Page 21 of Grumpy

Grumpy nodded. “I know.”

“Your voice is starting to get gravely again.”

“Dry mouth,” he shrugged, like it wasn’t that big of a deal. “Consider it an irritating side effect of having a mouth full of metal.”

Kelly pulled her feet back towards herself. “I’ll go refill your glass.”

He caught her ankle. “Only if you get something for yourself, too.”

“Fine, but you also have to eat another pot pie.” She pointed to the container on his left.

“You don’t fight fair.”

She smiled at him as she got to her feet. “I know. Do you want anything else while I’m up?”

Grumpy shook his head, blindly reaching for the container. Kelly was tempted to help him, but restrained herself. His mom had babied him to the point where he’d kicked her out of the house. She’d watch, let him struggle and adjust, and if he still needed help when she got back, she’d help him then. Unfortunately, it was the opposite sort of care with her mom. She’d flood the house before she admitted she couldn’t reach the faucet to turn it off.

Kelly grabbed a glass of water for herself too as she refilled his. He was just getting the container situated in front of him as she settled herself back on the couch. Kelly stretched over and placed his water cup on the TV stand. She’d have to be careful if he moved because it was now in his blind spot.

Kelly took a big gulp of water as she worked up the courage to ask, “Is it weird that we’ve both proclaimed to love the other and we kind of just glossed over it?”

“No weirder than anything else that’s happened over the past six months.”

She nodded, giving him that. “Fair point. You were serious, though, right? I mean, you weren’t just saying it because I word vomited it to you?”

The look Grumpy gave her could slay dragons.

Kelly held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I believe you.” She smiled, warming inside. “It feels good being able to say it, you know.”

“Wish we’d said it earlier.”

She knew that feeling. “Not sure it would have made a difference. Honestly, I’m not sure what difference it makes now. I mean, what does it really change? I suck at relationships, Grumpy. Yes, a good number of mine ended because I found out he was sleeping around—which is something we still need to talk about in regard to your past relationships—but in all fairness, I think it was me. I was the common factor, you know.”

Grumpy finished chewing before responding. “You mentioned before about always being the caretaker. Was that in regard to romantic relationships, too?”

Kelly nodded. “It sounds silly or ridiculous. I’m thirty-eight years old! But the only relationship I’ve ever had where the man didn’t ask me for things was when I dated George—Captain Hunter,” she clarified. “And mostly that was because he forgot me most of the time.” At the look Grumpy gave her, Kelly quickly came to George’s defense. “Because he was working so much. Honestly, I was too. It’s not fair to put it solely on him. I think we were both just lonely and occasionally being together was better than not being alone.”

“I’m very tempted to light something on fire and then gut the man when he comes to put it out.”

Kelly’s eyes widened. “Please don’t! George is a good man. We just weren’t right for each other.” Not wanting to concentrate on her failed relationship with the town’s fire captain, Kelly brought the conversation back to her original topic. “What I’m trying to say is that declaring our love for each other is nice, but it doesn’t mean I’m any better at dating today than I was yesterday.”

“It makes all the difference,” Grumpy argued lightly. He patted his lap and Kelly rearranged herself on the couch again to give him her feet. “They’re not two mutually exclusive things, Kells. I’m not dating you because I love you or love you because I’m dating you. I love you. Full stop. End of sentence. I could list countless reasons why, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is knowing that my love means my loyalty, my protection, and my support. Dating, sex, romance… It’s like the cherry on top of the cake.”

Kelly felt herself start to tear up. “I liked it better when you grunted at me. I cried less.”

“As long as they’re happy tears.”

Kelly lifted the hem of her shirt to wipe at her eyes. “Are you ready to talk about your mom and what she told me now?”

“So long as you’re willing to stop feeling guilty for leaving the hospital as you did.”

“You can’t just order me to stop feeling guilty,” she snapped without malice. “It doesn’t work like that.”

“Make it work like that. I don’t blame you, Kells, and neither should you.”

She scrunched her nose, feeling like a child being scolded. “I feel slightly less guilty. That’s about as much as you’re getting today.”

Grumpy grunted, but thankfully dropped the subject.