“What’s interesting?” Jason asked as he passed in the hallway. He poked his head in the door and saw what his brother was looking at. “Aw, damn!”
They both stared at Helen, half naked and totally busted as she got out of Lucas’s bed. Then they looked at each other, threw back their heads in unison, and laughed.
“Okay, okay. Enough,” Lucas said defensively. “She was worried and came to check on me, but by the time she made it here she was practically falling over. I didn’t want to wake Cassandra to carry her back to the guest room, so I had her lay down with me.Obviously, we just slept. Now, can everyone but Hector or Jase get out of my room, please? That includes you, Mom. I need Jason to help me out of these casts so I can take a shower.”
Helen made it back to the guest room without accepting any more help than she had to. She was so embarrassed all she wanted to do was run screaming out of the house, and to do that she was going to have to prove she was healthy.
“No thanks, I got it now,” she said to Ariadne when asked if she needed help bathing.
“Okay. Just shout if you need me,” Ariadne replied with narrowed eyes.
Twice Helen had to sit down on the shower floor to rest, but she eventually managed to clean all the itchy sand out of her hair and towel off without calling for Ariadne. It took her ten minutes to struggle into her own freshly laundered clothes alone, but it was worth it. All she wanted do was say thank you and slip out without drawing too much attention to herself.
When she got downstairs the whole family was in the kitchen, including Lucas. His face lit up like Vegas when he saw her. She automatically went straight to him and sat down, her hopes of a quiet escape ruined by what felt like a knee-jerk reaction. She hadn’t intended to stay for breakfast, but it was almost as if she needed to be near him.
“We were just about to send someone up to make sure you hadn’t washed down the drain,” joked Noel.
“Helen’s modest. She wanted to dress herself,” Ariadne said, drizzling honey over a bowl of oatmeal and putting it down in front of Helen.
“Modest? Sure she is,” Hector said sarcastically as he passed Lucas the bacon.
“That wasyour sister’s nightgown, wasn’t it?” Lucas asked without skipping a beat as he served Helen and himself. Hector wisely shut his mouth.
“Yeah,” Ariadne replied for him, not getting it. “So comfortable! What? What are you all laughing at?”
“Nothing, Ari. Just drop it,” Jason said in a pained voice, a hand over his eyes. Everyone was cracking up, including Castor and Noel.
Helen was torn. She didn’t want to laugh at the joke because it was partly on her, but she couldn’t entirely stop herself. She stifled a giggle and looked down at her full plate. It was the kind of breakfast that was almost always followed by a nap, and Helen was dying to go somewhere and hide. She thought about skipping it so she could get away sooner.
“I know you’re hungry,” Lucas said so quietly that Helen alone could hear him. “What’s the matter?”
“I feel like I should go home. I’ve imposed long enough....” She trailed off as Lucas started shaking his head.
“That’s not the reason,” he said positively. “What is it?”
“I feel like a jackass! Waking up practically naked in your bed with half your family standing over us? Not okay,” she said through clenched teeth as a hot blush burned her cheeks. He smiled slowly as he watched her cheeks stain red.
“If that hadn’t happened, would you want to stay?” he asked, suddenly serious, his eyes focused on hers. She looked down and nodded, still blushing. “Why?” he persisted.
“For one thing, I have questions,” she said, hazarding a glance up at him. He was staring at her with an unreadable look on his face.
“Is that the only thing?” he whispered.
“Enough chat, you two. You both need to eat,” Noel called across the table, making Helen jump, which in turn made Lucas chuckle. She and Lucas dug in with all the ferocity of two people who were literally rebuilding their bodies cell by cell. When Helen finally looked up after a solid hour of determined chewing, everyone else was done eating but still sitting around drinking coffee and passing around sections of the paper. It was as if they always spent half of Sunday sharing an enormous brunch, then the other half hanging out around the kitchen waiting for dinner to start. Lost in the shuffle, Helen was surprised to find herself having a good time.
Lucas was still bent over his plate, so Helen took the sports section when Hector put it down, and read up on her beloved Red Sox, who were battling their way through September. She must have been muttering to herself out loud because when she finally put down the stats sheet she had the attention of all the men at the table.
“‘Pitching wins pennants,’ huh?” Castor asked with a delighted smile.
“‘We’ve got too many injuries and no closer,’ do we?” Jason repeated back to Helen, then looked at Lucas. “Okay, you win,” he said cryptically.
“Thank you,” Lucas said through a shaky grin. He leaned back and closed his eyes, and Helen saw a sweat break out on his forehead. She touched his head to see if he had a fever, but Jason was already standing up.
“I got him, Helen,” he said as he came around the table. Jason went to pick Lucas up, but Lucas wouldn’t let him. Instead, he threw his arm over his cousin’s shoulder and allowed Jason to prop him up.
“Just to the stairs, okay?” Lucas asked, and Jason nodded back, the bond between them so strong they didn’t seem to need words to communicate. Helen saw Noel throw up her hands in frustrated helplessness.
“Let him find his own pace,” Castor said gently to his wife. She nodded, like it was something they had been over a million times. Then she turned her attention back to the brunch leftovers.
