Page 221 of Falling Backwards
She sighs and gingerly adjusts one of the throw pillows around her.
“I mean it,” I say.“Be nice to yourself.”
I recall now that before Maggie fell, we were talking about doing some kind of workout with our new dumbbells.It’s why I was carrying my set along with her carrying hers.Definitely not going to happen now—maybe in a few days, but not today.
She murmurs, “I’ll try.”
I nod.“Good.”I tuck her hair behind her ear.“Get back to how you felt when we were leaving the sports store, yeah?When you were proud of yourself for buying the shirt?”
She nods, too, and gives in to a small smile.“Yeah.”
Then she flinches and shifts around, clearly uncomfortable.Neither of us hit her scrape or anything, but I imagine it justhurts.
“Feels like shit?”I ask with slumping shoulders.
She sniffles.“Yes.”
Just as I’m wondering where Tylenol might be, Emma walks into this living room area from what I suspect is her bedroom.I meet her eyes and lift my chin.“Hey, y’all got any Tylenol?”
Soon, Maggie has taken a capsule and gotten fixed up nicely on the couch.It’s been decided that she’ll cover her wound in a little while, so I set the bandage on the coffee table.Then we remember we haven’t eaten lunch, so we flip through the food apps on my phone until one sounds good.
I’ve just placed our order when a text notification pops up at the top of my screen.Reading the name there puts an unpleasant jolt in my bones.
Jayden.
I swipe the notification away without reading it, then glance at Maggie—and I’m relieved she doesn’t seem to have noticed the message.
She doesn’t know he’s coming to town in just a few days.I haven’t mentioned it to her.Back when he originally talked about his visit, I told him I’d see him, but I’ve started feeling differently over these last weeks, so I’m not sure what to do or say when his plans come to my mind.And I’m not only unsure of how to talk to Maggie, really; I’ve also been slim on responses to Jayden.
I’ll deal with it later.
It’s what I’ve been telling myself this whole time, so what’s one more bit of procrastination?
Pocketing my phone, I stand and turn my attention back to Maggie, who is settling into looking at me with her back against all those pillows.There’s still pain across her features, but she smiles at me and it gentles everything else, and yeah,thisis what I want to fill my mind with.My Maggie.
“Thank you for everything,” she says, her tone also gentle.Her eyes slip over my face in what can only be described as an adoring way.“Thank you so much.”
I lean over and down, planting my fists on the couch on either side of her so I can put my face near hers.“No need to thank me.”
She starts to disagree, so I stamp a kiss to her lips, which makes her chuckle a little.I smile and happily accept the kiss she stamps back to me.Then I straighten up.
“Decide what we’re gonna watch when I get back,” I say.“We’ve got a while before my shift.”
Maggie groans and I’m not sure if it’s because she has just remembered with disappointment, like I have, that I’m scheduled to work later or if it’s because she’s relieved she isn’t.I know I’d rather not go so I can instead hang out on the couch with her all day, but if I try to make that happen, she’ll reprimand me forever.She won’t consider her injury a good enough reason for me to call in.So I focus on being glad she doesn’t have to worry about getting through work herself.That would be ass.
And not the good kind of ass.
Man, it’s been, like, a week since she sent me that,‘Nice ass,’text, but it still has me laughing as I leave her apartment so I can go get our food.
—
I had a good time with Maggie.We enjoyed our lunch and watched TV and a movie, even dozed for a little while.She was feeling slightly better thanks to the pain medicine, but moving around still hurt her a good deal.Thankfully, by the time I left, her wound had been bandaged, Emma was able to be near, and Joy had arrived; they promised they would both be around to help Maggie with anything she might need.
Now I’m trudging around my apartment, about to get ready for work…and thinking about Jayden, who texted again as I was getting home.
I pull the messages up and look back over the last handful.
There’s where he said he’s looking forward to having drinks with me when he gets to town.I just gave the text a thumbs-up.
