Page 71 of Sassy Love
“You just met her, Lawson. Keep up.”
“Millie is your grandma?”
So, no daughter.
“Not my grandma. My Millie,” she rasps.
“Okay . . .”
“Another day.” She coughs, and her face pales in front of me. With a groan, she rolls over. “Help me up, will you?”
I scoot around the bed and take her hand. It’s freezing. She trembles as I help her out. An oversized T-shirt hangs off her frame, barely covering her ass. “Where are we going?”
“Toilet, I’ve been needing to go for ages, but Mills isn’t really the muscle around here.”
I chuckle. Guess that makes me the muscle today.
I walk her to the en suite, her legs shaking the entire way. She turns back, grabbing the door as we reach the bathroom. “I can take it from here, Rawlins.”
The door shuts in my face, and I make my way to the kitchen. Millie is ladling soup into a bowl on a tray. “Here, I got it.” I take the hot container from her hands.
I practically tower over her. She’s so small and frail.
Now I understand why Carlie was worried about leaving her alone for a week.
“Thank you, young man. This old woman isn’t as capable as she used to be.”
I return to Carlie’s room and sit the tray on her bedside table.
“Lawson?” My name is almost a whisper.
Walking to the door, I lean my head on it. “Yeah?”
“I—I’m . . .”
Retching echoes and slips out under the door.
Sweet Jesus.
Knocking, I say, “Coming in. Okay?”
“Okay.” The word is more a sob than a syllable. I find Carlie collapsed on the floor, her cheek resting on the toilet seat.
Fuck.
I hit the tiles with my knees and rub her back. “Hey, we need to get you some medicine.”
“Urgh, I know.”
“Are you going to be sick again?”
Her eyes close. “I don’t think so.”
I grab a hand towel and wet the corner and wring it out. Dabbing her mouth, I toss it into the sink before standing and sweeping her up off the floor. She moans. The movement must hurt her aching body. I lay her back in bed and prop her up on the pillows. “Stay right here. I’ll be back in twenty.”
A soft whimper tumbles from her lips as her head lolls onto the pillow and her eyes close.
Back in the kitchen I find Millie cleaning up the kitchen. “How is she?”
