He stood outside the door for a second before realizing she probably would want a little more privacy than that.
“Just shout for me when you’re ready to come out,” he called through the door.
“Thanks.” The relief in her voice was evident.
He stepped away from the door and out into the living room. Aside from the mess on the coffee table, the place was fairly clean. A few blankets were folded neatly on the arm of the couch. An overnight bag sat in the corner. He frowned.
Did she have a boyfriend who had been coming over?
“Brent! I’m ready!”
He pushed his thoughts aside and went back to the bathroom. She opened the door and was leaning against the vanity when he rounded the corner.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and held her securely against him, holding most of her weight as they made their way back to the living room couch. When she was settled, he sat down next to her.
“Have you eaten?” he asked.
She looked sheepishly at the empty potato chip bags littering the table. “Nothing substantial.”
He pulled out his phone and asked what she wanted. They settled on just doing pizza and placed the order. He leaned back on the couch.
“I’m assuming you haven’t eaten much since you’re struggling to get around.”
She gave him a guilty look.
“But why not just order takeout? They can bring it right up to the door.”
“It’s just too hard, and I’m too scared of falling with the crutches. I already took a small tumble, and it hurt so bad. I spent probably an hour on the floor until Jessica showed up and helped me back to the couch.”
Concern flared up in him. “Are you all right?”
His eyes roamed over her, but with the boot on, he couldn’t see anything—not that he’d know what to look for, anyway.
“Yeah. It was more embarrassing than anything. I’m glad only Jessica was here to witness the aftermath.” She chuckled.
He glanced over at the duffel bag in the corner. “Has your boyfriend been helping you?”
Her head snapped over to look at him. “My boyfriend? What boyfriend?”
“You don’t have a boyfriend?”
She tilted her head. “That I found and started dating in the four days since we last saw each other?”
“Oh. I just assumed with the bag...“ He tilted his head toward the corner. Her eyes followed it.
“That’s Jessica’s.”
Relief flooded through him. “Oh.”
“She’s been staying the night to help me out, but she had to run into work today.”
“There wasn’t anyone else you could have called to help you?”Like me?he added to himself. But of course she wouldn’t call him. He walked out without saying anything to her at the resort. They hadn’t spoken since. He probably hadn’t even crossed her mind.
“I didn’t want to inconvenience anyone.”
She shifted her gaze away, and a pang hit him in the chest.
“I would have helped you if I had known,” he said.
