So, with her head on the steering wheel and her eyes closed, Meredith drank in the blessed silence of her car. February’s chill seeped in around her, but she could barely feel it. She just needed a moment…
The car door was open, and Gray crouched beside her. “Meredith, honey, are you okay?”
She peeled her forehead off the Nissan emblem and squinted at him.
“Oh, sweetness.” He gave a startled laugh before reaching for her brow and running his thumb over her skin. She touched her forehead and felt the bumpy lettering stamped onto her face.
“Oh my God…”
“You’ve been out here for twenty minutes,” Gray said. “At first, I thought you were on the phone.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, coming to and realizing she’d wasted precious time. “I just…”
“Let’s get you inside.” His hand curled around her upper arm, and he guided her out of the car. Then he reached in and grabbed her book bag and purse before slinging them over his shoulder.
“I know we need to get started on the manuscript,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “I’ll just make a pot of coffee.”
“You will not,” Gray said, shutting her car door before wrapping his arm around her. He steered them toward the house.
“Yeah, I should. We need to get to work,” she argued, looking up at him as they walked the long drive.
Gray shook his head. “You need the day off.”
Meredith frowned. “What? We don’t have time for that.”
“I don’t care. You’re shot. You haven’t had a break in days, and while you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, you look terrible,” he said, glancing down at her with a sympathetic smile. “And those letters from your steering wheel don’t help.”
She scrubbed her forehead again. “I just drifted off. I’m okay now.”
His brows drew up as he eyed her. “My love, you fell asleep in your car.”
At the wordlove,Meredith’s breath hitched.
He wasn’t finished. “Thank goodness you weren’t driving it.”
It took her a moment to pick up on what he was saying. “I-I wouldn’t have fallen asleep while driving. Ichoseto rest my head when I stopped.”
He blinked at her, and she could see he fought his smile. “And who would do that?”
Gray opened the front door and ushered her inside. “You need to start parking in the garage,” he muttered absently as they walked into the kitchen. Oscar and Dahlia sat at the island with a box of crayons spilled out across the granite. Oscar looked up at Meredith.
“Mama, what on you head?”
Dahlia’s eyes followed Oscar’s, and Meredith saw her bite her lip with a look of concern.
“It’s nothing, Oscar. It’ll go away in a minute.” She rubbed harder on the spot until her skin burned and then bent down to kiss her son on the cheek.
“I’m going to draw you a bath,” Gray said, stepping away from her.
A bath?
Meredith hadn’t taken an actual bath in ages. Not since Oscar was a colicky infant, and they’d soak in the warm water together until one or both of them stopped crying. The thought of sinking into a hot bath made her bones turn to mush.
But a bath would take too long.
“Gray, there’s no time.”
He turned back to face her. “Well, I’m making time.” He walked back and took her by the hand before pulling her toward his room.
