Free Harder (Stark Ink Book 1) by Dahlia West Page A

walked toward the door.
    Pop seemed to realize he was outnumbered. He turned off the television and grumbled all the way toward the front door.
    Adam figured he could handle the attitude as long as they got where they were going. He ushered Pop into the backseat where he had the most room, and walked around to the driver’s side. He could feel Jonah trying to eyeball him, get his attention, but Adam ignored him. He knew the kid had questions but Adam didn’t have any answers right now. He couldn’t think about what was going to happen when they got there. Right now he just had to get the old man from the house to the doctor’s office. They’d worry about everything else later.
    He slammed the door and cranked the engine hard, harder than he’d meant to. Jonah seemed to get the hint that now wasn’t the time to talk. Adam pulled away from the house and headed across town. Traffic was light and it only took ten minutes to get there. As Adam reached for the back door, he suddenly remembered the funeral and Pop’s refusal to get out of the car. He groaned inwardly, pulled the door handle, prayed. To his relief, the old man shuffled out of the back, though he glared at Adam as he stood up. Adam shut the door behind him and ushered him inside, quickly, before he changed his mind about cooperating.
    Adam didn’t know if Pop having an episode right now would be a bad thing or a good thing. He just put his head down and led their small group to the sliding doors. Pop took a chair in the lobby and snatched a magazine off the table. He wasn’t reading so much as pointedly ignoring his sons. Jonah, having taken the hint that Adam didn’t want to talk either, picked up a second magazine and flipped through it. Adam didn’t even want to sit down. He stood instead at the window that offered a view of the parking lot and the office park beyond. Hundreds of people were going about their day out there, a plain, ordinary day that would end with a nice home-cooked meal and maybe a few TV shows. Adam had rarely had an evening like that as an adult but he’d give almost anything now to have one.
    The nurse called them a few minutes later and they trudged, like a second funeral procession, to the small exam room.
    “Not taking off my skivvies,” Pop declared to the nurse, who merely smiled at him.
    “It’s not that kind of visit, Pop,” Adam assured the old man.
    Pop grumbled something that sounded like they didn’t need to be here. They didn’t want to be here and that wasn’t the same thing.
    The doctor entered the room and introduced himself. He had a spot of ink on his white lab coat. Adam thought it was a dumb thing to notice and an even dumber thing to comment on, so he kept his mouth shut.
    “Good afternoon, Mr. Stark,” the doc said to Pop.
    Pop only nodded.
    “So you’ve had some trouble lately?”
    Pop stiffened and looked at Adam. Deep down, Adam was certain the old man knew exactly why they were here, he just didn’t want to admit it.
    “We’re just going to try a few cognitive exercises,” the doctor assured them. “Nothing too drastic. I’m going to give you three words and a bit later, I’ll ask you to tell me what they were. Ready?”
    Pop didn’t reply and Adam groaned inwardly. The doctor, however, seemed unperturbed. “Dog, car, barn. I’ll remind you about them in a few minutes. So, tell me about yourself. Are you retired? What kind of work did you do before?”
    Pop sat a little straighter in his chair, the way he always did when he talked about serving. “Marines. Thirty years. And yeah, I’m retired now.”
    The doctor nodded and scribbled in his notebook. “And your wife recently passed away?”
    Pop returned to the silent treatment, shoulders slumping a little.
    “Having trouble sleeping lately?”
    Pop scowled. “Sometimes,” he admitted. “It’s…”
    “Go on.”
    The old man sighed heavily. “Thirty years sharing a bed together, now she’s not there.”
    “I