Relieved, Hope slipped into the house. “I heard about your day and wanted to make sure you were okay, but you weren’t answering the phone,” she explained from just outside the bathroom.
“Yeah. I had to get cleaned up.”
Hope heard water splashing in the tub and thought she caught a low grunt. “Are you okay in there?”
“I’m getting out. Just give me a minute.”
Hope stood next to the door but heard nothing to indicate Dani was moving in the water. “How badly are you hurt?”
“I’m not hurt,” Dani said without conviction.
“Let me help you out.”
“I’m naked.”
“I figured.” Hope waited and then added, “I’m going to see you naked eventually, and I’m not going away, so you might as well let me help.” Silence followed, and Hope knew Dani was considering her options.
Begrudgingly, Dani relented. “Door’s not locked.”
Hope peeked in and found Dani sitting hunched in the middle of the tub, her right hand cupped over her left shoulder. Vowing to be all business, she pulled the plug from the tub. In such close proximity, she couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of the swell of Dani’s breast peeking out from under her arm. She blinked back to attention and held up a heavy towel. “How about I stabilize you while you get your feet underneath you? Will that do the trick? I’ll behave.”
Dani nodded, smiling weakly, which gave Hope a sense of how much she was hurting. She slipped the towel around Dani’s shoulders and wrapped her arms around her. Together, they leaned forward, so Dani could get into a squat before standing. Eyes closed, she stood there for a few minutes getting her equilibrium. Hope pulled the towel closed, covering Dani’s muscled torso. She couldn’t help appreciating Dani’s naked body, but adhering to her promise, she ignored the heat within her, focusing on Dani’s needs. She had Dani lean on her while she stepped out of the tub, seeing the grimace cross Dani’s face as she moved.
“Is it just your shoulder?”
“That’s what smarts the most.”
“Halley said you got right up again, back on that mare and then taught your next class. You didn’t think going to the doctor might have been a good idea?”
“It’s only the third week of class. I can’t be canceling.”
“I’m sure they’d understand. C’mon. Let’s get you into some clothes.”
Stiffly, Dani walked to her room. Out of habit, she reached for her dresser drawer and gasped, pulling her arm back to her side.
“Which drawer?” Hope asked, following instructions to pull out clothes for her. She piled the clothes on the quilt and held out panties with a playful tip of her chin. “I never expected to say let’s get these on you.”
The lack of a response gave her more information about the state of her injuries than her words did. They worked together to get Dani dressed, moving her arm as little as possible. Hope inhaled sharply when she removed the towel and saw an ugly bruise budding all along Dani’s left side, covering her hip. “Dani! Halley didn’t say a thing about you being hurt. How did this happen?”
“The horse was in between them and me, thank God. I came down on the wall of the round corral. My shoulder kind of caught the top rung. I might’ve popped it out.”
“Shoes. Now. We’re going to the hospital.”
Dani clenched her jaw. “I brought in some horse liniment from the barn. That should take the edge off.”
“Off a fifteen hundred-pound animal, which you are not. We’re going to a people doctor for some people medicine. I’ll drive.”
“I’m sure you have a better way to spend your evening.”
“Nobody wants to spend the evening in the emergency room, but I’m spending my evening with you wherever you are. If that’s in a waiting room, then there’s no better way to spend it.”
“You’re too good to me.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew what I was thinking about when you were standing there nekkid.”
Dani laughed, her right hand immediately flying to her shoulder again.
“The sooner we’re out of here, the sooner we’re back.” She reached forward and pushed some of the black tendrils of hair that had escaped Dani’s loose ponytail. “Let me help you.” As Dani leaned into her, accepting her offer, she felt something shift between them, moving them to a new level of caring about each other.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Someone’s arms were around me. On any other day, I would have stretched into those arms and allowed the parts of my body that were excited about the contact to wake up. If only my entire left side hadn’t been screaming in pain, I would happily have stayed in bed longer. Lying on my right side, I stretched out my left foot, testing my muscles. Having stiffened up, every muscle I moved protested loudly.
I leaned back into the warmth of Hope’s body, thankful I had surrendered to her care. I cracked a smile remembering how I’d tried to let her off the hook when she delivered me back home after waiting at the emergency room for hours. She stayed for the x-ray they took before they moved my shoulder back into the socket and the one they took to confirm that I hadn’t torn any muscles, ligaments or tendons. She remained while they discussed my aftercare, medication and immobilization of the joint. When she insisted on feeding me, I was too tired to protest. When I said she could go, she reminded me that I wouldn’t be able to get in and out of my arm immobilizer without help which meant I could either accept her help or let her enlist Gabe. Caught, I accepted her help.
Without hormones driving us, getting ready for bed carried an awkwardness that my drugs had made easier on me than Hope, especially when she’d asked where I keep the pj’s. I don’t, and I wasn’t too drugged to notice how she flushed when I explained that I never wear jammies to bed.
Of course there are exceptions, and we found a loose-fitting tee and some boxers for her and an oversized button-down shirt I’d picked up at a yard sale for me. They were nice for the mornings where a sweatshirt is too much, but a tee isn’t enough. I recalled the brush of Hope’s fingertips against my skin as she helped me slip into the shirt and how intent she was on the buttons. She was so careful around me, hesitant climbing into bed. I didn’t have another thought about the sleeping arrangements. As soon as she’d spooned her front against my back, I’d fallen into a coma-like slumber.
Awaking sometime later with a full bladder, I forced myself to face the process of getting out of bed. Grunting, I swung myself to a sitting position. A string of expletives escaped my clamped teeth as I pushed myself off the bed and shuffled to the bathroom, thinking I could still sneak away without waking Hope.
Afterward, I stood there, the extent of my injuries slamming home. I always started the day with a shower but couldn’t imagine getting in and out of the bath or washing my hair with one arm. I could just skip the shower, throw my hair in a ponytail. Then I remembered how I’d struggled with my hair the night before. I would have dressed, but I’d have to wrestle the dresser drawers which were almost impossible to open without grasping both handles at once.
I didn’t want to need Hope. She was right there on the other side of the door, but I didn’t want to ask. I heard a tap. I’d thought she was in bed, but when I reached out and opened the door, she stood there, sleep tousled, with an armful of clothes.
“Do you need to wash your hair, or can you skip a day?”
“I’ll skip.”
“What’s first, clothes or breakfast?”
“Clothes.”
“I found a bra in your closet. I don’t have any idea how you got it off.” Her voice mixed appreciation with reprimand. “Do you want it?”
“I can’t go to school braless,” I said, even though I didn’t like the thought of struggling into it.
“You could cancel class.”
I didn’t respond. I’d already told her that I couldn’t miss a class so early in the semester. With my right hand, I started unbuttoning the shirt I’d slept in.
“Or no
t.” She gave a tight smile, her gaze drifting down but coming back up again quickly.
I shucked off my panties and dutifully stepped into the clean ones and then into my jeans, which she helped pull over my hips. The way she dragged her fingers along my bare skin surprised me. There was no apology or hesitation. The action invited me to imagine her hands on me with a different intent. “I think you’re enjoying this a little too much.”
She stepped closer to maneuver the shirt seductively from my injured shoulder down my right arm and breathing hot air on my neck. “I thought you might appreciate a distraction.”
I tried to appreciate her efforts and enjoy her gentle touch, but it could not override my pain. She must have sensed my inability to be teased because her fingers behaved themselves as they climbed the buttons of my striped work shirt and helped me into the arm immobilizer I had to wear for a week until my follow-up appointment.
“What’s for breakfast?” she asked.
“I can handle a cereal box,” I grumped, and she left me to realize how much effort it all took. I popped my pain pills and sat down to eat. She put water on for tea, giving me space to wake up. She’d been in my kitchen enough to know where to find what she needed for her own breakfast, so we ate in silence.
“I don’t see much in the fridge. Do you have any dinner requests?”
“You don’t have to cook me dinner.”
“You don’t have to go to work, but you are, and when you get home, I am sure that you’re going to be hungry and in no shape to fight with your kitchen to put together anything more than another bowl of cereal.”
She left the room, and I ran through my day. I had various levels of training classes from eight through eleven. Depending on the student, I’d could instruct from the ground or come up with some kind of activity that didn’t require any of us to be in the saddle. I groaned, thinking that even if I had them learning how to tie a rope, I’d have to demonstrate one-handed. Maybe I’d just show movies all day, not that I had anything organized. The curriculum meeting in the afternoon wouldn’t be physically taxing, but I’d have to explain what happened.
Just about ready to lay my head on the table, Hope returned and got to work brushing out tangles. Leaning back in my chair, I relaxed into her brushstrokes. “That feels so good, honey.” I might have missed what slipped out had she not paused ever so slightly. I smiled when, without comment, she continued brushing. “What would I do without you?” I asked.
“Suffer through it with gritted teeth, I guess,” Hope answered. Her fingers worked at the base of my neck to tame my waves into a braid. It transported me back to my family’s kitchen in Texas where my father braided my hair every morning before school. His inquiries about my day had started the pattern of picturing my day and planning it out in my head while he worked. Even then, if I wasn’t feeling well, I’d insist that he brush and braid my hair, certain that I couldn’t afford to miss a day of school.
“Do we need to get going?”
“We?” I asked, glancing at my watch. Seven forty. I did have to get going to make it to my first class on time.
She rattled the pill jar in front of my face, reminding me of the warning about operating heavy machinery. “You’re not driving anywhere, not as long as you need these.”
“Awww, hell,” I groaned, adding getting dropped off to the growing list of embarrassments I had to face. “Sorry,” I said. I’d been trying to curb my swearing, knowing that it bothered Hope.
“It’s okay. Sorry to have to remind you. You have my cell and can call me whenever you want to come home. Promise me that you’ll cancel class if it’s too much. You can come home if you need to. I can pick you up anytime.”
She already knew not to push me. Her allowing me to make my own decision about whether I was up for work at all actually had me thinking about how nice it would be to simply call in the whole day of classes and crawl back into bed. She gave me space, and I walked right into it, falling for the same trick I had taught my students. I could see that the easier option was the right thing. But, since I’m a person with responsibilities, not a pony, I didn’t give into the urge and made her drop me off instead.
An hour later, I thought I’d made the right decision. Moving around had my muscles feeling better. Then I started thinking about when I was due to take my next dose of pain medication and couldn’t seem to focus on anything else. I sat down in between my classes, which was a mistake.
“You look like shit,” my colleague Tim said, sitting down beside me on the bleachers.
I hardly ever saw him because our classes ran on different schedules, yet this was the second day in a row that he had come out. I hated to think that he was watching me, especially watching me eat dirt. “Just dislocated my shoulder a little bit,” I said. Now that I wasn’t moving, the muscles I’d used to compensate for the restriction on my left side pulsed unpleasantly.
“Isn’t it either in or out,” Tim teased. “You came off pretty hard yesterday. I’m surprised you came in at all.”
“It hurt a lot more before the doctor put it back in,” I said stubbornly. “Plus I saw lots worse on the circuit, and those folks were back in the saddle the next day.”
“Yeah, and their paycheck depended on that. Yours doesn’t. Why don’t you go home and rest up?”
“I only have Men’s Rodeo before curriculum. I can push through.”
“Suit yourself,” he said. He was nice enough to steer clear of anything related to my Intro to Training class, asking when we could expect construction to begin on the rodeo facility. With a cautious pat on my right shoulder, he returned to his class leaving me to face mine.
Tires crunched the gravel on the road announcing the arrival of my favorite hecklers. I forced myself up, so they wouldn’t see me grimace.
“Professor Blazer,” Dorff boomed as he approached. “We heard you…”
I cut them off before they could even get started. I had just enough energy to get me through the class and no more. “Grab your ropes, gentlemen. And someone get the plastic steer head we use to practice roping and stick it in a bale of hay. We’re catching some alfalfa today.”
An agonizing fifty minutes later, the students were finally gone, and I pulled out my phone, resigned to skipping my meeting. Hope appeared so quickly that I wondered if she’d been parked in the lot just waiting for me to throw in the towel. When we got to my place, she grabbed a duffel bag out of the backseat. Done fighting, I let her feed me and put me into bed knowing she’d be there when I woke.
She sat next to me on the bed, stroking my hair. I loved her hands in my hair. I loved her being with me. “I’m falling in love with you,” I whispered.
Her fingers paused ever so slightly at my temple. She leaned over and gently kissed the corner of my mouth. “Good. I’m glad you’re catching up.” Her fingers resumed their task, tipping my exhausted body to sleep before my brain could fully engage with her words.
Chapter Thirty-Six
After Hope helped me into the arm immobilizer and insisted I take the drugs that dulled my brain along with the ache, I tromped down to the barn. Even if I couldn’t ride, I had to see my mares. Normally, I’d just bend at the waist and slip through the bars of their corral, but I didn’t trust my balance, so I wrestled the gate clasp and went through the door. Gabe had fed them for me. I’d waited to head down until after he’d finished morning chores, with a promise to Hope not to do anything stupid. She’d gotten me through my workweek and planned on staying through the weekend. Even getting my coat around my shoulders hurt to high hell, so I had resigned myself to being helped.
I thought I could’ve managed tossing the flakes of alfalfa to my horses, running my right hand along Daisy’s neck, but again heard Hope’s argument that the more I let people help, the faster my muscles would recover. I cringed at the memory of her striding across the driveway to knock at the Owenses’ door to ask Gabe to cover for me for a few weeks.
In all honesty, had Hope not been forcing m
e to follow the doctor’s orders, I’d have ditched the immobilizer and continued with my daily chores instead of risking looking like some sissy who couldn’t handle a little fall. Not that I’d ever dislocated a shoulder before, but I felt people’s eyes on me and wanted to uphold the image of the tough cowgirl.
Having said good morning to Daisy, I approached Eights, not surprised when she whipped her head up and snorted at me.
“You still want to play the game that we’re meeting for the first time?” I asked, approaching slowly. The trouble she seemed to have remembering I wasn’t the enemy is why I’d insisted to Hope that I get down to the corral and why I came alone. Having Hope along would put Eights even more on edge. She dropped her head parallel to my hips and reached her nose out. I stepped forward into her invitation and rubbed her forehead until she returned to her feed. I kept my hand on her as I moved down one side and up the other, talking to her about the lesson at the college, wondering aloud if she was scared of the surroundings there or of the students. Her behavior under saddle there was so markedly different than it was when I worked her in the round corral at the ranch.
Ignoring the way my arm hollered at me each time I bent over, one at a time I got each of her hooves up between my knees. Not without difficulty I scraped and probed at the frog to see if I could blame her behavior on a bruise. I had to have something to explain her erratic behavior. Otherwise I would have to accept my students’ opinion that she was untrainable. She munched happily, snuffing at my rear when I held her front feet but never jerking her hoof away from me.
“Are you really going to make me call the vet out to check your teeth?” I asked, knowing that all of her gear fit perfectly. If it wasn’t her feet or her gear, there was a shot at the problem being her teeth.
“Vet’s not going to find anything.”
Gabe’s voice startled me, and I swung around.
He bent through the bars of the corral and joined me. “If it was her teeth, she’d be bucking here too. It’s not physical, and I’d sure be surprised if it had anything to do with your gear. I wondered about the bit, thinking maybe you want to try a hackamore, but that’s what got me to thinking about how she’s fine here. The bit doesn’t bother her here, so it can’t be that at school.”
The Right Thing Easy Page 19