His face melted into a smile. “I don’t care about your business, Dex. I’m just wondering about your happiness. When a man is monogamous, it usually means he’s happy. Does that apply to you?”

It’d only been a few weeks since I kissed her, since I changed our entire relationship and stepped into a romance I didn’t think I was ready for. It was a bit anxiety-inducing, and there were times when it felt like too much, but for the most part, it was pretty fucking nice. “Yes.”

“And this woman making you happy…is it Sicily?”

“Come on, who else would it be?” She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, and I got to look at her every single day except Sunday. Was there ever going to be someone more desirable than her? Someone better? Someone who had a bigger heart and an even bigger soul?

My dad’s eyes lightened like that was the best news he’d heard in a while. “I was hoping it wouldn’t be anyone else.”

Daisy sat beside me on the couch, her legs crossed with a beer in her hand, her boots kicked off onto the rug since she’d been wearing them all day at the clinic. “His brain scans are showing these lesions, and they’re getting bigger every time I see him. His memory is becoming more impaired, and there’s been a physiological change to his brain. He gets emotional easily, like really easily.”

“Well, it’s got to be stressful slowly losing your memory in your fifties with no real explanation. Stress and anxiety are real triggers for disease. The brain stem is just leaking cortisol in people who are constantly stressed.”

“I’m not refuting that, but I think his emotional responses are caused by whatever seems to be attacking his brain.”

“Infection?”

She shook her head. “I’ve tested for everything I can think of.”

“Did he work around harsh chemicals when he was younger?”

She shook her head. “He’s been a corrections officer his whole life.”

“Was he assaulted by one of the prisoners? Maybe he had a head trauma and he didn’t realize it at the time, but it causes some anatomical issue. And once it reached critical levels, it caused all these harsh symptoms.”

She shook her head. “I asked that too. He said no.”

“But you also said he has a memory problem.”

She took a drink as she looked at me.

“Is it possible he did get hurt and he just doesn’t remember?”

She chewed on the inside of her lip as she considered it. “I’ll take a drive out to the prison tomorrow and do some investigating. Because maybe you’re right. He doesn’t have any family, so I have no one to ask.”

“Hope you get some answers. No one should have to live like that.”

“Yeah.” She sank into the chair and continued to drink her beer. “So, what’s going on with you?”

“Just work and stuff.”

“What constitutes ‘stuff’?”

Getting blow jobs from my assistant. “The only thing I do outside of work is work out and see you.”

“Wow, that’s lame.” She set her beer on the coffee table then watched the game for a moment before she said, “You know, Sicily looked pretty damn fine at that dinner a couple weeks ago. And according to her…her tits just look like that.”

“I know.” The words just burst out of my mouth, my memory pulling up an image in my head, her dress bunched around her waist, her perfect rack ready for me to devour.

“You know?” Daisy asked incredulously.

“Come on, I’m a guy.”

“Then do what guys do and get on that.”

“Why are you so obsessed with me getting together with Sicily?”

“Because she’s awesome? Because she’s hot? Because she’s not some gold digger? Because she likes you for you?” She rolled her eyes. “Dex, what more do you want? That woman worships the ground you walk on. If it weren’t going to kill you, she would make you a pie every single day.”

Well, I was eating her pie pretty often, and that was much better. “Not that it’s any of your business, but she and I are kinda…you know…together.”

Daisy’s jaw slackened, and she stared at me in surprise, like she really didn’t see that coming. “Jesus, it’s about time. Did you hit that?”

My eyes narrowed.

“What?”

I didn’t answer her question. “I told her I wanted to take it slow. We’ll see where it goes.”

“That makes me so happy, Dex. Everyone in the family really likes her.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed.”

She scooted over on the couch then wrapped her arms around me for a big hug, squeezing me to her. “Oh, this is so great.”

I squirmed out of her grasp and pushed her away. “Okay, enough of that. I’m not some teenager going on a date for the first time.”

“No. But you’re starting over. And I’m so glad to see you finally start to start over.”

19

Sicily

I waited in his office at the hospital. He had two surgeries that day, and these days were always his longest, his most stressful, so I made sure to give him his best meals of the week so he would be satisfied in between his surgeries. I always brought his bag that contained his toiletries and a change of clothes, so he could take a nap in his office then put on a new pair of scrubs before he went to his appointment.

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