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She didn’t finish her sentence, but he could see the idea taking hold, and that was enough. It wasn’t a rejection. “Just – think about it,” he suggested. “I like being with you.”
She continued to stare up at him.
He added the one thing he thought she needed to hear, smiling so she saw the sincerity. “I promise, I won’t fall in love with you just because you’re in my bed.”
Her eyes flickered and then a smile crossed her lips, a little dismissive. “I’m glad to hear it. Now, we really need to go.”
It was hard to focus. Lauren’s head was all over the place. Yaya was midway through her second cup of tea and Lauren could barely keep up with the conversation.
“You’re tired?”
Yaya missed nothing.
“I’m – a little.”
“Why? You’re not sleeping well?”
Heat suffused Lauren’s entire body. “I stayed up late reading,” she mumbled, unable to meet the older woman’s sparkling eyes. They were beautiful eyes, intelligent and perceptive, always bright.
“At twenty eight it should not be reading that keeps you up at night,” Yaya said, her lips forming a teasing smile. At Lauren’s surprised glance, Yaya laughed. “Relax, Lauren,” Yaya said the name with a thick accent. “It’s a joke. And rude of me, too. Now, I’m tired of being here.”
“Where?”
“Here, in my bedroom. Will you help me escape?”
Lauren’s heart raced. The doctor had given permission for Yaya to have some short visits out of her room, and Lauren had noticed, in previous days, that Yaya’s strength was returning, not abating. It was unusual, and beyond Lauren’s expectations, but the reasons she’d been called to Villa Fortune in the first place – to help an elderly woman accept that her life might be ending – seemed less and less valid every day. Lauren was familiar with death and it no longer felt as though it were inevitable here.
Or was it possible she’d lost her objectivity?
Guilt thundered through her quickly. She was always careful to keep an emotional distance from her patients, but something about Yaya had made that impossible. And Raf?
She swallowed past a lump in her throat and nodded. “Yes. I’ll be your accomplice,” she promised. “Let me get the wheelchair.”
“No. No wheelchair today,” Yaya said, a challenge in those perceptive eyes of hers. “You’ll help me.”
Lauren considered that for a moment. “Where would you like to go?”
Yaya’s smile transformed her face, making her look decades younger. “To the office, first.”
Lauren dipped her head to hide her smile. “Well, let’s not be too ambitious. We’ll start at the office and see how you feel.”
“I feel strong today.”
“You seem strong,” Lauren agreed quietly. She stood up and cleared their tea tray, then prepared to help Yaya from the bed. She was a little unsteady as she stood, at first, but then she took a step and the difference was obvious. The tentative weaknesses Lauren had been conscious of on previous occasions were barely appreciable.
“Which way?” Lauren asked at the door.
“Of course. You wouldn’t know where the office is. I forget you haven’t spent much time here.”
“No, only a few weeks,” Lauren said. Not even a month. It didn’t seem right. On the one hand, she felt as though she’d been here a lot longer, that she’d known Yaya for longer than that, but on the other, she was surprised to find she was so far into this assignment.
“Funny, of all the people who’ve come to help me, you’re so different.”
Yaya’s voice was thin with the exertion of walking. Lauren didn’t reply in an effort to stem the conversation – it was better for Yaya to focus all her energies on the physical act, but she was full of things to say that morning. “You remind me of her, you know.”
Lauren frowned. “Who?”
“Camilla. My daughter.”
