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“Like you weren’t,” she laughed.

“Busted. How about we get up and I make pancakes?”

“How about we get up and have pie for breakfast?”

“Sold.”

We showered together, Graham careful with my wound, and then he rebandaged me. When I teared up, I thought he would lose his mind.

“I’m not hurting,” I insisted. “I’m blown away by your TLC. It makes me teary.”

He studied my face, then gave me a long, lingering kiss. “Expect the TLC for the rest of your life.”

I melted. As we moved to the kitchen, I tried to lighten the mood. “I still can’t believe my mom asked you about your credit rating as we were leaving.”

Graham laughed as he took out the frying pan. “I thought that was a great question. She wanted to know you were taken care of, especially after seeing no furniture in my house.”

“Good point.” I giggled and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “She adores you. She only asks invasive questions when she likes someone.”

“And your dad likes me because I know the difference between a carburetor and fuel injection.”

“Dad likes you because you look at me like I hung the moon.” My voice wobbled, even though I tried to stop it. I watched as he started to mix the batter. “You need to add milk, not just water.”

“The box says water.”

“Trust me, they’ll taste better with some milk.”

He shrugged and added some more mix and some milk.

I took the carton from him and poured some into Rosebud’s bowl, she came running.

“There’s my good girl,” I smiled. She allowed me to scratch her behind her ears, but that was about it. I might be the one who fed her, but that didn’t matter. She was a daddy’s girl.

I stood back up and watched Graham start pouring pancake batter into the pan. I started salivating. I had a much bigger appetite than I had last night. “Mom wants to go furniture shopping with us.”

“Us? You didn’t say us, did you?” His voice rose an octave.

“Yep, she said us. That means you too.”

“I was good last night. I was injured when I went to go get you. That should count for something,” he whined.

I laughed. “What are you willing to do to get out of furniture shopping with Mom?”

“Anything.”

“Give me your credit card?”

“Done.” He plated the pancakes and we dug in.

After we were done, my stomach growled, and I blushed. Graham just laughed. “How come I’m not surprised?”

“If you were a gentleman, you wouldn’t mention that I had the appetite of a lumberjack.” I pretended to be upset.

“What would be the fun in that? I like the fact that you’re real. Hell, there’s nothing I don’t like about you.”

I looked into his hazel eyes and realized I felt the exact same way. In my book, he could do no wrong. “Do you think this is just the honeymoon stage? Are we going to end up on one another’s last nerve in six months?”

He laid his hand on top of mine. “Joy, I know you. We’ve been together through one of the most stressful times in our lives. We came out of it loving each other even more. This is real.”