Chapter 32
Andi
The next morning I get to see a whole new side to Kevin. A whole new very cranky side. Makes sense; I think I’d heard that day two or three after surgery is usually the most painful.
“What day is this?” he grumbles when a nurse comes in to do an early-morning vitals check. The sky is starting to lighten behind the blinds.
“Sunday.” She’s brisk. Cheerful.
He grimaces, raises his arm, sniffs himself, and grimaces more fiercely. “I am disgusting. Can I take a shower?”
The nurse raises her brows. “I don’t know. Let me check. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He watches her go. “I’m supposed to teach tomorrow. I didn’t even think of that. I’ve got to get hold of the school.” His voice is brusque. “I can’t believe I didn’t already do that.”
“When you were bleeding on the sidewalk?” I can tell he needs a little teasing. “Or when you were in surgery, or all doped up in recovery? Or when half the residents of Nebraska came swooping in?”
“Yeah, I guess that was…a lot.” He manages a half smile and a shake of the head.
The nurse comes back to say that he can take a shower very carefully, trying not to get his wound wet, on two conditions: someone has to be in there with him, and he has to sit on the shower stool to do it.
That sets him off again. “I am a full-grown man. A big, strong full-grown man. Who has managed to shower by himself for—”
I interrupt so the nurse won’t have to. “You are a big, strong full-grown man with a bullet wound and a surgical incision . Honestly, I’m a little insulted that you don’t want me in there soaping you up.”
He opens his mouth to argue, then he looks at me and changes course. “Okay, let’s do this.”
The nurse lets down the side of his hospital bed and we flank him as he slowly maneuvers himself to his feet. She sees us to the bathroom door and then, as she pulls it closed, says, “No sexual activity just yet. Be very careful in here, okay? If you fall, you might not be able to be discharged this morning.”
Kevin growls and limps over to the shower, reaching up to untie his hospital gown.
I tug the tie at his waist and then move around him to turn on the shower. When the water’s warm, I position the seat partly under the spray.
He drops the gown, glaring at it. I think he’d kick it if he could do it without hurting himself. He steps into the shower and I watch the water run down over his head and his big, beautiful body.
“Mmm. Bullet wound or not, you are a fine, fine man, babe.” I say it partly to raise his spirits and partly because it is so abundantly true.
His growl has a completely different tone to it this time. “If you’re gonna help me, you should at least take off your sweater and jeans so they don’t get wet.” He grips the grab bar with one hand and my arm with his other and lowers himself to the seat.
I eye him. “That is an excellent idea if you remember we’re all business in here. You want to go home, right? So no messing around, endangering that.”
“Gah! I hate this! Being so weak, not being able to walk right, not being able to take care of myself, not being able to…” He does look miserable, at least until I pull my sweater over my head and step out of July’s jeans.
We mostly do keep it to all business, with only a few stolen kisses and nibbles and caresses. Maybe a nuzzle or two. It’s actually relaxing. I suds him up in lazy circles, massage his scalp through his hair. Enjoy the feel of him relaxing back against me. His eyes drift shut and he says, “I can’t wait till we can do this right, with me doing my share…but I guess this isn’t so bad.”
Afterward, I hand him a towel and make him promise to stay seated while I grab the clean clothes I’d brought from his apartment. Not the sweats yet, because they’ll need to examine him during morning rounds and change the dressing one more time before they discharge him.
And everything does go smoothly with all that, even though it seems to take forever. At least they bring him a normal breakfast this morning.
He makes me eat some of it. “You and Lil Bit need fuel. I can eat more at the cottage.”
It’s three more hours before we can finally head home. Kevin had balked at first when the hospital staff insisted they had to wheel him down to the curb where I was waiting with the car, passenger seat partly reclined and pushed back as far as it would go. But he gave in to speed things up and because, I think, some part of him recognized that he really wouldn’t be able to safely walk that far so soon.
He calls Steve Jackson and Tisha from the car. Between the two of them, they had texted me four times yesterday to make sure he was okay. Now I can tell from Kevin’s side of the conversation that Tisha has already made arrangements for a sub and that she’s saying Kevin should just focus on getting well and they’ll talk next weekend about what to do after Thanksgiving.
My phone buzzes as we’re pulling into my garage. A text from Pattie: Some guys came by yesterday and cleaned up the street after police took down the caution tape. Spoke mostly Spanish. Said their kids are in Kevin’s class. Said to tell him they’re all praying for him.
Now I’m the one not feeling like a grown-up, sitting here in my garage, bawling like a baby, because other people love my big, sweet man too.
Oh shit.
Well, I’ll just have to think about this admission later. Thank god I only made it to myself.
Kevin takes the phone from my hand and reads the message himself. “This is…a really nice town.” His throat sounds clogged.
I squeeze his hand. “Yeah.”
It takes a few minutes for him to maneuver himself out of the car.
I hover and mostly try not to get in his way. “Think we should’ve gotten crutches?”
He grunts as he finally makes it to his feet. “I don’t think so. Or, well, maybe later. Not today.”
They’d told him to be very careful not to overdo things for the next week or two—no lifting of any kind, nothing too physical, a little walking but not too much, spend a lot of time with his leg elevated.
I unlock the door. “Where do you want to settle?”
He glances across the room to the love seat and then admits, “This morning was way more tiring than I expected. I think maybe the bedroom right now. Little nap…”
I move to his bad side, sliding my arm around his waist and lifting his arm around my shoulders, and we shuffle to my room. The borrowed air mattress leans against the far wall, already covered in sheets. My bed is turned down, ready for Kevin to slide in, and I know that if I go peek in the fridge, I’ll find it stocked with easy-to-serve foods.
Bless our friends.
Instead of giving in to teariness again, I help Kevin untie his shoes. He tugs off his hoodie and T-shirt and lowers himself to the mattress.
“Lordy, this feels good.” It comes out on a long sigh as he settles in and closes his eyes. He reaches out a hand toward me. “Why don’t you undress and come keep me warm?”
Tempting, except for the possibility that fooling around could kill him. “We’re not supposed to do that for a while.”
He sighs again. “I know, I know. I just want to cuddle. How about I lie here on my back just like this and you climb in and snuggle up real gentle-like.” He opens one eye and looks at me. “You don’t even have to take off your clothes if you don’t want to. But I’d be a happy, happy man if you did.”
It’s an irresistible idea, after all we’ve been through. “Let me take a quick shower and I’ll join you.”
I managed to control myself around all that smooth muscle while he was naked in the shower. I can maybe manage it again with him in sweats.
***
Kevin
I must’ve dozed off while she was showering, but I sure as heck wake up when she slides into bed and curls up next to me, smelling of toothpaste and her sweet shower stuff, one hand on my chest and her warm curves pressing against me.
“Mmm. Nice.” Her eyes are closed, her smile dreamy. She’s wrapped in her worn flannel robe, the soft fabric doing nothing to hide the lush, glorious shape of her.
I give her the best hug I can while flat on my back. Her hair is still damp when I slide my hand up her arm to tangle in it.
I meant what I said in the ambulance. The words are so clear in my mind that I watch for a reaction, in case I’d said them out loud.
But her eyes stay closed and her breathing is already slowing, this woman who has not left my side for more than an hour since my surgery. This woman who inspires enough love from her friends that it spills over onto me and onto my big, loud family none of them has met. This woman who slept in a recliner to be near me the past two nights, and who is more than a match for my force-of-nature mom and my smart-ass niece and my sometimes-overbearing brother. This woman whose body is sheltering and growing our little miracle as we lie here.
And who was the intended target of the bullet that almost took me out.
My fist clenches in her hair, so strong is my desire to hold her tight and keep her safe.
She doesn’t even stir, and eventually I drift back into sleep beside her, grateful for every moment of this life I am miraculously still part of.
***
A beeping sound rouses us. Andi yawns, kisses my pec, and rolls away to reach for her phone. “I set an alarm for one. I told your mom we’d call them by two.”
I take hold of her robe and tug her back, then groan when I see I’ve exposed her magnificent cleavage, all the way to her navel. If I could roll over without screaming, I’d bury my face right there.
Somebody needs to convince my dick to chill out for a few more days.
“The plan is, we stay right here and they stay wherever they are, and we’ll see them tomorrow.” I sound as cranky as Steve Jackson with a hangover. I’m starving in multiple ways and my leg aches like crazy.
Andi cuddles close again, studying my face, gently trapping my hand when I try to slide it into her robe. “Really? I can tell them that, if you need today to sleep without people waking you up every couple of hours.”
I sigh. Don’t know why I’m not more eager to spend time with my family, when I’ve missed them so much since I moved here. Wait, oh yeah, I do.
“We need to figure out what to tell them about the baby.” I trace her cheekbone with my knuckle. “Because when we see them, Mom will make exactly five minutes of polite small talk and then she’ll dive right into the interrogation.”
Andi’s eyes crinkle when she smiles at me. “So…we aren’t going to tell them we hooked up in an alcove in a bar an hour after we first laid eyes on each other?”
“Hey! We didn’t—I mean, sure, I wanted to…but I am a gentleman. A classy, responsible gentleman. I took you back to my place for privacy and a real bed. After making a stop for condoms.”
She frowns. “Yeah, I wonder what went wrong with those.” She shakes off that distraction right away, though. “What do you want to say, then? How are they likely to take it if we tell them some version of the truth?”
I lace my fingers through hers. “I’m not gonna tell them Lil Bit’s the result of a hookup, if that’s what you mean.” Not that it was ever really a hookup to me. “It’s gonna bother them—Mom, especially—that we’re having a baby without being married. Or at least engaged.”
She shrugs. “Well, you proposed. You tried. Tell them that.”
“No.” I shake my head. “If they find out I proposed and you said no, it’ll open up a whole new can of worms. Maybe make them mad at you. They get…protective. I don’t want them blaming this on you. Or thinking that you somehow disrespected me by turning me down.”
“Kevin, it is on me. It’s not fair to let them be upset with you. Let them be mad at me. I don’t have to have a relationship with them like you do.”
I stare at her, not sure I heard right. “Andi, you’re going to be the mom of their newest grandbaby. You’re family now, whether we’re married or not.”
Her dark eyes widen. Her mouth opens, then closes. All kinds of expressions cross her face. Alarm? Realization? Alarm again?
“Something bother you about that idea?” Two minutes ago I was ready to blow them off for the day, just spend it in bed here with Andi even though we can’t have sex, but now I’ve got those weird prickles I’d felt in her office right before I demanded to know why she still didn’t trust me. Anger. And protectiveness toward my family.
She looks back at me. “No, I’m just… I mean, I’d already thought about Lil Bit being family to them. Just…not me.” She shakes her head as if to clear it. “I… It’s a huge change. I’ve never had much family. I’m not sure I know how to do family.”
Those heat prickles die down. She’s not disrespecting my family; she’s unsure of her own role. “Does that scare you?” I squeeze her hand.
“I’m not… I mean, I’m not sure. I’ll need to think about it, I guess. Get used to the idea.” She studies me, her dark eyes liquid.
We lie there looking at each other as the idea settles in her mind.
“It’s still better if they’re upset with me than with you,” she says softly, finally.
Nope. “Wouldn’t be fair. I knew as soon as I proposed that it wasn’t a good idea. I pulled back too. I’m not letting you take the fall for that.”
She raises her graceful brows. “I don’t suppose you’d consider telling them it’s none of their business…?”
Gut punch. How had that not even occurred to me? Other people can say things like that to people they love. I know they do. Why does the thought of it make my insides squirm?
I guess my silence stretches too long, because Andi sighs. “Okay, well, I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”