“You mean Cole?” I asked, as if he wasn’t sittingrightthere. “He might be, but I’m reserving final judgment for now. Seems like you both had a stressful day.”
We both looked over at Cole, who stuck his lip out in a pout. “Guys….”
“Oh God,” Adair groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and slapping his hand over his mouth.
“Delly!” I called just as she rushed into the room with a plastic popcorn bowl.
She froze when she saw Adair, and I had to yank the bowl out of her hands to get it under him just in time for him to dry heave over it.
When I looked back at her, silent tears were streaming down her cheeks, and her chin was wobbling. Cole’s eyes widened as he looked from her to Adair.
Jesus.They were both completely flustered. Had something gone wrong?
The idea made every part of me ache with so many different emotions, I couldn’t even start to name them.
I met Cole’s eyes and tilted my head toward the bedroom door. “Can you and Delly go get his water bottle? It’s on the kitchen counter. And maybe find his glasses too?”
Cole carefully got up from the bed without jostling Adair and ushered Delly out of the room without a word.
He heaved one more time, and when nothing came out, he took another shuddering breath and set the empty bowl on the bed.
“This is so much worse than I expected,” he confessed, his eyes bloodshot when he opened them again. “I’m so sorry, Indy.” He squinted at me, then huffed irritably. “I hate not being able to see you.”
My stomach, which was still knotted in a fist, loosened a little at the admission.
“Indy, huh?”
“Yeah…,” he said, drawing out the word.
“Do we need to get this elevated or something?” I asked, gesturing to his left foot.
“Yeah,” he repeated. With one more deep inhale, he braced his arms behind himself and tried scooting backward, letting out a pained grunt.
“Nope,” I said, catching him by the shoulders to stop him. “Let me help.”
He looked ready to argue, so I stared him down, showing him how serious I was, so close now to him that I could see the threads of brown and gold in his eyes.
“Okay,” he agreed eventually, licking his dry lips.
He looked like he’d been through absolute hell.
Looking between his bulk and the bed, I thought aboutthe best way to do this. With a shrug, I slipped my hand under his thigh, trying to keep my touch clinical despite the flex of his strong muscles and the feel of his warm skin, and swiveled him so his back was to the headboard.
He grunted in surprise, but followed my lead as we got his legs up onto the bed with slow, careful movements.
Reaching over him, I heard his quick inhale just as I grabbed the only extra pillow left on the bed, then I quickly slid it under his cast.
His exhale was long and slow, and when I looked back at him, his cheeks finally had some color.
“Are you in pain?”
He shook his head to deny it but stopped partway through, shoulders slumping. “Yes.”
“Do you have a meds schedule?”
He nodded. “I’m pretty sure it’s written in my discharge notes.”
“Hmm,” I said, adjusting the pillow under his cast. “It needs to be higher, doesn’t it?”
