“She’d deliver if she knew I fell off a cliff. But she might go motherly on me.”
Now that was a terrifying idea. Possibly worse than Trace walking in on them cozied up would be her mother. Sweet woman, but Ellen’s heart would be more broken than Trace’s. Ellen had Trace and his wedding half planned when they got back together. “Know what? I’ll fix something decent, then maybe I’ll pick some up tomorrow. For now, you get to chill right where you are all day.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, really. Don’t mess around with a concussion.”
She scowled but didn’t argue. “How does it look?”
He scooted closer and scrutinized the bandaged wound. “Hell of a goose egg. Very cartoon-inspired.”
She brushed her hair over the wound in a feeble attempt to cover it.
Chuckling, he hopped back out of bed. “I’ll grab you some Tylenol and fresh icepacks.”
Haley wasn’t the worst patient, but she was vocal about her disinterest in lying around in bed all day. When her headache eased, they went out for a short stroll around the yard, then back in when her headache returned. He knew they’d overdone it when she was too nauseous for lunch, then didn’t argue and actually took an afternoon nap.
While she slept, he snuck out and brought a box to sit on the patio off the great room. He texted Pete to call in sick, claiming his knee was acting up. It actually wasn’t too bad compared to some of the dumb shit he’d done to anger it the last few months. He could tell it was slowly on the mend, even if it would never be normal again.
His phone buzzed a bit later. Staring at the screen, his jaw clenched tight, and he looked inside, not sure if it was safe to answer. Hating himself more than a little, he connected. “Hey,” he said.
Lyrically soothing with her easy cadence, he could hear Trace smiling as she responded, “Hi. Did I catch you at an okay time?”
Rising to his feet, he strolled across the lawn in his bare feet. The grass was short and rough thanks to Haley’s robot mower that currently hummed on the far side of the lawn. He grinned, remembering her hilarious blog post in which she’d named it, compared it to a faithful goat, added a pink bow, and informed her eager readers of its pros and cons, the alternatives she had considered, alongside her comical personification.
“Sure, I can talk.”
Long pause. Then a chipper, “How has your summer been going? I’m homesick. Tell me something crazy about Foothills.”
Shit. They hadn’t chatted for fun in ages. Yeah, they agreed to stay friends, but he really, really didn’t want to lead her on. Truth time. “Crazy, huh? Well, it’s been interesting so far. Went hiking with Grady and everyone yesterday. Your old friend Haley came with us.”
“Oh, I’m so glad. She’s had a hell of a time of it lately. How is she? Does she seem like she’s settling in okay?”
“Um, yeah, she’s doing great—” Shit. How did one go about saying,and I’m having completely commitment-free sex with her?Would you mind talking to her and personally telling her you don’t mind?
“I’m so glad. You should invite her to the pub to be sure she’s getting out. Hey, you both lived in San Francisco. I’ll bet she’d appreciate having someone to compare notes with.”
“Yeah, that came up.”
“Oh, and you know those cheesy croissants you love so much from the bakery? Those are her favorites, too.. Maybe you can drop one by for her on my behalf one of these days?”
Shit. Okay. Here goes. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Trace—”
“But maybe she’ll think that’s weird, like you’re flirting or something. Honestly, I encouraged her to go out and find a rebound, but now I think I pushed and what if she’s not ready for that? I mean—”
“About that. Um, well—”
The sliding door to the bedroom opened and Haley raised her hand to shield the sun from her eyes. Barefoot on the flagstone, she still wore nothing but his t-shirt, her hair a little wild from the nap.
Bad fucking timing. As usual. He cleared his throat to interrupt Trace and said, “Hey, sorry, but I’ve got to run.”
“Of course. Talk to you later.” She remained chipper as she hung up.
He clicked off, stuffed the phone in his pocket and strolled across the lawn toward Haley.
She seemed to realize she looked a wreck and smoothed her hair, grinning shyly at him. “Hey.”
“Hey,” he said as he reached her. “Feeling better?”
