Page 56 of Receiving His Mercy
“Good. That’s fucking good.”
She watched as his shoulders sank. As though a weight had come off them and he could breathe more easily.
And it hit her then that he really did care. This wasn’t him trying to control her or even to just relieve his guilt.
He cared.
“Thanks, Travis,” she told him.
He gave her a surprised look. “For what?”
“For caring. A lot of people wouldn’t. And we don’t really know each other that well?—”
“But we are friends now,” he interrupted.
“Yeah, we are.” She gave him a wobbly smile. She wished that she could tell him everything. But her other problem wasn’t one that she wanted him anywhere near.
That would be far too dangerous for him. And if there was one thing she knew about him it was that he could be stubborn. He wouldn’t listen to her if she told him not to get involved.
So, no, for his own safety she’d keep that a secret.
And hopefully that issue would never raise its ugly head again.
“So she grabbed your arm after her caregiver left?” he asked. “Did you put ice on it? Any cream?”
“No, it’s really not that bad.”
“What about your head? It looks bad.”
“I think it looks worse than it feels.”
He shot her a look. “What happened?”
“Oh, she threw something at me. It caught me by surprise. My fault. I’ve gotten complacent. Not that she used to throw things at me. I just forgot to be on alert, you know?”
Travis gently took hold of her chin, tilting her head back. “In no way was this your fault. At all. And complacent? Why should you worry about your own mother throwing things at you? That’s not fucking normal.”
No. He was right.
This wasn’t her fault and that wasn’t normal.
Taking a deep breath in, she let it out slowly. “You’re right. I know better than this, than trying to take the blame onto my shoulders. Even though she’s ill, she was like this before the illness.”
“Exactly, baby. Now, why didn’t you get checked out? Did you lose consciousness?”
“Ahh.” She didn’t want to tell him that because she knew what he was going to say.
“That’s a guilty look if I ever saw it. Caren,” he scolded.
“I know. I just lost consciousness for a short time, I think. And I wanted to get out of there. To get back to my hotel room and just sleep. Which is what I did. I’m sorry I didn’t answer your messages. I just couldn’t get on my phone without feeling ill.”
“I wish you had. I would have come to you.”
“That . . . that would be above and beyond friendship, Travis.”
“Don’t care. That’s what I would have done. That’s what you deserve and need.”
She wasn’t sure it was. But she wanted it. Desperately.
