Page 90 of Check the Halls
“Perfect timing.” He presses a kiss to the tips of my fingers before bounding off the bed.
“Who is at the door?”
When he looks back at me over his shoulder there’s a smirk playing on his lips. “The backup babysitter.”
I panic as he disappears. Who would possibly be coming to stay with me?
Beth is the obvious answer. She texted me this morning to let me know she was thinking of me. She alsoattached eight hundred pictures of her new dog, a three-year-old mutt of unknown parentage named Cujo. Apparently Foster named him in honour of a legendary Ontario goaltender.
I feel terrible about uprooting her life just so Ben has eyes on me while he’s away. She’ll be so busy with a new pet. Not to mention her own life, and job.
I’m patting down my hair in an attempt to look more presentable when Ben comes back.
“Here is your patient,” he tells whoever is behind him. “She can be difficult at times. I hope you can handle her.”
“I’ve got some experience.” My mother appears in the doorway, beaming at me. My annoyance evaporates.
I thought I’d been holding up pretty well, up to this point. I’ve endured loneliness, and have been navigating a stressful working environment without complaint. I ended my engagement and called off my wedding and didn’t miss a beat. I had to have an emergency operation to save my life.
Finally, I’ve been wrestling with the possibility of giving my heart back to a man I’ve spent the last ten years convincing myself I couldn’t have.
I’ve handled all of these changes, all of these ups and downs with as much grace and composure as I’ve been able. And the moment I see my mom, the floodgates explode.
My sob comes out strangled and raw. Before I can put a hand over my mouth to silence the next one, my mother has crossed the room and thrown her arms around me. I cling to her so hard I’m afraid I might pop a stitch.
“It’s okay, my love,” Mom says over and over and over again. “You’re okay.”
And for the first time since I moved here, in my mom’s embrace, in the safety of Ben’s home, I really feel like I am okay.
CHAPTER 30
BEN
“You did not just ask me that!” Maddy laughs in disbelief at me through the phone. Her hair looks freshly washed and her skin glows in the dewy way it does after a shower. I can practically smell her cucumber body wash.
She looks good. Rested and healthy. My own appearance in the little square of this Facetime call looks haggard in comparison. Like I tossed and turned most of the night, worrying that she’d need me and I wouldn’t be there.
When I did manage to sleep for a few hours and woke up to find my phone dead, I panicked. It had been at 84% when I went to bed and just completely died overnight. It’s attached to the charger plugged into the wall as I’m talking to her, but I really need to get a new phone when I get home.
“But the doctor said?—”
“I remember what the doctor said, Ben. She said it to me. And if I have any difficulty going to the bathroom, I promise I will get myself checked out.”
I don’t understand why she’s so embarrassed. I’dassumed that I’d be helping her do all these things after she was discharged. And I would have. Without hesitation. But she hadn’t needed me as much as I thought she would, and while I know that’s a good thing, part of me wishes that she had. I felt so helpless when she was in the hospital.
“It’s just if you don’t, it can increase your chance of infection. Speaking of which, how is your incision site?”
“My incision site?”
“Yeah.” I scratch the scruff on my jaw. I don’t normally go this long without shaving and it’s itchy. “Any redness or swelling? Draining? Pain?”
“No, Ben.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. “Are you taking your temperature often? Any fever or chills?”
Maddy bites her lip like she’s holding back laughter, drawing my attention to the mouth I love so much. She smiles and shakes her head.
“Ben. I know you’re worried, but you have to trust me when I say I’m okay. I’ve done everything the doctor told me to. I’m taking it easy and not lifting anything. My mom is taking really good care of me. I’m still taking Advil for the inflammation, but I haven’t needed painkillers today. I feel fine. Better than fine, actually.”
