“I’ll be fine.” It’s not a lie. The number of ways I’ve hurt myself working at the winery over the years is wild. Mostly because I refused help from anyone else. Huh, maybe Callie and I do have something in common as adults.
“Would you stop being a baby and let me look at your foot?”
“You can’t see much in here.”
She grabs my hand and pulls me into the living room, pushing me onto the couch. Damn, she knows how to manhandle me. It shouldn’t be attractive, but it is.
“Now, let me take a look.”
“I didn’t know you were a nurse.”
She glares at me when I laugh.
“I’m not, but you learn a thing or two when you have a kid. Not everything requires a doctor’s visit.”
She’s not lying. I don’t think my parents took us to the doctor, outside of our annual exams, unless we were really sick. Mom used a bunch of homeopathic remedies on the family. I can’t really blame her.
“That’s a valid point.”
Her finger brushes the bottom of my foot and I jerk back, almost kneeing her in the face.
“Oh my gosh, are you ticklish?” She giggles, and sounds so much like the girl I once knew before she left town and acted like she didn’t care about any of us. “I can’t believe I went all this time not knowing that.”
“I guess it’s a good thing your brother never told you.” I just know she’d be at the end of the bed with a feather tickling my feet. Now, that thought wouldn’t be such a horrible idea. Minus the tickling of course.
“I would have tortured you.” Her grasp is firm as she holds the bottom of my foot this time, doing her best not to make me flinch. She presses the top where the pan fell, and I wince. “It’s probably going to bruise, but I don’t think you broke anything. Can you move your foot around?”
“Not when you’re holding it.”
She immediately lets go, and I wish I could pull the words back. For once she was acting like she used to. Like being around me, wasn’t a big deal.
“Try it now.”
I do as I’m told and move my foot around. it’s tight where the pot landed, but nothing else hurts.
“Looks like I’m all good.” I stand and she takes a step back. “Thank you for checking on me.”
“Um, yeah, no problem.” Her eyes bounce around the room, looking everywhere but at me. “Do you need my help with dinner?”
“I don’t think so.” Her face falls, and I have a feeling she needs to help with something. Not because I asked for it, but because she wants to repay my kindness. Though I would do the same for anybody. Well, maybe not. She doesn’t know that though. “Actually, you can chop some onions.”
“I can definitely do that.”
She follows me into the kitchen, and I grab an onion from the fridge. I hand it to her and she stares around my kitchen.
“Where’s the cutting board?” Oh, right. She doesn’t know where anything is. This is her first time here. Miles goes through my cabinets like he lives here.
“Second cabinet on the left.” I say as I dump the meat into the skillet. “I forget you’ve never been here.”
“I love your house. The whole log cabin aesthetic is definitely your style.”
“Thanks.”
“And it’s smart that your kitchen appliances aren’t electric.”
It’s probably one of my favorite things about my house, outside of the fireplaces. “Most of the other siblings opted for electric. Want to guess where they come if the power goes out?”
“I bet,” she laughs. “I mean, I can’t say much because I’m here now.”
