It was such a blunt, politically incorrect thing to say that it immediately made Matt feel better.
“But that is why you’re here, isn’t it? To tell me it’ll all be okay, so I should come back inside with everyone.”
She shook her head. “When I’m dealing with crap, I don’t want an audience. I brought your coat and car keys so you can get out of here. I understand not wanting company. Especially mine, since I’m hardly the warm and fuzzy type.”
He closed his eyes. “It’s not that I don’t want your company. I’m just dealing with some stuff.”
“Matt, you have no idea how much your friends admire you. How much they care about you and worry about you.” She looked back at the screen door. “None of us can even pretend to understand what you’re going through, but we just want to help. You picked me up when I was too sick to walk and got me to the hospital. I owe you for that. Mara told us about your shoulder. I’m sure carrying around pregnant women is not helpful when you’re dealing with an injury.”
“Raina, my shoulder was messed up before that happened. This is not your fault.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe it wouldn’t be this bad if you hadn’t had to do that. Either way, I want to do whatever I can to help you.”
A slow creep of guilt grabbed Matt by the throat. Raina had been dealing with some
pretty serious health issues during her pregnancy. The last thing she needed was to feel stressed and guilty about his injury.
“Seriously, my shoulder isn’t that bad. It just needs physical therapy. Mara already got me an appointment with a new therapist who’s supposed to be really great,” he assured her.
His thoughts drifted to the suspicious expression in Penny’s eyes when he’d left the center Thursday. She wasn’t a typical bombshell by any means, but there was something about the way she looked when she got all worked up. She looked like she could take a bite out of him and for some reason, he wanted her to.
There was no denying he was attracted to her. Not that she’d done anything to encourage his attention. He almost laughed out loud. She definitely wasn’t trying to throw his libido into overdrive. The woman couldn’t have been any pricklier if she’d had a porcupine stuck on her head.
Matt would have his work cut out for him since he was pretty sure Penny wasn’t going to give him any slack. Any goodwill he might have had with her had been destroyed when he’d lost his temper. He was going to have to work twice as hard to get back in her good graces. He couldn’t have her mad at him. Penny represented everything he needed.
Everything he needed for his health, he amended. He couldn’t afford to think of his physical therapist with her severe demeanor and devil’s-playground body as anything other than the woman who could help him get back his life.
Raina brightened. “So you’re going back to physical therapy?”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, I’m going back next week. You don’t have to worry. I’ll be fine.”
“Great! Well, I’ll distract everyone so you can sneak around front and leave. Oh and by the way, the cake was pink. It’s a girl.” She turned and walked back to the house, incredibly buoyant for someone who had just been in tears.
“Hey! Did you—” Matt crossed his arms, stuck between outrage and amusement. “You just played me, didn’t you? Did Mara send you out here to find out about my therapy since I wouldn’t tell her?”
Raina rested a hand on her belly and blinked at him, her brown eyes perfectly innocent. “I have no idea what you mean.” Then she walked in the house and closed the door behind her.
* * * * *
“ARE YOU READY to go?” Ridley stood at the entrance to the nursery the next day, holding a small arrangement of wildflowers. Even though none of the flowers were the same type, somehow the whole bouquet made sense.
More of her sister’s magic, Raina thought.
“I’m waiting on Nick. I told him we were just dropping off flowers at The Rush, but he insisted on coming with us.” Raina ran a finger over the edge of the crib and straightened the comforter hanging over the side. It was surreal that by summertime the crib would be in use. She’d be up to her neck in diapers and bottles and totally sleep deprived.
She couldn’t wait.
“Why? He thinks we need an escort just to go into town? Hah, he probably just wants to hit Miss Doris up for some of those sweet-potato fries. I already promised Jackson I’d bring some back for him.”
Raina shook her head. “He’s afraid to let me out of his sight. A girl can’t have a fainting spell without everyone getting all crazy.”
“I heard that.” Nick poked his head around the doorway and Raina made a face, but secretly, she was thrilled. A husband who adored her and a healthy baby on the way were things she’d always dreamed of but never actually thought she’d have.
Nick pulled the car out of the garage and shuffled a few things around the backseat before finally declaring it safe for Raina to get in the car. Ridley smiled at her behind his back and then climbed in the front, holding her flower arrangement in her lap. As they passed through town, Raina observed all the minute changes from the summertime.
The peninsula was at its best in the warmer months when the boardwalk was open and the air was filled with the squawks of seagulls and the excited chatter of children at play. In the winter, most of the businesses took in their outdoor seating and everything looked slightly shuttered. Still, it was one of the only places she’d ever felt at home.
When they pulled up to The Rush, Ridley climbed out, balancing her flower arrangement carefully. She’d just started supplying bouquets to some of the local businesses and Raina hoped it worked out. It was what Ridley loved to do. Dealing with all the people in town was Raina’s worst nightmare, but it made her sister happy. Ridley had always been the social butterfly.