Read A Very Important Guest for Free Online

heart failure. It was a slow decline.”
    “That’s rough. Were you close?”
    “Not particularly. Chuck was a big officer in the Navy. He was always kind to me, but we never really connected. When he and my mom met, he’d just become a widower. He was over twenty years older than my mom with two grown sons. He adored her, but I don’t think he knew what to do with me. I was just a little girl.” She looked at Will for a few seconds and saw he was listening intently. “Don’t get me wrong. He was a good man. I liked him, and my mom loved him.”
    “But your mom’s sick now?” he ventured.
    She kept her attention fixed on the car in front of her. “Yeah. We can talk about it later.”
    “Okay,” he said softly. His curiosity must’ve gotten the best of him because he asked, “And where is your father?”
    “He lives in San Diego . We’re close, but I don’t get to see him that often.”
    “When did your parents divorce?”
    “I was two. He was a Navy SEAL when he was younger and always off on some crazy mission.”
    “Wow. That’s impressive.”
    “Yeah, but my mom couldn’t handle the secrecy and long absences. It was hard for her, being alone all the time with a baby. Not long after they divorced, Chuck walked into her life to take care of her—and me, I guess.” She stopped the car at a red light and looked at him again. “I can’t complain at all about my upbringing. I lived in a happy home, and though he's never been around often, my dad has always been wonderful.”
    He smiled. “I’d say you turned out great.”
    “Thanks.” His eyes were warm, but there was something saucy in his expression, like he was checking her out. She shifted in her seat, feeling awkward under his sexy stare. When the light changed, she tried to change the subject. “So tell me about your family. Do you have brothers and sisters?”
    For the rest of the way to the restaurant, Will detailed a short history of his parents’ fairy tale romance and his life growing up with four brothers and sisters. To Abby, it sounded like a happy family with normal tensions that were bound to occur with that many children living under one roof of limited means. Will didn’t care if it was normal or not; he seemed to have had his fill of one of his brothers.
    When they arrived at the restaurant, Abby spoke to the hostess in pitch-perfect Japanese.
    Will chuckled. “I’d gladly trade my brother, Eric, to have grown-up overseas.”
    “You don’t mean that.”
    “Sometimes I do,” he grumbled.
    When the hostess seated them, Abby said, “Then I would’ve taken your brother and learned Japanese in a classroom.”
    “No way.”
    “Why not?”
    “I mean there’s no way I’d let my brother anywhere near you. He’d immediately hit on you.”
    “Not if I was his sister …”
    “That’s probably the only way he wouldn’t.”
    The waiter came, and Abby quickly ordered for them both. Afterward, Will said, “So you really wanted a sibling closer to your age, not just older stepbrothers?”
    “When I was younger, I thought about it sometimes.” She bit the inside of her cheek because the perfect opportunity had arisen. She’d found the segue that made what she had to say easier. Fiddling with her chopsticks, she said, “Now I really wish I had at least one sibling.”
    “Why is that? At this age, you may not even live in the same city. You’d never see them.”
    She sighed and blurted out her plight. “Because then I wouldn’t be the only person in the world taking care of my mom.”
    Will’s face softened as his brow furrowed. Reaching over to take her hand in his, he said, “I’m so sorry, Abby. I didn’t know you were alone. What does she have?”
    “Alzheimer’s.” She swallowed. It was a bitter word for her.
    “Alzheimer’s? How old is she?”
    “She’s fifty-two. It’s early-onset Alzheimer’s. It’s rare, but it does happen.”
    “That’s horrible. When did it come on?”
    “In her early