“I’ll do it tomorrow after work. But any vet leaving the hospital having PTSD should have someone nearby. At least for tonight.”
Her comment appeared to have taken him back. “So you’re willing to put yourself in jeopardy a second time?”
“Like you said last night, you couldn’t if you wanted to, and you don’t want to. Did I get that right?”
“Perfetto.” Were those little green sparks shooting from the slits of his eyes?
“Good. Then we understand each other. After you get into a comfortable position, I’ll put pillows between your legs to relieve the strain. You should feel less pain by morning. Maybe then you’ll tell me when you plan to let your father know you’re home.”
“I’ll tell you now.” He cocked his head. “If I hadn’t fallen, I would have called him this morning to come to the farmhouse so we could talk. But I was in too much pain. I wanted to be in the best shape possible when I told him my plans for the future, knowing he won’t like them.”
“Why? What are your plans?” Annabelle was dying to know.
“I think I was born wanting to farm, but by the time I turned eighteen, my father wouldn’t hear of it. He said a Cavezzali wasn’t meant to farm.”
Annabelle listened as he told her all the things his father had said to shut him down. It was a side of Guilio’s nature she wouldn’t have known about unless Lucca had decided to confide in her.
“My mother’s family made their living that way and they were the happiest people you ever saw.” His eyes lit up. “I liked learning how to grow things and watch the fruit trees change in different seasons. I learned everything from my mother and grandparents. When Papa set off for work, I went off early with Mama before school. We either did pruning, or we picked fruit. Whatever needed doing.”
Lucca sounded so happy just talking about it, that happiness infected her. “I have no doubts it would be a wonderful life,” she murmured.
“I doubt my father’s opinion has changed over the years, but it’s the life I want and he’ll have to get used to it. If I’m feeling fit enough tomorrow, I’ll phone him.”
She nodded. “I’ll be back in a minute with those pillows.”
CHAPTER THREE
LUCCA found it easy to talk to Annabelle, but he realized he was wiped out. She’d been right about the PTSD and several other things. Before help had arrived, he’d been fighting pain and felt utterly drained. Though he’d lain around most of the day needing relief from the jabbing pain and finding none, bed had never sounded better.
Ten minutes later he’d brushed his teeth and had pulled on grey sweats and a white T-shirt. If he were alone in the house, he wouldn’t have bothered with clothes. No sooner had the thought entered his mind than she appeared in the same robe she’d worn last night, holding two pillows and a glass of water. She’d fastened her hair at the nape.
“How did you know I was ready for you to come in?”
“I didn’t. I’m working on my time schedule. When you didn’t call out, I came anyway.”
“Then—”
“Then I could have caught seeing you in the altogether,” she said, coming around to the right side of the bed. She put the glass next to his bottle of pills. Something about her smelled like fresh lemons.
“I hate to tell you this, but I haven’t been living for it. I’m afraid you don’t want to know how many men—thin, fat, old, young and in between—I’ve helped change out of their inadequate hospital gowns, let alone shower. It wouldn’t be a new sight, except for the face, of course,” she said with a smile.
Lucca couldn’t help chuckling. It had been ages since he’d done that.
“He laughs, ladies and gentlemen—and his face didn’t crack,” she teased. “Okay. Find your favorite way to sleep, then I’ll fix you up.”
Without thinking about it, he turned on his right side and carefully crossed his left leg over. His body felt like a dead weight. When he was settled, she fit the two pillows in between them. “This helps distribute the weight of your top leg over the whole length. That way there’s less strain on the injured bone.”
Lucca exhaled a heavy sigh. “Unfortunately when I’m asleep, who knows what I’ll do.”
“Who knows?” She flashed him a mysterious smile. “You might find your quilt on the floor in the morning. Or, you might actually enjoy a sound sleep in this position for a change.” She put the covers over him before turning out the light, cloaking them in semidarkness, due to the moon.
When she left the bedroom, he felt an odd twinge of disappointment. Though she gave as good as she got under fire, she was one of the least unobtrusive women he’d ever met.
If his father didn’t require nursing services, then what kind of job in advertising was she doing for him? He had to admit that when he’d heard the two of them talking on the phone earlier, his father hadn’t sounded loverlike with her. His tone conveyed that he treated her more like a cherished friend.
What was the other offer Guilio had referred to on the phone, the one she’d turned down so blithely?
Lucca decided that whatever reason she had for not giving him away to Guilio, it couldn’t be because she’d decided to come on to his son. That wasn’t the kind of embrace she’d given Lucca. Hers had been full of compassion, the furthest thing from a plan of seduction. He’d been moved by it.