Oliver Moody had a lot on his plate. He was a self-made billionaire, but his personal life left a lot to be desired. Even with his mother and sister plotting his untimely demise, Oliver sought custody of his nephew Lyle, a lost soul he felt was worth saving. Even though he had a lot of new friends, Oliver was still a lonely man.

The doctors had told David Finch he had less than a year to live. The cancer had spread like fire through his body. That day he met Oliver was the best and worst day of his life. He had finally found his soulmate, only to have it snatched away. David was devastated.

Oliver and his newfound family had more magic than David realized…. Maybe there was hope for them yet….

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Jake Winslow’s marriage to the money-grubbing shrew is over. Cutting off her funds, and the simple use of the word “no” sends her packing. When he comes home from work and finds his house empty of everything, including food, he feels—liberated.

Jake’s grandmother, Jenna, calls her friend and attorney, Forrest Stout, to handle Jake’s messy divorce. She can’t stand Jake’s soon-to-be ex-wife and is leaving nothing to chance. Only the best for her grandson and the best is Forrest.

Forrest is a Were Tiger, and he knows “who” he is. He is an oddity in his paranormal world because he is gay. His kind mate for life, and after a recent disastrous attempt to find companionship, he has given up hope of ever finding his life mate.

From the moment Forrest meets Jake for the first time, he knows that Jake is his lifemate, and he wants to run in the opposite direction because Jake isn’t gay. To claim and lose a mate would spell disaster for him. How can he ask a straight man—that he wants with every fiber of his being—to conform to his way of life? He can’t….

Ex-lovers and ex-wives can be a dangerous combination. Especially when neither are right in the head….

 

 

Henry Myers never kept his gender preferences a secret. His mother supported his choices and stood by his side even when his acting career tanked because of it. Now she was gone, and so was his career. Henry was at a loss.

Patrick Garrett, Paddy, was now in a bad place. He had worked at the precinct since he was in his early twenties, and now he could trust no one. Not his captain nor his partner it seemed. He was shot and bleeding, and it seemed the whole precinct was on the take.

Henry had been able to talk to ghosts since a near-death experience he had as a child. They had been following him around ever since. Now it seemed Paddy could see them as well. But when Wally, Henry’s ghostly companion referred to Paddy as Henry’s mate. Neither man was sure how to take that news.

Henry couldn’t deny the attraction to the rugged cop, and if the man didn’t put back on his shirt, he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to control himself.

 

Cameron knew it was set up before he and his sister Caitlynn got there. It was supposed to be a hit to take Cattie out. Cam being there was just a bonus. Had they been entirely human, the explosion would have killed them both. With them both being critically injured, they were taken to a private clinic owned by Jake and Forrest. To the world, they would appear to be dead, at least until Cattie could put together who was out to get them.

Rick wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be doing here. He’d been asked by his buddy and longtime friend, Forrest, to come by his house—he had a gig for him. Rick hadn’t had a gig of any kind for years now and getting a call from Forrest out of the blue, like it had been, couldn’t have come at a better time.

Cam had many abilities. One he felt was somewhat of a curse. He was so in tune to everyone else, like an empath he felt what they felt, so much so that he couldn’t separate his own feelings from theirs. Because of this, he avoided ever having a relationship.

Being an elite shifter, Rick wasn’t confused. As soon as his fingers brushed Cam’s at the kitchen table, he knew they were mates, and he was about the rock Cam’s world.

 

Dr. Brody Downs was ready for a fresh start for him and Jordan both. Filing for divorce from Rachel was the most prudent thing to do under the circumstances. He had known Jordan wasn’t his son when he was born, but he couldn’t love the little guy more if he had been. Rachel wasn’t fit to raise the boy, and he’d fight her for custody if it came to that. Until that time, he was offered a new job in a small town in Ohio, he and Jordan would settle there and try to start anew.

Aaron Wright was aware of the kind doctor at the airport that helped his sister. Emmi had been at the airport to pick him up from his flight when security tackled her to the ground for being with the little boy. It was all a mistake, she was just trying to help the boy find his dad, but they discovered how severely beaten Emmi truly was. Now that Emmi was safe, Aaron was very aware of Dr. Downs, and that had him worried. Aaron wouldn’t consider himself gay. That thought had never crossed his mind—until now.

Brody was too focused on the woman and her injuries to notice the man with her. But now that things were settled, he noticed, and he was confused. Brody wasn’t gay or he didn’t think he was. But when Aaron took his hand, he didn’t want to let go….

 

The death of his sister and niece brought Easton back into town. He carried the guilt of not protecting her from that monster she was married to. Now she was dead, and that monster was in jail where he belonged. Easton would take his infant nephew Alex to raise as his own.
Wayne and Cara had come from the same wolf pack and had both lost their families when the new alpha took over. For years they had only had each other and loved each other like brother and sister. Wayne was gay, but he wanted a child. Cara agreed to be a surrogate and grant him his wish.
Easton had been waiting for the elevator when the doors opened. Cara was in labor and Wayne was doing his best to keep her calm as he pushed her off the elevator. When the wheelchair rolled past, Cara grabbed Easton’s hand like a lifeline when pain hit her. In the confusion, Easton and Wayne touched hands and the connection was instant.
Easton had found his mate. Both men knew it as soon as they touched, but the past had a way of sneaking upon them. Both men had past baggage and Wayne had a secret he feared would tear them apart….

 

 

 

 

 Forbidden Series 

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Breathing was like having his balls crushed in the hand of someone that had no clue what that did to a man. He was sure the pain he was in right now was much worse than that. Lyle had no illusions that he was anything near being a man yet. When he’d been living with his mom, he thought he was. But now that he was hanging around his Uncle Oliver, he realized that he was nothing more than the little shit that Grandpa had called him. Especially when he thought about all the really dumb things he’d done before the accident and his death experience. “You want something for the pain?” Shaking his head, he told Gracie what she said that he could call her, that he was doing just fine. “Sure, you are. If nothing else, Lyle, you get your stubbornness honestly. Your grandpa and your uncle are the same.” “Thanks.” She just grinned at him when he did the same. “I’m afraid of getting hooked on them, to be honest with you. I’ve seen what it could do to people firsthand. Only thing is they didn’t have to deal with any more pain if they didn’t get the drugs. I’ll take them when I really need them.” “I’m sure you have seen a lot. But the doctor told you that if you let the pain get the better of you, it’ll take more of it to bring the pain back down. Just let yourself be rested. That way, we can both benefit from it.” Lyle, so very insecure now, asked her if she was mad at him. “No. I’m just thinking about the homework you have to do for your class. You should work on it when you’re feeling better. You don’t need to do it all at one time.” “I know. But I have a lot of work to catch up on. I’m working at a sixth-grade level, Uncle Oliver told me. I was a freshman when I started screwing around, and Mom yanked me out of school.

The more I think on that, I wonder why she did that. I wasn’t doing that bad. Not yet, anyway.” She nodded. “I hate to bring this up, Grace, but have you told him what my grandma did to you to get you to help her?” “I haven’t. I’m going to, but I haven’t yet. He’s going to fire me. Not that I don’t deserve it, but I like working for Oliver. Also, it’s going to hurt my family.” Lyle knew that. It was what his grandma was counting on. “I saw that you wrote out everything you’d been involved with concerning your mom and grandma. That must have been difficult for you.” “No. I thought it would be too, but it wasn’t. I’m coming clean like I told him I would. He’s going to make my life into something. I’m working on it with him. Uncle Oliver told me not to forget that I have to do this for me as well. But in my heart, I know that I did him way wrong. I’m ashamed of myself.” Gracie told him that she was ashamed of herself too. “You’re not going to feel any better if you don’t tell him. I know what you’re feeling. It’s like a festering sore, huh?” “It is.” She looked away. “I never in my life dreamed that was what she wanted the code for. I thought it was to steal something of his and then get him to pay her for it.

She didn’t know then what sort of trouble she was in with the bank, but I don’t know other than that I could have saved him if I had just told him.” “You should do it today.” Gracie looked at him then. “You got them someplace safe now, don’t you? I mean, she can’t hurt your parents and sister anymore if she can’t find them, right? You should ask him for help after you tell him everything.” “Tell him what everything?” Uncle Oliver sat down and smiled at him. “I looked over your homework from yesterday before I turned it in for you. You’re doing so much better now. I didn’t even have to tell you that you spelled your name wrong again.” “Gracie has something to tell you. Something important.” Uncle Oliver looked at her, then back at him. “She’s going to have a stroke or something if she doesn’t tell you. But you have to promise me that you don’t go flying off the handle like I would have done a month ago. Okay? I mean, it’s really important that you hear everything. Okay?” “Is it that she helped my mother by telling her the code to my offices?” Gracie stood up, then sat down when Uncle Oliver told her to do it. “I’ve known since the day after I woke up in the hotel. You really didn’t think that I’d not be told who it was that allowed them entrance, did you, Grace? I’m also aware that what she did to make you do that must have hurt you badly. And for that, I’m profoundly sorry, Grace.” “I’m so sorry too.” He asked her if they were safe. “I’m sorry? What did you just say to me?” Uncle Oliver repeated what he’d asked her. Lyle watched the two of them like he would the ball in a tennis match. “You knew that they had my family? You knew what they did to them? Who? How did you find out?” “Quincey.” Lyle had met the big vampire.

It scared the shit…crap out of him even just to hear his name. Looking around to see if he was lurking in corners in the hospital room with them, he tried to make himself look really small, so as not to draw any attention to himself if he was around. “He knew what they had done in the way that they’d hurt your father. Your mom, she’s getting stronger every day, correct? Quincey told me that your sister wasn’t there, or she may well have hurt her as well. But I knew. And I also knew that you’d get around to telling me. It took you long enough.” “There was a great deal going on.” Uncle Oliver nodded then got up to look out the window. “I’m sorry that you were hurt, Oliver. It was never in my mind that they’d try and kill you. But they’d hurt my dad badly enough that we didn’t think he was going to make it. My mother didn’t fare much better. I’ll give you my resignation as soon as—” “I don’t want you to quit, Grace. I know that you had no choice. I have come to see that my life is better than it was before this all came to pass. You do as well, I’m thinking.” She said that she’d been in on him nearly being murdered. “Yes, you were. And you told me you’re sorry for it. The police have no idea what happened. My mother and sister think they messed up somehow. I’d like to keep it that way. Also, I hope that if they approach you again for something like that, you’ll tell me so that I can keep you safe. Now that it’s out in the open, I’d like for you to allow me to take care that your family is as safe as mine is.” “I’ve moved them to my aunt’s house. They, your mother and sister, don’t know that I own it. As you said, I’d like to keep it that way. But I’ve made them safe.” Uncle Oliver pulled out his cell phone and then put it on speaker when someone answered.

“What’s going on?” “Cam, this is Oliver. Yes, much better, thank you. I’d like you to do me a favor. With a computer. Can you see if Grace Lane owns any other property in town? Just do your thing with the computer.” While Lyle didn’t understand that, he watched Gracie. Her face was very pale, and when Cam came back on the line with an address, she had to put her head between her knees. Lyle hurt himself trying to help her. She was visibly upset. “That’s all they have to do?” Uncle Oliver told Gracie that they’d not have Cam do it, but it really was that easy. “I don’t want them hurt again. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to them again. Please, I’ll do anything you want. Anything. Just don’t let them be hurt again.” “Cam, thank you so much.” He must have asked him what was going on. “I have my nephew and my good friend Grace here. Her parents were caught up in something nasty and were kidnapped by gunpoint, then beaten to shit when they didn’t think Grace was going to help. My mother did that. She even got her hands dirty in doing it. I was wondering if there was someplace they could stay and be as safe as you’ve made us here.” “Yes. But in order to make them as safe as I can, I’ll have to have a few things from you. Not necessarily just you, but from others.” Uncle Oliver told him that he’d give him any sort of information or money that he needed. “I don’t need the money, but I do need for you to tell me a couple of things. Do they drive? I mean, do they need to be near a grocery store?” Lyle watched Gracie again while Uncle Oliver answered all the questions.

It had been only two weeks that he’d been awake and talking since the car accident, but Uncle Oliver had done a great deal to make sure that he could be a good man. He’d bet anything that he’d do the same for Gracie. She was a nice lady. A month ago, he’d been riding around with a couple of friends of his. Well, the other kids were his friends, but the driver hadn’t been. Lyle had been drunk then, as he was most of the time back before all this, and when the car started to speed up, he simply tightened the seatbelt that was around his waist and let the wind blow over his face. It was the coolest thing he’d ever done. Right up until the car began tossing him around like a ripe tomato and he felt himself lurch forward when the car suddenly stopped like someone had put something in front of him. The tree had been huge and old, he’d been told. Lyle hadn’t been out there since he woke up, but he did remember being cut from the car and the pain that he was in. Uncle Oliver told him that he’d have to face his demons. He meant that once he was on the mend that he had to see what was left of the car, as well as what had happened to the other victims that had been with them. He knew enough that two of them were killed on impact. One of them, the driver, had ended up in the top of a tree so far away it was only by chance that he’d been found. That, Uncle Oliver, told him, could very well have been him.

Lyle told himself that every day when he wanted to whine about something that wasn’t going his way. He knew it would stay with him for the rest of his life, even if he didn’t have hundreds of cuts all over his body. Even being taken out of the car like he had, he knew that he’d been dead a few times. They’d had to work hard to save his life. He was going to make sure that no one was disappointed that they had. Then when he’d been on the operating table, his grandpa had come to see him. He’d died some years ago, and Lyle had thought for sure that he was dead as well. He was, he’d been told. He’d been told that he’d died several times that day, and he was lucky that someone had cared enough to come and tell him what a putz he’d been. Worse than that, his grandpa had told him he was a horrible, terrible person. Grandpa had asked him if he thought that he was worth the trouble of someone saving him. It was the first time that anyone had put it to him like that, and Lyle knew that he’d not been. But he didn’t want to die either. He told him that. “You remember that all the time, and you might just make it,” Lyle asked him what he had to do. “You can start by turning your life around. You can do it too. You’ve only done some petty shit that will get you into a little trouble, but you’re headed for the big times if I don’t miss my bet. Just like your momma there. Lyle, that momma and grandmammy of yours, they’re going to drag you right down with them.” He told him he could get some help with that, turning himself around with Uncle Oliver’s help. “Oliver is a good man, that grandson of mine. Now you? You should have been nothing more than a stain on your momma’s sheets. But you’re here now, and there is nothing we can do about that. Except to allow you to die right there on the operating table.” He didn’t want to but thought that it was no less than he deserved. “You want to make things right with yourself and live to tell about what you’ve been up to?” “I do. I really do. I don’t want to…I could have died, and no one would have given a rats ass about it.” Grandpa said that he wouldn’t have either had he not been killed off by Honey. “Grandma killed you? Why?” He knew the answer to that now. It wasn’t just that she wanted the jewelry that Grandpa had given over to Uncle Oliver, but she wanted it all. Everything that didn’t belong to her. The same way he had been, he was sorry to say.

But no more. Lyle had a long list of things that he was going to have to do. None of it was really all that difficult. He had to go to school when he was able, and keep his grades up, which was something he’d always been able to do without much studying. And he was to own up to what kind of person he’d been and make restitution. That, he thought, was harder than anything, admitting that he’d been a part of some really terrible things while living with his mom, and sometimes living with Grandma too. Lyle had allowed his mom to take him out of school when he started causing some trouble. She was to blame for that. Not fully, because he knew that he could have just not done what she wanted. But after a while, he’d gotten lazy, Uncle Oliver told him. Lazy in that it was easier to be a bastard than it had been to be nice. Being nice, he was beginning to understand, was a lot more difficult than he ever thought it had been. With this newfound revelation, he was also beginning to respect his uncle a great deal more. He wasn’t just nice, though he was, even when it was hard to be nice to someone like he’d been to Lyle all these years.

Lyle knew now that he would have just cut Uncle Oliver out of his life if he’d been in his shoes. But Uncle Oliver hadn’t ever done that. Even now, he was taking him under his wing and making sure that he had everything he needed while in the hospital. Lyle knew for a fact that his mom wouldn’t have done squat for him. Not even with him being her son would she have bothered if she could shove it off on someone else. The phone ringing by his bedside only meant one thing—his mother, grandmother, or both were coming to see him. When Gracie and Uncle Oliver left him there, without a single trace of them ever being there, he felt his heartbreak just a little. Lyle didn’t want his other relatives there with him. He wanted his uncle and Gracie. He put his homework under the table they put his meds on and closed up the computer. Putting it under his pillow, he was careful of moving too. He wasn’t going to go home with them anytime soon, but he didn’t want them to think he was healing more either. “There you are. Are you going to stay awake for a little while this time, dumbass? I swear to you, Lyle, I think they know when we’re coming up to see you and dope you up. Have they told you where you’re going after you leave here?” His mom sat on the side of his bed, smashing part of his leg with her hip. It pulled all the stitches in his leg like a chain saw going up and down him. Yelling for her to get off him, she smacked him on the chest. “Don’t you dare talk to me like that. What is wrong with you?” Before he could tell her that she was hurting him, the nurse came in. “I heard you yelling, Lyle. Is there—? Get off that bed. Are you trying to send him back to surgery? The young man has stitches all over his body, and I’m sure that you’re pulling at them.” Mom got up off the bed, and Lyle hurt. He’d been feeling better, but now he hurt. “Want something for pain, Lyle? You can have it now.”

“Yes.” Mom told her no. She had to talk to him. “Please. She hurt me. I really hurt right now. Can you hurry?” The nurse glared at his mom and left to get his meds. Blood was starting to seep into the sheet above his leg. Even his belly, where he only had a few stitches and a huge bruise, was staining now. Lyle thought that he was going to be sick before the medication made it to him. “What are you doing? I told you no, Lyle. She’s not going to give it to you until I have some answers. Where are you going after this is finished? You can’t come home. I have too much shit going on as it is. Also, the bank is doing something with our money, and I have to go there and get that straightened out. They’ve seized my accounts. What did you tell them?” Lyle asked her what she meant, crying with the pain in his legs. “Well, I certainly didn’t tell them that they needed to do that. And Mom is having the same trouble.” He almost asked them if they’d gotten a letter about two weeks ago, but didn’t. Lyle didn’t want them to know that his uncle had been talking about it before. When the nurse came in with his much-needed meds, she ignored his mom all together. He was sicker now with it, and as soon as the pain medication hit his system, he curled up in his blankets and closed his eyes.

His mom wasn’t nice. Lyle wasn’t just figuring that out, but it was coming home to him more and more. He supposed that finally realizing how bad his mom was had something to do with actually getting to hang out with nice people. And Grandma was the worst. She’d kill an animal if she thought it would make people upset with her. Like she fed on people not liking her. When sleep took him under, he heard his mom yelling at him to stay awake. He decided that he no longer wanted to be with her. Lyle was going to do something, anything, to make sure he got to be with his uncle. He really did want to be a better person. ~*~ Gracie saw Sunshine leave Lyle’s room. While she didn’t look happy about the turn of events, Sunshine did smile at the nurse that had left the room ahead of her. Even from where she was hiding, in an empty room they had set up for them to work from, she could hear the conversation. “When I tell you no, he will not have pain medication, you will not be giving it to him. Do you understand me? I’m his mother.” The nurse nodded and smiled back. “I’m glad that we have that cleared up. I will not pay for anything more for him to have, either. You have to take care of him, but he’s only to get what I approve of. If you’re going to be passing out drugs like they’re free, then you can hand them over to me, and I’ll give them to him when I see fit.” “That’s going to happen about as quickly as I turn over my savings account to you. Also, you know now that I’m his nurse, and I know his pain and his threshold better than you do. If he wants pain medications given to him, I will knock you on your ass to give them to him.” Grace had to stifle a laugh. “Also, you should know that while he’s under the care of this floor, we will bend over backward to make sure that his health and getting himself better far outweighs whatever it is you want. He’s a child who has come back from an accident that might well have killed a lesser person. He’s a good kid. You should know that too.” “He’s not a good kid. I don’t want him to be either. He’s just the way I raised him to be.

Someone that can make it in this world.” Sunshine looked at the other nurses there. “You try and change him, bitch, and I will have your job.” “You can’t even do your job of being a good mother. I doubt very much that you have the balls to even do my job for an hour. You don’t worry me.” The nurse pulled a file up from the desk. “These are the names of the places we’ve found that will take Lyle while he recuperates. You have to sign off on each of them, giving permission for us to send him there or not. There is only one that is free, as you requested us to look for.” “That’s where he’ll go then.” The paperwork was handed to her, and the nurse, she thought her name was Sara, told her what each of the others would cost her. “This one is completely free? You’re sure about that? I don’t want them coming to me when they find out that I have money for their hand out.” “No. It’s free. Everything is included, including his medications and the night nurse.” Grace wondered about that place. She only hoped it would take care of Lyle and not just do it for the drugs that would be there for him to use.

“You have to read it over and sign it, Ms. Graham.” “I’m not going to read that whole thing. Just tell me where to sign it so that I can get out of here. This place smells terrible. You should put some scented candles around or something. It stinks here.” Sunshine signed the paperwork then dropped the pen she’d been handed on the floor. “Oops. I guess I dropped it.” Then in an act of meanness, she crushed the ink pen with her foot. Grace could not believe that this woman was related to her boss and that child in the other room. There had to have been a mix-up at the hospital or something when Oliver was born. That was all she could figure had happened. When she left, Sara turned and looked where she was standing. Smiling at her, Sara brought the paperwork to her. She asked to see Oliver. “He’s left, I’m afraid. Is there anything I can do for you?” Sara just handed her the paperwork. “I’ll make sure that he gets this first thing. Before I forget, Oliver ordered dinner for the staff here to be brought in. Also, for the other two shifts. It should be here around six. I hope that’s all right.” “Perfect. You two have been very nice to us.” She looked toward where Sunshine had been, then back at her. “I can’t believe she’d hurt her son, then try and deny him anything for the pain. If I were in there and in his shape, I’d want medication dripping into me all the time. He’s doing well with managing his pain. The paperwork there says that Oliver can keep Lyle while he’s recuperating. I had the cameras pointed at us in the event she found out and tried to say I didn’t tell her about reading it over.

It was a good idea that your boss had.” “Oliver is a very smart businessman. It’s no wonder that he knows how to get things going in a good direction. About the medications—he told Lyle that it will do him no good to stop taking the medication so that he doesn’t get addicted to it if he’s in constant pain all the time. He explained to him keeping the pain at bay but not gone will make it easier, as well as him using less of it if he doesn’t wait too long to take it.” Sara said that was good advice. “Oliver asked me to find out if you need anything. Not just for the staff, but anything for the floor. He has noticed that you’re running short on some of your office supplies, as well as that your breakroom could use a few extras.” “Water would be wonderful. I know that is a lot to ask for, but we can always use bottled water. We drink it ourselves, and when there are people here visiting, we give it to them as well.” Grace made a mental note about that. “You tell Oliver that he’s a good man. And that we appreciate him helping us out.” “I will. Thank you for taking such good care of his nephew too.” When Sara left her, Grace made her way to the breakroom that they’d been using as well. It was filled twice a week, but she was sure that they could use a few more things in it. Grace made note that there didn’t seem to be a refrigerator in the room that would hold much. The small one they had, like the ones people used in colleges, didn’t hold all that much. She also looked around at the two little tables and one chair. Grace wondered if all the rooms the nursing staff had to use for breaks were like this one.

“Hello, Grace.” She turned around when she saw a well-dressed man standing behind her. It took her mind a minute to make out who it was. It was Jake Winslow. “I had a couple of questions for Oliver, but I’m to understand that he’s left. Perhaps you can answer them?” “I can try.” They headed back to the little office set up that they’d been using. “He’s gone out to make sure that two places he’s looking at are all right for a business that he’s working on. Things are so much cheaper here than they are in London, I think. Then there is all the work going—” “Grace. Calm down.” She had been talking fast, something that she did when she was very nervous. “Tell me what has you so worked up. Maybe I can help you with that too.” “I’m not sure. Sunshine, a terrible name for a person like her, just left. She hurt Lyle, the nurse told me, and wanted to deny him pain medications.” He asked her how she’d done it. “I’m not sure. I just overheard the nurse telling Sunshine that he could have the pain medications whenever he wanted them. I didn’t think to ask. Also, I talked to Oliver about my part in him getting hurt. He knew already.” When she started to cry, it was just too much—he held her. These men, all of them, were the nicest people she’d been around. They’d been by several times in the last few days to watch Lyle so that she could go home and get cleaned up. A couple of them had even taken her out to dinner so that she didn’t have to eat brought in food all the time. When she apologized for crying all over him, Jake told her that he was there for her. Nodding, she did feel better and started again on what she’d been doing. He sat in one of the chairs that Oliver had brought in and acted like he was there for a long stay.

She particularly liked Jake and Forrest out of all of the others. They were calmer and calming to be around. “The houses here are much better priced. Younger, too, than anything that Oliver had been looking at. London is a lovely place to live, but I think I like the States so much better.” She looked at him when he agreed. “My family isn’t safe from his family. I thought I had it covered, but I realized that people who want something, people like the Moodys and the Grahams, will go to great lengths to make sure you realize that they’re going to hurt you no matter what.” “Yes, that’s about right. In my experience, they usually get caught in the end, but they hurt so many in the process. What were you doing in the break room just a moment ago?” She told him what Oliver had asked her to do. “So you think they need something bigger in the way of a fridge too? I can see that. And thinking of the other stations was nice of you. You figure out what they need per area, and we’ll go in with Oliver to make it happen. We donate a great deal to the hospital, and this will be something that just the nurses can enjoy.” “I don’t know if Oliver will think it’s a good idea yet,” Jake told her that he would agree with her. “They said that they needed water. I don’t know why, but I think they don’t mean a twenty-four pack. What do you think it would cost to bring in truckloads of water?”

“Good question. I’ll find out. That is a brilliant idea. Keeping them hydrated all the time will keep them healthy too. That much water wouldn’t be stored in the rooms, but I’m betting that we can find a place to store it so that they can get it when they need it.” Embarrassed to be praised so highly, she turned her back to him. “Something else you might want to add to your list you’re making is snacks. When we were in here a few weeks ago when one of our clients was hurt, they only had graham crackers. I think having a bowl of fruit delivered daily might be just the ticket. You know, apples and oranges and the like.” She added things to her list as they talked. Twice she asked him if he wanted her to call Oliver, but he told her he was just enjoying talking to her. Jake was a wonderful person. She was glad that he was nice enough just to hang out with her for a time. Someone else to talk to made her lifeless boring right now.