He stood from the chair and it rocked back. At some point in the night, it had shifted close enough that it bumped up against the wall.
The smack of the wooden chair against the sheetrock wall thundered around the room.
Carly’s breath caught. Her gaze shot to her mother, who seemed oblivious that there were two people in her bedroom, making lots of noise.
“Leave. Now. Please.”
His brows veeing, Stone followed her out of the bedroom. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re still here, that’s what’s wrong.” Angry at herself for the situation she’d let happen, she lit into him. “How dare you spend the night at my house uninvited?”
Shock registered in his eyes.
He raked his fingers through his hair. “You fell asleep and so I checked on your mother. She asked me to stay. I fed her and cleaned her for bed, then sat with her. Was that not the right thing to do?”
He’d fed her mother, cleaned her for bed. Carly’s heart pounded, thumping “Why? Why?” over and over. Why would Stone do those things?
“My mother asked you to stay?” was what she asked.
Stretching again, he nodded. “I didn’t think you’d mind or I would have left, Carly. I wanted to help you so I took care of your mother so you could rest.”
Why did she want to hug him and hit him at the same time?
“I had things I needed to do.”
He studied her. “Such as?”
She tilted her chin upward. “How I spend my time away from work is really not any of your business.”
He stared at her as if she’d grown a second head. “I know it’s early in the morning, but I feel as if I’m missing something. I thought I did something good. Why are you upset with me?”
“Because…because…” She struggled to pull out a concrete answer. “Because I don’t want you here.”
It wasn’t the truth, but it was what spewed from her mouth.
“We can’t be friends, Stone. We just can’t.”
“That doesn’t make sense. We are already friends.”
“That’s just it.” She fought to keep her tone low. “We’re not friends. Don’t you get it?”
“Apparently not because I don’t understand why you are upset with me. Are you always like this in the mornings?”
“On mornings when I wake up to find a man stayed at my house all night? Yes, I’m upset. And, because you kept me from doing things I needed to get done last night.”
He was obviously confused; his gaze narrowed. “Fine. You’re not a morning person. I can live with that and will make a note to let you sleep late in the future. Tell me what things need done and I’ll help you this morning. We can knock them out together.”
Feeling more and more distraught, partially at the situation she’d let herself get into and partially at how wonderful he was because that was making all this so much more difficult, she shook her head. “You can’t help me.”
“I’m not a useless person, Carly,” he pointed out as if it were news to her. “I have skills and want to help.”
“You can’t help me.” She turned away and wrung her hands. She’d done this. She’d figure a way out of it.
“Carly—”
“Just stop,” she interrupted, frustrated by everything about him. “I’ve told you that you can’t help me, so take me for my word. You can’t help me.” She emphasized each word of the last sentence. “No one can. Just leave.”
“But—”
“I need you to leave. Now.” She didn’t look at him, but could feel his gaze boring into her back.
He must have picked up on her desperation, because after another moment of staring at her he moved closer, turned her around to face him, and kissed her cheek.
“I’ll see you at the hospital,” he told her. He stopped at the door, his hand on the knob, and turned back to her. “We’ll talk after you’ve calmed down.”
The moment he was out her front door, Carly hurried to it, locked the deadbolt, and watched him leave through the little diamond-shaped window panel.
When his taillights disappeared, she burst into tears because this was the last time Stone would leave her home. Because she couldn’t let him come back.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
STONE HAD BEEN in surgery for most of the morning cleaning out an abscess on a patient’s leg that had gone horribly wrong and morphed into an infection that might cost the man his leg.
Stone hoped not. He was doing everything he knew to try to save the limb, but the guy’s poorly controlled diabetes and decreased circulation weren’t helping matters.