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“And Owen brought home a different kind of stray,” Chad said, watching his brother select spoons from a drawer. Dear God, could he be any slower?
“Kellen,” Mom said with a loving smile. She’d always treated Kellen like her third son, which was why it had been so easy for Chad to think of him as another brother. “I haven’t seen him for over a week. What’s he up to, Owen?”
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Owen said, dropping a handful of spoons on the table with a loud clatter.
“Did you two have a fight?” Mom asked. “I know your band is having problems, but I’d think you and Kellen would—”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Owen said.
Chad guessed he and his brother had more in common than he’d realized. He reached for a spoon and nudged his mom aside so he could eat.
“I hope the band settles its differences soon,” Lindsey said. “I can’t help but feel I’m responsible for you guys breaking up. You’re my favorite band. I’ll never forgive myself if you don’t get back together.”
“You are not responsible,” Owen said. “Jacob and Adam have been teetering on the edge of disaster for as long as I can remember. Long before any of us met you.”
“I was added tension you guys didn’t need,” Lindsey said. “I should have stayed in Idaho and gone on welfare.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Chad said.
“Me too. You’re going to be a big help to us, Lindsey,” Mom added.
But that wasn’t why Chad was glad she was there. They could have hired a nurse to help him out. Not that he planned to accept any help. He was glad Lindsey was there for entirely personal and selfish reasons. She made him feel normal. She made his world a brighter place, and considering how dark it could have been, he was glad for her sunshine and the way it chased away the shadows crowding him.
The stew tasted as delicious as it smelled. He might even like it better than his grandmother’s recipe, though Lindsey insisted it was his grandmother’s recipe that Mom had shared with her. But there was something slightly different about it. Or maybe his memory just wasn’t as good as reality. Or maybe she’d seasoned it with love, and her love was a different flavor from his grandmother’s.
God, when had he become such a sap? He was glad mind reading wasn’t real.
After lunch, Chad found himself nodding off at the table. He’d been so focused on getting out of that damned hospital that he hadn’t been sleeping enough, and he hadn’t admitted to his doctors or nurses that with sleep came nightmares. When he was awake, he could direct his thoughts away from the horrors he’d experienced. He’d learned to do that while still in combat. But when he was asleep, nothing could keep them at bay.
“I think you should take a nap,” Owen said. “Caitlyn will be here tonight. You’ll finally get to meet her. I don’t want her to have to watch you drooling down your chest at the supper table.”
“I am tired,” Chad admitted. And he did want to be refreshed when he met Owen’s new girlfriend.
Lindsey slipped from the bench and grabbed the handles of his wheelchair. “I’ll show you to your room.”
He caught the turning wheel with his good hand, and she bumped into the back of his chair as it stopped short.
“I got it,” he said, tugging his injured arm out of its sling. The floors weren’t sloped. He didn’t think he’d put too much strain on the muscles wheeling around the house, and there weren’t any doctors or nurses there to bitch him out if he did. If anything, using his arm should strengthen his weakened shoulder joint and he’d recover more quickly. At least that was what he told himself as he gritted his teeth and used both hands to back himself away from the table. He didn’t get far. Lindsey was still behind him.
“If I’m going to be responsible for you, then you’re following doctor’s orders or I’m having you sent back to the hospital,” she said before either his mother or his brother could berate him.
“It’s not that bad,” he assured her. “I won’t wheel myself up any ramps, but I have to learn to do things for myself.”
“You will,” she said. “After your shoulder is healed and the doctor gives you the okay, I’ll insist you do as much as you’re capable of, but until then, put the sling back on.”
Chad caught his brother’s smirk as he slipped his arm back into the sling. “You’re a bossy pain in the ass,” he grumbled under his breath, but part of him was glad that she cared enough to boss him around. Another part, however, did not appreciate her treating him like a child.
“Watch your language, Chad,” Mom said, “and don’t you give her a hard time. She’s absolutely right. You keep that sling on until the doctor says you can take it off.”
He hated to tell them, but he would not be an easy patient. He had no plans to take it easy and let time heal his wounds. He would get out of the chair, and once the swelling in his leg went down, he planned to be fitted for a prosthetic leg as soon as he could. He refused to spend the rest of his life being pushed around in any capacity.
Lindsey squeezed his shoulder and spun him away from the table. He tried to let go of the tension in his body, but he hadn’t come home to be waited upon and coddled and assisted. He’d come home to get away from that.
“Do you need to go to the bathroom first?” Lindsey asked as she wheeled him through the doorway between the breakfast nook and the small dining room.
If he needed to go the bathroom, he damned well could go by himself. Well, mostly. “Yes,” he said. He rested his elbow on the wheelchair’s armrest and pressed his forehead into his hand.
His humiliation was deepened when they discovered that the wheelchair was a couple inches too wide to fit through the bathroom’s doorframe.
“Owen?” Lindsey called. “We have a little problem.”
Owen came around the corner and stopped behind the chair while Chad concentrated on trying to regrow his leg by glaring at the bandaged stub.
“Can’t you just aim from there?” Owen asked.
“We can get him one of those commodes,” Lindsey suggested.
“I’m not pissing in a fucking commode,” Chad said through clenched teeth.
“Well, then,” Owen said. “Only one thing to do.”
Chad supposed he expected him to wear adult diapers. Owen didn’t say it, though. He dashed out of the house, the back screen door slamming behind him.
“I can help you stand if you want,” Lindsey said. “You can lean on me, and—”
“And drop us both to the floor?” He could hear the derisiveness and anger in his tone, but couldn’t seem to stop it.
“Just tell me what you want me to do. I can help.”
“I don’t—”
“Want my help,” she interrupted. “Yeah, you said that already, but you’re going to have accept a little until you can handle things on your own.”
She was being perfectly reasonable, but he still wouldn’t accept her assistance. Not with this task. “Lock my wheels.” He was going to get out of that damn chair and over to the toilet if it killed him.
“Lock them yourself,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
He looked down at the braking mechanism and found a lever he could reach. He engaged the brake on one side but before he could get his arm out of the damned sling to lock the other wheel, Owen came back. He was carrying a pry bar, a hammer, and a reciprocating saw.
“I didn’t like this doorframe anyway,” Owen said, using the pry bar to rip the trim from around the hinge-less side of the door.
“Don’t tear up your house,” Chad said, but God, he loved his brother and his selfless nature.
“It’s just a piece of trim.” Owen set the now loose piece against the wall and released the wheel brake to attempt entry. Closer, but the chair still needed an inch or two to clear the narrow door. “These old houses don’t meet ADA standards. I’ll show ’em.” He plugged in his reciprocating saw.
“Owen—”
Chad’s protests were cut of
f by the blade sawing noisily through the doorframe. Owen hacked off the section below the level of the lock down to the floor and then used his pry bar and a bit more sawing to remove the piece. He tossed it aside and pushed the chair through the widened opening and into the bathroom.
“You really are a rock star,” Chad said, shaking his head and marveling at his brother.
“I didn’t want you to piss on my floor.” He leaned in close to Chad’s ear, presumably so Lindsey wouldn’t hear him. “You are going to have to sit on the seat and pee like a girl.”
“I’ll manage.”
“Holler if you need a hand,” Owen said as he backed out of the small room.
Owen closed the door, but there was an obvious gap at the bottom of the frame that prevented true privacy.
“No peeking, Lindsey,” he heard Owen say on the other side of the door.
“You’re awesome,” Lindsey said. “You know that?”
Chad smiled and worked at getting the chair in the best position so he could slide over to the toilet seat. His brother was pretty terrific. That was why Chad knew he didn’t have a chance in hell at winning Lindsey’s affection. Not because she was the type of woman who couldn’t handle his injuries, but because her heart already belonged to Owen. If Owen ever decided he wanted it, he’d have it.
