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Of all people, Delilah Allen had to be in the house. I had been avoiding her for years, ever since that day. I mentally shook myself. Not those thoughts. I ran into her when the circuit was in San Antonio, and I picked a mean bugger of a bull that threw me. Luckily, I only had a concussion and needed a couple of stitches. It had been fun to tease her that weekend.
The past decade had been good to her. Her long legs led up to an athletic body. She must work out all the time. Her black hair was shiny and swung down to her lower back. I forgot how beautiful her hair was. I groaned as I turned back to the wall. I didn’t want her to see me like this. I was a broken-down cowboy with nothing left. My career was over. At thirty-one years old, I was one of the oldest guys on the circuit. Coming back from this injury was not likely, even the doctors thought so. I heard their whispering in the hallways outside of my hospital room. I gave everything for this career, and I have nothing to show for it. The hurt that I caused my family and friends. The family events I’ve missed, I can’t get any of it back, and I didn’t even go out with the world champion title. I have nothing.
I could hear her in the kitchen making a racket with the pots and the pans. Her lovely voice filled the quiet house with a country song as she worked at whatever she was doing in there. When she came into my bedroom, she looked like a palm tree to a man stranded in the desert. She was right I did look like death warmed over. I felt like it too. My leg hurt. It hurt to breathe. I couldn’t pick anything up. I fell behind on taking my pain medication. It was easier to lay in bed than to take care of myself. Was there any point to taking care of myself? What was left of my life?
Kaleb did not have the time to care for me. He was busy running the ranch and every time he talked to me there was a bite to his words. Why did he resent me? Was I a drain on my family? The darkness of the room helped to soothe my racing, colliding thoughts as sleep overtook me. The pain was dulled by the little pills Delilah forced me to take.
A noise in my room woke me from a light sleep. The lights were turned on and blinded me. My eyelids blinked rapidly as I tried to focus on what was going on in my room. Delilah was sitting in a chair with scrambled eggs. My dormant stomach woke with a loud gurgle. She giggled while I glared at her. How dare she walk into my bedroom without knocking to wake me up to make me eat?
“You can pretend you’re not hungry. But obviously, you are.” She smothered the eggs with salsa and mixed them up. A giant fork full went into her mouth. She grinned and patted her flat stomach. “Hmmm, these are so good.” She drew out the good for emphasis.
“Woman, are you going to sit there and eat?” My stomach gurgled again as she nodded. “Either share with me or leave the room.” She glared at me before reaching over to the nightstand and handed me a fork. The eggs were awful; I tried not to grimace while trying to swallow a rubbery fork full, thankfully the salsa added a little spice to them and made them barely edible. But she had remembered how I liked my eggs, and I recalled how bad of a cook she was. Some things never changed. A small spot of softness melted in my heart before the rage covered it. How dare she act like I couldn’t take care of myself? What right did she have to even be here? I jerked the plate from her and scooped some eggs in my mouth before turning back to the wall. I was starving, and I ate the rest of the plate in five mouthfuls. A look fleeted across her face before she snatched the empty plate back. My stomach rolled with the pain I caused her. But we both knew it was going to be for the best. We couldn’t be together and that was that.
“You’re welcome, Kade.” She placed her hands on her hips and tossed her hair back. “Your ma would be ashamed of your manners.”
“My ma ain’t here now, is she?” I shot back.
“I’m just trying to help.”
“Are you? Aren’t you here to gloat? Or stick it to me? Or just torture me with your presence?” I closed my eyes and leaned against the pillows.
She was quiet for a moment, and I almost thought she left the room.
“No, I’m here to get you better. I’m the only one Kaleb thought could deal with your arrogance, pig-headedness, and general lack of manners.” She glared at me. Her large brown eyes darkening with storm clouds. “It isn’t always about you.”
“How can this not be about me?” I shouted at her. “I’m the one in the bed! I don’t need you and never will.” Tears leaked out of her eyes and ran down her cheeks before she left the room. I hurt her again. That was the one thing I was an expert at.
After she left the room, the door to Katie’s room slammed shut. Why would she go there? She hated pink, said it gave her monstrous headaches. I reached for my cell phone and called Kaleb. It rang five times before he picked up. Cows bellering and the tractor running came through the earpiece.
“Please don’t tell me you ran her off, already.” He answered, sounding very annoyed.
“No, at least I don’t think so...What is she doing here?”
“Obviously, she’s there to take care of you.” The wind whistled through the phone. A door slammed and the reception was clear. “She’s doing that?”
“Yes.” I rolled my eyes at him. “She’s being downright annoying. Making me food and forcing pills into me.”
“Good.” He growled and the line went dead.
The screen flashed and then went black. Kaleb knew Delilah was here and he was being as cryptic as ever. Getting a straight answer from him would take a miracle. I leaned back against my pillows and flicked through the channels. Friends were playing. It would work. The characters were laughing and having a good time. Never mind. My mood couldn’t handle the light carefree acting. The TV shut off with a blink.
“Delilah!” I called out. Footsteps jogging down the hall alerted me to her presence. The door creaked open and her head poked inside.
“Do you need something, your royal froginess?” She frowned at me.
“Now that you mention it. I left something in the living room.”
“What is it? I can get it for you.” She started to leave the room.
“No. I want to do it for myself.”
She rolled her eyes at me and advanced the wheelchair next to the bed. “If you would leave this within arm’s reach, you could get out of bed more often.”
I glared at her.
“Or never mind. Sit there like the King of Sheba waiting on his peons to do things for him.” There was a bite to her words. “You have to use the chair if you’re going to get it yourself,” she muttered.
She kicked the brakes on the wheels. Her soft hands brushed against my skin as she slipped her arms undermine. A prickle of something ran across my skin where she touched me. Her full lips were at my ear as she lifted me. With a groan, my bad leg swung off the bed. It tangled in the sheets. A soft rip sounded as the sheet caught. We tumbled down to the ground, missing the wheelchair. Her soft body was beneath me as I looked into her eyes. For a second, my thoughts were stuck eleven years ago when we were in this same position in the hayloft. Her eyelids closed as her lips parted. Her breath came out in shallow puffs against my skin. I leaned closer to her lips. I was a hair away when her eyes jerked open and widened.
“Kade Tanner Kisment, that was a dirty joke.” She shoved me off and on to the floor. Her hair was wild about her face. A blush covered her cheeks and she tugged at her shirt to straighten it. “I should leave you there for that.” There was a fire in her eyes that I hadn’t seen since high school and with a jolt, I realized I missed it.
I reached out to her. “Come on, Dee. It was an accident. My leg caught in the sheet. I didn’t mean that.” Of course, I hadn’t intended on almost kissing her, but caught up in the moment, I forgot where I was. I needed to keep the present and the past separate if she was going to be here long term. I sat up and tried to hoist myself up on the bed, but with my broken ribs, I didn’t have the upper body strength to get my body where I wanted it. Pausing to catch my breath, my casted leg slid out from under me, and down I went. “Help me...please.”
“I hope that you hurt.” She signed and her face softened a bit. She walked behind me and grasped me up by my armpits. She was strong. Her muscles strained and she grunted as she lifted me into the chair. She bustled around, setting the feet rests, and padding the back of the chair. Her hand gently brushed my shoulder as she pushed the chair out of the bedroom.
“Believe me, I do hurt.”
“So, what do you need?” A small smile pulled at the corners of her lips. She padded my shoulder again. Almost like she cared about me.