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“I am,” she quickly said, “I just didn’t get much sleep last night. I couldn’t seem to shut off my brain to fall asleep.”
“I get that,” he said. “It happens to me a lot, especially in my line of work.” He often laid awake worrying that he had made a bad call on the job—one that could have gotten him, or his partner killed. He hated second-guessing himself and he found that happened a lot lately. He couldn’t have second thoughts when he was standing in front of a loaded gun. It’s what probably got him shot in the first place.
“I think that the question here is—are you good with all of this? I know that you don’t want to stay with your sisters, but if you have a problem with me staying at your place, speak up now. I can get someone else assigned to your case if that’s what you want.”
“It’s not what I want,” he said. “I want you to stay at my place, Jolene.” Hearing himself say that he wanted her to stay with him did strange things to him. He needed to get his overactive libido in check or things were going to end with her walking out on him and him having to make a trip to HR and being reprimanded or worse.
“I appreciate you saying that. How about I go find out what’s keeping the nurse and you double-check to make sure that you have everything ready to go,” she ordered.
He chuckled, “Are you going to be this bossy the whole time?” he asked.
She shrugged, “Yeah, and probably worse than this. It’s who I am.” He wasn’t sure if he should tell her this or not, but he kind of liked her bossiness.
“I like it,” he said, making her blush. Jo nodded and disappeared out of the room and all he could do was watch her leave.
* * *
Jolene drove him back to his place and parked her car next to his pick-up truck. It was going to take some getting used to, having her at his place for the next few weeks. “Is my car okay here?” she asked. “I can move it if you need me to.”
“No,” he said, noting her nervousness, “you’re fine here.”
“Okay,” she stuttered. “If I’m being honest, I’m a little bit nervous about staying here with you. I’ve never stayed at a patient’s home before. Usually, they have a loved one stay with them, and I just go over for therapy.” He knew that was the norm, but nothing about his life seemed to be normal anymore.
“You met my loved ones. My sisters are still new relationships to me. Plus, they are both newlyweds and no one wants to be around all of that lovey, sappy shit.”
“I don’t know,” Jo said, “I kind of love sappy shit.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not a fan. Then, there’s my mother, and having her stay with me won’t be good for her health. I can’t do that to her. I’d get better in time for her to end up in the hospital. She’s finally had a good run in the health department, and I don’t want to jinx that for her.”
“I get that, and I don’t mind being here. I didn’t mean to imply that I’d rather leave you to a family member and not be here. It’s just out of the ordinary for me and it’s going to be an adjustment.”
“I was just thinking that,” Stone admitted. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m not used to having anyone stay with me either. I’m kind of a loner and have been my whole life. It’s probably why I’m still getting used to my sister’s being in my life. I’m betting that the two of us will figure this all out.”
“I appreciate you saying that, Stone,” she said. “How about you let me help you up those crazy front steps of yours and we’ll get you settled. I was here yesterday evening, cleaning and moving a few things around. I hope that you don’t mind my changing a few things.”
“Not at all. I guess I really set myself up to fail. I appreciate you moving things around, but you didn’t have to clean up my mess,” he said. He hated that she had seen him at his worst. He usually kept his place pretty tidy, but being laid up with a gun shot wound to his thigh was really putting a damper on his cleaning abilities.
“You can’t do very much right now, and I get that,” she assured. “I’ll show you better ways to get around and even ways to clean up after yourself. You’ll be back up on your feet in no time, and then, I’ll be out of your hair.”
“We’ll see,” he grumbled, “so far, I haven’t been a model patient. I wouldn’t put too much pressure on yourself to get me up and running quickly. I might take some time to work through all of this. You okay with that?” he asked. “It might mean you have to stick around a bit longer.”
“I’ll be here for as long as you need me, Stone,” she breathed, putting her hand on his forearm. “I won’t set you up to fail—promise.”
“I appreciate that, Jolene. Now, let’s get me in the house so you can start to work your magic,” he teased. “I’ve been promised a nap after my therapy and I plan on taking a long one.”
“Deal,” she said. “I think that I might just take a nap too. I’m beat from packing and all that stuff. Ready?” He nodded and watched as she rounded her car and got out his crutches. He pushed his door open and took the crutches from her, nodding his thanks. He worked his way up his front steps and when he got to the top, he was in pain and winded from his efforts. He hated feeling so tired and weak, even if he knew that he wouldn’t feel that way forever. Stone was usually in pretty good shape and not being able to take care of himself and having to hobble around on crutches, really rubbed him the wrong way.
“You good?” Jo asked. She had brought up the rear, tugging up her bags and his hospital bag behind her.
“I am,” he lied, “I hate that you have to do all of that by yourself.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I’m used to it. My apartment is on the second floor, and I usually have to lug my groceries up from my car, by myself.”
He unlocked his front door and pushed it open, hobbling in to make room for Jo to get past him with all the baggage. “I thought that you said that your brother lived with you,” he reminded. He thought he remembered her saying as much when her sisters all but begged her to move into his place and take care of him.
“He does, for now,” she said. “He was living with his girlfriend until a few months back. He caught his ex-cheating on him, and I offered to let him stay with me.”
“That sucks, I’m sorry he had to go through all of that,” Stone said. He had gone through a few bad breakups in his day, and he didn’t have anyone to lean on besides his mother. There was no way that he’d admit to his mother that some woman had broken his heart. She’d end up asking way too many questions and that was the last thing he needed. He learned to suffer in silence and that usually worked for him.
