Chapter Twelve
When I woke next, the low light in the room told me it was late afternoon. It was cloudy, and rain was on the way, but a look out the window told me it hadn’t started yet. My arm throbbed to the beat of my heart, and I looked around, confused about my surroundings. Where was I?
I sat up, ready to bolt, until I remembered Major bringing me here from the hospital.
His cottage. That reminded me of the accident that put me in this position, and I gingerly adjusted the towel under the splint, wincing slightly.
It was time for more ice and medication.
The cottage was so cozy and the bed so warm and comfortable that I’d slept through the dose I should have taken at noon.
That was a mistake, but I would remedy that as soon as I figured out where Major had put the pills.
There was a soft knock at the door. “Jaelyn, are you awake?”
After glancing down to make sure I was still fully dressed, I called for him to come in.
"How are you feeling?" he asked once he closed the door behind him.
"Sore, but thanks to you, I got the sleep I needed," I replied, managing a smile despite the pain. “Time for some pain medication, though. That’s what woke me.”
"Good to hear," he said, walking to the kitchen. “That you got good sleep, not that you’re in pain,” he clarified. When he returned, he had two pills in his hand and a glass of water. I accepted them with appreciation and swallowed them, sucking down the water as though I’d just run a marathon.
Wisdom told me I should be careful, so I didn’t throw the pills back up, but instinct won out.
“Thanks for checking on me,” I said, handing the glass back to him. “Sorry if I’ve ruined your day off.”
He pulled up a chair and sat, leaning over onto his thighs. “You’ve been here less than eight hours and sleeping for all of them, so in no way have you ruined anything. That said, let’s talk about how you can’t keep apologizing nonstop for existing.”
The frown on my lips probably told him more than my words would, but I’d give it my best shot. “I wasn’t apologizing for existing, just for putting a kink in your day-to-day life. Now you have a houseguest.”
He motioned around the cottage. “How do you figure? We both have our own space, and I’m not here to babysit you. I’m here to check on you because I’m worried about you as a friend.”
Determined to stop feeling guilty, or whatever it was that I felt about him giving me a place to stay, I squared my shoulders.
“Sorry for being a Debbie Downer. Everything is a bit muddled in my brain right now, but I know it will clear up in a few days. Honestly, I’m struggling to follow conversations. What were we talking about again?”
“We were talking about it being Halloween and how I was hoping you’d come over and help me hand out candy to the kids.”
“We were?” I asked, completely confused until I noticed he was grinning. “Not nice!” My laughter was genuine this time, though.
His eyes crinkled at the corners, and I realized how much I liked that about him. He was always handsome, but those lines told me that he’d lived a lot of life already.
“You mentioned this morning that you’d miss seeing all the kids at the diner, so I thought it might be a nice distraction.”
“I did?” I asked, trying to recall the conversation on the ride over, but it was a bit of a blank.
“You did. Did you change your mind?”
“No, I just can’t seem to keep hold of memories right now.”
“That’s the anesthesia,” he promised. “But after you mentioned it, I thought it would be a great way for me to meet the neighborhood kids. Chances are, you’ll know most of them and can give me names as they head down the street.
That’s what I meant earlier when I said there was something you could do for me. ”
I chuckled, but that was to cover my embarrassment because if there was one thing I did remember, it was jumping to conclusions.
As though this man needed me to warm his bed when he could have any woman in Bells Pass.
“At least I can name the kids who aren’t wearing masks.
You’re very kind to come ask me, but how will I do that with my arm? ”
“Since there’s a deck on the front of the house, I’ve got it all set up,” he said, his enthusiasm for the event shining in his eyes.
Was it the event, though, and not who he’d be sharing it with?
Even in my hazy state, I couldn’t ignore the way he gazed at me as if I were a plate full of the Spanish Rooster and he was extremely hungry.
Yes, that might be the strangest comparison I’ve ever come up with in my life when it came to a man, but somehow, it worked.
“I have comfortable chairs set up on the deck. We’ll tuck a pillow under your elbow and keep ice on your arm.
I'll be right there to do the actual candy distribution while you enjoy the littles in their cute costumes.”
“That sounds like fun, and I could use a distraction from the pain you inflicted upon me.”
He grasped his chest as though he’d been shot. “Hit me where it hurts, why don’t you?”
My wink, as long as I didn’t resemble a rabid dog, was cheeky. “No pain, no gain, right?”
“Right, though I do regret having done it to you. When do you want to come over?”
I rubbed my eye as I searched for a clock. “I don’t know what time it is.”
“It’s just a bit after four.”
“Trick or treat hours start at five. I could stand to clean up and have something to eat before I do anything else.”
He stood and held his hand out to help me up. “Let me help you.”
“I can manage,” I promised with a wan smile. There was no way this hottie was helping me in the bathroom. “Last time I checked, your title was M.D., not nursing aide.”
“Patient care is patient care, and I’m not above any of it,” he said, to which I grimaced.
Nothing like knowing exactly where you stood with the hot guy holding your hand.
Patient. Got it. “Not that you’re a patient,” he clarified.
“That’s the exact reason I asked Dr. Russel to take over your care. ”
“Wait, you asked him to? Why? Was it because you weren’t supposed to be on duty last night?”
“No,” he said, walking me to the door of the bathroom.
“I did it because if you’re my patient, you can’t live here.
There could be no hint of impropriety between us, but the hospital lawyer assured me that if I wasn’t the doctor you saw for your follow-up care, all of this was legit,” he said, motioning around the room.
“Goodness, that never crossed my mind,” I admitted. “Are you sure this won’t get you into trouble at work? I’m fine staying at Ivy’s. We need your skills here, and I’d hate to be the reason you were asked to leave.”
He waved the comment away as though it was a bad smell. “I called everyone from the head of the hospital to the lawyer, and they all said the same thing. If you aren’t my direct patient, then there isn’t a problem.”
“Which means literally everyone knows I’m here,” I said slowly, the implications catching up as I processed what he was saying. “This is a small town. People will talk.”
If ever there was a shrug that said who cares, it was the one he gave me before he spoke. “Let them. We know what’s going on here, and no one else matters. Is fifteen minutes enough to get ready?”
“Sure, why?”
He held up his finger before he walked over to the bed and grabbed my phone.
Once again, I noticed the lilting gait and remembered the brace from earlier.
All I could assume was that he’d been hurt in the service, but there was no way I was asking him about it when my brain was so befuddled.
“I’ll leave you to get ready and go heat dinner,” he explained, handing me the phone.
“Take that into the bathroom with you in case you have a problem. You can call me.”
“Do you want me to come over when I’m ready?”
“No, I’ll be back to get you in fifteen.
I don’t want you to walk over by yourself since you’re still unsteady from the medication.
Also, don’t shower. That will be an endeavor you’ll need to undertake once you’re a few days out from surgery.
We’ll pick up a bath chair and a cast cover for your arm.
We’ll also ask one of the girls from the gang to be here before you shower for the first time.
Falling while that arm is in a splint would be bad news. ”
“Yes, captain,” I said, giving him a salute, which did odd things to his eyes.
“Colonel, actually,” he said with a shrug.
“Wait, seriously?” I asked just as the conversation in the food truck came back to me. “When you said you were in the service, I thought you meant before medical school.”
“I retired from the army about nine years ago,” he explained. “But I was already a physician when I joined up, so I went in as a major. It didn’t take long to work my way to colonel.”
“Why did you leave?” I asked, curiosity overruling my good sense not to pry into his personal life.
“It was time.” The answer was simple, but something told me the truth was anything but.
Jaelyn sat at my dining room table, eating a bowl of chicken noodle soup from the diner along with fresh bakery rolls.
Ivy had dropped it off earlier before heading back to get her kids ready for their evening of fun.
I was grateful since my cooking skills were decidedly lacking, and I didn’t want to look like a fool in front of Jaelyn.