Free The Widow and the Orphan by J. Thomas-Like Page B

texts to Gabe directly, two dozen back and forth with Aiden, and taking care of a few things that Lisa insisted were important. Pepper tried to think of a way to beguile Gabe into making an appointment with the doctor, but she just didn’t think she could do it. If pushing him won’t work, I think I’ll just have to be sneaky .
    At about four o’clock, she texted Aiden one more time.
    Is he still there?
    Yes, leaving at 5:30.
    Cool. Text if he leaves sooner.
    Pepper called Thai Boom from the car and placed a carryout for all of Gabe’s favorites to bring home. After picking up the food, she raced home to spread it out on the table so that dinner would be ready for him the minute he walked in the door. While she waited for him to get home, Pepper showered, changed into some yoga pants and a tank, and then busied herself with feeding and playing with the kittens.
    When Gabe arrived, he found her sitting cross legged on the floor, waving a feathered toy on a stick around for the boys to pounce on. She smiled up at him and accepted his welcoming kiss.
    “You’re a vision, sitting on the floor with our fur children.”
    Pepper huffed and hoisted herself up. “Thanks, I think. Are you hungry? I got dinner.”
    Gabe dropped his briefcase and turned to look at the dining room table across the room. Pepper was surprised he hadn’t already noticed all the food laid out on the table.
    “Not particularly, but, of course, let’s eat.”
    Pepper had had plenty of time to think about a plan of attack to convince Gabe to see a doctor. Unfortunately, she couldn’t come up with anything that would have seemed reasonable enough. If her usual over the top, pushy personality wasn’t going to be able to get him in front of an MD, then he would know immediately if she tried to sweet talk him. Instead, she figured she was going to have to trap him into it. Earlier in the day, she had made an appointment with her general practitioner for Gabe.
    “Babe, I made an appointment for us to go and get massages on Friday.”
    Gabe eyed her as he played with a fork full of noodles but didn’t eat it. “I suppose we could do that. Why Friday?”
    She lifted her own shoulders in response. “Fridays are usually pretty quiet for me, and I checked with Aiden first. He said you didn’t have anything on your schedule yet. Seems like a nice way to start off the weekend. The appointment is at three o’clock.”
    “Okay.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    The rest of the week passed in a rush, with Pepper’s nerves becoming more and more frayed as the clandestine appointment with the doctor approached. Gabe’s appetite was definitely off and it was like mud wrestling a pig to get him to eat an entire meal. He complained about his back aching, too. He took ibuprofen from time to time to ease the pain, and looked forward to the massage he assumed he was getting to fix him up.
    Friday morning, as they both walked to their cars to leave for work, Pepper placed a nervous kiss on his cheek. “I’ll meet you back here at two, so we can change. Okay?”
    “I’ll see you then, love.”
    Pepper could barely keep her mind on work the entire morning and found herself snapping at her assistant over the stupidest things. The straw that broke the camel’s back came when she barked about an insignificant detail she’d already asked about a dozen times.
    “What the hell , Pepper?” Lisa snapped back, slapping her notepad closed as she sat across the desk from her boss.
    Pepper’s eyes narrowed at Lisa’s tone, but she slumped in her chair remorsefully. She put her hands up in front of her. “I’m so sorry, hun. Really. I just have a lot on my mind.”
    Lisa pursed her lips, but leaned back in the chair and relaxed. “It’s okay. I’m just not used to you giving me so much grief. Is there anything wrong?”
    Pepper smiled at her, wishing she could unload all of her worries, but didn’t think it would be right to burden the girl with her private crap. It was just