Page 41 of Fluffed and Folded

“The ice lady? Go Asher,” Anthony said.

“Maybe she killed him,” Dex said.

“Why would you say that?” Josie asked.

“It’s always the quiet ones who keep to themselves,” Dex said. He eyed Josie. “Are you quiet, Josie? Do you keep to yourself?”

Tristan didn’t like his tone, nor the way he eyed Josie. “Josie keeps to me,” he said, easing his arm around her a little tighter.

CHAPTER 23

Now what?That had become Eli’s recurring thought. He planned to stay only a few minutes after Darby left recovery, to make certain she was settled. He filled her water pitcher, settled her with the remote, and gave her the lip balm he’d bought for her, trying not to see how small and helpless she looked on the bed. Awkwardness descended, as they tried to figure out how to say goodbye after such an emotional few hours. He opened his mouth to try and find the words when her nurse entered and handed him a stack of blankets for the makeshift bed.

“Er…” he stammered, holding them helplessly against his chest. He couldn’t stay all night, could he? He barely knew this woman.

Darby seemed amused by his befuddlement, if the gentle smile on her tired face was any indication. “You don’t have to stay, you’ve already done so much.”

NotI want you to goorthis feels uncomfortable,but “you’ve already done so much.” He hadn’t, though, not really. All he’d done was sit in a hospital and buy some lip balm. Surely he could do more, couldn’t he? He could overcome his discomfort and be present for someone who had no one, right?

That was how he found himself unfurling a scratchy sheet in a stranger’s hospital room, tucking it onto the slippery vinyl couch that made a too-small bed. And that was when he began thinking,Now what?

She turned on the television, and they fell asleep. Every two hours when the nurse came in, Eli woke, too. It was impossible not to, but he also felt the need to check on Darby, to make certain she was okay and safe and didn’t need anything. He wished he’d paid more attention to the way his mother and sisters nurtured people because they made it seem effortless. Eli had to think and even pulled out his phone and Googled what to do for people who were sick.

“Are you texting someone?” Darby’s scratchy voice asked when she caught him staring at his phone.

“No, I was looking something up.” He tucked his phone away. “You should be asleep.”

“Yes, I should, but I think the hospital is running some kind of experiment on people to see how many ways they can deprive them of sleep.” As she spoke, an aid came in to check her IV, clattering a tray, before skittering back out again.

“Seriously, though,” Eli agreed. “We should make a game out of it, count how many ways you’re interrupted tonight.”

“I think that’s the fourth time someone has been in,” Darby said.

“Don’t forget the nurse who stood outside your room and did a Groucho Marx impersonation on her cellphone,” he said.

“I wish I could,” she said.

“You should ask if there’s a drug for that,” Eli encouraged.

“I’m not sure I should add drug seeker to my list of endearing traits right now,” Darby said. “Maybe later.”

“Given what you’ve been dealing with, I think you’ll receive a free pass for all inexplicable behavior,” he said.

“You’re nice,” she declared.

“Nah, I’m honest. Believe me when I tell you I have experience with crazy women. Until you’ve attempted to potty train a Guinea pig, you’re not even in the running.”

She laughed and clutched her stomach with a groan. “You say that like you fully believe I’mnotin the middle of trying to train a Guinea pig. Which reminds me, could you stop by my apartment and let my Guinea pig out to go to the bathroom? We’re at a critical juncture, and I don’t want my hospital stay to set him back.”

“I think the trauma of having his pig mom in the hospital will outweigh any potty accidents,” Eli said seriously and then smiled when she snorted a laugh and clutched her stomach again.

“Stop it, I’m going to pop a stitch,” she said.

“You say that to all the boys,” he accused, and she devolved into a charming peal of giggles that made him smile harder. In that moment it was hard to believe she was the standoffish landlord who’d ignored him for two years, almost as if he didn’t exist. He’d thought she was a snob, but it turned out she was merely oblivious and dealing with her own problems. And she was a widow. Somehow that was the most shocking fact of all, that someone so young had already been married and widowed and he hadn’t even gotten started yet. “What are you going to do after this?”

“Probably go home and sleep for a couple of days,” she said.

“No, I mean in general. It’s like you’ve been given a second chance on life, and you’re young. What does your future look like?” He cozied into the uncomfortable couch, nearly slipping off the smooth vinyl.

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