She nodded and he easily scooped her up and put her in the car.
A wave of gratitude rushed through me as I watched. Mom buckled herself, and before I could move, he was collapsing the wheelchair and carrying it to the trunk.
I rushed after him. “Sorry, thank you.”
“Why are you saying sorry? And you’re welcome.”
I had an overwhelming desire to hug him, but I kept my hands to myself. He popped the trunk and placed the wheelchair inside. Then he was heading toward the car’s back door.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Getting in the car.”
“No. I mean, you shouldn’t. You don’t have to. You should go back to work.”
He just smiled at me, climbed into the car, and pulled the door shut behind him.
CHAPTER 20
“I don’t believe you’ve been doing this all by yourself,” Elijah said. “No wonder you have a collection of knots along your shoulders.” We were walking the path around the hospital while my mom was in therapy. It was tree-lined, with a large pond in the center. In the middle of that pond, a filtration system sprayed water into the air, like a geyser.
“It’s not a big deal,” I said. “It’s getting better.”
A family of ducks paddled across the water, weaving in and out of the cattails.
“Have you thought about hiring someone to help?” he asked. When we’d arrived at the hospital, he’d lifted my mom out of the car and into her wheelchair. I wasn’t going to lie, it was nice to have someone stronger than me around.
“It’s expensive,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said. “I bet it is.”
“I hired someone that first night I met you. I was supposed to…”
“What?” he asked when my sentence trailed off. “What wassupposed to happen that night when you looked like a goddess?”
I gave a breathy laugh. “Stop.”
“You really don’t like compliments.”
“I don’t trust them.” Maybe I was more like my mom than I realized.
“Compliments? Or me?”
“Words,” I said. “Words are nothing. Easy to say. Easy to give away. They can mean very little to the person offering them.”
“Or they can mean a lot.”
“But it’s hard to tell the difference. And one time they could mean a lot and the next very little.”
“How does one prove themselves to you then?”
“Actions,” I said. “What you do is much more important than what you say.”
He nodded slowly. “I can agree with that. But I don’t think that means that what someone says should be completely discounted.”
“Words need history,” I said.
“Will you come to a party with me this weekend?”
