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So she decided not to.
“Get on, you tricky things,”she muttered as she tried to get a shoe onto Ziggy’s foot.
It was early evening.
The night nurse came to take care of Uncle Willy, and she, Ian, and Jack were going to have a movie night.
First, though, Jack was checking the perimeter while Ian made dinner for them all. And she had nothing to do but put different outfits on Ziggy. The knock at the door barely registered as she struggled to put some tiny shoes on Ziggy.
“Ratbum!” she muttered as her hand slipped. Ziggy dropped and the shoe went flying.
Smacking Jameson in the face.
Oh. Oops.
“Oh God, did I hurt you?” She shuffled over to the edge of the bed and stood, ignoring the twinge in her hip. “I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot. Did it get you in the eye? Those suckers are small, but they’re well-made. Like proper shoes. Can you see okay?”
She peered up at him. He was gaping down at her. “Here, come with me. I’ll get you an ice pack.” She took his hand and tried to tug him to the bed.
“What are you doing?” he asked, sounding incredulous.
“I’m trying to get you to sit down so I can look after you. I have to go downstairs to get an ice pack. If you won’t sit, then at least stay there. Okay? Be right back.”
She turned toward the door, holding back a wince of pain. Shoot.
“Whoa. I don’t think so.” Jameson grabbed her shoulders to stop her.
She let out a yelp of surprise and he let go of her immediately, giving her a horrified look.
“My apologies. I didn’t mean to just grab you. Are you all right?”
Great. Now she had polite, distant Jameson. That made her want to tease him a bit. Ruffle him up.
“No! I don’t think I am! Oh! Ohhh!” She stumbled away, turning to face him.
His face was filled with horror. “Bloody hell! What’s wrong? Here, lie down.” Picking her up, he carried her to the bed. Then he grabbed his doctor’s bag. “Where does it hurt?”
“Right. Here.” She put her hand over her mouth. “From trying to hold back this.” She broke out into giggles.
His eyes widened. “You were . . . you were . . . joking with me?”
“Yep.”
“You’re not really hurt?”
“Nope. You just looked so horrified. And then I got robot Jameson. So I wanted to shake you up a bit and get real Jameson.”
“Robot Jameson?” he asked.
“Yeah, when you kind of withdraw. You go all formal and stiff. I just wanted to . . . I don’t know. Now, I’m thinking that was kind of silly. I worried you. Sorry.”
“No, I, uh . . . I apologize for going all robot on you. It’s something I’ve done since I was young to protect myself.”
What would he need to protect himself from? She wanted to ask but got the feeling that he wouldn’t welcome any more questions.
“How is your eye, though? I’m really sorry.”
He huffed out a breath. “Are you always like this?”
