He glanced back up at me before folding his laptop closed and sliding it onto my bedside table. “I just posted the tutorial for installing the tile floor in the bathroom. I took your advice and negotiated a discount code for our viewers on the underfloor heating element from Blue Radiant.”
I grinned at him. “Look at you, wheeling and dealing.”
He shrugged and stood up, stretching his arms up the way he did whenever he unfolded himself from a chair. My eyes immediately darted to the sliver of hairy stomach he exposed whenever he did that. It made me hot every time, even when I was a little fuzzy from prescription pain meds.
“You thirsty?” he asked, reaching for my Gatorade.
I nodded and sat up, wincing with the sudden pain in my hip. “Fuck, I keep forgetting.”
A divot formed between his eyebrows. “Stop moving. I’m bringing it right to you.”
He was so sweet. The man literally hadn’t left my side except the two times they’d kicked him out at night. Even then, it had helped knowing he was just outside in the RV, close enough at hand to get here if I needed him.
I took a sip through the straw, closing my eyes in pleasure as the cool orange drink hit my tongue. When I finished a few sips, I leaned back and asked, “Have you heard from Stallion?”
“Yeah. I told them what was going on and how we had plenty of content to cover our absence. They were cool with it as long as we got back to it as soon as possible. They said to tell you they were rooting for you and Jacks.”
“They’re a lot nicer than the people in Hollywood,” I said with a chuckle.
Nine got the angry-faced look he always did when I mentioned the film. “Those fuckers are uncaring assholes. It should be criminal making you come back before you’re barely out of the damned hospital.”
I loved it when he stood up for me. I’d never really had that kind of fierce loyalty besides my mom and brother.
“Filming is expensive. They’ve already rearranged everything to give me five days off.”
“Mpfh,” he grunted, sitting back down in his chair and moving it closer so he could hold my hand.
I giggled at his caveman routine. The meds were making me high enough to enjoy the easy laughter, but there was a part of me that knew I needed to get off them as soon as possible so Nine and I could work out what this all meant for our future. I assumed he was here because he cared about me. That’s certainly the way he’d been making me feel. But was it possible he was only here out of some Isaac Winshed sense of obligation? Had he turned up in Caswell to hold my hand the same way he would show up on the side of the highway with a spare gallon of gas for anyone in need?
I was too woozy to follow those threads of thought for very long. For now, I let myself fall back asleep, dozing in and out for most of the rest of the day. I heard murmured conversations between Nine and my mom. Nine’s quiet manners made my mom’s voice take on a blushing quality, and if I’d had enough energy to wake up more fully, I would have enjoyed seeing her tittering in response to him.
The following morning, when I was finally lucid enough to think a full thought, I was discharged.
My mom pulled my folded clothes out of the corner cabinet in the room. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s get you back to the house where you can rest.”
I saw Nine shift from one foot to the other in the corner of the room.
“I…” I glanced at Nine again, trying desperately to read his mind. “I thought maybe I could stay here, with Nine. In the RV.”
Nine didn’t say anything, so I started backtracking. “I mean, unless you don’t want me. I just thought that way I could be closer in case something happened with Jacks and—”
“Of course it’s fine,” Nine said. “You know that. The RV’s as much yours as mine anyway.”
I stared at him. Was this lack of enthusiasm some kind of hint that he’d rather me not share the RV with him?
“Honey,” Mom said, patting my leg through the blanket. “I just think you’d be more comfortable in your own bed at my house. Your room’s all set up, and people from work have been dropping food by. Why don’t we let poor Nine get back to work?”
Nine stepped forward hesitantly. “I… I mean, I don’t have to go back right away. I could always—”
Mom hustled over and gave him a big hug. “You’re such a sweetheart. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you being here for Cooper. I—”