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Banner slapped me on the back, and the jolt jarred my belly, causing me to wince.
When Ford went to do the same thing, I moved out of his way, causing him to laugh.
“Loser,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m bringing you a fuckin’ plant or something. This place is like a tomb.”
I looked around my place and realized that it was rather drab. It was also mine—and I hadn’t been able to afford to decorate it after I’d bought it because I’d spent all of my savings on the down payment for it.
“I’m headed out, too,” Viddy said. “Can I go grab you any pain meds?”
I shook my head. “I’m headed back to bed. Thank you for the food and dinner. It was amazing. I can’t tell you the last time I had a home-cooked meal.”
Her face went sad for a second. “I plan on giving you a lot of those before we head home, darlin’.”
With that, she pressed a kiss to my cheek and left almost as fast as she came.
I heard motorcycles start up, as well as her SUV.
Then nothing but silence.
Only then did I start texting the woman that was quickly becoming quite a big part of my life.
***
The next day, I expected Viddy.
Who I did not expect was Oakley being with her.
“Mom, I swear to God,” Oakley said as I opened my door. “Just let me sit down for a minute. He won’t care. I don’t need to go back to the hospital.”
The first thing I saw when the door opened was her.
She looked bad.
Really, really bad.
Way worse than when I’d left her in the hospital yesterday.
I stepped out onto the porch stoop and offered Oakley my hand, which she took gratefully.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I helped her inside.
The moment the cool air hit her, she groaned.
I led her over to the chair with Viddy following worriedly behind, and then helped her sit.
Bending over to help her plant her ass in my recliner made my incision twinge, but I ignored it because of just how bad Oakley looked in that moment.
“I get carsick,” she murmured, her face leaning against the back of the chair. “But it’s nothing new. I got this lovely sickness from my dad. Where his only comes around when he’s on the plane, mine comes from any moving vehicle. Boat. Car. Plane. Train. They all kick my ass.”
“Your father’s not motion sick when he gets on a plane,” Viddy snorted. “He’s scared.”
My eyes went to Oakley’s mother for a moment as I stared at her.
Trance didn’t look like he was scared of anything, and my thoughts must’ve shown plainly on my face because she was already nodding her head in confirmation.
“That’s right. That big, badass of a man is scared of planes,” she confirmed. “Like, deathly afraid. We have to liquor him up before he even steps on, otherwise, he’s throwing up from nerves before we’ve even taken off.”
“Needless to say, I didn’t eat today because they were serving brick-style meatloaf,” she murmured. “And I took some pain meds before we left. And I smelled my mother’s lasagna all the way here…and it got me feeling badly rather quick.”
I stood up straight and walked to the kitchen that’d been stocked by Viddy the day before and looked at all the drinks they’d brought in before selecting a bottle of Sprite. Filling a glass half full, I walked back into the living room and offered her the glass.
She took it gratefully but didn’t drink it like I expected her to. She placed the cool glass up to her face and sighed in relief.
I took the seat across from her, then immediately stood back up.
“Viddy, do you want to sit?” I asked, remembering my manners.
Viddy’s smile was soft.
“No,” she said as she placed her purse onto the chair next to Oakley. “I’m going to go get your dinner. I made a lasagna.”
Her pointed look at her daughter had me forming a half grin.
“I can go get it…”
Viddy snorted. “As if I would let you.”
I allowed her to do what she would, returning to my previous seat and staring at the woman across from me.
Today she was in sweats, but still in my t-shirt.
“I have another t-shirt,” I said softly. “So you can wash that one.”
Oakley smiled then.
“Ford offered me his,” she said as she pulled the glass away from her face. “But it smelled like BO.”
Body odor. My favorite.
I chuckled at the grossed out look on her face.
“Feeling better?” I asked curiously.
She nodded. “I want another shower. In truth, I want to crawl into my bed and not move for a week. And I can’t wait to see my dog.”
“You have a dog?” I asked curiously.
She nodded. “One of my dad’s dropouts. My doctor moved his practice to Kilgore, and I followed him from Benton, Louisiana. My dad said that I should take a dog. He was willing to give me one of his trained K-9s, but I chose to take one of the puppies that wasn’t showing an interest in police work. Dad put about two months of training into him before he decided that he just didn’t have the temperament for it. He’s a smart boy and does quite a bit of searching and finding, but he gets bored easily. Which is what I love about him.”
