Date Next Door
He relaxed a little, though she thought she detected a lingering tension in his muscles. “You really should get some rest. You just got out of the hospital this morning.”
“There was no reason at all for me to spend last night in the hospital, and you know it. It was only a mild concussion. The doctors were just being over cautious—and I think you had some influence over that.”
“I just wanted to make sure you didn’t have any problems crop up during the night. I know concussions are fairly common, but they’re nothing to take lightly. You probably have a headache right now, even though I know you won’t complain about it.”
She shrugged. “Maybe a little headache. I’ve had worse.”
He shifted her to one side and moved toward the edge of the bed. “I’ll get you a couple of ibuprofen. And you never had that herbal tea we talked about.”
She laughed softly. “That was supposed to help me relax. I think you took care of that already.”
“Glad to be of service.”
She had been too comfortable and content to notice before that something was bothering Joel. Now she saw that his smile looked strained and did not reach his eyes. His shoulders looked stiff, and a muscle twitched in his jaw.
Not the face of a man who was floating on a haze of postlovemaking satisfaction, she thought with a sudden frown. “Something wrong?”
“No, of course not.” But he didn’t meet her gaze as he spoke. Scooping his jeans off the floor, he asked over his shoulder, “You keep ibuprofen in the bathroom?”
“Yes. In the medicine cabinet.”
After he disappeared into the bathroom, she climbed slowly out of the bed and pulled a short terry robe out of her closet. Perhaps she had understated her headache a bit, she thought, lightly rubbing her temples. And maybe she was more sore and stiff than she wanted him to know.
She wondered what Joel’s problem was.
When he finally emerged, he was mostly dressed and carrying two tablets and a glass of water. “Here. Take these.”
She complied, then said, “Why don’t I make us that tea now?”
“You know, I really should take my bags into my house and then shower and run by the clinic for a little while, since I’m a day later getting home than I expected. Unless you need me for anything here?”
She shook her head. “I’ll be fine. But—”
He was already inching toward the door. “D’you want me to call Aislinn to come stay with you for a while?”
“No, thanks. She’ll probably show up before long anyway.”
“Okay, then. You’ll call me if you need anything? Anything at all?”
“Of course. Joel—”
He paused with one foot already out the doorway. “Yeah?”
“Are we ever going to talk about this?”
His cheeks went a little red, and he swallowed, obviously embarrassed by his ow
n behavior. “Yeah, sure. We’ll, uh, talk later. I’ll see you, okay?”
Despite the jumbled emotions inside her, she managed to smile. “Whenever you’re ready.”
He hesitated a moment longer, then turned and left. Shortly afterward she heard her front door close.
Joel was cute even in full panic mode, she thought a bit wistfully. The question was, what had made him take off that way, looking as though he was running for his life?
“Do you need anything else? More lasagna? Another roll?”
Nic shook her head in response to Aislinn’s offer and she was pleased to note that the movement caused hardly any discomfort in response. The dull headache that had plagued her much of the day was mostly gone now. A long, hot shower followed by a restful nap had eased some of the soreness that had resulted from the exertions of the day—traveling home from Alabama and handing her heart over to Joel on a shiny silver platter, she thought with a wry twist of her mouth.