“Let’s try again.”
“That’s a bad idea. We could hurt you.”
Maggie gave a little sigh and slumped onto her side. “You’re right.”
“Can I call him?”
“Yes,” Maggie whispered, eyes shut, forehead crinkled with pain.
He picked up his phone after two rings. “Kelsey. What’s wrong?”
“Maggie fell, and—”
“Is she hurt? Does she need an ambulance?”
“No, no, listen. It wasn’t a fall exactly, she’s okay, but she’s on the floor and we can’t get her up, and if you—”
“Be there in ten minutes.”
Then he was quiet for a minute, but he didn’t hang up. Over the phone she heard rustling fabric—bedcovers pushed aside, maybe. She could see him moving through his bedroom, and in her mind it was the room from his childhood: the gray bedsheets adorned with black bears, the black comforter covered in white tents, green pine trees, orange campfires, and one big white block-letter word across the foot of the bed:ADVENTURE! A space of dead air, then more fabric against fabric, and she pictured him pulling his jeans up over his hips, tugging a T-shirt down over his torso. She might have relished the images but for Maggie’s tear-stained face looking back at her.
“Trevor?” she said.
“Yeah, I’m coming, Kels. Don’t try to move her again, okay? Just wait for me.”
“We’ll wait.”
He did hang up then, and she lowered the phone to her side and sank down to sit with Maggie. In less than nine minutes, his key rattled the lock, and the back door opened. Then he was there in the doorway, sandy hair tousled, eyes filled with worry.
He knelt beside Maggie and squeezed her hand. “Hey, Mags.”
Maggie covered her face with both hands. “I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life.”
“Well, that’s silly,” he said, the words gentle. “Anybody can fall out of bed, you know.”
Without another word, Trevor slid one arm under her knees and the other behind her upper back.
“If I start to move you the wrong way, you yell at me and I’ll stop.”
“Okay,” Maggie said.
He stood smoothly, lifting Maggie as though she were no heavier than a single casserole dish. In his powerful arms she lay like a baby. New tears fell down her cheeks, and she rested her head on his chest.
“Where are we going?” he said.
“The bathroom,” she whispered as though it were a mortifying secret.
“Aha. No problem.”
Kelsey followed them down the hall, took over when Trevor set Maggie in place in front of the toilet, and then called him back when they were finished. Again he picked Maggie up, cradled her back to her bed, and tucked her safely in. With his strength she didn’t need to leverage herself into a roll; he did the rolling for her, continued to provide an arm of support until she was comfortably in place.
“I guess that was pretty exhausting, huh?” he said.
Maggie nodded. “Thank you. For coming and—and for—”
“Thanks for making me feel needed.” He winked. “Rest easy now.”
“Okay.” Her eyes were already closing.
