But like I’d thought before, I wouldn’t be a reliable source of support for them if I was having thyroid storms left and right. Not to mention fainting in front of them? Jeez. I hoped I hadn’t traumatized them for life. I had a lot of explaining to do.
Maybe I should jot some points down, just so I had a base for the possible questions my kids would ask once I went back to work. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be toofar in the future. I understood that I needed to rest, but there was only so much time before evaluations, and I would be failing the kids if I just up and vanished for a fortnight.
Did my kids even know what a fortnight was? I remembered in college I’d sometimes get accused of not being American because I occasionally used words like ‘lift’ and ‘fortnight’ or spelled things with a U. I’d picked up the habit from reading too many books with British spelling.The Chronicles of Narnia,The Secret of Platform Thirteen, a British recounting ofScheherazade, to name a few. And some habits just died hard.
My inner monologue was cut off when there was another knock on the door. Huh? It was far too soon for the doctor to come back.
But then a young, familiar voice called my name. Not my first one, but my professional one.
“Missus Fischbacher? May we come in?”
“Benny, is that you?” I called back, my flabbers most certainly ghasted. And sure enough, the door opened, revealing none other than the kid who’d kept my medical emergency from being a lot more serious.
And his ridiculously handsome father.
“H-hello there,” I sputtered, a grin spreading across my face despite my embarrassment. I wasn’t even wearing abra.The last time the guy saw me, I’d been dressed nicely and done up in oneof my wigs. Now… ugh. Not that there was anything that would happen between us, but I couldn’t help feeling self-conscious in front of a man who looked like he’d walked out of a magazine shoot of ruggedly handsome widowers. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“We thought you might like a visit. Plus, Junior had some stuff he wanted to give you,” Mr. Poynter said in that low, rumbling voice of his. When I’d heard him speak at our meeting, my knees had gone weak, and I’d had to remind myself to be professional.
Which, naturally, was strange for me. It wasn’t like I was asexual—most of the time I was sobusythat I didn’t have the energy for something like attraction. But that first time my eyes had landed on his broad shoulders and looked into those lovely blue eyes of his, I was captivated.
It had been hard not overcompensating and accidentally being brusque to him during the meeting, but I’d found a good balance. I didn’t want the guy to think I was rude or too frank when discussing such a sensitive subject, but I also didn’t want him to feel like I was coming on to him. I couldn’t imagine anything more disrespectful when I was discussing the PTSD-induced nightmares his son was having.
“Things for…?” I murmured before tearing my eyes away from the man’s chiseled face. He was holding a truly gargantuan care package. “Goodness, you weren’t kidding. Surely that all can’t be for me.”
“I’m afraid it is,” Mr. Poynter said, putting it on the table beside my bed. The basket was large enough for a sizeable puppy to sleep in, and through the cellophane, I could see fragrance-free lotion, several different types of dark chocolate, two small paperback novels, a little notebook, a fresh pack of comfort-grip pens, as well as some hair ties. And that was just what I could make out without opening it.
Emotions surged through me. For the first time since I had woken up from fainting, I really wanted to cry. Tears burned my eyes, but I did my best to keep my voice from cracking.
“Goodness, Benny, I’m the one who should be giving you a gift. If you hadn’t tried to get me to sit and helped catch me, I might have been hurt a lot worse.”
“Because you could have hit your head?”
“Yes, exactly. I could have hit my head, and that would have been very bad. I hope you know that I’m never going to forget this. You are a very brave young man.”
“I’m just glad you’re going to be okay.” He paused, cocking his head to the side like kids sometimes did when they got a random thought. “Youaregoing to be okay, right?”
Goodness. Straight to the heart. Sometimes it really swept my legs out from under me how much kids could loveback.There was a purity to kids’ emotions that I wished they could keep as long as possible. Because sure, it was important for them to learn how to navigate more complex situations, but also it seemed a right shame that the world so often drained their naturaljoie de vivreright out of them.
“Yes, I will.” Perhaps not the most responsible thing to promise, but the concern in his gaze made me even more determined to keep on top of my health. Even if that did mean drinking three Ensures in a day. I shuddered internally.
I hoped they’d come up with some new flavors. I only got the vanilla and strawberry since I didn’t like milk chocolate, but if I was tripling my intake, I needed something different.
“I got so busy that I ended up being behind on some things I shouldn’t be, so now I gotta rest and recover to get back to my baseline.”
“Oh,” Benny said like the sagely old man he most definitely wasn’t. “It’s like Natalie says: if you don’t give your body rest, it’ll pick a time for you, and it won’t care about your schedule.”
“Exactly that,” I agreed with a chuckle. “Wise words from Natalie.” Was she an aunt? A nanny? His father’s new girlfriend?
Whoa, that iswaytoo personal of a question to be thinking. Take it back about ten steps, girl.
At least I hadn’t said it out loud.
“She’s really smart. You’d like her!”
“I’m sure I would.”
I wasn’t quite sure what to say after that, and for a moment there was an awkward silence between the three of us. Should I welcome them in? Tell them to sit? I was a bit tired and not sure I was up for full hosting duties, and besides, who wanted to hang out in a hospital room?
