Free The Last Goodbye by Sarah Mayberry Page A

okay?”
    “That’d be great.”
    She told herself to hang up before the conversation strayed any further than it already had.
    “You still think you’ll be here on Monday?” She winced. Could she sound more obvious and hopeful?
    “I’m planning for Sunday at this point. The hospital said Dad might be able to come home Monday, so I wanted to get some food in, that kind of thing.”
    “I guess I’ll see you then, then.”
    “You will.”
    There was something in the way he said it thatmade her sit holding the phone for a good sixty seconds after she’d ended the call.
    It had almost sounded like a promise.
     
    T YLER PULLED UP IN FRONT of his father’s house at dusk on Sunday night. He’d spent the past few days working late at the workshop, clearing his desk as much as possible, covering things off with Gabby to ensure she had all she needed to take over his client meetings.
    Ally had called him once more to let him know the safety rails and new bathroom fittings had been installed. He’d never been big on talking on the phone, but he’d caught himself attempting to stretch their conversation into more than an update on his father’s house remodeling. She’d answered his questions and teased him and asked some of her own, then she’d suddenly clammed up and the conversation had ended.
    He glanced at her place as he grabbed his bags from the bed of the truck. Maybe he was misreading things. For all he knew, she could have a boyfriend. Maybe that was why she’d suddenly backed off. He knew nothing about her or her situation—all he had to go on was his gut and those few loaded moments when he’d been intensely aware of her as a woman. But maybe that was all one-sided.
    And maybe he was simply looking for something—anything—to distract himself from the grim reality of his situation. Over the past few days he’d becomeaware of a reluctance within himself to think beyond the nuts and bolts of arranging for his father’s respite care. Nurses and social workers he could handle, but the prospect of standing by his father’s graveside left him unsettled and uneasy. Not because he cared. He refused to care—although he couldn’t explain his reluctance to acknowledge his father’s mortality in any other way.
    He dumped all but one of his burdens on the front porch of his father’s house before making his way next door. Ally still had the spare key, and he had a gift to thank her for her help with the house.
    Plus he wanted to see her, distraction or not.
    The hall light was on inside the house and the stained-glass panels of the door glowed with rich color as he raised his hand to knock. He saw a shadow approach, then the door opened and she was standing there, cuter and fresher and sexier than he’d remembered. His gaze automatically dropped below her waist and he didn’t try to hide the smile tugging at his mouth as he saw today’s pajama pants.
    “Scooby-Doo. Nice choice,” he said.
    “I thought so,” she said. “Not too dressy, not too informal. A smart-casual kind of a pajama pant.”
    He held up the small ice chest in his hand. “For you.”
    Her eyebrows rose as she reached out to take the chest. “For me?”
    “To say thank-you.”
    “For letting a couple of people in next door?” Herexpression told him she considered it the smallest of favors.
    “For giving a shit when you didn’t have to. If you’ll excuse my French. You barely know my father, yet you’ve bent over backward for him. Not many people put themselves out like that anymore.”
    “You make me want to find a mirror to check my halo’s on straight.”
    But her cheeks were pink and he could see that she was pleased.
    He gestured toward the cooler. “You might want to get that in the freezer.”
    There was plenty of ice in the chest, but the sooner the contents were below zero the better.
    She cracked the lid on the chest. “You bought me ice cream?”
    “Dairy Bell Nuts About Chocolate. You mentioned you like