Page 44 of Protecting Salvation

By the time they got home they were both drenched and Bertie, who’d been playing in the river all day while they enjoyed each other, was covered in mud.

“Divide and conquer. I’ll bath Mr Stinky here and you put this away?” Warren was quieter than earlier and she cocked her head when she noticed the strain around his eyes. His headaches were getting more frequent and a couple of times she’d seen the way he grabbed something to steady himself when a wave of dizziness hit him. “Or we could just leave this stuff, and I’ll give Bertie a bath while you order takeaway?”

“Second option sounds good to me.”

His nod of assent and the slight shrug of his shoulders was meant to be nonchalant but she’d spent too many years reading people not to know he was struggling and the only help he’d accept would be on his terms. He was a proud man, he didn’t need what he saw as a weakness shoved in his face every second of the day.

“Cool.” She went up on tiptoes and kissed him lightly. “Can we have something from the Thai place?”

“Anything you want, sugar.”

“Promises, promises.” She waggled her brows as she walked away, clicking her fingers for Bertie to follow. “Come on, you dirty dog. You need cleaning up.”

“I hope you weren’t talking about me, sugar.”

His voice was muffled through the walls and she smiled. “Never.”

His deep baritone laugh was like a balm on a perfect day. They hadn’t discussed all the shit that had happened last week much. Lotus was in charge of that and she was happy to let her take over and tell her what she needed because quite frankly, she didn’t want to know.

Yes, it was very head in the sand of her but she didn’t care, even if a part of her therapist’s brain told her she was hiding because she couldn’t face that once again her life had been turned upside down. So she focused on the good, her work and the man who made every day feel like a miracle.