin, “but they were always second to tennis. Nobody wants to come second.”

“I understand that,” she mumbles. Her expression grows wistful.

“Jake?” I guess and she nods.

“I’ve avoided dating in the past for that very reason. I always thought I’d never be able to give my all to a relationship. He will always come first. Every single time.”

“Any guy who doesn’t get that isn’t worth your time,” I say. She’s likening her situation to mine when in reality they couldn’t be more different. I put a game before my relationships. She puts a child—her child. I admired her strength.

“You’d be surprised at the number of guys who don’t share your point of view.”

“Maybe it’s a British thing. We’re supposed to be more chivalrous than our American counterparts,” I joke.

She laughs. “And arrogant.”

I grin. I’ll take that.

**