Roger stayed. He came to her and plunked his head in her lap.
She stroked his silky ears. “Hey, boy. How you doing?”
Roger wagged his tail and whined contentedly in response.
Josh returned. He brought the walker to her side and left again. When he came back, he had a pile of pillows. He put two of them at the head of the bed. Pushing back the covers, he stacked three for her to rest her injured ankle on.
“Let me help with that ankle wrap,” he said. “It looks really tight.” Dropping to the edge of the bed, he gently lifted her foot and set it across his lap. Carefully, he unwrapped the elastic bandage and rewrapped it more loosely. “How’s that?”
“It’s good. That’ll work.”
“Okay, then.” He went into her bathroom and came out with a glass of water and two ibuprofen. She took them. He refilled the glass and brought it back to her along with two more pills. “In case you need them in the middle of the night.”
“Thank you,” she replied for the hundredth time in the past eight hours or so. “Have you got everything you need in the other room?” He was using the rollaway in her home office and sharing the upstairs hall bath with Dillon.
“I’m fine—come on. Time to brush your teeth.”
“Josh. I can manage that on my own.”
He shook his head. “No way. Too dangerous. You need two hands to put the toothpaste on the brush.”
“I believe I’m capable of brushing my own teeth.”
“I didn’t say I’d brush them for you. I’ll just help when I’m needed.”
“Josh, I can handle it.”
“But you don’t need to handle it all by yourself because I’m here. Come on, now. Follow me.” He went into her bathroom, and she hobbled after him with the walker.
Once she’d brushed her teeth and cleaned her face, he helped her get settled back in bed. “You good?” he asked, bending close. Before she could answer, he straightened. “Be right back,” he said and headed for the door.
“But…” She didn’t bother to continue. He was already gone.
And it didn’t take him long to return with the ice pack. “Oh, no,” she groaned.
“Just this one more time tonight. It’s only twenty minutes…”
She let a dirty look speak for her. He ignored her pissed-off expression as he got her ankle propped up with the ice on it.
“I’ll be back,” he said yet again and left.
When he returned twenty minutes later, he was wearing gray sweatpants and a T-shirt.
“All ready for bed?” she asked.
“You bet.” He removed the ice pack and helped her settle the blankets over her propped-up foot. Then he carried her water glass to the bathroom and refilled it. “In case you get thirsty during the night…” He gave her that smile, the one that inevitably managed to make her feel better about everything.
The truth was, she wanted him to stay—and not in the other room. She wanted him right here with her.
But it seemed wrong to ask him to sleep in her bed with her when Dillon might have a bad dream or some other issue and come looking for her in the middle of the night. If Dillon did that, there would be no pretending she was alone. She could hardly jump up and stick her head out the door to talk to him the way Josh had done with the boys in the past.
Maybe Dillon wouldn’t be the least concerned to find his mom and his best friend’s dad sharing a bed. But still, it was the kind of step she just didn’t feel right about taking.
“Stay for a minute?” She carefully eased her injured ankle off the pillows. Sitting up, she lowered both feettoo the floor.
“That’s not good. You need that ankle elevated,” he warned.
“I know.” The truth was that he ankle did hurt quite a bit in this position. But so what? She’d prop it up on the pillows again soon. She patted the mattress. “Come down here.”
