AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Josiah, you’ll never guess what Devon just told me!”
“What’d she tell you?” I ask, closing my computer to give her my full attention.
“You have to guess!” She watches me expectantly.
“But you just said I never would.”
“Har har,” she says, nudging my arm. “She has two tickets to her ballet to give away, and she invited me to come see her since I’ve been trapped at home with nothing to do! She usually gives Mom and Dad first dibs on the free tickets, but she’s offering them to me.”
I can see how excited she is, so I try to choose my next words wisely.
“That sounds fun, but do you really think you should be traveling all the way to Boston right now?” I ask. She rolls her eyes at me, just as she does every time someone shows even an ounce of concern for her condition. I know she wants to pretend like she’s perfectly fine, like the accident never happened. I know she’s frustrated and bored sitting at home doing nothing day in and day out. That’s why I’ve been here every day keeping her company. But she can’t just ignore it. Pretending like nothing’s wrong is not going to help her heal. Obeying her doctor’s orders will, though.
There’s a reason she’s being forced to take a month off work, and it’s not so she can go gallivanting around Boston! Her doctor told her to take it easy for the month…to rest. Flying across the country isn’t exactly restful.
She hates when I point out when she’s overdoing it, but it would be wrong of me not to. I care too much about her to let her harm herself. I love her, and sometimes when you love someone, you have to be the bad guy and say the hard things.
“I’m just going to go to a ballet, Josiah,” she groans, leaningher head back against the chair and slouching down like a petulant child.
“I know. It’s all the other stuff I’m worried about, like the flying, walking around a busy city, sightseeing…” I wave my hand around, implying that I could go on and on with the list of stuff I’m worried about.
She narrows her eyes at me and puts the phone back up to her ear. “Devon, I’ll call you back in a bit.” She slams her phone down on the table, plants her palms in front of her, and rises so that she’s standing almost eye level with me. “Are you seriously suggesting that I stay here and miss her performance just so I can sit around and do a whole bunch of nothing?!”
“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that you should care more about your health. You’re a nurse, for crying out loud. I thought you’d be more cooperative than this.”
Her eyes are throwing daggers at me, her mouth is pinched, and her nostrils flare as she breathes out an annoyed sigh. I’m trying not to laugh—I really am—but she’s so cute when she’s mad that it’s hard to hold it in.
“Don’t you dare laugh at a time like this,” she says through her clenched teeth. “I’m fine! It has been almost two weeks, and I feel totally normal now! And the performance isn’t for another week! And you know what, I don’t need your permission to go, anyway!” She swipes her phone from the table and storms away. I assume she’s going to call Devon back to tell her that she’s going, but I can’t let her go off to a massive city with a fresh head injury.
“Okay, how about I go with you?” I suggest. It’s been ages since I’ve been to a ballet, and it’d be really nice to see Devon perform again. I’d like to spend the time with Ellis away from her family too. I’ve been with her almost every waking moment, but at the same time, we haven’t had any qualitytime. It has felt like we’re teenagers again, with every moment being supervised by her parents or sisters.
“Why? So you can keep me in a protective bubble? Are you going to make me wear a helmet everywhere I go as well?”
“Maybe,” I say, not even bothering to hold in my laugh. She storms over to stand in front of me again and props her hands on her hips. She still looks adorable and beautiful. I give in to the temptation I’ve been battling for days. I grab her hand, pull her closer to me, and lean in and kiss her right on her pursed lips.
She gasps in surprise, so I take the opportunity to deepen the kiss. I push my chair back and wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her into my lap. She comes willingly, digging her hands into my hair.
Our tongues brush against each other, and she moans into my mouth. I know I should put a stop to this. She doesn’t need to get overly excited, but she’s too much temptation. I run my hand up her back to cradle her head, wishing I could feel every inch of her.
She leans in even closer so that every inch of her is pressed up against me just as a throat clears behind us. Ellis sits up straight, perched on my lap. She jumps up and stumbles back into the chair she was sitting in earlier. She knocks it over, and it crashes into the giant hutch right behind it. I move to pick it up.
“Oh my gosh, Mom. Uh, hi! What are you doing here?”
I turn to face Mrs. Leslie, where she stands behind me with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyebrows raised in surprise. “I live here,” she says in a droll voice.
“Right, right,” Ellis goes on awkwardly. She rubs a hand up her opposite arm and looks off to the side, unable to look her mom in the face. I’ve seen Ellis blush plenty of times over the years but never quite this much. If there was a competition forwho could blush the brightest, she would take the top prize right now.
“Well, don’t let me interrupt your little rendezvous here. I’m just going to get my coffee and go,” Mrs. Leslie says with a pleased look on her face. I’m sure my face is just as bright red as Ellis’s. Both of Ellis’s parents have now caught me kissing their daughter.
“Mom!” Ellis groans out.
“What, Ellis? You’re an adult. If you want to kiss the man, kiss him. You won’t hear any complaints from me. He has always been my number one pick for you, so quite frankly, I highly encourage it,” she says as she grabs her massive mug from the cabinet and fills it to the brim with steaming hot coffee. It can’t be healthy for a person so small in stature to consume that much caffeine in one sitting.
“Oh my gosh,” Ellis mutters under her breath, rubbing her forehead with an agitated hand. I want to pull her back down onto my lap and tell her to relax. Is it embarrassing? Yes. But it was just kissing. It was practically innocent.
“I’m going,” Leslie says, but Ellis stops her before she gets too far. Leslie turns around expectantly.
“I just want to let you know that Devon invited me to Boston to see her ballet. I’m being forced to take the time off from work, so I’m going. It’s next weekend,” she says, shrugging her shoulders, trying to appear relaxed and nonchalant.
