Chapter 7
SEVEN
Hollie
Jesse hopped into the driver’s seat, and cranked the ignition. A soft, relieved smile rested on his face. Ever since the doctor gave us the all-clear, he’d been smiling.
I couldn’t help but smile, too.
In fact, my cheeks were hurting from all the smiling, but I couldn’t figure out why I was so happy.
I told myself we were just a fun bunch, matched well for an evening of chaos.
But my eyes kept drifting to the driver’s seat, admiring the way Jesse’s forearms flexed when he spun the steering wheel.
His hat sat on the console between us, and the urge to grab it and take a long draw of its scent made my fingers twitch.
If he smiled, I did too.
If he laughed, so did I.
And if he looked at me, I looked right back.
This was the most carefree I’d felt in a long time. Was euphoria a post-adrenaline thing? I didn’t know, but it sounded legit. I hoped so. Then I could conveniently blame whatever I was feeling on my chemical make-up and stress response.
We didn’t eat at the hospital and decided to hit up a McDonalds on the way to Meadowbrook instead.
Jesse took us to one with a gigantic play place and the girls were thrilled.
They screamed with delight when we pulled into the parking lot.
All three of the children were cooped up, ready to run, and absolutely starving.
Once we missed the rehearsal dinner, our hurry completely vanished. I couldn’t speak for Jesse, but part of me wanted to linger here with the two of them. Once we arrived at the ranch, wedding festivities would tie us up and we wouldn’t get time again.
I didn’t wait for Jesse to come open the truck door for me even though he headed around to my side. I threw it open on my own, grabbed the inside handle and put my heel on the step rail.
But my heel slipped off the rail and crashed into the pavement.
I yelped like a puppy and tears stormed my eyes.
The two and a half foot drop shouldn’t have hurt, but I hit it just right—the impact jolting my tendons.
I held my breath, feeling red flush over my cheeks, as I wrestled back a cry of pain.
Before I could blink, Jesse was there, reaching out to steady me with his hand. “Did you fall?”
“I landed on my ankle wrong,” I said with a groan. “I’ll be—fine.”
Jesse frowned in concern, not letting go of my elbow. “You sure?”
I nodded, denying my body a release of emotions.
Nora twirled. “Come on, Mom! Let’s go.”
Jesse asked, “You think you can walk?”
I waved like the question was crazy. “Of course!”
He backed off but hovered at my eight o’clock.
Casually, I turned back to the truck and swiped my canvas bag off the floorboard. Then, bracing myself on the truck’s door jamb, I took a tentative step forward.
A squeak of pain wrenched out of my throat.
“You are not fine.” Jesse’s hand found my elbow again.
The lights from the playground windows illuminated where we stood on the pavement, and moths bounced on the street lights glowing to life against the deep purple sky. I could see straight into the playground—the tables, the parents, the children darting in and out of the slide.
“Girls,” I said, “you can go ahead and play.” I grit my teeth against the pain still shooting up my leg. “Take your shoes off and stay in the playground area until I get there, okay?”
“Okay!” With that, Izzy checked both ways in the parking lot then darted across with Nora trailing behind her.
Jesse nodded at Cade. “Go on. Keep an eye out.”
“Yes sir.” Cade turned to catch up with the girls.
I hissed through my teeth. “You go, too. I’ll be fine in thirty seconds.”
“I can wait thirty seconds.”
“Okay, probably more like three minutes if I’m being honest. Just go. I’m serious.”
“I’m not leaving you in a dark parking lot.”
I huffed, letting my eyes roll toward the grey-purple sky. “It’s hardly dark.”
“Dark enough.”
“For what?”
He shrugged, his fingers shifting on the soft part of my arm. “Crime?”
I snorted a laugh. “I can take care of myself.”
Jesse chuckled, the sound warm and rich. “I have no doubt about that, but if I’m around, you shouldn’t have to.”
My self-assertion faltered momentarily.
Jesse took baby steps alongside me as I started shuffling toward the door. “Can you at least hold my arm?”
“I told you I got—” I misjudged a step, landing harder on my ankle than I meant to. The resulting sound was an embarrassing yowl. Before I could react further, Jesse scooped me into the cradle of his arms.
And I panicked like a wild animal being handled for the first time.
I twisted in revulsion, yanking my arm away from his neck.
He got the message, quickly placing my feet back on the concrete—his outstretched hands flying to his face to prove innocence. “Whoa! Whoa! Look, I’m just trying to help. You can’t walk.”
“I can walk.”
He narrowed his eyes, the tiniest puff of laughter moving his cheeks before he shook his head in disbelief. “Just admit you need help.”
My gaze found Jesse’s and his soft, green irises pulled me in so quickly I nearly melted into a puddle. I took a quiet inhale then quietly admitted, “I—I don’t like being helped.”
“I can see that.” His eyes narrowed slightly, like I was a puzzle he could solve. “But I’m not leaving you out here. Will you let me carry you?”
I looked at the huge windows surrounding the play place just in time to see Nora and Izzy dart into a tunnel. Cade had his hands in his pockets, boots on. He glanced out the window at us. I swallowed my pride. “Okay.”
Tentatively, he scooped me up again, his arms banding around the back of my thighs and spine. The span of his chest was strong and firm, his hold on me so soft comparatively. He lifted, shifting me up until I accidentally bumped the bottom of his bristly chin with my head. “This okay?”
“Yes, except for the fact that I feel utterly ridiculous.”
He walked. “I felt ridiculous earlier.”
“You had a valid reason.” I shot back.
“Need of any kind is valid.”
I would say the same thing if I wasn’t the one taking a hand-out. I was good at managing other people, at meeting needs without being asked, or gauging the emotional temperature of others around me. That was my super power.
Receiving care though? Not so much.
With swift strides, Jesse made it to the first glass door.
“Push it.” He said, his voice just a touch strained.
Our coordination wouldn’t rival a newborn baby’s. He took an awkward step forward as my hand slipped off the door bar, slamming the glass against the top of my head.
“Ouch!” I laughed as I moaned in pain.
“I’m sorry—” Jesse stumbled as his knee cracked against the glass with a loud thud. “Ow—shit. My knee.” A rumble in his chest told me he was laughing, even though I couldn’t see his smile from my angle.
“Are you okay?”
“I knew my kneecaps weren’t safe with you.”
His callback made me scoff out a laugh. “It wasn’t my fault!”
Scrambling to compensate, he swung the door back with the toe of his boot, turned to let it hit his butt, then side-stepped us into the foyer area. He wheezed in a breath.“I’m—so sorry.”
I cracked up as I rubbed my forehead. “I’m getting beat to a pulp.”
“We’re gonna end up in the ER again.” He fully laughed with me, his movements losing a bit of control. The sound that escaped his throat was…a giggle? I nearly swooned.
He began his struggle with the second door. “Damn. How many doors are there?”
That comment did me in.
My head fell back as I cackled. “You’re dropping me—just put me down. This is embarrassing.”
“I’m finishing this—with my head high.”
I feebly reached out to push at the door, but laughter stole my strength. We probably looked ridiculous, frantically pawing at the glass and laughing our heads off.
With blessed timing, a customer exited and held the door open for us. Jesse’s voice, strained and breathless, thanked the stranger. Once inside, he stopped and shifted me upward again.
Between gasps for air, I asked, “Am I heavy?”
His voice scraped. “No, why?”
“Because your face is red—”
A burst of laughter.
“And it sounds like you can’t breathe—”
“You’re right, I can’t.”
“And I'm slipping—”
“Laughing makes me weak.”
Watching a strong, handsome cowboy completely fall apart lit a fire deep in my belly. He could’ve been concerned about what he looked like or the people surely staring at us, but he was fully in the moment, splitting with laughter, unhindered, unconcerned. Free.
Suddenly, I wondered what it was like to be Jesse’s.
To be the woman he touched and kissed. I wondered what it would be like to talk to him late into the night and see his face first thing every morning.
I blinked my imaginations away. Maybe the door hitting the top of my head damaged my frontal lobe because thoughts like that bordered on clinical insanity.
It was much too soon for me to be having thoughts like that.
Shuffling up to the counter, Jesse lifted me a few inches higher and put my butt on the counter.
On the counter.
Between him and the wide-eyed McDonald’s employee.
He took a deep, steadying breath, his exhale a whisper of a laugh, breaths heavy between words. “I’m gonna—set her here. Hope that’s—okay.”
The teenaged girl mumbled. “Um…okay.”
I sat, legs dangling off the counter, facing Jesse as his gaze flitted over the menu.
He adjusted his belt buckle, unintentionally calling my gaze to the perfect fit of his wranglers.
He raised the cowboy hat off his head and raked a hand through his loose red-brown waves.
With a smile in his eyes, he put his hat back on and said, “You first.”
Thank goodness I had the McDonalds’ menu memorized, because there was no way I’d be able to shift around enough to see it. I spouted my order over my shoulder then lifted off the counter to get my debit card from my back pocket.
Jesse drew closer to the card reader and waved me away from it. “I got it.”