His heart thumped in his chest. She looked weak and fragile… and a bit out of it.
Evelyn drove them home and helped him get Violet inside. Violet looked down at her clothes, covered in blood. “I’m going to change.”
“Here, let me help you,” Evelyn offered.
He sent her a grateful look. Like she hadn’t already done enough.
Fifteen minutes later Evelyn returned. “I got her changed. She said she was tired and climbed into her bed. You should check on her every so often though.”
“Oh, I will.” He might just camp out at her bedside. “Truly, I can’t thank you enough for all your help.”
She touched his arm again and he felt an instant connection with her. A bond forged by her helping him, being there for him, a stranger to her town.
“It was no problem. What are friends for?” She slipped outside, and he watched as she pulled away.
Friends.
Were they friends? Had they moved past the acquaintance stage? No time to sort this out now. He headed for Violet’s room and found her sound asleep. Just what she needed. He settled into a chair in the corner of the room. There was no way he was leaving her side.
A nagging crick in his neck brought him out of a light, dozing sleep, and he opened his eyes.
“Hey, sleepyhead. I thought I was the one who got hurt.” Violet was sitting up in her bed, propped up by her overabundance of pillows. She’d always had that. About twenty pillows on her bed. She always insisted she needed that many. This time he noted they were all the same bright colors like she wanted to paint the cottages.
He shoved the sleep away and got up from the chair. “How are you feeling?” He searched her face, still seeing signs of pain.
“Got a heck of a headache and my arm aches, but I’ll be okay.”
“Can I get you anything? Something to eat?”
“Maybe just a cup of tea. I still feel a bit woozy.”
He hurried to the kitchen to make the tea and heard a knock at the door. He opened it to see Evelyn standing there with a basket in her hands.
“I made you two some dinner. Just sandwiches. And some soup, if that sounds better to Violet.” She grinned. “And some muffins, and some pie, of course. Hoping something of that will tempt Violet to eat a few bites. I tend to over pack on picnics, don’t I?”
“You didn’t need to do that. You’ve done so much already.” But he was grateful and took the overflowing basket from her.
“I’m glad to help.”
“She just woke up and I’m making her some tea.”
“How’s she feeling?”
“Pretty sore. Says she has a headache.”
“I bet. That was quite a gash on her forehead.”
“I’m going to make her take it easy for a few days. Not that it’ll be easy. She’s so determined to finish the renovations and get the resort open.” And get some income coming in, though he didn’t mention that. He’d seen Violet’s spreadsheets, and she was hitting the end of her money to invest in repairs.
“Hopefully she’ll be much better soon. Although I’m sure the broken arm will slow her down.”
“I guess I’ll add painting the cottages to my list of things that need to be done before she opens.” Along with fixing two more wooden porches, replacing a set of stairs, new plumbing fixtures for a handful of the bathrooms and kitchens. Oh, and replace a few windows that were cracked, and a new door for one of the cottages. The staggering amount of work that still needed to be done almost overwhelmed him.
And he really needed to get started on his next book. He had deadlines of his own. If he could come up with an idea, that is…
“Tell her I hope she feels better soon.” Evelyn gave him a friendly smile and a little wave as she turned and walked back to her car.
She drove away down the rutted dirt driveway… yet another thing he needed to spruce up. How was he ever going to get all of this work finished? Pushing away his worries, he made the tea and plated up a muffin for his sister.
