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She looped her arm through his and leaned into him, making him feel strong and necessary. “If I must,” she whispered.
“Rose.” He turned and took her in his arms. “I’m sorry, okay? I’ve been thinking about you, and I knew you were going to your manufacturer today, and I really just didn’t want to bother you or disrupt your life.”
She clung to him, and Lee sure did like that. She stepped back and took his face in her hands. “Lee,” she said, her eyes searching his. “You should’ve told me and let me make my own decision.”
“I know what you’d have done,” he said. “Then you’d be super stressed about your game.”
“You have no idea what I’d have done,” she said. “You could’ve explained to me what was going on and how your mom was doing, and I might not have decided to come sit with you today.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “I should’ve done that.”
She lowered her hands but didn’t stop looking at him. “What happened yesterday?”
“I was workin’ in the fields,” he said. “It was hot, and someone came riding up to tell us about Mama, and I went against the movement of the hay wagon and got a little vertigo.”
“He fell down.”
Lee and Rosalie both looked toward the door, where Will stood with Daddy.
“You fell down?”
“I stumbled,” Lee said.
“You finally called her,” Daddy said as he entered the room and came closer, and that wasn’t going to help Lee’s case. “There’s pizza here,” he added, his eyebrows going up as he looked at Lee again.
“I brought it,” Rosalie said. “For all of you.”
“Howdy, Rosalie,” Will said, stepping over to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for the pizza.”
“Sure,” she said, holding Lee’s eyes for an extra moment. He regretted several things in his life, but none more than not texting or calling Rosalie last night. Or this morning.
He watched in wonder as she tugged a few paper plates out of her purse and handed them to Will. Mama started to stir with the increased chatter, and Daddy shifted to attend to her. “Rosalie brought pizza, Chrissy. You want some?”
“She can’t eat pizza, Daddy,” Will said.
“Why not?” Daddy threw him a dirty look. “The doctors said she could eat what she wanted.”
“I’ll get her some,” Lee said, his own stomach cramping at the sight of the food. He hadn’t eaten in a while, because he refused to leave Mama alone. “Looks like Hawaiian, Mama. You love that.”
“Yes, please,” she whispered, and Lee put a single slice on one of Rosalie’s paper plates. He gave her a shy smile as they danced around each other in the microscopic hospital room. Will picked up the boxes of pizza and moved them to the narrow counter in front of the even slimmer window in the back corner of the room.
Lee put Mama’s pizza on the rolling tray and moved it so it sat in front of her. “Lift the bed, Daddy.”
His dad fumbled with the controls, and Lee’s impatience started to crowd into the back of his throat. He told himself not to say anything, because he was already on thin ice with Rosalie. He didn’t need to be showing any more surliness in front of her.
He was honestly surprised she’d forgiven him already. One glance at her as Daddy finally remembered how to raise the bed so Mama could sit up and eat, and Lee knew he wasn’t out of the doghouse with Rosalie.
“Can I talk to you for a sec?” he asked.
“Trav is on his way,” Will said, a piece of supreme pizza in his hand. “You should go home, Lee.”
“I’m okay.” He moved toward the door, hoping Rosalie would come.
“You haven’t been home yet,” Daddy said. “You need to go, Lee.”
“I’m okay, son,” Mama said, and Lee looked between the two of them. He didn’t want to leave Mama here. Daddy hadn’t stayed over last night, because there was nowhere to sleep, and Lee had caught a couple of hours in the recliner he’d been sitting in when Rosalie had arrived.
Lee took a step back toward them, slipping his hand into Rosalie’s. “I’m just gonna talk to Rose for a minute, and then I’ll come say good-bye.”
