Page 40 of Protection for Rowan

“Hey, it’s Thario. Is she okay?”

He blew out a harsh breath. “Physically, for the most part, yes. The infection on her ankle wasn’t as bad as the doctor first thought it would be. Still, it’s something to watch. Mentally, it’s going to take a bit.”

“That’s rough. It will take time. What happened to me isn’t at all comparable to what happened to her, but it will take time. Be patient.”

Shine nodded. “I will be.”

“And if she wants to visit to see Frog, I’m here. I’ll be in Chicago next month, but I’d love to see you two.”

“Thank you. I’ll talk to her about it when she wakes up.”

“Any time.”

The call ended, leaving Shine with his thoughts. Hewanted to help, but he didn’t know how. He had food for meals, his house was clean, and the lawn didn’t need to be mowed. There wasn’t much he could do other than sit and obsess. Or maybe he could do some research on things she might need. But she was the psychologist, and he was just a random dude who didn’t know much about anything.

He needed more information from her, but bugging her for answers wasn't going to get him far. He needed to be patient and let her come to him when she needed someone to talk to.

She slept for a couple of hours, and when she finally woke up, she was quiet. He felt almost like he was walking on eggshells, but any weird feelings were coming directly from him, not Rowan.

After she ate some eggs and toast, she was sitting at the table, looking lost. He sat next to her and took her hand. He didn’t like seeing her like this, but she needed time to grieve and time to think. The last thing she should be doing was acting normal.

“Do you have the name and number of someone you can contact?”

Her head shot up, and her gaze met his. "I don't have my phone."

“Oh, we grabbed it from your place. Let me get it.” He grabbed the phone from the desk where he’d placed it earlier. “I forgot to charge it with everything going on.”

She blew out a slow breath. “That wasn’t the most important thing. Thank you.”

"Let me find a charging cord, and you can get it juiced up."

She nodded and stood, handing over the phone. “I need to do something.”

“Want to go visit Thario and Frog?”

“Do you think he wants to see me?”

“Yes. I talked to him earlier. He wants to see you.”

“Okay, then. Sure. Let’s go see them.”

Relief washed over Shine. He was glad she wanted to do something other than just sleep. She decided to leave her phone charging on the counter. She said she didn’t want to deal with messages yet. He imagined people checking in would be intense.

He understood. Sometimes, the attention was too much to deal with. He'd had a few missions that other SEALs knew about and called to check on him. Some conversations were just awkward. He hoped to lessen that feeling inside Rowan. He just wasn't sure exactly how he could help. Hopefully, they could get to a place where she had trust, and he didn't say the wrong thing.

Chapter 32

Rowan was tryingto be normal, but she felt a heavy weight pressing down. Shine was trying to be nice, but she wasn't sure nice would make any impact. She needed to move forward but knew it was too early. She'd been through hell, and there wasn't any way she could move on. The healing process wasn't instantaneous, even if she wanted it to be. There were things she knew from working in psychology, but also she'd been hurt, and that pain called for irrationality.

The drive over to Thario's place wasn't too awkward. There was still the little voice in the back of her head reminding her that she was damaged now. Logically, she knew that wasn't the truth, but she'd grown up in the USA, and all the misogynistic messages about women had been cycled through her upbringing, and she couldn't totally ignore those thoughts pelting her. It was almost like she was being physically hit when her thoughts turned to what had happened.

“We’re here.”

Shine's statement caused her to jump. She should havebeen paying better attention, but she'd been lost in her mind. Frog came bounding out to greet them. She opened the door, and Frog patiently waited for her to get out of the car. When she did. He moved to her side and sat, staring up at her like he'd been waiting all day for her to get there.

She reached out and scratched his head, thinking he would run back to Thario, but he stayed at her side, even after she was inside and seated on the couch.

“Your dog isn’t leaving my side.”

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