“Here. You should ice that bump on your forehead. It’s really starting to swell.”
“Um, thanks.” I took the pack from him and placed it gingerly across the bump. I winced as the cold pack made contact with my wound.
The sound of a doorbell chimed. Giles walked over to answer it, making the brief exchange with the delivery driver. As soon as the door closed, the smell of delicious fried food wafted through the entire house. My stomach growled audibly. Apparently, spending hours stranded on the side of a mountain worked up quite the appetite.
“That smells amazing.” Drool pooled in my mouth. I reached for my crutches, but Giles shook his head.
“Stay there. I’ll make you a plate and bring it to you. We can eat on the couch.”
“Are you sure? I would hate to make a mess.”
“Don’t worry about it. I do it all the time when I’m by myself.”
I tried to picture it. Him living here by himself. Eating on this couch, watching a movie, cooking.
“Do you cook?” I blurted out.
“Sometimes. I’m not very good at it. Do you?” he asked, handing me a plate of rice, chicken, and two egg rolls.
“Not really. Garrett and I usually ate out…” My words fell off when I realized I was bringing up my ex-boyfriend. “Never mind,” I mumbled.
Giles sank into the couch next to me but didn’t say anything. He turned on the tv and tossed me the remote. “Your pick since you had a pretty eventful day and all.”
“Did something happen today?” I feigned ignorance, expecting him to laugh.
“Too soon.” he winced. “And I take concussions very seriously. I will drive you back to the hospital if you start claiming memory loss.”
“The time did actually go by pretty fast out there,” I said in between shoveling in bites. “I think I was fading in and out for a bit because it got dark so quickly.”
Giles looked like he was in pain. “Please spare me the details. It’s making me sick thinking about you stuck out there all alone.”
The concern in his voice made my heart flutter. I avoided responding by scrolling through the movie selection. I decided on a romantic comedy I had already seen twenty times. The exact distraction I needed right now.
“This, okay?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Whatever you want.”
“It’s a rom-com,” I warned. Garrett had always given me a hard time if I deigned to select anything that wasn’t action-packed.
“I’m good,” he insisted, continuing to shovel in food.
My legs were propped up on the couch. If I stuck my foot out just an inch more, I could brush the side of his knee.
Stop that, I warned myself as I pressed play on my selection.
We sat there in comfortable silence, eating our food and watching the opening scenes of the film.
There was a beach scene playing out in the movie, and the leading man was surfing.
“Have you ever surfed?” I asked Giles.
He glanced over at me and looked back at the tv. “A few times, yeah. I prefer winter sports, but it’s fun.”
“Are you naturally good at it because of snowboarding?”
“It definitely helps.”
“I’m jealous of your athleticism.”
