Tank (Moonshine Task Force Book 2)(7)
“So, he gets to go home today, huh?” She smiles at me, positively glowing.
“He does, I can’t believe he’s made so much progress. The doctors are surprised too, but he’s strong and he’s stubborn. That’s half the battle right there.”
Whitney bites her bottom lip, and gets this look on her face that says she wants to maybe ask me something.
“Are you okay?”
She runs a hand through her blonde locks, so like Trevor’s, before she clasps her hands in front of her very pregnant belly. “I have a favor to ask, actually we, as a family, have a favor to ask.”
My palms sweat because I’m not sure what they’re going to ask. What if they want me to stay away from Trevor while he’s recuperating? What if I’ve overstepped staying at the hospital and spending every waking minute with him? I mean it’s not like I have a ring on my finger. Hell I don’t even have a toothbrush at his place – at least I don’t think I do anymore. Pretty sure he probably threw that out when I told him to take his high-handed archaic attitude and go to hell. I regret that sentiment now, not the fact I said the words. They needed to be said, but I wouldn’t have told him to go to hell. I would have been mature, and we would have sat down; talked things out like adults.
It’s a super human effort, but I manage not to fold my arms across my chest to close myself off from her. She and her family have been nothing but nice to me, and I remind myself, not everyone has an ulterior motive. “I’m listening.”
“The thing is, all of us have a lot going on with the baby coming. Ryan’s going to have to do overtime now that Trevor’s hurt. Mom’s going to be helping me with the business, and Dad’s working down on the Gulf. He won’t be able to make trips back except for the weekends, but someone needs to stay with Trev,” she starts, her blue eyes showing the exhaustion of the past few days.
“I totally agree, he doesn’t need to be by himself. If you want, I can call around and see about some Home Health nurses. I know some of the best in the business. It’s not a problem for me to do that, just tell me what you want me to ask about.”
She’s struggling, she’s gripping her fingers in front of her, twisting them so tightly I’m afraid she’ll break them off. “That’s not it, exactly.”
Then I’m lost, because I thought it was pretty clear what she was asking me. “Maybe you better tell me, because now I’m a little confused.”
Taking a deep breath, she walks over and grabs the handrail before turning around, bracing her back against it. “I think you should be the one to help Trevor. He cares about you, and he’ll do things for you he won’t do for other people. There’s not one other person in the world who will push him the way you will, but you’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.”
“I have a job,” I remind her. “One that requires I work long hours.”
“Don’t you have leave?” she pleads. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but you have the medical experience and you know Trevor. You want to be with him, I can see it every time I’m with the two of you. You both want to be together. What better way to figure out if you can be together than in the hardest of times? Seeing your way through this together? Might make the two of you realize how much your professions don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.”
I’m speechless, but I understand where she’s coming from. And she’s right. If I want to prove to Trevor how important my job is, I have to show him. Doing it for him is the best way to do that.
“I do have leave,” I shrug, starting to weaken. “But what if it all blows up in our faces?”
Whitney takes my hand. “Then you’ll at least know you tried, and if something like that ever happens again, you’ll know you don’t have regrets.”
In Trevor’s job there’s a damn good chance something like this could happen again, and the no regrets thing sounds tempting.
“Okay, I’ll give it a week. If we’re doing good at the end of the week, I’ll extend it until he doesn’t need me anymore,” I hold my hand up. “But Trevor’s got to agree to it.”
“Already taken care of,” she winks at me and gives me the brightest smile ever.
I wonder how in the hell she managed that, then my mind flashes back to Thanksgiving morning, I left the two of them alone so they could enjoy their breakfast. She’s already turned and is walking back down the hallway as I shake my head.
Those Trumbolt siblings are slick and nothing but trouble. Trevor though, he’s the kind of trouble I like to get into.
CHAPTER FOUR
Tank
A few days home and I’m wishing like hell I was back in the hospital. It’s not like I actually enjoyed being in the place, but there was a sense of safety I felt. Nurses were around at all times, if I needed it, there was an IV of medication that could knock me out of my misery for a few hours. No one questioned when I asked for it. There the pain wasn’t so all-consuming. Doctors and nurses came in at all hours of the goddamn day and night, it gave me something else to concentrate on. In my home I can’t get away from my pain, can’t get away from the thoughts running through my head, can’t get away from Blaze’s hot body always so close to mine. I know part of the problem is I won’t take the painkillers, but I hate the way they make me feel. And I can’t physically take Blaze, because that’s just work I can’t do quite yet.