An Early Spring

by Ann Lister

  His words had the exact effect on her he was hoping for. He smiled against her mouth, feeling her body trembling in orgasm. He held onto her until her head fell to his shoulder and her body finally stopped rocking.

  “Oh, my God,” she said against his neck. “That felt really good.”

  His hand slid around her hip and cupped her bottom, provocatively grinding her onto his thigh. “And when my ribs are healed, you and I are going to…”

  “Spend a couple of days in bed getting messy?”

  “Definitely. Very, very messy,” he said.

  “Nick, I will truly look forward to that day, but in the meantime, we are going to concentrate on getting you well.”

  “Deal,” he agreed, kissing her again. “And, while we’re waiting on my ribs, I’ll be happy to settle for an occasional body rub from you in the shower.”

  Colby started laughing and reached for a face cloth to rinse the soap from Nick’s body. “I don’t think this is what your doctor had in mind, when he suggested you start physical therapy - especially in the shower.”

  Nick rubbed his chest against her slippery breasts. “But, everything is so well lubricated in the shower. It’s like a vertical slip-n-slide, heightening all the senses, and the after-party mess is easily washed away. The way I see it, it’s all good clean fun.”

  Colby’s expression turned serious. She eased her arms around his waist and pressed her face to his chest. “I love you.”

  The weeks passed slowly, one blending into the other. Nick made improvements each day but it still wasn’t fast enough for him and his moods began to reflect his dissatisfaction. After three weeks of being stuck in Colby’s room, with little interaction outside her four walls, Nick was mentally ready to come unglued.

  The Spring thaw had commenced at the mountain, bringing a whole new vibe to the resort. The serious skiers were celebrating the end of another season, while the resort employees were reveling in the end of one more busy winter working. In another month, the full-time population of the resort would diminish by half.

  The daylight was lasting further into the evenings and the daytime temperatures were rising too, which Colby loved, but the changes she noticed in Nick’s mood were scaring her. With each passing day, it was becoming more evident that he was not happy. She wasn’t sure if his discontentment was due to being with her or because his recovery was going slower than he had wanted.

  Colby had reduced her work hours, in order to spend more time with Nick, but was beginning to feel her presence was becoming a detriment to him, rather than a benefit. He was sleeping for long periods of time and Colby was fearful for his state of mind.

  One day at lunchtime, she went back to her room to make sure Nick ate lunch and also to spend some time with him. She found him sleeping in bed with all the shades still drawn in the room and wondered if he had even gotten out of bed yet because he was still dressed in the same clothing he had worn to bed the previous night.

  Colby slid beside him on the bed and ran her fingers across the beard stubble on his unshaven chin. “Baby, wake up,” she whispered beside his ear. She felt him begin to stir beneath the sheets and eased her hand down onto his stomach.

  “What are you doing back?” he asked, and slowly opened his eyes.

  “I came back to fix you some lunch but I’m beginning to think you haven’t even eaten breakfast.”

  “I’m not hungry,” he said, and rubbed at his eyes.

  Colby rolled off the bed and opened up the window drapes, flooding the room with sunlight. “What’s going on, Nick? Why haven’t you gotten out of bed?”

  “I got up a while ago and went to the bathroom,” he said defensively.

  “It doesn’t appear you bothered to shower or shave, while you were in there,” Colby said, moving toward the refrigerator and removing a package of deli meats and cheese to make sandwiches. “Why don’t you go wash-up and I’ll take you outside to eat lunch?”

  “I don’t feel like it.”

  Colby turned her head to him. His forearm covered his face, shading his eyes from the sun. “Since when don’t you want to go outside?”

  “Colby! Stop it! I’m fine laying here,” he protested.

  She slammed the knife down onto the counter-top and approached the bed, pulling the blankets and top sheets from the bed and exposing his long legs.

  “What the fuck are you doing?!” he yelled at her, attempting to roll onto his side.

  “You’re getting out of bed, Nick. It’s time you got your ass into the shower and then we’re going for a walk outside. Now, get up!” she demanded, easing his body into an upright position on the mattress.

  His eyes held hers, cold and angry, but yielding to her maneuvering his body. “Why is it so important to you that I get out of bed?” he asked, his voice somber and hollow.

  “Because you’re not going to get your strength back if you remain reclined in bed sleeping. The more you move, the faster you will heal,” she said, gently pulling him to his feet. She shuffled him into the bathroom and helped him secure the plastic bag over his leg cast, removed his t-shirt, then walked to the door to leave him alone.

  “Aren’t you going to join me?” he asked, using a sarcastic tone and suggestively pushing his boxer briefs below his hips.

  Colby scanned his naked form. “Not today. I’m going to make sandwiches to bring outside,” she said and turned away from him.

  “Suit yourself,” he mumbled, turning on the water and stepping inside the shower stall.

  Fifteen minutes later, Colby heard the shower water stop and walked into the bedroom, removing a set of clean clothes from the dresser for Nick to wear and waited on the edge of the bed for him to appear from the bathroom.

  “Feel better?” she asked, when she saw him step out of the steam filled room.

  “Does it look like I feel better?” he said, clutching onto a towel secured at his hip, slowly working his way back toward the bed. When he reached the stack of clothes Colby had set for him on the bed, he dropped the towel to the floor.

  Colby stood up and retrieved the towel from around Nick’s ankles and began to wipe the moisture from his back and the ends of his hair. After he struggled into a fresh pair of boxer briefs and a pair of sweat pants, he turned to face her, taking the towel from her hand to finish drying off his chest, then carefully pulled on another long sleeved t-shirt.

  “Look, I’m sorry, but I’m not in a very good mood today,” he said, his tone not reflective of someone really feeling remorse at all.

  Colby forced a smile onto her face and met his gaze. “You’ll be in a better mood, once we get outside.”

  “Not today, Colby,” he said quietly, sitting down on the bed. “I took a shower. Let it go with that.”

  “I’m not debating this. You’re going outside,” she said. She saw the defiance rise in his eyes and the smile faded from her face. She went to the closet and selected a zippered sweatshirt and tossed it at him. “Slide this on and let’s go.”

  “Colby, I said: no! I don’t feel like going outside!”

  “I don’t give a shit what you feel like doing, Nick! I said we’re not debating this, so get your ass off that bed and start moving toward the door!”

  Colby grabbed the bag of sandwiches from the counter and two bottles of water and opened the door to the hallway. Nick still remained sitting on the bed, his gaze focused on the floor.

  “Nick! Move it! Let’s go,” she ordered.

  She watched him rub at his face, then comb his fingers through his damp hair, before rising to his feet and stepping into a lone sneaker on the floor. She waited patiently while he cautiously moved across the room toward the door, his empty expression saying far more than any words could offer. She hated forcing him to do these things, but she knew if she allowed him to sleep the days away, he’d never be fully recovered from his injuries.

  Once outside, Nick covered his eyes from the glare of the sun, waited for his sight to adjust to the bright light, then proce
eded to follow Colby. She found an empty picnic table in the courtyard beside her apartment building and pulled an Adirondack chair over beside the table for Nick to sit. She faced the chair into the sun and helped him down into it, before spreading his lunch out on the armrest.

  “Are you enjoying this?” he asked, contempt ringing in his voice.

  “Honestly? No. It’s killing me to see you die a little more each day. Every day there is less and less of the Nick Gaffney I used to know,” she replied softly. “It scares me.”

  “Why?”

  Colby swallowed hard and fought to keep her emotions in check. “I don’t know what else I can do for you and what I am doing doesn’t seem to be working. You seem so unhappy, Nick,” she said, shaking her head.

  Nick set his head back against the chair and closed his eyes. He was quiet for several minutes, contemplating his words, wondering if he should really tell her how he felt or continue to keep it buried inside his head, but doing that only made his head ache. “You’re right, Colby,” he finally said. “I’m not happy. Each day that I’m stuck inside that room, another piece of me disappears. I honestly don’t know how much more I can take.”

  Colby's back stiffened. Her head swirled with the brutal honesty of his words, hitting her like a kick to the chest, expelling the air from her lungs until it hurt. The tears she had managed to control, now began to trickle down her cheeks.

  “I’m sorry you feel that way, Nick,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “I thought taking care of you in my room was a good thing and kept us together, rather than you being stuck in the triage building by yourself. I guess I was wrong. Maybe you would have been better off with your friends.”

  “I’m not complaining about the care you’ve given me,” he said. “You’ve been amazing. It’s the confines of the room that is getting to me - big time. I’m losing my mind.” He shook his head and rubbed at his eyes. “I really think I need to move…”

  Colby wiped at the moisture on her cheeks. “Okay, if that's what you want we'll make it happen. I’ll give Glen a call and get you moved over to the medical building,” she said, not wanting to start an argument with him outside.

  “I’ve already talked to Glen.”

  “What? How long have you been planning this?” she asked.

  “I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of days, but I’m not going to the medical building, Colby. I want to go home - to my cabin,” he said. “There's more space to move around and I can get fresh air without people noticing if I bothered to shave or shower that day.”

  She covered her mouth in surprise. “I’m not sure how your doctor would feel about a move like that, Nick,” she said, trying not to make his decision to move personal, even though that’s exactly how it felt.

  “I don’t give a shit what my doctor thinks,” he said. “It’s time, Colby. I need to do this, for my sanity and yours. I need to get back to my cabin. Glen said he could help me move tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” she asked, her voice cracking and her eyes blinking as if she had been slapped.

  “He has the day off from work, so it’s convenient.”

  “It sounds like your mind is made and all the details taken care of,” she said, and stood up from the table.

  Nick reached for her wrist. “Colby, where are you going?”

  “I need to get back to work,” she said.

  “Not until we finish this conversation.”

  “What's left to discuss?” she asked. “You're moving back home. End of story.”

  “Please sit back down,” he said, gently tugging on her arm.

  “You made this decision without feeling the need to discuss it with me,” she said. “Why bother talking to me about it now? I thought we were a team.”

  “We are a team,” he said.

  She looked at him; emotion burning her eyes.

  “How do you figure moving home is us acting as a team?”

  His smile was slow but steady. “Because I'm asking you to move with me.”

  “With you?” she asked. “You said you were unhappy…”

  “I'm unhappy living in this…dorm room,” he said. “But I’m not unhappy living with you. I think we’ve outgrown the confines of these walls, Colby - I know I sure as hell have.”

  Colby tipped her head back and looked at the cloudless blue sky. “I thought you were breaking up with me.”

  Nick sighed loudly; his thumbs rubbing on the back of her hand. “Colby, breaking up is the last thing on my mind right now. I honestly thought you'd understand me moving back to my cabin would include you.”

  He struggled to his feet and stood beside her. “What I’m trying to do here, is make our relationship more permanent. I want you to live with me up at my cabin. Do you think you’d want to do that?”

  “You're serious?” she asked.

  “Absolutely,” he replied, stepping in front of her; his hands touching her hips. “Living here with you these last few weeks has shown me just how much you love me and what you’re willing to do for me. And, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you’ve done.”

  Nick touched the side of her face and wiped at the moisture on her skin. “I am blown away by the devotion you’ve shown when you care for me and it’s made me love you even more.”

  Colby began to cry and covered her eyes with her hands.

  Nick pulled her to him. “Baby, it makes me emotional every time I see the love you have for me in your eyes,” he whispered, his own voice cracking with feeling, then he softly kissed her temple. “I sometimes question why you love me and, more than once, I’ve wondered what I did to deserve you, because I’m not especially sure if I’m worthy. But, if you decide to move with me, I promise to love you with more intensity each and every day.”

  Her fingers fanned across his chest. “I didn’t think you wanted to be with me anymore.”

  “Come home with me, Colby. You can share my bed and the entire cabin with me.”

  “This is a big step, Nick,” she said. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “I’m very sure. I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t.”

  Colby stepped away and ran her fingers through her hair.

  “What’s wrong, Colby? You’re hesitating, which leads me to believe you don’t want to make this move.”

  “I’m nervous,” she said quietly.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Do you need a few days to think about it?” he asked.

  She looked at him and smiled. “When do we leave?”

  Nick exhaled loudly. “Jesus, Colby! For a minute there, I thought you were going to say no.”

  “Nope. Let’s do it,” she said. “I’m pretty sick of my room, too.”

  “Okay, I’ll give Glen a call right now and see how soon he can get here,” Nick said.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Colby helped Nick walk back to her room and got him settled on the edge of her bed. Then she pulled out a few moving boxes and began tossing her things into them.

  “I can't believe you thought I was breaking-up with you,” he said.

  She stopped folding her clothes and looked at him.

  “That's what it sounded like to me,” she shrugged.

  “I thought you knew how I felt.”

  Colby stepped in front of him and hugged his head to her chest. “Promise me, the next time you have a serious decision to make - that involves me, we'll talk about it first. You keeping me out of that decision is what made me feel like you wanted to break-up.”

  He tipped his head back and looked up at her. His arms circled her hips and gripped her tightly. “You're the best thing that's ever happened to me,” he said. “I'm not walking away.”

  Glen arrived the next morning and started loading his truck with the boxes Colby had packed with her things. It took two trips and several hours before he had Nick and Colby moved into the cabin. Colby invited Glen to stay for a late lunch with them, then he left them
alone to enjoy the rest of the day settling in together.

  “You can use the closet space in the spare bedroom, if you need more room for your things, Colby,” Nick said, and reclined on the couch. “There is also another dresser in that room that I believe is basically empty.”

  Colby came out of his bedroom, with a nervous smile on her face, and approached the couch. She was carrying a small photo album in her hands. “It will take a few days for me to get everything settled,” she said, and sat on the end of the couch.

  Nick noticed the book in her lap and sat up beside her. “What’s that?” he asked.

  Colby shifted uneasily. “I didn’t realize I had this with me,” she said. “I thought it was packed in my storage unit back in Los Angeles, until Glen helped me move the box and I saw it sitting inside.”

  “What is it?” he asked again.

  Colby slowly handed the photo album to Nick; emotion began to build in her eyes. “This is Wayne,” she said quietly. “If you don’t want to see the pictures, I understand,” she said. “I didn’t know if you were curious or not and I certainly didn’t want you to think I was hiding the book from you either.”

  “I’d love to see the pictures - if they’re not too personal for me to look at.”

  Colby smiled. “Well, they’re not x-rated snapshots, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “I hope not,” Nick said. “Because I really don’t want to see photographs of you doing anything x-rated with someone other than me.”

  Colby curled against Nick’s body and helped him open the cover of the album, then proceeded to give a narrative on what he was looking at. The photographs were taken from her years with Wayne, mostly candid images of them doing a variety of activities and one professionally posed shot. By the time they viewed the last page, Colby was crying.

  “It still hurts, doesn’t it?” Nick asked her. His voice was full of sadness.

  Colby nodded and wiped at her face. “I’m not sure why, since it’s been such a long time, but it still does a little bit.”