CHAPTER 19 #2
“I think it’s just the gash on one hand and a cut on one foot.
There are some scrapes on his legs but they’re minor.
Do you think you can help me get him to the truck next door?
” Aiden asks. I frown, distracted by the trail of blood from the bathroom to the bed and up my dad’s leg.
“Harper? We should get him to the hospital.”
My dad starts to tremble at that word, and I shake my head, “I’ll call Betty, she can be here in one minute,” I say. But I don’t move.
“Harper,” Aiden says my name like he says Stu’s name. “Go upstairs and get your phone, okay? Right now.”
“Rip,” I reply, then I do as he says. I bound up the stairs, grab my phone, struggle to unlock it with my trembling fingers, and call Betty.
She answers and is on her way out the door before we finish our thirty second call.
She can start to stitch him up and will know if we truly need to get to a hospital.
It’s no small thing, going in to the ER. We don’t have one in town and if we’re in a hurry they have a to call for a helicopter. Dramatic, scary and really expensive.
I rush back down and am shocked and sick to my stomach all over again at the sight of the blood. It’s jarring, how dark it is. And how much. Is he going to die?
“Dad?” I say, searching his features.
“I’m ok,” he rasps.
“You’d say that if you were dying!” I sound a little hysterical.
Aiden wraps his big, warm hand around my bicep and says, “He’s not dying, Harper. He just must’ve nicked a vein. Who did you say was coming? Betty?”
“His nurse. Shelly’s sister, you met her,” I say, still sounding weird.
Aiden squeezes my arm, “Yes, of course. Can you go wait for her out front?”
“Uh, yeah, yes, okay,” I mumble as I back out of the room. The further I get from the blood, the better I feel. In just a minute or two, Betty is letting herself in the front door like she usually does during the day.
“Where?”
“His bedroom,” I say. “He had a glass in the bathroom and it shattered, then he fell. Aiden got him up.”
“Chip, you ol’ bastard, what’d I tell you about glass, huh?” She starts to examine his hand then his foot, “If you want to see me so badly you can just call,” Betty jokes. She looks back at me, “I got this, we don’t need to go in.”
I almost collapse with relief. I do actually fall into the door jamb.
Aiden watches me while I watch the nurse…who is currently grabbing a crop ton of equipment from her bag! He asks her, “Do you need us, Betty?”
“No, go on, get him set up to sleep in the recliner,” she says to me. “We can clean the mess tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I say, but as I turn to leave my knees give out.
“Hey,” Aiden says, grabbing hold of me before I hit the wall. “Easy, easy. Come on,” he puts his arm around my waist and throws my arm over his shoulder. He’s warm and firm and so very shirtless around me.
“I’m fine,” I try.
Aiden grunts, “The wall begs to differ, Sweetheart.”
Sweetheart?!
“I don’t need…” I try to pull away. But my stomach has different ideas. “I—”
I…
I am throwing up. All over the floor. At least we hit the tile at the end of the hallway.
“Shhh, shhh, It’s all right. Let me help you,” Aiden says, calm as ever, holding me up.
“Are you fin…oh, no, bit more then? Okay.” He says, narrating what has got to be one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.
I beg my body to chill the heck out but it does not.
“Oh wow, bit more, okay. It’s alright, just the shock, Harper. Let it out, it’s fine.”
“It’s gross!” I squeak.
“True,” he says.
“Aiden!”
He lets out a little laugh, “I told you I always tell the truth.”
“I told you to leave me alone,” I say, trying to think about anything other than blood or vomit.
“I never agreed,” he says, as the hand not currently holding me up moves to push a stray curl off my forehead.
I moan and admit, “I don’t want you to see me like this.”
“I believe that ship has sailed. Just breathe, Harper. Just relax,” he commands and my body obeys. After who knows how long, I am able to stand upright.
“Water, yeah?” Aiden says as he leads me to the kitchen, hand still holding my waist. I watch the muscles in his back shift as he gets down a plastic tumbler—what Dad should have had in his room—and fills it with water from the fridge.
“Thank you for the food,” I whisper, feeling overwhelmed. Aiden stalks to me with the water and looks down, his eyes are…soft. He opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by Betty.
“Aiden, could you help me get him in the chair?”
“Uh huh,” he calls to her but now that the water is in my hand, he’s got his fingers wrapped firmly around my shoulders. “Are you all right for a moment?”
“Yes, go,” I say, beyond embarrassed. I hear them coordinating the lift to get my dad standing. I watch as they work together to guide him to his chair while shielding his injured foot.
“Watch just there,” Aiden warns Betty about my mess.
“Oh, I’ll get that,” she says.
“No, I can clean it,” I say, blushing all over again.
“Honey, I’m a nurse. I could clean that while eating a turkey sandwich and wiping someone’s ass. You don’t even worry about it.”
Aiden chuckles, Dad and I both groan. Gross. We are really gross right now.
“Tha…tha…” my father starts.
“You’re welcome, sir,” Aiden says. He helps my father settle back into the recliner while Betty grabs the blanket from the closet I never made it to. “Happy to finally meet you. Wish it’d been under better circumstances, of course.”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t let him charm you, Chip. This is the billionaire I was telling you about,” she says, throwing Aiden and me a wink.
I have no idea what she’s told my dad. He and I don’t talk about the store or the town or anything really. Because it all makes him angry and that makes me sad.
I’m tired of being sad.
Right now, I’m just tired.
“Come, let’s get you to bed,” Aiden says as he re-enters the kitchen.
I put down my water and shake my head, “I got it.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” he says, reaching around my waist again.
“Really,” I say, pulling out of his hold. I wobble, which he notices.
He sighs, “Let me just make sure you get up the stairs, if you faint and fall there will just be more for me and poor Betty to clean.”
“Are you making jokes right now?”
“Not funny ones,” he smirks down at me.
I roll my eyes, but I can’t help but lean into the warmth of him, the strength. There’s just something steady about him. Like he’s dependable and…well, honest. If he didn’t want to help me up the stairs, he wouldn’t say so. He wouldn’t try. I exhale, “Fine, you can help me up the stairs.”
He does. My room is right off of the landing, so he walks right in with me. He looks around with scrunched eyebrows.
“What?” I ask him as I toe off my shoes with his help.
“I suppose I expected palm trees,” he says. I point to my sheets. He leans in, looking at the tiny pattern. He grins like he’s pleased to be right. A common feeling for him, I think.
I yawn, “It used to be a California explosion in here but Lily had me redecorate after…” my voice trails off.
“After JimBo?” He asks.
“Yeah,” I say, yawning again.
He pulls back my bedding and points, “In you go.”
“You are not tucking me in,” I say.
He makes a show of looking around, “All evidence points to the contrary.”
“Aiden! Go away!”
He holds the bridge of his nose like he’s annoyed with me and says, “Listen, I’ll feel better knowing you’re squared away, yeah? So just do this for me and get in your bed.”
“No, this has been embarrassing enough,” I say.
He peers down at me. I’m not surprised to hear the words, “Let’s negotiate.”
“Ugh!” I growl, “You are so annoying!”
“Ditto.”
“Ughhhhhrrrr!”
I don’t negotiate, since I get the feeling he would really love it. Instead, I throw myself into my bed, cover myself in one swift motion then turn to face away from him. Like a child.
“Happy now?” I ask.
“Hardly,” he says. “But I will leave anyway.”
“Good.”
He turns to go but pauses, I think in the doorway. He clears his throat before saying, “I know you’ve said we’re not friends but, if you need something, just text me. I can come right over, because I’m just there, yeah? I’m right across the street.”
I don’t respond.
He leaves.
We both know what neither of us said out loud.
He’s across the street for now.
But not for long.