Read Online Vital Signs by Bobby Hutchinson - Free Book Online Page B

down?”
    Belatedly he became aware of background noise, music and the murmur of conversation. “Damn, I’m sorry. I’ll bet you’re out somewhere posh with the pilot. He’ll never believe I’m your brother, so just make like this is a wrong number, and I’ll talk to you another time. Bye.”
    â€œNo, no, don’t hang up. Hold on just a minute.” Nicole said something indistinguishable to someone, and then she was back.
    â€œRoy? Hailey and I are at Tomato on Cambie. She just got off shift and we’re having a late dinner. Want to join us? Hailey says it’s fine with her.”
    It was a no-brainer. Roy didn’t even take the time to register surprise that his sister and Hailey were out together. “I’ll be there in fifteen. Order me whatever their dinner special is—I’m famished.”
    He spotted them the moment he walked into the funky café. Even in this colorful atmosphere,Hailey’s wild red hair stood out like a beacon. She and Nicole were sitting in a booth beside the windows, plates of delicious-looking food in front of them. He made his way over and slid in beside Nicole.
    â€œAh, fairest damsels in the land, thank you for taking pity on a starving man.” There was a basket of bread on the table with only one piece left, and it didn’t look as if the women were going to eat it. He slathered butter on and bit into it.
    Hailey smiled a shy greeting at him. She had a first-rate smile—he’d noticed that before. It started in her eyes and moved slowly to her mouth. And that damned hair looked as if an electrical current ran through it.
    The waitress appeared as if by magic and put a steaming bowl of soup in front of him, along with another basket of warm, fresh bread.
    â€œWhatever this is, it’s my favorite.” He took a spoonful and groaned with pleasure. “Ignore me, please. Just go on talking about whatever it was you were talking about before I barged in. I’ve always wanted to know what females talk about when there aren’t any men around.”
    â€œMen, of course.” Nicole leaned her elbows on the table. “But we’ll change the subject now. No point in revealing all our secrets. What are you doing working so late, Roy?”
    â€œThe dreaded paperwork. I was warned that if I didn’t do something about the mountain on my desk, they’d hold back my paycheck. I’m so far behind I need a rearview mirror.” He emptied the soup bowlin a few huge gulps and buttered another chunk of bread. “What else did you order for me?”
    â€œWe just told them to serve you the largest of the entrées. I think it was roasted ox or something, wasn’t it, Hailey?” Nicole knew that he stuck to a basically vegetarian diet.
    â€œStewed buffalo tongue.” Obviously Hailey had caught on, as well. She shot him a mischievous look.
    â€œTonight I’m hungry enough to eat raw venison.” Roy grinned at her. He liked Hailey’s husky voice, the way it wandered up and down like a musical instrument she couldn’t quite control.
    â€œNicole was about to tell me how she got interested in landscape architecture,” Hailey added, taking a forkful of her dinner. It looked like fresh fish in some sort of wonderful sauce.
    â€œSubtitled dirt to dirt in five generations, much to the horror of my upwardly mobile family.” Nicole laughed. “Our distant ancestors had a gardening business in Milan, but then the family moved to Vancouver and our great-grandfather—who was a hunk if those black-and-white photos are to be believed—capitalized on his looks and married up. Great-grandma was no beauty, but she had pots of money. Her father was one of the early lumber barons. They had a slew of kids—must have had a great sexual relationship—and everyone got university educations, invested in real estate, went into law, expanded the family fortune.