by Lexy Timms
He nodded. “Of course.”
Tanner took a step forward and shook Cayden’s hand. “Thank you for helping take care of our boy.”
“I’m glad to be able to help.” He flashed his best smile and didn’t think about Andrew staying with Lillian for such a long time.
A couple of nurses walked in with a wheelchair. As they started to brief Lillian on some appointments they had made, Cayden went out to the car and pulled it to the front of the hospital. As it turned out, Cayden had been correct in his strategy of getting Andrew situated in the car with no problem; once he was in, Cayden looked at Lillian, whose face held a tint of red. He winked, and Lillian had to turn away to hide her blush.
They all said their last goodbyes. Andrew’s parents stood on the curb and waved as Cayden drove away. Lillian immediately began going through Andrew’s list of appointments and materials the doctor had given her. For the next half hour Cayden zoned out, focusing on the road. There was a little period of silence until Lillian turned the radio, elated to find an ‘80s rock station.
He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Andrew slumped against the side of the car, a pleased smile on his tired face as he watched Lillian put on a show to the music. Cayden had seen her happy before, but never like this. The stressed-out Lil he was all too familiar with seemed to be completely missing, replaced by this happy-go-lucky, youthful spirit.
You made the right decision, he told himself, cranking up the volume, and knew he meant it as much about being with Lillian as he did about accepting her request to help with Andrew’s recovery.
Cayden pulled the car into Lillian’s driveway and helped Andrew get out. Using his crutches took a bit of practice, but he made his way into the house smoothly. As soon as the door opened Lillian’s cats swarmed them, and she had to pick them up to get them away from Andrew’s crutches.
“I guess they missed you,” Andrew noted as he focused his eyes on the floor, making sure each step was solid.
“It appears so,” she replied, rubbing her face against the attention-starved cats. “You were taken good care of by your cat babysitter, weren’t you? Weren’t you?”
Cayden stepped around Lillian to get to Andrew. “We’ll let her have her moment with her babies,” he said. “Let’s get you settled in the other room.”
“Well,” Andrew said as they walked slowly down the hallway, “normally when I visit a place, I’m pretty confident that I won’t be high maintenance. This is going to take some getting used to.”
For both of us, Cayden thought. “Don’t worry about it. Between Lil and me, you’ll be up and running in no time. No pun intended.”
Andrew fist-bumped Cayden and gently set himself on the bed. “As long as there are no tripping hazards, I think everything will be okay. And the shower is a walk-in, so that’s good.”
“What do you have to do with your crutches when you shower?”
“I forgot what the official instructions are, but my plan was to tape a trash bag over them if they aren’t waterproof already.”
Cayden grunted. “I don’t know. I’ve never been on crutches.”
“Hey, guys,” Lillian yelled from across the house. “I’m going to clean up in here. The cats spilled their food everywhere.” Her voice faded as she walked into the kitchen where she kept the cats’ food bowls.
“So, you’re gonna be my new personal trainer, huh?” Andrew flexed his bicep. “I hear you charge a pretty penny. I should be honored Lil talked you into it.” He cleared his throat. “Thanks, by the way.”
“That’s the plan.” Cayden moved an extension cord out of the way, trying to figure a way out of the awkward moment. “Anything in particular you want to work on?”
“I haven’t given it much thought, really. I’ve never been a gym type of guy. I always got up for a run in the morning.”
“Even recently?”
Andrew grimaced. “Not so much in the past few months. I’ve been moved around at work and have worked more late nights in the last six months than I have my entire career. I was about to get switched to a different, higher-up position where my hours would be better—then this happened.”
Cayden nodded. “Have you worked out or exercised at all in six months?”
“A little. Not much. Mostly just some light stuff at home. I have a pull-up bar and some dumbbells. That’s it.”
“That’s all right. At least you’ve had some activity. Your body is able to heal better if you’re in shape. That might account for why you’re doing as well as you are now.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, man.” He leaned against the doorframe. “It definitely has a lot to do with healing.”
“That’s great to hear. No wonder people love to work with you.”
“What do you mean?” Cayden wondered what Andrew knew about his work.
“Lillian says that you’re exploding in Los Angeles. Everyone wants a piece of you in their gyms.” He chuckled. “Sorry, that came out wrong, but you know what I mean.”
“She talked about my work in Los Angeles?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t a lot, I think you were out getting coffee or something. And she told me about you working with a lady there, one who’s your client. Seems to me Lily had a blast over there.”
“Yeah, I think she did. Katharina really loved her. I mean, who doesn’t love her, but Katharina really took a liking to her. Even called a friend up one day who didn’t want Lil to fly back home. Wanted her to go fix their house up immediately.”
“Dang.” Andrew thought for a minute. “She’s something else. Do you think she’ll go back to work with other people?”
“I hope so. At least sometimes. Even in just a few days, word spread fast. Katharina is high-end and has a lot of friends already dying to meet Lil.”
“That would be awesome. I wonder if she’ll end up expanding her business one day.”
Cayden shrugged. “Who knows? I don’t think she’s thought about it yet. At least, she hasn’t mentioned anything to me about it.”
They stood in silence for a few moments. Both staring at anything but each other.
“Well,” Cayden said, straightening, and popped his knuckles, “do you need anything?”
“I think I’m going to get some shut-eye for a little while.” He sighed, propping his crutches against the wall. “That sounds so lame.”
“Hey, healing happens during sleep, too. Don’t push yourself too hard.”
Andrew smiled. “Thanks, man. I’ll see you two later.”
Cayden shut the door, and walked to the kitchen in search of Lillian. He found her standing at the counter, trying to read something on her phone but being harassed by Gray Cat.
“Hey,” he said in a deep, smooth voice, startling her.
“Well, hey.” She scanned his body. “Andrew okay? I heard you two talking and decided not to bother you.”
He walked close to her and put his hands on her hips. “We were talking about you, actually.”
“Me?”
Her smile was infectious and spread to his own lips. “Yeah, about how successful you are.”
“Stop it!”
“He’s taking a nap now. I figure we should let him rest and wake him up later for dinner.”
“Sounds good.” She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. “What should we do until then?”
Cayden looked around. “It feels like forever since we’ve been here. I wonder if we should christen it—again.”
Lillian licked her lips. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard all day.”
THE NEXT AFTERNOON was the type of quiet that only the fall can bring. The cats were sleeping, per usual, but this time Cayden had joined in. Lillian had been getting work done on her computer, and when she took a break she went looking for Cayden and found him asleep on the couch, feet propped up on the ottoman and phone in one limp hand. One of the cats was curled on top of his stomach and the other against his legs. He, of course, had no idea that she stood there, smiling at the s
ight, glad that Andrew was resting and recovering in the next room, before she quietly went outside for some much-missed quality time with her book.
He slowly woke up after about half an hour, surprised to see that the phone had not fallen out of his hand. He unlocked it and saw the email he had been in the middle of writing to a client back in Los Angeles. Giving himself a minute to fully wake up, he typed the rest of it. Neither of the cats showed any sign of waking up. Black Cat was drooling a little.
He sent the email and opened his texts. There was only one unread one, much to his delight. It was from Katharina.
Hi, handsome. How are you?
Everything is fine, he typed back. Lil’s friend is okay. He’s here at her house now. She’s taking care of him until he recovers.
Katharina typed back in an instant. Her friend? I thought it was her brother?
Cayden wondered how to explain it simply. He’s not a blood relative. They’ve known each other since they were kids. He’s like her brother.
He could see on the message that Katharina started to type, then stopped, then started and stopped again. A voice recording came through. “This is easier,” she said. “I was wondering when you are coming back. My gym misses you, and so do my friends. Please tell me it will be soon.”
I just sent an email to a client about coming back, he responded by text. He didn’t like talking into the text app. Looks like I’ll be coming back to the city for a few weeks. Home on the weekends, I guess.
You have a lot of clients here. Do they all want you to find replacements?
Most of them, he replied. It shouldn’t take long, but we’ll see how it goes. It’ll be good to come back. I don’t want to commit to the gym here until everything is taken care of over there.
Tell me as soon as you are back. I miss you.
Cayden winced. He knew Katharina talked like that to everyone, but it still made him cringe. Will let you know. See ya, he typed back, not sure what else to say.
In the other room, he heard one of Andrew’s crutches fall onto the floor. Gently pushing the cats aside, he walked down the hall to see if Andrew needed help. He was sitting up in bed, taking a long swig of water.
“Lil and her water,” Cayden laughed.
Andrew nodded and swallowed. “I’m not complaining. Is she around?”
“I don’t know. I’ll go find her.”
“It’s okay. She’ll show up sometime.”
“Nah, I need to find her anyway. I’ll send her in here.” He walked away, listening for any noises in the kitchen or her work area. Everything was silent.
She must be outside, he thought, and opened the back door. Sure enough, there she was on the porch, sitting with her book.
She looked up. “Hey, sleepyhead.”
He closed the door behind him. “Tell that to the cats. They’re half-dead in there.”
“Shocker!”
Cayden propped himself on the railing. “I fell asleep sending some emails. Katharina texted, too.”
“Your Los Angeles people missing you?”
“Something like that.” He looked at the ground. “There are some things I need to take care of back there. I’m thinking it’ll take a few weeks to get everything done.”
Lillian’s face fell. “You’re going to be gone for that long?”
“No, I don’t think so. Probably just a few days at a time. It depends on what I’m handling on which week, but I won’t be gone for most of the time. Not like last time.” He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Just think of it like a few small business trips until I’m home full time.”
“That sounds better.” She bit her lip. “I hate this distance thing.”
“I agree.”
“When are you heading back?”
“They want me day after tomorrow. It’s short notice, but when they’re offering to pay for the flight my schedule is completely open.” He winked. “This one won’t be a long trip, I think. I’ll definitely be back by the weekend.”
“Okay. Are you taking a lot back there?”
“Just a couple of changes of clothes. I’ll start bringing stuff back.”
“Staying in your little place by Janine’s?”
“Of course.” He chuckled. “Janine is still in denial that I’m leaving.”
“Even though she’s working with the new trainer?”
Cayden smiled. “Yeah. Can’t help but leave such a big impression on some people.”
“Your ego is showing.”
“I’m fully aware of that,” Cayden replied lightly. He straightened and looked over at his house. “I need to go straighten up my place and find a bigger bag to take back.”
“I have some bags.”
“It’s okay. I’ve got one in there somewhere. It might be in the attic. I might need to hire you to help me organize my storage.”
“I’ll help you for free under one condition.”
Cayden raised his eyebrow at her, and her mischievous expression got his blood pumping. “Stop tempting me,” he said, standing up. “We can discuss this later.”
“Preferably non-verbally,” she purred. “Walk away now, I want to look at your butt.”
“You’re insatiable!” he called, heading over to his place. “By the way, Andrew wants to see you.” He put his hands on his hips and shook his derrière exaggeratedly from side to side as he walked.
Lillian laughed. “I want to see that again later. Might try to record it, too.
“Good luck,” he called as he disappeared between the hedges.
Chapter 04
THE LIVING ROOM STILL smelled like Cayden. She was positive it had to be from her being oversensitive to him. His sweet but musky scent was one of the first things she’d noticed about him, and after what felt like forever being broken up and arguing with him, she was in tune with his presence around her house. She inhaled again. It smelled so good.
She signed. Despite how thrilled she was to have him back in her life where it finally felt right, she couldn’t help but feel a sharp pang of guilt about being glad he was leaving.
I shouldn’t feel guilty, she reminded herself. Couples aren’t supposed to be together literally all day, every day. I’ve been with him for a week now since he flew out to Rodney to be with me. He’s been amazing. Above and beyond amazing. But he’s gotta need some breathing room, too, right? It was busy in her little house. Two grown men, one needing crutches to move around, plus the cats seemed underfoot and she had work to catch up on as well. She needed the space just as badly as he did, of course, but she’d noticed that he had really started to withdraw since arriving back home.
Like halfway through dinner last night, he’d grown strangely quiet. It had nothing to do with what the three of them were talking about. Sure, he was always quieter when Andrew was around, but as far as she could tell he had been enjoying listening to her and Andrew bouncing silly stories back and forth. She’d done her best to pull him into the conversation as much as possible, but as their plates of spaghetti slowly emptied she noted the glassy look in his eyes. She had only seen it a few times before, since Cayden was cool-tempered and laid back the majority of the time.
But she did know it meant something was on his mind. Something serious. Her first instinct was that it had something to do with their activities before dinner—the activities that resulted in her bedspread and pillows being on the floor and one corner of her fitted sheet coming undone. How Andrew had snored through the whole thing, she had no idea.
Trying not to show her concerns on her face, since Andrew’s eyes were locked on her, she smiled and acted like nothing was happening, having to silently attempt to convince herself that it had nothing to do with Andrew. It had been a great time; they hadn’t messed around in her house in months. The one time they had been frisky with each other since Cayden had left for Los Angeles was at his house, and she didn’t want to remind herself of that. Seducing him when they were technically broken up—after a heated argument in her kitchen, after he
had flown back to try to fix things with her—wasn’t one of her proudest moments.
Pretending that nothing was niggling at the back of her mind for the next couple of hours was unspeakably hard. Cayden barely said anything after he got the dazed look, and Lillian refused his offer to help clean up. She refused Andrew’s offer as well, and sent them away to hopefully get to know each other better. She knew it was a silly wish. Cayden clearly didn’t want to be around people right now. Maybe he was tired, or stressed from work and the need to get back to L.A. She didn’t have the courage to ask, so she spent the time wondering while doing the dishes.
He floated away while Andrew hung back in the kitchen, letting their conversation flow from topic to topic until his eyelids began to droop. He finally admitted exhaustion and returned to his room for the night. Once she heard his door close, she peeked out into the living room and saw Cayden sitting on the couch, reading something intently on his phone, every now and then punching his screen with his fingertips in response to a message. The cats desperately tried to grab his attention by pawing at his thighs and meowing, but he took zero notice of them.
Lillian figured it was better to leave him alone until he had processed whatever it was he needed to process. She felt a little like a stranger in her own home for the next hour or so, tiptoeing around to prepare for bed, doing her best to keep quiet so as not to distract him. A book she’d been reading sat on the sofa beside him, but something about Cayden’s energy was sending her the message not to bother him. Luckily, she had a back-up read on her bedside table, and after washing her face she nestled into bed to read.
She’d fallen asleep with her book and woke up just enough when he got into bed with her, turning on his side to face away from her. A little alarmed, she had curled up next to him and asked if he was okay. He muttered that, yeah, he was all right, taking care of some client stuff and he was just tired now—and that was the end of that conversation.
The next morning and up until this point in the afternoon hadn’t been much different. Cayden was physically in the house with Lillian and Andrew, but mentally he was somewhere else. Andrew noticed a little—it was hard not to, when Cayden seemed to have glued his hand to his chin in thought and was almost wearing a hole in the hallway from pacing—but said nothing to Lillian. She had only shrugged, and continued doing her thing, not feeling very lively when Cayden was being so absent. Andrew tried to pass the time by enjoying the last few days of having nothing to do before the appointments and physical therapy started, but eventually grew bored and disappeared for a nap.