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“Order up!”
I reached for our food while Emilia grabbed our desserts.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “What’s there to talk about?”
“I just wanted to see if maybe I could get you to come back and work with me part-time.”
“You know I can’t do that. I’m still working with Hayden.”
“Does he need you twenty-four-seven like he did? Because it’s almost wedding season and I really could use someone who’s already familiar with the floral arrangements we specialize in.”
“You mean because I made them for you?” I asked with a grin.
“Partially. I’ve felt your absence since you took this in-home nursing job. And don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for you. It’s obvious you’re enjoying what you do. But if your patient has gotten to a point where he doesn’t need you all the time, I was hoping to pay you for some of that time so you could come work and help me out with the orders. They’re already starting to pile up.”
“Well, Hayden’s recovery is going well. He’s still in the hospital, but he took his first unassisted step a few days ago.”
“That’s good! That’s really good. Quicker than you thought, right?” she asked.
“Much quicker. But he’s a stubborn, bull-headed man. So it shouldn’t shock me.”
“Will you still be full-time with him once he’s discharged?”
“He’ll still need me for a lot of the time during the day. He’s more independent with his own personal things since his arms and ribs have healed— like bathing and getting dressed— but there are still a lot of other things that have to be taken care of during the day. Like keeping up with his medication, drawing blood. I’ll probably have to take over cooking again until he can get his strength back up in his hip.”
“God bless him,” she said with a grin.
“My cooking’s not that bad,” I said.
“I love you, but every time you cook for me I pray to anyone that’ll listen.”
The two of us giggled before we dug into our food. It was flattering, in a way, that Emilia wanted me back. But I wasn’t sure if Hayden could operate safely without me there. Even for just three or four hours out of the day, there were so many things that could go wrong. He could trip putting on pants or stand for too long and wear down the internal stitches he had put in. He could fall and injure the implant and we’d be right back in the hospital with another issue on our hands.
Then, there was broaching the issue with him and his family. Talking to them about no longer being a full-time, around-the-clock nurse. If I was going to be using Hayden as a reference, the last thing I wanted to do was back out of the job I committed myself to in favor of another gig. That would look terrible, and it would quickly tank the only reference I currently had in the community.
I just wasn’t sure if I could take that risk.
“Already mulling it over, huh?” Emilia asked.
“Just thinking about some obstacles,” I said.
“Want to talk about them?” she asked.
“I mean, there’s the obvious. Leaving Hayden for even three hours a day poses so much risk that he could easily wind up back in the hospital. Then there’s the issue of backing out on a job before it’s finished. If I want to take on the in-home nursing world, Hayden and his family are the only references I have right now. If I willingly back out-”
“It doesn’t look good on a reference. Got it,” she said. “But there’s something else.”
“What?”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I can see it in your eyes, Grace. Even if you haven’t admitted it to yourself yet, there’s something else holding you back.”
“Maybe you’ve been sniffing too much fresh dirt in the back of that shop,” I said with a grin.
But she was right. I didn’t want to admit it or say it out loud because of the questions that would follow— nor was I sure how she would react— but I wanted to be with Hayden full-time. I didn’t want to leave his side. I’d been with him constantly for the past three months, and I was slowly beginning to forget what life had been like without him. I enjoyed his presence. His countenance. His stubborn ways were frustrating as hell, but he was strong. An independent man who could do anything he put his mind to. I was beginning to see that during his recuperation and it was fascinating.
