Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Levi
I slap together a quick sandwich, wrap it in a napkin in case he’s in the shower a while, and then make my way to Skyler’s room. He’s just coming out of the bathroom when I get there. Most of the paint is gone, but there’s still a smudge of blue across his belly that makes me smile as I hand him the sandwich. “Did you take your pill?”
“Yeah, as soon as I got in here. Thanks, man.” He takes the sandwich and eats half of it in two giant bites. Then he sets the other half down and finishes drying off before he scarfs down the rest. I can’t help but admire his naked body.
“Does massage ever help the headaches?”
Skyler squints at me and flops onto his bed—still naked. “You offering?”
“If you think it might help.”
“The biggest help would be to close the drapes and make it as dark as possible in here. I really need to close my eyes, Levi. This is a bad one. But if you could give me a head massage, that might feel great.”
I do what he asks and shut the drapes. It takes me a moment to adjust to the dark, but then I can see where he is and how to get to him without falling over the furniture and hurting myself.
It’s good we don’t have anything to get done today. My hip feels like it’s on fire after fucking Brooke in a bit of an awkward position. I would do it again in a heartbeat though. Some things are so worth it.
“Okay, lie down however you’re comfortable.” Skyler stretches out on his uninjured side, and I climb onto the bed behind him. Fortunately, I can get comfortable next to him on my good side this way. I’ve never massaged anyone’s head before, but I know mine is sensitive, so I start by gently running my fingers through his hair. It crosses my mind that this ought to seem weird, but it doesn’t at all. His breathing goes from a little too fast to a smoother tempo as I switch to softly using my nails on his scalp. I scratch him rhythmically and notice how the muscles in his neck and shoulders relax.
“Feels good,” he mumbles. “But I’m gonna try to sleep now. Stay?”
“Sure.” I slide my hand out of his thick hair. I’m not exactly sure what to do with my hand, but he reaches around and pulls my arm around him. I have no choice but to be the big spoon this way. It’s nice. Wow…things have certainly changed.
Skyler drifts off, and although I doubt that I can, I doze as well. After a couple of hours like this, though, I start to get antsy and disentangle myself from him. He moans a little when I pull away, and I can’t help giving him a pat and whispering, “Stay asleep, Sky. You’ll feel better soon.” I hope he does.
I wander off in search of Brooke or my guitar. I need a distraction. She isn’t in our bedroom, but my guitar is, so I grab it and head out. Playing outside might be a good idea in case I end up making too much noise for Skyler.
I find Brooke in the screened porch, scowling at her laptop. “Everything okay, babe?”
She sighs and says, “Yeah, it’ll be fine. I shouldn’t have left so much work undone though. A couple of the people in my department tried to fill in, and they messed up the code. Now I have extra work as well as makeup work. What have you been up to?”
“I tried to help Skyler get rid of his headache by giving him a scalp massage and ended up falling asleep with him. He’s still out like a light, but I was done sleeping.”
“Planning to make some beautiful music?”
Shrugging, I answer, “I don’t know how beautiful it’ll be, but it might be fun to call that guy back at the bar and see about scheduling a gig there one of these nights.”
She gives me her signature radiant smile and says, “Go for it!” Then she looks a lot more serious and adds, “You and I need to have a chat about what we plan to do. If we really are moving here, we’ll need to go back and clear out our house and make some decisions. We sure don’t want to pay an extra month’s rent because we sat around and didn’t do anything, but it’s good we don’t have a lease to worry about. We’ve been on vacation for a while and need to do some adulting.” She smiles. “Play your music now, though, and I’ll try to untangle some of this mess. Then we can talk about it after dinner if Skyler is feeling better.”
Just as I reach for my guitar case, we hear a car drive up. We both turn to see a squarely built lady with salt and pepper hair somewhere in her late fifties stepping out and bustling up to the back door. She doesn’t knock; she just reaches for the knob and huffs angrily when it doesn’t turn.
“Can I help you?” I call out to her. Doesn’t anyone ever knock? Is Skyler’s house always open to just anybody?
She jumps and clutches her heart. Great. I’ve frightened her.
“Goodness gracious!” She pants. “You gave me such a start. Would you unlock this door? I can’t imagine?—”
“And you are…?”
“Oh, silly me,” she simpers. “Sorry. I’m Marjorie Henshaw, Skyler’s housekeeper. I was planning to show up tomorrow, but I was sitting around my little place with absolutely nothing to do, so I decided I would come back to work early. I hate having time on my hands. I’ve been gone so long, there must be laundry, shopping, cooking…whatever I can do around here. This is such a beautiful place, and Skyler is such a dear. I love being here, you know. And I’m quite good at my job. He’s very happy to have me.”
So much for privacy, and my ears are already tired . I head in and open the back door for her as she asks, “I can’t imagine why on earth it was locked. No one in Honeybee Hollow bothers to lock their doors. Does Skyler know you’re locking his door? It’s just not done!” She immediately floods the room with brightness as she flips the switch for the kitchen lights. I don’t have a headache, and it’s a little too much even for me given that the room is already full of sunlight from the large windows.
“My mistake. It comes from my severe dislike of bad surprises, and we’ve recently had a walk-in who wasn’t welcome.” I seriously doubt no one locks their doors around here with the number of busybodies on the loose. It’s probably more like Skyler doesn’t trust her with a key and knows when she’s coming. Although…he is a little lax about locking up.
She gives me a funny look as Brooke wanders into the kitchen and sticks out her hand. “Hi, Mrs. Henshaw, I’m Brooke Spencer. This is Levi.”
Mrs. Henshaw stares briefly at Brooke’s outstretched hand before giving it a perfunctory shake. She glances around and asks, “Where’s my Skyler? You aren’t here without him, are you?”
“He’s kind of under the weather right now, so whatever you do, you don’t want to be making too much noise,” I tell her.
“Oh, my poor boy. In that case, I’ll make him his favorite dinner—he just loves my cooking—and I’ll tackle some laundry, but I’ll leave the vacuuming for tomorrow. How long are you planning to stay, anyway? Skyler mentioned he might be having guests, but I thought you’d be gone by now. Aren’t you about ready to head back to…uh…wherever?”
“We need to discuss our plans with Skyler, if you’ll excuse us,” Brooke tells her. “Um…actually, do you think you could just come back tomorrow instead? Skyler is feeling pretty awful, and I’m not sure he’ll want much for dinner. If he does get hungry later, I’ll be happy to fix him something. We have plenty of groceries.”
“Well, I think I ought to check with my employer before I make any decisions like that…”’
“Ma’am,” I interrupt. “No one was expecting you today. If you go home now, it won’t make a bit of difference to Skyler, and you won’t disturb him.”
“Well! You’re a little sure of yourself, mister. I’ve been taking care of him for a long time, and…”
“Mrs. Henshaw? What are you doing here?” Skyler croaks. He walks into the kitchen in nothing but boxers, looking mussed and wobbly. He’s squinting and has his hand shielding his eyes, so I quickly reach to turn off the overhead lights. “Thanks, Levi,” he says. “I need more Gatorade. Do you mind?”
“What you need is some of my chicken broth, young man, not that awful yellow stuff!” Mrs. Henshaw says too loudly. “You’re obviously not taking good care of yourself, and you’re running around practically naked in front of company. What would your parents think?” Skyler flinches at the volume.
I reach into the fridge and root around for another bottle. I offer it to Skyler, noticing that his hand is a little shaky. Poor guy.
Ignoring her comments about chicken broth and his lack of clothes, Skyler takes the Gatorade and twists off the lid. He chugs a few gulps and then looks at her with a pained expression. “Mrs. Henshaw, If you really need to accomplish something worthwhile, why don’t you just go change the bed linens in all of the upstairs rooms? Forget the master suite for now. That’s all I need for today. I’m going back to bed in a few minutes. Please don’t bother my friends about anything , and the next time you insult me or one of them, you’ll be looking for another job. They’re going to be living here permanently. Consider Brooke and Levi your employers too from now on, and whatever they say goes for me.” Apparently, he heard some of the conversation before he entered the kitchen, and well…wow. He has made a public declaration that we’re here to stay. Honestly, there’s nowhere I’d rather be. This place already feels like home.
Brooke adds, “We’re covered for dinner tonight, thanks. Maybe another time you can fix Skyler’s favorite for all of us. I’m sure he’d appreciate that.” You can always count on Brooke to try to smooth things over in a tough situation. She probably developed that talent from being around me with my difficult moods. In any case, it makes me love her all the more.
Mrs. Henshaw ignores Brooke and says in a stilted voice, “Yes, Skyler.” She heads for the stairs where she stops and turns back asking, “Are you having financial trouble and need paying roommates all of a sudden? Are you trying to cut my hours and pay me less because of that?”
“My personal life is none of your concern. You’re on thin ice, Mrs. Henshaw.” Skyler glares at her through his pained expression.
She sticks her nose in the air and huffs away, clomping up the stairs. Apparently, she doesn’t do “quiet” very well.
Skyler sinks down onto one of the kitchen chairs as if this exchange cost him dearly. He looks miserable, so I step behind him and resume my scalp massage, hoping to give him some relief. He pushes against my fingers like a cat and makes a satisfied hum. Smiling at his appreciation, I can’t help wondering at the housekeeper’s familiarity in calling him by his first name, while he calls her Mrs. Henshaw. We haven’t exactly gotten off on a good foot, so I hope it gets better…or he fires her. I wouldn’t miss her.
“She seems a tad protective of you, Skyler,” Brooke points out. “What’s her deal?”
With his eyes closed he says, “Oh, that’s so good, Levi. Thanks. When I first got back from Walter Reed, I stayed with my parents for a couple of weeks, and then my mom suggested I hire Mrs. Henshaw if I wanted to move back here. It seemed like a good idea for a while. But she’s been getting on my nerves more and more. I was happy to tell her to take a couple of weeks off when I hoped you might come back with me. I thought I’d see how I did without her. Then I worried maybe you might think I was having you guys move in so Brooke would do all of the cooking and cleaning, and believe me, that never crossed my mind.”
“You’ve easily done as much of the cooking as I have, if not more. I don’t see why we can’t all just share the housework. Do we really need a housekeeper? You could just get rid of her. Levi and I can help,” Brooke says.
We hear a gasp from the doorway. Uh oh.