“She woke up a little while ago and asked where you were. I told her you went to get a few of her things. I asked her if she wanted anything to eat, but she didn’t,” Riley says.
I nod as I walk past him. “Thanks, man.”
Once in the bedroom, I’m greeted by her sweet smile. “You were gone a while.”
“You have a lot of shit,” I say, laughing. I kiss her soft lips and smile. “Finn is going to get some food. Tell me what you’ll eat because you need something in your stomach besides pain medicine.”
She thinks for a minute. “Chicken Caesar salad.”
I kiss her quickly. “You got it. Also, I’m not rushing you, but let me know when you want to take a shower.”
I begin emptying draws to make room for her things. I have another dresser in one of the spare bedrooms where I’ll put mine. Also, I have a huge closet in here, plenty of room for her things. Her laugh catches me off guard and I turn my head.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m making room for your things.” I move to sit next to her, searching her deep blue, beautiful eyes. “I’ve been thinking, you can’t do much, but you can still boss people around.” She hits me in the stomach, and I give her a fake grunt. “How would you feel about updating this place? Changing it from my place to our place.”
She searches my eyes and smiles. “I’d love that, Z.”
“You can start in the kitchen, do whatever you want,” I say.
She taps her finger to her lips, looking past me. “White cabinets and gray countertops?”
I kiss her and stand up. “Absolutely. Now, will you let me help you shower so Ivy can start putting your things away. I’ll tell Finn to get our food and it will be here when we are done.”
She lets out a slow breath and nods. “I guess so.”
I tell Ivy she can start putting clothes away, give Finn our food order, while Riley and Kace sit surrounded by Harper’s belongings in the living room. I tell them I’m going to help Harper shower, and they tell me they would like to hang out for a while. It’s fine with me, I’m gonna see if I can get her to come sit on the couch when we’re done anyway. It will be a nice distraction.
I get back into the room and she is sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Ready?”
She stands and shrugs. “Yep.”
She’s not, but I’m gonna show her how gorgeous her scars make her. We got into the bathroom and I start the shower. I step out of my clothes and I carefully help her out of hers.
“Do you want to take off the bandages?”
She won’t even look at me, she has her head turned to the side, her long brown hair curtaining her face. “You can do it.”
The tape is hardly holding on anymore, so both bandages easily come off. The incision on her side from the chest tube is small and will hardly be noticeable when it heals. The long incision down her chest from her heart surgery, that’s going to be noticeable. Kace has the same one, but I’ll admit that on Harper, it will be sexy. A reminder of her un
dying love for me and eventually, for herself.
I help her step into the shower and make sure her back is to the water. “Put her head back, babe. I’ll wash your hair for you,” I say.
Her eyes are closed, and she does as I ask. I wash her hair and even though I know she’s struggling right now; she lets out a small moan when my fingers are scraping against her scalp. I have her keep her head under the water until all the shampoo is rinsed out.
I grab a washcloth and put some of her coconut smelling soap on it. “I’m gonna wash your body now,” I warn, since her eyes are still closed.
“Yep, ok,” she says.
I wash her, hoping she allows some of her fears to wash away with the soap. I don’t touch the incisions, but I wring the washcloth, letting the soap water run down. She flinches and I immediately stop.
“Does it hurt?”
“No,” she whispers.