G is for Gerry (Men of ALPHAbet Mountain)

But I had to get up. I had to get into the kitchen and get the crutch that had clattered onto the floor before Dee came home and saw it. There would be questions. Questions I was not prepared to answer.

Thankfully, I had a spare set of crutches by my bed at all times. It was a trick I learned watching another vlogger, and I was thankful for it. Having a pair of crutches by the bed as a backup meant I was never stuck there, giving me a bit more independence and drive to get up and moving.

Hoisting myself up when I felt like my bones were suddenly made out of Jell-O was harder than I thought it would be. When I got upright, I hobbled over to the dresser and grabbed a long T-shirt and threw it on. At least this way if Dee made it home before I got into the shower, I would at least have something on. Then, I hobbled into the kitchen, grabbed my crutch, and returned the backup.

I was absolutely exhausted in the best way possible, and all I wanted to do was lie back down and sleep in the bed that now had the smell of the two of us in it. It was so carnal, so exciting, I just wanted to surround myself in it and not move.

Then I heard the sound of a car door shut outside and knew my time was up. Dee was home, and she was going to start putting things together if I didn’t move quickly. So, I regretfully tore the sheets off the bed and stuffed them in my laundry basket. I was adamant about doing my own laundry, but Dee was just as adamant about putting new sheets on my bed when I needed it. At least this way she wouldn’t see the state of disarray.

After that, I grabbed a pair of sweatpants and made it into the bathroom and turned on the shower just in time to hear a knock at the bathroom door.

“Sis?” Dee said from the other side.

“Hey,” I said. “Just getting in a tub.”

“Do you need anything?”

“New sheets on my bed would be nice,” I called out over the sound of running water.

“Alright. See you when you get out.”

With that, she walked away, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Undoing my bandage and sinking into the tub, I relaxed in the warmth of it and sighed. What a day.

Sinking further into the water, I let my mind wander back to how things ended with Gerry before he left. Granted, it was actually kind of a good thing he left when he did, just so Dee didn’t walk in on him being there. That would have been a hell of a conversation to have with my big sister. But the way he left wasn’t normal either.

What he said about getting down the trail was true and made sense, though. It was going to be dark by the time he got to his vehicle if he parked it all the way out near the edge of the mountain. I had been down that trail with Dee once before, when I was staying with her over a holiday before the accident. It was a gorgeous walk, if a bit more challenging than a regular hike since there wasn’t a direct trail there. By the time he would navigate all that and get back to his car, it would be dark.

I shrugged. He didn’t handle it well. I think he knew that, too. There was something in his eyes when he was leaving that seemed like he was sure he was screwing up but couldn’t figure out how else to handle the situation. At least, I thought that was what I saw. I might have been projecting a little.

When I was in school, I had been so intent on graduating, so focused on my goals that I hadn’t really had much experience with men. Most of my experience came from high school, which was a whole different world. I just hadn’t given dating much thought in the last few years, and now faced with this, I was kind of at a loss. How did adults do this? At least in school you knew you’d run into them in the hallway.

At any rate, he would do one of two things. He would disappear, or he would apologize. The likelihood of him disappearing was low, though. Being friends with Wendy meant that he would be in my social circle rather often and avoiding me would be really difficult. Plus, if Wendy caught wind of what happened, she would probably bring him to me by his ear.

So, that left him apologizing. I was okay with that. He would have to find a way to contact me, though, since neither of us had each other’s numbers still. I would have to wait him out, let him figure out how best he wanted to do it, and then decide if I was going to let it impede any potential future we might have or just let it all lie where it was.