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“No, you should not go now. I don’t mean to boss you around, but you need to sleep.”
“Yes, please don’t boss me around. But I agree. I feel sick I’m so tired. As a matter of fact, I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
“Do you need fresh air?”
She nodded her head and he guided her outside. The sun was up but hidden behind thick smoke and clouds.
“I don’t even know what day it is,” she said.
“It’s Tuesday. I’m off until Friday, so I’ll take care of you.”
“Jake—” she began to protest.
“Geri, I love you. Let me. You heard what Charlie said. You shouldn’t be alone. I won’t be able to rest if I’m worried about you. It’s what a guy does when he loves a girl. You’d do the same for me, wouldn’t you? I mean, you carried my dad off a mountain.”
“I didn’tcarrycarry him. I supported him.”
“Well, that’s not what he’s telling people,”Jakereplied. “He said you dragged him out with your arms around him.”
The reality of that would come to light that night when every muscle in her body had a delayed response. Jake called the company doctor, who prescribed muscle relaxants.
“He said you should have a hot bath,” Jake said, smiling.
“I’m not ready to bare it all, but I don’t know if I can manage without falling over like one of those fainting goats.”
“Ha! Well, let me help you. I promise not to grab atanything.”
“If you’ll just run the water in the tub for me, I’ll be okay. You can help me step over the side because the thought of lifting my leg up is not pleasant.”
She managed to get undressed, and with a towel wrapped around her body, she accepted the help he offered so she could get in the water.
“Okay, I can manage,” she said, handing him the towel. “If I can’t get up, I’ll call, so don’t go too far.”
“I’ll be right outside the door.”
Her parents came by the next morning with bags of prepared food so that Jake didn’t have to cook. Gerald Angel was both proud and worried, and her mother was a wreck, fussing over her and hovering.
In the afternoon, Geri wanted to take a walk, so they strolled down Grand Avenue, looking in shop windows and having coffee at a quaint shop.
“I want to go to your place,” she said. “I’m ready to be in the woods.”
“Okay. We really do have the best of places, the city place and the country place.”
Back at her apartment she packed a bag, and Jake bagged up all the food her parents had brought over. While he worked, his phone pinged.
“I got a text from Roberta. My dad’s home already.”
“We should stop over there,” Geri said. “I was going to ask to visit him at the hospital before my body decided to seize.”
“I’d like to seize your body,” he replied, staring at her with sultry eyes.
“You should take a cold shower, then,” she said, snickering. “This decrepit body is not desirable.”
“Who says? I’m ready to jump you. It wasn’t easy keeping my hands off you when you were in the tub. And I’d offer to rub that ointment on your back, but I’m not sure I’d be able to stop.”
Looking at Jake sidelong, she had an idea. “I think we can work something out later. Maybe if I lie real still—”
“Watch out, Geri.”
