Chapter Twelve #3
Roger wagged his tail and whined contentedly in response.
Josh returned. He brought the walker to her side and left again. When he came back, he had a pile of pillows. He put two of them at the head of the bed. Pushing back the covers, he stacked three for her to rest her injured ankle on.
“Let me help with that ankle wrap,” he said. “It looks really tight.” Dropping to the edge of the bed, he gently lifted her foot and set it across his lap. Carefully, he unwrapped the elastic bandage and rewrapped it more loosely. “How’s that?”
“It’s good. That’ll work.”
“Okay, then.” He went into her bathroom and came out with a glass of water and two ibuprofen. She took them. He refilled the glass and brought it back to her along with two more pills. “In case you need them in the middle of the night.”
“Thank you,” she replied for the hundredth time in the past eight hours or so. “Have you got everything you need in the other room?” He was using the rollaway in her home office and sharing the upstairs hall bath with Dillon.
“I’m fine—come on. Time to brush your teeth.”
“Josh. I can manage that on my own.”
He shook his head. “No way. Too dangerous. You need two hands to put the toothpaste on the brush.”
“I believe I’m capable of brushing my own teeth.”
“I didn’t say I’d brush them for you. I’ll just help when I’m needed.”
“Josh, I can handle it.”
“But you don’t need to handle it all by yourself because I’m here. Come on, now. Follow me.” He went into her bathroom, and she hobbled after him with the walker.
Once she’d brushed her teeth and cleaned her face, he helped her get settled back in bed. “You good?” he asked, bending close. Before she could answer, he straightened. “Be right back,” he said and headed for the door.
“But…” She didn’t bother to continue. He was already gone.
And it didn’t take him long to return with the ice pack. “Oh, no,” she groaned.
“Just this one more time tonight. It’s only twenty minutes…”
She let a dirty look speak for her. He ignored her pissed-off expression as he got her ankle propped up with the ice on it.
“I’ll be back,” he said yet again and left.
When he returned twenty minutes later, he was wearing gray sweatpants and a T-shirt.
“All ready for bed?” she asked.
“You bet.” He removed the ice pack and helped her settle the blankets over her propped-up foot.
Then he carried her water glass to the bathroom and refilled it.
“In case you get thirsty during the night…” He gave her that smile, the one that inevitably managed to make her feel better about everything.
The truth was, she wanted him to stay—and not in the other room. She wanted him right here with her.
But it seemed wrong to ask him to sleep in her bed with her when Dillon might have a bad dream or some other issue and come looking for her in the middle of the night.
If Dillon did that, there would be no pretending she was alone.
She could hardly jump up and stick her head out the door to talk to him the way Josh had done with the boys in the past.
Maybe Dillon wouldn’t be the least concerned to find his mom and his best friend’s dad sharing a bed. But still, it was the kind of step she just didn’t feel right about taking.
“Stay for a minute?” She carefully eased her injured ankle off the pillows. Sitting up, she lowered both feettoo the floor.
“That’s not good. You need that ankle elevated,” he warned.
“I know.” The truth was that he ankle did hurt quite a bit in this position. But so what? She’d prop it up on the pillows again soon. She patted the mattress. “Come down here.”
Josh hesitated. “I really think you should—”
She patted the mattress again. “Just for a minute.” When he finally sat beside her, she took his hand. “I wanted to say how much I appreciate your help. Because I do. A lot.”
He chuckled then.
She peered at him more closely. “Something’s funny?”
“Riley, it’s okay.”
“Hey.” She poked him lightly with her elbow. “You deserve a boatload of thank-yous. You truly do.”
He nudged her with his shoulder. “It’s not the thank-yous I’m talking about.”
“Then what?”
“I meant that I understand,” he said.
“Er, what is it exactly that you understand?”
“Let me put it this way.” He pressed his lips into her hair. “Yes, I want to sleep in here with you, but I get that it’s a bad idea.”
She considered pretending she had no idea what he was talking about. But then she chuckled. “I’m that transparent?”
He shrugged. “We’ve got history. I know you.”
She stared up at him, unsure what to say. It happened right then—that flutter just beneath her rib cage followed by a definite kick. “Oh!” She put her palm to the spot.
“What?” Josh looked worried.
She gave him a giant smile. “Somebody just kicked me…”
His eyes widened. “The baby?”
She took his hand and pressed it lightly to the swell of her belly. “Wait…”
The kick came again. He let out a low laugh.
“I’ll be damned… Wow.” They beamed at each other.
And then they just sat there side by side, his hand on the outer curve of her belly.
“There,” he said. He took her hand. “Feel…” He lowered her palm to the right spot, and there it was, that perfect, insistent flutter.
For several minutes they took turns feeling for the next kick. She let her head rest on his shoulder. She could sit there forever, leaning on Josh, willing their baby to kick one more time.
But then he shifted beside her. “I should go.”
She sat up straight. “Of course.”
He stood and then bent to press a kiss to her forehead. “Good night.”
She waited until he reached the door before replying, “’Night, Josh.” A moment later, the door clicked shut behind him.
For several seconds, she stared at that shut door, feeling sentimental and ridiculous. He was only in the other room—and yet she missed not having him right here with her.
Carefully, she stretched out, eased her bad ankle back under the covers and got it propped on the pillows at the foot of the bed.
Under no circumstances would she text him right now. He’d just left, for heaven’s sake.
And as soon as she had that phone in her hand, there would be no stopping her. She would end up begging him to come back to her room—just for a little while.
But then a little while wouldn’t be nearly enough. In the end, she would find a way to convince them both that it was perfectly acceptable for him to spend the night in her bed.
She turned off the light, closed her eyes, gritted her teeth and reminded herself yet again that she was not going to reach for her phone on the nightstand. No way.