“I love you for it.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Jake huffed a quiet laugh. “Yeah, I will. It might be a few days, though. I’m not really sure. I need to go see Cora, and maybe Dr. Snow. I’ll try for the PT first, since Cora’s closer, and maybe I won’t have to drive all the way to Sacramento. I’ll call her Monday to make an appointment, and as soon as I can get through, I’ll head into town and get my prescription.”
His sister was quiet for a moment, and he frowned.
“I’ll be okay, Kris,” he added lightly. “Really.”
A few barks could be heard in the background—their exuberant but cuddly pup, Nemo, Jake assumed—and then Krista sniffled and cleared her throat. “Um, how about your houseguest? How’s... all that?” she asked, and Jake grimaced at the not-so-subtle change in topic. She did that when she was too upset and too worried to deal with things anymore, and he wished he could reassure her, convince her to believe him.
But given that he didn’t really believe himself...
“Hmm, sort of better but also the same,” he started. She laughed at his vague response and was then quiet for a few minutes while he explained how the afternoon and evening had gone. He still had no idea what the man’s name was or how the man had ended up nearly dead from hypothermia on his beach.
“He still hasn’t spoken at all?” she asked when he finished.
Jake took a sip of his tea—long cold by now—and then set the almost-empty mug down on the table, screwing his eyes shut against the sharp pain that shot up into his hip. “N-no, not yet.”
“But he understands when you talk to him?”
“Yeah, yeah. He’ll respond sometimes by nodding or shaking his head,” Jake said, and he wasn’t sure why, but he lowered his voice. “I think... something terrible must have happened to him. And I don’t really even want to guess what.”
His sister paused and then also spoke quietly. “Hopefully they get the road fixed soon, so you can get him some help.”
Jake nodded with a weak “yeah” as he shifted to reposition himself slightly. If he were being honest, he actually wasn’t entirely sure what kind of help the man even needed. And Jake had been distracted much of the day—just trying to get by, keep moving despite his pain, make sure the man was warm and dry and not on the verge of dying—so he hadn’t really had much time to speculate what exactly had happened. Or what exactly the man was running from.
“You’ll keep me updated? Not just about your mystery roomie, but about how you’re doing?”
“Of course, Kris.”
“And no sugarcoating things, Jake. Promise?”
He sighed. “Kris . . .”
“Jake . . .”
She matched his tone so well that he couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, okay. IpromiseI’ll do my best to explain my severe pain to you when you ask, Kris. That good enough?” When she didn’t answer right away, either with a tease or to scold him, he closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Kris. I—”
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” she said, cutting off his apology. There was a quiet laugh, but he sensed no humor in it, and then she sniffled. “I know I can be a bit overprotective sometimes. But it’s just because you’re my little brother, and I love you, and... and I wish I could take away your pain. Knowing you’re hurting so much...”
He knew what she didn’t quite want to say; they’d talked plenty about it before. And even though he wanted to reassure her, like he usually would, he was suddenly too tired for that. Hewashurting, and healsowished she could take his pain away. And right now, he wanted to go shower and lie down in bed and hope he could get comfortable enough to get some sleep.
So instead, he just said, “I love you, too, Kris.” Then he straightened up, lowered his legs off the ottoman with a muffled grunt, and scooted to the edge of the seat. “I’m going to head to bed early, I think. It’s been a long day. I’ll talkto you tomorrow. Do you want me to call in the morning? I’d text, but, yeah, no cell phone.”
“Yeah, um, call me? Please.”
“I’ll call first thing.”
“Thanks . . . Good night, lunkhead.”
“Hah, right. Lunkhead. Sheesh.” Jake set one hand on the nearest armrest and dipped his chin down to his chest as he prepared to stand up. “Good night, sis.”
There was an odd silence, almost as though she was waiting there, hesitating, not quite wanting to hang up. Then there was a click, and the dial tone sounded. He pulled the phone away from his ear, hit the off button, and took a deep breath before heaving himself up off the couch, grabbing his mug, and hobbling toward the patio door to head back inside his house.
Nothinggoodevercamefrom wallowing in bed. At least, that was what Jake told himself the next morning as he forced himself to get up even earlier than normal. He wasn’t sleeping anyway. In fact, he hadn’t slept much of the night—mostly because of the pain in his leg, but also because of his houseguest.
As he stood in the doorway to the extra bedroom—one hand gripping the doorframe, the other clasped tightly on his upper thigh as though that would stem the pain radiating up into his hip—his eyes drifted from the bed to the far corner of the room, and he frowned.
