I shucked out of my clothes and thought boring thoughts to calm my body’s natural reaction to her. I stepped into the shower, and she pulled me to her, inviting me into the water.
So much for keeping my body in control.
I shifted, fitting us better together. She placed her hand on my arm to help steady herself, not being able to put weight on her left foot. Since her good hand was helping keep her steady, she was out of options for soap application.
“A little help?” she asked, nodding at the shampoo.
“Happy to oblige.”
I poured soap into my palm. It smelled like gardenia too. I worked it into a foam and pulled my fingers over her scalp, then scrubbed the soap down through her hair.
She hummed and closed her eyes, leaning her face into my chest. I washed her hair, reached for more soap, then took my time washing her body.
She winced more than once as I sluiced soap and water over her back and ribs. Among her cuts were several bruises, one spreading across the top of her foot and up her ankle and calf.
I guided her to sit on the bench while I soaped myself down, hissing as it stung multiple nicks and cuts.
The lump on the back of my head was sore and felt bigger. I washed my hair, soaping up several times until the water didn’t run as red and the cut had gone numb.
Lula watched me the whole time, her eyes like honey in water.
She liked what she saw. But exhaustion carved shadows into her, and I was fading fast.
“Bed,” I said. To her raised eyebrow, I added, “Sleep.”
She bit her bottom lip but nodded. “Tomorrow.”
I grinned. “Always.”
We dried. We’d forgotten to take our clean clothes into the bathroom, but when we opened the door to the bedroom, our duffles were waiting on the floor next to the bed.
Lorde was lying right in the middle of the bed, facing the bathroom.
Shewoofed softly and whined, her bushy tail wagging.
“Hey, girl,” I said, as I reached her and scrubbed behind her silky soft ears. “Did they look after you? Give you treats?”
She panted and licked at my face, then did the same when Lula sat on the bed next to her.
I found our comfortable clothes. Lula and I put on the essentials and crawled under the covers, Lorde smooshed into the narrow space between us.
I was already half-dozing when the knock on the door startled me awake. For a moment, I couldn’t remember where I was.
Lorde stuck her big head on my chest and breathed dog breath into my face, and it all came back to me.
“Come in,” Lu said.
Franny and a woman with short yellow hair that curled around her head stepped into the room.
“Food,” Franny said, indicating the platter she carried with a couple bowls of soup and a plate piled with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans.
“I’m Trella,” the other woman said. “I’m a nurse practitioner. I need to look you both over. No, it’s fine. Just stay there. I can get to both sides of the bed.”
Franny put the tray on the bedside table next to me, and I could see I was wrong about the bowls. They didn’t hold soup, they held a couple cups of blood, the red stark against the fine white of the china.
“Hungry?” she offered me.
My mouth watered from the delicious smell of chicken and potatoes, and my stomach cramped. “I am now.”
