AllFreeNovel
Share Us
LATER THAT NIGHT, they discharged Cadence from the hospital with instructions on how to take care of the staples in her head and when to follow up on the concussion with her doctor. Jonny and I both agreed that we wanted her to see the same head specialist that Jens had been working with since being out of our lineup for the last few months, dealing with the same thing.
What we didn’t agree on was where Cadence should go once they let her leave the hospital. He seemed to think that now that Guy was effectively out of the picture, she should go back to living in the spare room of his house. I wasn’t on board with that—not at all—so I enlisted help from Katie and Dani.
“The last thing Cadence needs right now is to be surrounded by kids and chaos,” I argued within the sisters’ hearing.
“There’s not chaos at my house,” Jonny replied.
At that very moment, Connor cackled as he made an attempt to climb his father.
I gave him an oh-really sort of look.
“Levi has a point,” Katie said.
Dani nodded. “But honestly, shouldn’t it be up to Cadence where she goes? I’d think she should have some say in this.”
“They said she shouldn’t make any big life decisions,” Jonny grumbled.
Both sisters rolled their eyes at the same time.
In the end, we got him to admit it should be up to Cadence. She agreed with me.
Katie and Dani came with us back to my place to help me settle her in and make sure she had everything she needed. They had packed up the duffel bag she’d taken with her to spend the weekend with them, but they didn’t stick around too long. All Cadence wanted to do was snuggle against me on the couch, resting her head on my shoulder with her eyes closed. Needless to say, I was more than all right with that arrangement. It meant she was in my arms, right where she belonged.
The next day, there were more visitors at my apartment than I’d ever had in all the time I’d been living here combined. Cadence put on a robe and a smile, but I knew better than to trust the smile. I made it a point to keep a close eye on her for signs of fatigue, ready to kick everyone out at a moment’s notice.
Midmorning, Paige brought all her girls over because Sophie needed to see for herself that Cadence was going to be fine. Her sisters kept their giggling to a minimum, thank goodness.
“Cadence?” Sophie said, holding tight to her hand.
“Hmm?”
“You can be Levi’s best girlfriend now.”
The other girls got quiet, and their expressions clearly said awwwwww, even if they didn’t voice it aloud, but Cadence sat upright too fast.
She closed her eyes and waited a moment, probably hoping the shooting pains or nausea, or whatever it was this time, would quit. Then she gave Sophie a very serious look. “I can’t be, because you are, Sophie Bug.”
Sophie shrugged. “It’s okay. I’ll let you. And you can kiss him and stuff, too, as long as I can be his other girlfriend.”
Cadence spluttered and looked over to me for help.
I got up and dragged a hand through my hair, studiously avoiding her gaze. “I need to…uh…” I didn’t have the first clue what I needed to do other than get the hell out of Dodge, so I did exactly that, disappearing down the hall to my bedroom.
Because the direction of this conversation was making me think of one thing—marriage. And the more I thought of it, the less it sounded like a bad idea. Whether I wanted to pursue that or not, though, now wasn’t the time to broach the subject.
I waited about ten minutes and then headed back out, hoping they would be on a different topic by now. As soon as I reached the living room again, someone was knocking on my door.
“We should go,” Paige said, giving each of her girls a meaningful look. They blushed when they glanced up at me, so I headed over to answer the door while they busied themselves gathering their coats and purses, not to mention prying Sophie’s grip away from Cadence’s hand.
A few of the other guys’ wives were waiting on my porch. I ushered them in, and Paige herded her daughters out so they could exchange places.
The day continued in that fashion for a long time. Nearly all of the Storm WAGs dropped by, some of them bringing food and others with flowers or books to keep Cadence busy while she recovered. Soupy, Burnzie, and Jens all stopped in, since they were in town recovering from injuries. Jens and Cadence sat together in the dining room, quietly talking about concussions, while the rest of us hung out in the living room.
Early in the afternoon, Anthony and Jesse showed up to fawn over her. They hadn’t even stopped at their place after returning from their honeymoon in Hawaii. Anthony had a nice tan, but Jesse was as red as a lobster.
“Even with SPF 100,” he said. “That sun’s no joke.”
I had to fight not to laugh at him, because the guy winced with every tiny movement.
