“Tal, you know…”
“Ash, stop.” She took control of her wheels and moved a little bit away from me. This was not the tension either one of us needed right now. “I’m good, and just so we’re clear, your arms around me sounds perfect. Let’s get something to eat and then I’ll take you up on that offer.”
I leaned down to kiss my perfect woman when a tiny movement caught my eye from out on the terrace. You had to be shitting me. That welcoming waft was immediately replaced with a smack of irritation. Emma, who don’t get me wrong, I loved to death. But where Emma was, the entire Craig clan was. Fuck.
So much for a quiet night to ourselves in each other’s arms.
Tal immediately switched gears and gave out hugs left and right, making everyone else feel better about the fact that she was the one sitting in a chair. Somehow my gears didn’t shift as fast.
“A welcome home fiesta, really?” I hissed. Molly had already cornered me, like clockwork, concerned how I was doing.
“Yeah, we might have gotten carried away.” Ya think. In a matter of minutes, food for fifty lined the middle of our pool table. A tablecloth didn’t make it a table, people. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to stay long, we just wanted to be here for her, for you. You’ll both have more time than you’ll ever want to process this, it’s not gonna be easy-”
“She’s alive, that’s all that matters. We’ll be fine. No, we are fine.”
“Okay.” She stretched up and kissed my cheek. She knew when to drop it. “I’m gonna go check on Emma, Avery has her on the terrace still.”
“Why, what’s up, she all right? Little terror’s usually couch diving or putting on a show by now. She hasn’t even come in to say hello yet.”
“Give her a little time to adjust, we’ll get her in here, she’s just scared.”
“Scared? Of what?” The pip squeak had been here a million times. She loved my place.
“It’s a lot for a three and a half year old to understand, heck, it’s scary for adults to see someone they love not themselves.”
Tal in a wheelchair, of course she was bugged out. Tal would be devastated if she knew. So first stop was to make sure my woman was distracted while I did a little preemptive damage control out on the terrace.
I made it all of two feet on my mission before I got slapped on the back. “How ya holding up, bro?” Drew was looking at me like he may have missed the memo on who got shot.
“Uh, I’m good, man. Thanks. Go grab a beer or something, make yourself at home.”
He didn’t budge; he just continued to stare at me, like he was waiting for some bomb to drop. Hate to break it to you, buddy, the bomb exploded nine days ago. Luckily the doorbell rang and let me break free from his wacky trance. Lil, Sierra, Dodd and Layla strolled in.
“Now we’re ready to get this party started, the gang’s all here,” I shouted, dishing out two more kisses, a peck for the little lady and another handshake. I was met with a couple more eye bulges, several more how are ya’s and a strange expression or two. I could have sworn we were in the Twilight Zone.
“Um, Ash, hey, um … Chase is on his way. He’s just finishing up afternoon rounds, you know he doesn’t trust any of the residents in July.” Like I needed the reminder. Of course, our luck, Tal got hurt during the most dangerous time to be in a hospital. My thirteen-year-old niece looked older than half the new interns. Luckily, between Tal being on staff and Chase being a dick, they knew to stay the hell away.
“It’s fine, Lil, we just saw him this morning. You guys didn’t have to rearrange your day or miss work.”
Dodd coughed under his breath. “It’s Saturday, man, no problem.”
“Uh … yeah, right. Sorry.” I did a quick calculation. Shit … nine days … it was Saturday. “Days were starting to blur. Glad to be out of there.”
“Hey, sweetie.” Lil beamed, walking around me to meet Tal, who obviously heard the commotion at the door.
“I’m so glad you guys came. This is so nice.” I felt bad for my initial reaction. She didn’t seem to mind the company at all. Actually, I think she was really enjoying it. “And seriously, you’re crazy, you must’ve been in the kitchen for hours. You better know, I will expect you for dinner. We need help eating all that food. Thank you so much.”
My suspicion was correct, we had at least a dozen individually wrapped dinners in our freezer.
“Hey, what about me? I’m feeding two here,” Sierra chimed in, coming around to kiss Tal too.
“Of course.” She giggled. I missed that giggle almost as much I missed her smile. I was a total dick. All her family and friends’ support was exactly what she needed. “We need to fatten those babes up.”
“Oh, don’t you worry.” Sierra pulled her shirt tight. “I already got the bump.” Tal reached for Lil’s hand and squeezed.
My woman’s life was completely turned upside down and she had every right to be spinning around that deep dark hole, but instead she was beside herself with joy for her girlfriend. She caught me gazing at her in awe. I moved to her side and squatted down to eye level before I reminded her how much I loved her.
She returned my sentiment then lowered her voice to a whisper, “Would you mind helping me onto the couch? My back is getting a little sore and I don’t want to spook the little ones.”
My chest tightened, I hated that she had to ask. I should have known. Without saying a word, I scooped her up and squeezed her tight. This was what I meant. I wanted her in my arms, nine days was too long.
Now with her comfortable on the chaise end of the couch, I kissed her like she deserved. Screw our company, we were all on borrowed time and I was taking every single opportunity I got to kiss her.
“Thank you.” She brushed my cheek with her hand. “You okay?”
Not Tal too with that question. I was fine.
“Fine. You need any pain meds, you hungry?”
“No, I’m good.”
She was good. I was fine. Fuck.
We were finally settled and her head was lying on my chest where it should have been hours ago. The crew had left a little after seven and the aid I never wanted in the first place was supposed to arrive around eight, but I canceled her. Tal disapproved, but she got over it. No one could blame me, I just got my woman back home where she belonged, and dealt with sharing her all afternoon with our family. No way in hell I was sharing again, least of all with an aid—a stranger whose job was mine. Tonight needed to be about us.
“I think the shower went well, you?”
“Huh?”
“The shower, Tal. Did you like the seat? Was it comfortable enough? There were several choices. I went with the one with more back support. But now I’m thinking the padded seat would’ve been better.”
“They’re plastic, Ace. I’m sure they’re all about the same. It was fine. I’m not in there all that long.”
“Right.” I was on to the grab bar placement by the toilet. “I’m gonna have the contractor stop in tomorrow and adjust the bar, it seemed low. He should’ve realized when he installed the taller toilet, you’re gonna need it a little higher when you’re transferring.”
“Do we have to talk about this right now? I’m finally in your arms, let’s just enjoy this.”
“Yeah. Fine. You’re right.” I tried to take a deep breath, but my chest just wouldn’t expand. I tried again. Nope. And I couldn’t shut my brain off. I kept bouncing from room to room thinking of ways to make her life easier. The dishes and glassware needed to be moved to the bottom cabinets. Then I remembered the swivel Lazy Susan thing my sisters had on the pool table today. How did I not think about those? They would work in the fridge too. Actually the whole bottom freezer situation had to go, a side by side was a better idea. And the coffee pot was definitely pushed too far back, too.