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Leaning over to see the whole thing better, Sean hung his mouth open. “Wow. Is this a castle?”
I laughed back at him as I pushed the button for the garage door. “Us big ogres have to have a spacious cave to roam around in. Don’t we?” I pulled into the garage and leaned over to Carson and Gentry when I pulled off my seatbelt. “Can you guys grab a bunch of sleeping bags from the shelves beside you while I get your mom all tucked in?”
By the time I opened the truck door, Carolyn’s eye was pretty much swollen shut, and she missed the steering wheel completely when she tried to grab it.
As gently as possible, I grabbed her by the elbow and brought her across the seat. “Come here, honey.” I put her arms around my shoulders one at a time and slid my arm around her back. “I’m not trying to have you trip on those stairs. So just relax and enjoy the ride.”
Totally beaten down, she tried to pretend that concussion and bruises didn’t hurt like hell, hiding her pain behind her tight-lipped whimper into my shirt.
Carson rushed to open the door for me, and I went in at an angle so I didn’t whack her on the doorframe. “Boys, just go on and make yourselves comfortable in the living room. There’s a bathroom right past the stairs, and the kitchen is all stocked up. Help yourselves to whatever you want.”
She bent upwards in my arms when I got to the staircase, pushing against me with her hands. “You can’t carry me all the way upstairs. Put me down.”
Weighing less than the bags of mulch and quick-set concrete I carried four at a time every day at work, she didn’t even slow my steps. “No can do. The discharge papers said no strenuous activity, bright light, or loud noises. Plus, that old doctor told me not to let you take the stairs by yourself.”
I rolled the dimmer switch down as low as it would go before I took her into the bedroom. “Me and the boys are going to crash downstairs so we don’t bother you.” I set her down and moved her hand to the side table. “I’m kind of a slob. So, hang on to this while I fix up the covers for you.”
Other than the few minute cat naps while we were waiting, she hadn’t been to sleep at all and the punching bag down in the basement had fewer scratches and dings on it than she did. Hearing her sniffling behind me, I turned back to find her wiping her face with the back of her arm. “I’m sorry I’m being such a baby.”
I laughed a little because I’d witnessed her take on bullies on the playground and drunks at the pub twice her size without blinking over the years. Prying her fingers from the table, I backed her to the bed. “You’re not being a baby.” Once she got her bottom on the bed, I crouched down to take off her socks. “You got whacked in the head by God knows what, and your noodle’s cooked. You need to switch off for a while now.”
My forearm hooked around her ankles to lift them onto the mattress as she fell into the pillow, and I pulled the blanket up so she could reach it. “I’ll bring you some water and stuff after I get the boys straightened out. Okay?” Her good eye closed, and she nodded at me, already softly snoring as I leaned over to check the knot on her head. “You want a couple of icepacks for that? It’s throbbing so hard it’s waving at me.”
The arm across her unfolded, and she rubbed her fingers over mine. “And something for my headache if you have it, please.”
How much pain I knew she had to be in and how I could really do nothing to help her made my heart sick. So, I pulled her hand to my mouth and kissed it as I backed away to take care of the few worries I could lift off her shoulders for a little while. “Be right back.”
The sun started breaking through the clouds behind the mountain, and I turned the blinds down until only a soft white glow came through them. “The remote’s on the table if you get bored up here by yourself.”
I’d been dreaming of having this woman by my side and in my bed for as long as I can remember. It’s not exactly how I pictured it, for sure. But even if it was only to nurse her through this rough patch in her life, I was happy to take what I could get for now.
61
Useless
Jason
Faith was more than happy to go to the old thrift store she used to hate so much and clear the racks of everything that might fit Carolyn and the boys. The boxes of stuff they ordered started to trickle in, too, and the bedrooms were all set up for everyone.
Every room that sat empty all these years had someone in it now, and they’d already about emptied my pantry of all the snacks I stockpiled. Not that I minded sleeping in my reclining chair — I always did it, even when I didn’t have a houseful of company. But I was really looking forward to getting my king-sized memory foam bed back, though.
Breaking the cardboard boxes down in the garage, I stomped them against the floor to flatten them out until I heard the door to the kitchen open. “Hey.”
Wearing something that kind of fit her this time, instead of my boxers and t-shirts she struggled to keep on, Carolyn held tight to the railing as she stepped down from the stairs.
About a hundred wrinkles folded up the bottom half of the stretchy pants Faith gave her, and I laughed at them before I ripped the side out of another box. “Little long. Aren’t they?”
Pulling out the extra fabric around the hips, she kicked out her leg as she shuffled toward me in her too-big shoes. “Faith’s legs are like a mile long.” The metal framed lawn chair leaning against the wall unfolded. “I just started a load of those clothes she bought, though.”
I let the box fall to the floor and rocked my boot over it. “I’ll take care of it. Dom said you already had enough excitement for today.”
She folded up her legs underneath her. “I’m fine. I’m not used to sitting around so much, and it’s stressing me out more than it’s making me feel better, to be honest.” Having that puppy-that-just-did-something-wrong look all the time, she barely even made eye contact with me anymore. “Um. Since it doesn’t seem like I’ll be going back to work anytime soon, I was thinking maybe I could do something for you, for like, your business or something. You’ll probably be super busy with the cleanup for the next couple of months.”
I folded the boxes over each other and shoved them into the trashcan. “I mean, I guess you can if you want. But school’s over for the summer, so you got the kids to take care of. And the job site isn’t the funnest place for kids.”
Her shoulders collapsed when she sighed. “Okay. Well, I promise I’ll keep the house clean and have dinner waiting when you get home, and I’ll try to find a job doing something else.”
I shoved the lid on the can. “Carolyn, there weren’t any decent jobs here before the tornado. So, I doubt you’re going to find much after.”
