Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
“I knew this was the best morning ever. Holy fuck, you are the best.”
“Best morning ever? Only you could say that when you’re all bruised and gauzed up.”
I took a sip of the lemonade and the moment it hit my lips, I felt like I’d just hit a reset button on my body.
“This is so good,” I said. “This lemonade just cured me. I’ll be healed within minutes, I swear. Good god, that is delicious.”
“It’s a particularly good batch, if I do say so myself.”
“Best batch ever.”
“Christ, a car accident sure makes you chipper in the morning,” he said.
I polished off the short glass of lemonade, gently trying to stretch my body in any way that didn’t hurt. “Your bed is really comfortable. What’s with the pillows?”
He stroked his beard for a moment. “Well, I went a bit overboard,” he said. “Last night when I got you into bed, I was worried you might accidentally roll over in your sleep and go off the edge of the mattress, and hurt yourself even more. You were so out of it. So I created the, uh, cushion perimeter.”
I couldn’t help but smile, and doing so caused more pain due to the scrape on one side of my mouth. “Ow. Oh, hi Misty.”
The dog had come up by the side of the bed, wagging and sniffing at my soft cast.
“I told you, go easy on yourself,” Harlan said. “Misty, don’t bug him right now, girl.”
“She’s fine,” I said. I was able to reach over and pet her with my one good arm. “I’m going to tell you right now, this soft cast is about a hundred times better than the hard one I had when I broke my arm in elementary school.”
“I was very glad when she said you wouldn’t need a full-on cast. This thing is basically a reinforced sling.”
“It’s perfect.”
I sat up in bed, and by the time I’d moved enough of my limbs and joints around, I almost felt capable of moving around like a normal human. I devoured the food that Harlan had made, finishing everything off with more fresh lemonade.
“I mostly just feel sore,” I said. “Like, imagine the most intense workout you’ve ever done, and picture how sore you are the next day.”
“Sometimes I can barely walk after a really good leg workout.”
“Exactly,” I said. “It’s like that, but mostly on one side of my body, which helps. A little.”
“The real test is going to be seeing how you do walking over to the kitchen and living room,” Harlan said.
“I’m ready. I’m more than ready.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “You sure about that?”
Now I wanted to prove it to him. I set the food tray aside, and moved away the rest of the pillows that had been blockading me onto the bed.
“Watch this,” I said, hoisting myself onto my good arm and swinging my legs over the edge of the mattress. I paused a little before getting up and out of bed, going easy as I tried to walk at first. “Pretty easy, actually.”
“You may as well be Superman,” Harlan said. “Would barely know you’re hurt if you didn’t have the soft cast.”
I definitely didn’t feel normal, but I was able to get from the bedroom to the living room on my own, without help. Walking made me feel better, actually, getting my joints moving and getting some confidence, knowing that I’d be back to normal relatively soon.
“I think I’m going to be just fine,” I said. I sat down on the couch, tired but relieved.
“I need to go out back and put a few things away,” Harlan said. “Was pulling weeds all morning. But I’ll be right back, and in ten minutes I can drive you home to rest, okay?”
I nodded. Harlan headed out into the backyard followed closely by Misty, and I was left in the living room on my own.
The strange comfort I’d felt all morning had suddenly evaporated.
For some reason, I hadn’t expected Harlan to offer to take me home so soon. He probably thought that I’d want to get back to my own place, to rest and recover for a couple of days on my own.
But in truth, I felt better waking up here than I had ever felt waking up alone at my own place, injuries be damned.
I wanted to be here.
Waking up knowing that I was in the same space as Harlan, that he was nearby, was the most comforting thing I could imagine. And when he was actually there by my side, everything felt right in the world.
By the time he walked back inside, my mind was spiraling a little. Harlan walked into the living room again, giving me a nod.
“You about ready to go?” he asked.
“I don’t think I can just be casual with you,” I blurted out, the words coming out of nowhere. I swallowed, actually a little more nervous than I’d realized. “I’m… I’m attracted to you, Harlan. In more than just a casual hookup kind of way. And I know intimacy is terrifying to you, and I know you need time to think, but I have to be honest with you. I like being with you better than being without you. I know this might come as a shock.”