Attached to You (Carolina Rebels 4)

Something about her response doesn’t seem right and it nags me as she gets up to pack, later says goodbye to Mom, and as I walk her and Otis out to her car. She’ll visit? I was talking about spending the night. I’ll need more of her time than just a few hours worth of a visit. That bugs me.

“Brayden? In order to leave, you have to let go of me.” She tugs on the hand I’m holding.

“What if I miss you?”

“I’m sure you will,” she quips with a smile. “But you’ll probably also be happy to have the house to yourself, be able to recover without someone nagging you every so often, and having the entire bed to yourself.”

“But you were a good nurse, even if you didn’t wear a hot uniform.”

Deanna rolls her eyes as if she doesn’t believe me. “Give me a kiss so I can go home. If you stay out here much longer, Maryann might think you don’t want to be left alone with her.”

“I kinda don’t.” She bursts out laughing and I add, “Because that means you aren’t here.”

She smiles. “You’re sweet.” Lifting onto her toes, I get a kiss that makes me want to drag her back inside. Every kiss with her has the passion of a newlywed couple, the wild abandon of a couple of in-love, carefree teenagers, and the natural greed of two people who simply want more of each other. Every single fucking kiss. Blows my mind every time. “I’ll see you later,” she whispers, pulling away and finally getting into her car.

Mom leaves. I kidnap Otis because why should he have to sit at home alone while Deanna works? He gives me something to do anyway. With Otis here, I have an excuse to go outside and do something other than watch TV or clean the house. There’s probably a list of stuff I could catch up on, but I’m in no mood.

Otis and I visit the new fixer-upper house, so I can make a list of where I want to start, what I’ll need to get started, and what needs immediate attention. I rest there while I jot down my ideas for renovations.

Friday is my second symptom-free day. I get evaluated by one of the team’s doctors again after exerting myself for the first time since I’ve been out. If this keeps ups, I’ll be primed and ready for the game after the team returns from their road trip Sunday. The next game would be Tuesday. The itch to be back with the guys, to be back on the ice, already annoys the hell out of me. It was a quiet annoyance before and my symptoms overwhelmed it. I forgot what it was like to be antsy to play.

My phone rings just as I get home.

“Did you steal my dog?” Deanna asks, barely concealed anger in her voice.

“Didn’t you get my text?”

“No! I panicked, thinking he somehow escaped before I realized my door was locked and there was no way he could’ve gotten out. Leave a note next time! And thanks for letting me know that my hiding place for my spare key is too obvious!”

“Hey, I did my part. I’m sorry you freaked. Can he stay here until I go back to work?”

Deanna huffs and stays quiet for way too long for what should be a simple question. “You don’t have his stuff.”

“I actually bought food and other things for him to have at my house. That way, you only have to bring him and nothing else when you stay over.”

“Fine, keep him,” she snaps.

“What’s the matter?” Something is off. She’s mad at me for taking Otis, even though I did try to tell her. It seems she’s mad that I bought things for him to have when she’s here, to prevent her from having to pack for him as well. She’s also curt. Have I done something? Did something else happen and if it did, why isn’t she telling me right away? Why am I having to ask? “Deanna?” I push when she doesn’t say anything.

“Rose quit today. With no notice and no reason, she walked in, quit, and walked out, leaving me short-handed. I thought we were fine, but apparently not! I’m stressed and my dog isn’t here because you dognapped him. I want to relax, so I’m going to do that, okay?”

“Okay,” I respond with a bit of hesitancy.

She hangs up without another word and I’m left staring at my phone in wonder. What the hell just happened? Should I go over there? Part of me says no. On the other hand, this feels like an opportunity. For what exactly, I’m not sure. I decide today can be a cheat day, my second since meeting Deanna, and stop by Bagels and Butts.

When I get to Deanna’s, I don’t knock. I push open the door. She isn’t in the living room. The first thing I see are those damn diaries. They’re back? Great. Those are sure to improve her mood. She’s

not in the kitchen either, but Otis trots to a room that I don’t think I even noticed before. Her back is to me and she sits at a table.

Otis nudges his nose against her leg, causing her to jump and shout, “Damn it!” She lifts her thumb to her mouth and talks around it. “What are you doing? You couldn’t have told me you were coming? You just made me prick my finger.”

“What is with the attitude, darlin’?” I’m annoyed with her now, and I don’t want to be, but it turns out my tolerance for this kind of thing is low.

“I’ve had a bad day and it keeps getting worse.” She turns back to what looks to be a quilt.

“I brought food.”

“Not hungry,” she mumbles.