“Get it away!” she says loudly, wrapping her arms around her middle.
“OK, OK,” I say in a calm voice as I carry the little guy to the sliding door that leads to our shared balcony. I let him go into a plant on the far side of the balcony and go back inside.
Jocelyn is still on the chair. Actually, she’s about my height now that she’s standing on it.
I walk over to her, and we look at each other.
“How does it feel to be tall?” I tease, trying to get her mind off the lizard.
She rolls her eyes. “Thanks for…dealing with it.”
“Can I ask why you are petrified of a little tree lizard?” I ask as I hold out my hand.
She takes it, and I help her down.
She shivers. “When I was little, we went to the Florida Keys. And my sister thought it would be funny to drop a little lizard in my hair. That thing got lost in my curls, and my mom couldn’t get it out for like three minutes. I could feel it moving, and…” She trails off as she trembles.
“Wow, so you’re scared of them now?” I ask.
“Just the little ones,” she admits.
“Note to self, do not buy Jocelyn a lizard,” I state.
She glares at me, and I chuckle.
“Not funny,” she says. “I think I’ll sleep downstairs.”
“Oh, come on, I’ll sweep your room for lizards. It’ll be a lizard-free zone,” I promise as I start walking around.
I look behind blinds, in drawers, in the closet, and even in our bathroom.
“See, no lizards. Shall we go find the others and figure out what we all want for dinner?” I ask as I stand from where I was kneeling by some cabinets in the bathroom.
My hip aches as I get back up, and I grip the sink.
Jocelyn rushes to my side from where she was standing in her room.
“Hutch, are you OK?” she asks, her brows furrowed with concern.
I move a little to rest my hip. “Yeah, it’s just sore from flying. I don’t normally sit for that long,” I explain, cursing the damn joint that the doctors pinned and screwed back together.
Her hand reaches for my forearm. “What can I do to help?”
For reasons that I don’t want to think about, a million inappropriate ideas start popping into my head.
I swallow hard and attempt to stand without supporting myself on the sink. It burns a bit, but nothing I can’t handle.
“It’ll be alright. I think I could use a little aquatic therapy,” I state, motioning to the pool.
“Let’s go, then. You said we had groceries delivered, right?” she asks, stepping back into her room and slowly closing the door.
“Yes. Everything we requested should be stocked in the main house,” I say as I listen to the rustling of clothes, realizing that Jocelyn is likely naked on the other side of this door.
Shaking my head in disgust at myself, I walk into my room and shut the door. I carefully change into swim trunks, testing out my hip as I go.
It feels tight, so a swim will definitely help stretch the muscles around it. I know Farley has a gym in the main house. I should go find it later so I can do some physical therapy weight training.
I open my door to walk downstairs just as Jocelyn steps out in…barely anything.
