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Chapter 5
Thanksgiving loomed ahead, and Charlie was ready to be discharged. Their relationship had grown intimate, but not in the ways Charlie thought would do them much good. She was there through the surgeries to debride his burns, and then one night they were afraid they were going to lose him when sepsis took over his body from a tiny infected wound. Holding his head when he was burning up with fever, whispering words of encouragement to him, or emptying his urinal when the nurse was busy were tasks she performed for Charlie that pushed her out of her comfort zone and seemingly closer to him. Although it wasn’t ideal, Charlie thought her confidence was growing, too. Or maybe the reason she was able to fall asleep in front of him was simple exhaustion.
They had a routine established after the third day. Lila spent the night sleeping in a hospital bed the staff had pushed into Charlie’s room for her, so at least she was comfortable. In the morning when they came in to help Charlie bathe, she’d leave for home. She’d shower and do her makeup to try to feel normal, touch bases with Devon, who was playing house with Aisling, Mike’s late wife, and call her mother with the latest updates on Charlie’s health.
On discharge day, they were walking the hall together, Charlie pushing an IV pole that had one lone bag of fluid on it. He was ready to go home.
“I have a choice. I can go home and hire someone to come in every day to make sure I don’t trip over my own feet. Or I can move in with you up on the mountain. Or you can stay with me in the Ranch. What do you think?”
“Would you mind coming with me?”
Lila couldn’t imagine staying with Charlie in his house with Clare down the street. After their initial encounter in the waiting room, she’d seen Clare a few more times when she accompanied her sons to visit their father. Rather than suffer through it, Lila always excused herself and hid in the hospital cafeteria. Elizabeth was correct; Clare Saint was intimidating. Specifically, she reminded Lila of a cat who judged. Never making eye contact, she looked at the corner of Lila’s face when she spoke to her. Evidently, she had the ability to be friendly that one time in the waiting room only.
But having Charlie in her house around the clock? Petrifying. It was one thing to stay in the hospital room with him. That was neutral territory, and neither one of them were at their best. He’d see her recycling bin, which looked like it should be in an alley behind a bar, with a chest-high stack of cases of empty wine bottles.
“I don’t think I want to stay at your house, if you don’t mind. Staying at mine is the lesser of two evils.” That made them laugh.
“Staying at your place was a plausible choice as long as you didn’t mind the intrusion,” he replied. “I’ll need to get some of my things.”
“Okay, we’ll do that first thing.”
The doctor discharged Charlie later that day. It was the first time in a month that he was out in the sunlight, and it hurt his eyes. “I feel like an invalid,” he mumbled.
“Give yourself a break. We should have brought sunglasses. It is bright after being in that dark room for weeks.”
They settled into Lila’s car, and Charlie put his hand out to take hers.
“You were there with me around the clock,” Charlie replied. “I don’t think I can make it up to you.”
“Charlie, there’s nothing to make up for. Well, maybe time you lost, but as far as I go, I needed to be there. It was what I wanted to do.”
She’d given it some thought when questioned about why she had stayed around the clock in a hospital room with a guy she’d only dated for a day. The obvious answer was that there was no one else. In another time, before their recent tragedy, Big Mike or Roberta or one of their sons might have done the job, or even one of Charlie’s boys, who seemed strangely distant from him when they visited, but she doubted it.
The seeming devotion of her staying with him was a conundrum, even to Lila. She had been compelled to stay, and that was the only answer she could come up with. Taking care of him was completely one-sided, so there was no weirdness, no relinquishing of her control or having to hide. It wasn’t about her at all.
Resting his head back against the seat, he closed his eyes for a moment, and she saw how frail he’d gotten. His jaw was chiseled and his stomach even flatter than before, not an ounce of body fat on him.
“For having been in the hospital for almost a month, you are certainly fetching, sitting there,” she said after glancing at him.
The compliment hit its mark and he sat up straight, smiling, listening as she continued, “Lean and mean, if I can recall my gym days. Everyone who’s seen you in the past week mentioned something about your bod. Rick Jackson said, ‘Great, now I’m never going to undress when Charlie Saint is in the building.’”
“They’re nuts,” Charlie replied, but it pleased him. “I won’t have to worry about what I eat on Thanksgiving.”
“Speaking of, I guess I’ll cook Thanksgiving dinner for us. We definitely don’t want to eat with my parents, and Big Mike said they’re going to Roberta’s sister’s house in Julian for the day.”
“What about Devon and Mike’s wife? Devon always ate with us at Big Mike’s.”
“They’re keeping a low profile,” she replied.
As she pulled up to the gatehouse of Charlie’s development, the gatekeeper came out and greeted Charlie and inquired after him, tipping his hat before opening the gate.
A feeling of desolation had settled over the empty house, so they didn’t linger, packing up his computer and clothes while waiting for the dog sitter. Charlie’s dogs were coming with them to Elfin Forest.
“Jeez, what was that oppression all about?” he asked when they were headed to her house.
“Just an unlived-in house. It won’t always feel that way.”
“I hope not because that was painful.”
