Abandoning my dinner prep, I opened my back door to find Claire flat on her back in the middle of her yard, legs up in the air.
“You okay?” I stood over her, staring at her eyes, pinched closed.
“Fine. Just go away…gah, this is so embarrassing.” Her words were more of a whimper than anything else.
“Come on, I’ll help you up, and you can tell me what happened.”
She shook her head.
“Don’t be stubborn, Claire. It’s not like Smitty can help you up. He doesn’t have opposable thumbs. You do know that?”
“Oh, I most certainly know. Don’t you know that you’re not supposed to move someone who is injured?”
She opened one eye and let out a groan.
I didn’t bother answering her question. After years of football and farming, I knew when you could and when you couldn’t move someone.
“I can’t believe this is happening.”
I held out a hand to her, and she reluctantly put hers in mine.
“Up and at ’em.” I hoisted her upper body into my arms and steadied her on two wobbly feet. “What hurts?”
“Everything, but I’ll be fine. Need some Advil.”
“Want me to carry you?”
“No. Not ever.”
“What did you do?”
“Ugh, Smitty was chasing after some creepy animal, and I went to grab his collar and landed on my butt.”
“Ass.”
“He most certainly is not an ass…don’t talk about my dog that way.”
At my smirk, she said, “Oh, right, my ass.”
“Made you say ass twice.” I winked. “Now let’s get you in a hot bath with a glass of wine.”
“I’ll be fine, and I’m pretty sure you’re not going to see this,” she waved her hand up and down her front, “naked.”
“Maybe not ever,” she further affirmed.
“Wrong, wrong, and I’ll up you an extra wrong. Let’s hustle, lady, one foot in front of the other, in case you forgot.”
“I’m not what you’re used to, Fordham.”
“I’ll be the judge of that, Richards.”
I held her waist as she walked up a few steps, Smitty behind us, no longer concerned with the creepy animal when his A-number-one girl was injured.
“Here, let me.” I shoved her hand out of the way and opened the door.
“Okay, thanks, I’m good now.” She stepped out of my grasp and walked slowly, hand at her lower back.
“You’re not getting off that easy.” I scooped her up and carried her in front of my chest, legs over one arm and my other around her back, up the stairs, peering into rooms.
