“I want to clean up the glass too.”
“We’ll do it,” Clay said. “Go. You need a break. Take it upstairs and let out a scream or something.”
Her bottom lip wobbled. “You won’t come running if I do that in the shower?”
“Are you going to actually do it so I know? I don’t want to worry that you slipped and fell and couldn’t get up.”
“While I was naked with water running all over me,” she said, lifting her chin, and turned on her heel to march up the stairs.
“Damn,” Ford said. “She really does like to get the last word in. I can’t believe you said nothing back.”
He wanted to yank her to his body and slant his mouth over hers, but resisted the urge in front of his brother.
Not that Ford couldn’t read what was on Clay’s mind by the look he was receiving.
“Yeah. That’s what I’m dealing with. And now this.”
“It messes you up inside when you’re worried,” Ford said. They moved to the kitchen and he opened a small closet and pulled out a broom and a dustpan.
“I’m not sure I want this right now,” he said.
“One thing I learned is it doesn’t matter if you want it or not. It’s there. It’s going to be about how you deal with it.”
“I can handle anything.”
“You tell yourself that enough.”
“You think I can’t?” he asked, spinning to pin his brother with a glare that had most men running from the room.
Ford didn’t even flinch. “I never said that. I’m saying that you tell yourself you can handle it all and yet you end up home worrying the rest of us.”
He let out a sigh. “I’m fine.”
“You’re getting there,” Ford said. “Almost at an accelerated pace since you opened up on Saturday.”
He snorted. “I don’t need you to be my shrink.”
“Nope. Not something I want to do, but I’d do it if you needed it.”
He dumped the broken glass in the trash bag, then found her vacuum and sucked up anything he missed.
The muffled scream had him freezing, Ford turning with his hand on his gun.
“If I go up there, she’s going to kill me,” he said.
“If you don’t, it’s going to kill you wondering.”
Fuck!
He raced up the stairs, Ford behind him.
“I’m fine, Clay,” Meredith yelled. “You told me to scream and I did.”
His shoulders dropped. He’d heard the water shut off when he’d gotten close to the door.
Now the thought of her naked and dripping wet brought another image to his mind that wouldn’t get pushed out soon.
There was no reason to answer her. She obviously heard them coming up the stairs.
