AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay, now you need to not move, but you should be able to see what I’m doing and I’ll ask when I can’t find something. Got it?”
I look up at him standing there with his hand rubbing the back of his neck and his eyes checking my face for signs of something.
“This is pathetic,” I say, keeping the whine out of my voice.
“No, this is you needing to stay put and me knowing how to make things a little easier, so please let me.”
“Okay,” I reluctantly say.
He nods and goes right back to the kitchen, opening the fridge and then the freezer and moving some of the contents.
“What kind of dairy can you have?”
“Things like cheese and yogurt, but not a lot of either.”
“Got it. I’ll steer clear from even those for tonight.” He closes the freezer and comes back into view while typing something on his phone. “Will you be okay if I stay in the kitchen?”
Another wave of pain that’s almost searing hits and I hold perfectly still, holding my breath.
“Whoa,” Tommy says, closing the distance immediately. He looks me over as if he can find the pain to soothe it away.
I suppose if anyone can, it would be this man.
“On second thought, I’m going to stay right here until you can take something,” he says, looking decisive.
I make a sound of disagreement and take a shallow breath. “I’m fine, really.”
Of course a tear picks this very moment to fall again. Before I can try to hide it, Tommy’s palm is cupping my cheek and his thumb is brushing the tear away.
“No,” he says softly before his face screws up a little. “How about I stop talking about raiding your kitchen and wait right here with you for Greta to drop the meds off?”
The pain is ridiculous and I want to scream at the timing, but I can’t help feeling like the luckiest woman in the world to have Tommy here, wanting to have our date. Even though I’m going to be terrible company tonight.
“Sam?”
“Oh, sorry. Yes.”
“Where’d you go?” he asks.
He sees my hesitation clear as day.
“Don’t hide,” he reminds me, his eyes soft as he sits on the end of the coffee table in front of me.
“I was just thinking about how you’re not running for the hills.”
He snorts out a laugh. “Again, someone has set the bar far too low if this is winning me brownie points.”
There’s a knock at the door and I sigh in relief at the sound.
“I’ll get it,” Tommy says, kissing me on my forehead as he stands. That cedar scent is stronger today and I take a moment to appreciate being calm enough to soak it in.
Greta’s surprise is evident even from the couch when it’s not me at the door. Moments later, Tommy pockets the meds, grabs my water bottle from the kitchen, and, when he’s back at the couch, sets a coaster for the table. This man is racking up brownie points tonight. I reach out and take the water from him with a smile. I think I’m going to cry again because he doesn’t even think twice about caring for someone. Nothing about him says he expects anything in return, or that this is any sort of a burden.
He takes out a little container and pops off the lid. Again, how this man thinks about all the little things completely baffles me. One of my hands is holding my bottle and it would have hurt more to move around to set it down just so I could have two hands to open the container, but he just does it. He’s the first guy I’ve dated, even though this is just our first date so I don’t know that we’ve officially dated at this point, who was sympathetic to this. Everyone in the past just left me to my own devices.
Oh no, the tears are coming. I let him drop the two pills into my hand and quickly take them, hoping the cold in my mouth will somehow offset the waterworks.
It doesn’t.
