by Marci Bolden
Natalie took in the scene and let her laughter roar. “They must have done this after we left.”
“You okay?” Will asked, focusing on Carrie so he didn’t join in Natalie’s laughter. Carrie had told him how much laughing hurt, and he didn’t want to contribute to her pain.
“Oh, those pranksters,” Doreen said. “They are always up to no good. Wait until Daddy sees this mess.”
“I’m more concerned about where they got these props,” Natalie said. “I’m guessing there is a construction site somewhere missing a few things.”
“If that’s the case,” Will said, “they’re probably in jail by now.”
“Who’s in jail?” Grant walked in from the kitchen. He let out a low whistle as he looked at Carrie. “Damn, girl. You better ice that eye.”
“A little late for that, I’m afraid. This is”—she gestured to the tape decorating the stairs—“interesting.”
Grant stood back and admired the display. “We were concerned that you may have forgotten where the stairs are.”
“I see that.” She smiled, but Will recognized the effort she’d put behind it. She was in pain and toughing it out to be nice.
“We got pizza out back,” Grant said. “You guys want to join us?”
“Oh, I think I’m going to have to pass,” Carrie said. “I’m due for one of those fabulous pills and a little rest.”
Will was glad she’d recognized the signs so he didn’t have to coax her into it. Being overbearing wasn’t really his thing, but he was prepared to do battle with her if necessary. He suspected she wasn’t going to take care of herself without someone pushing the issue.
“Want me to bring something up for you?” Natalie asked.
“Take Mama,” Carrie said. “Will can help me upstairs.”
“Okay,” she said in a singsong voice, turning to Doreen. “Come on, Mama, let’s go eat some pizza.”
Mama looked between Carrie and Will for a moment, as if uncertain about trusting him to care for her, before letting Natalie pull her away. She almost looked suspicious, but Will resisted the urge to explain that Carrie needed help up the stairs.
“Here’s the deal.” Dread strained Carrie’s voice. “There is no way in hell I’m walking up those stairs right now. So, I can either lie in the den on that incredibly uncomfortable couch and wake up feeling worse, or you can carry me up to my room which will, without a doubt, be extremely painful but hopefully worth it in the end.”
Will closed the gap between them and kissed her forehead. “Ready?”
“No.”
“Okay.” He scooped her up in his arms, ignoring the pained sounds that came from her. He climbed the steps quickly without jarring her too much and eased her onto her bed. “Sorry,” he whispered, knowing the effort hadn’t been as painless as either would have hoped.
“I’m good,” she grunted between clenched teeth.
“Don’t move.”
“Okay,” she responded in the same pain-filled voice. She lay, eyes closed, as he closed the bedroom door and then returned to her side.
“How are you doing?” he asked with a whisper.
“Shoot me. Please. End my misery.”
Will smiled and brushed her hair back from her face. “How about I drug you up instead?”
“If that’s the best you can do.”
“It is.” He dug the prescription bottle out of his pocket and tapped out her prescribed dosage. After handing her the pills, he held out a glass of water and watched her take the medication. “Give those a few minutes, and you’ll forget you ever fell down the stairs.”
“Right.” She closed her eyes and let out a long breath.
“You look terrible,” he informed her.
A grin twitched at the corner of her mouth. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Did the doctor say how long I have to wear this stupid thing?” She lifted her arm to indicate the dark blue sling.
“Until the swelling in your elbow goes down.”
She made a miserable sound. “This stinks.”
Will brushed her hair from her face again and kissed her forehead. “I know. As soon as you feel better, I’m taking you out.”
“Really?”
“Yup.”
Opening her eyes, she finally smiled. “Like a date?”
“Like a real date. Dinner and everything.”
“That sounds nice.”
Will nodded and ran his hands along her cheeks. “I’m sure there’s a McDonald’s around here somewhere, right?”
She attempted to give him a playful glare. However, it didn’t quite work when half her face was bruised.
“I’m kidding.” He took her left hand in his. “Does this hurt?”
“No, it’s good.”
“Is it okay if I stay with you for a while?” he asked. He was so worried that she might need something and no one would be around to help her. That wasn’t a new concern. He’d been restless the entire night before, worried that she wasn’t being taken care of in the hospital. Will would never consider himself to be the nurturing type, but he’d had to fight the urge to take her car and go back to the hospital to oversee her care.
“More than okay.” Carrie watched him for a moment before chuckling quietly. “I’d really like to kiss you, but I can’t move.”
“Allow me.” Will leaned down and put his lips to hers. After a soft, lingering kiss, he grabbed the quilt from the foot of her bed.
“Thank you,” she whispered when he carefully draped it over her.
Sitting in the chair next to the bed, he took her hand again and debated pressing the other issue that had kept him up half the night. “Can I ask you something?”
“Hmm?”
Will hesitated before asking, “Do you remember what happened? When you fell.”
Her eyes fluttered open, and she stared at the ceiling. “Vaguely.”
“Was it Doreen?”
Carrie took her time before saying, “She was agitated. She wanted Mike and knew I was lying when I said he was out. She tried to push me out of her way. I couldn’t right myself fast enough, and I just went flying.” She was quick to add, “It was an accident. She didn’t mean for me to fall. She would never hurt me.”
“I know.”
“It’s the medication,” Carrie continued. “It has to be. It’s aggravating her.”
Will ran a soothing hand over her hair. “We’ll call the doctor and let him know she’s been more confused than usual. I’m sure he can find something else to put her on.”
Carrie’s lip trembled and a sheen of tears appeared in her eyes. “Aren’t you going to tell me to put her in a home?”
“No,” he stated, “but I am going to tell you that you need to make sure her doctor understands the extent of her episodes lately and that you need to listen to his advice and do what he tells you. Doreen wouldn’t want you hurt. Physically or emotionally.”
“I know. I’m so tired,” she said quietly. “This is so exhausting.”
That unexpected urge to take care of her hit him again. He wanted to solve every problem she ever had but knew that wasn’t possible. Or even reasonable. “We can find help. We’ll hire someone to come in and take care of her a few hours a day so you can get a break.”
“I feel so guilty doing that. Like she’s a burden.”
“You can’t do it alone,” Will reassured her. “Nobody expects you to. We can start looking for someone now, and when you’re feeling better, you can make the final decision.”
She exhaled heavily but didn’t argue. “I can’t keep denying that I’m in over my head,” she whispered.
“We can get a few people lined up and see how she reacts to them,” Will continued. “We don’t have to rush into someone. We’ll check their credentials and references and make sure they are qualified to care for her. Sound good?”
“Natalie probably already has a list,” Carrie said. “She’s been pushing me to do this for months.”
He smiled. “Probably.”
The tears that had been building leaked from the corners of Carrie’s eyes. “I feel like I’m failing her.”
Will leaned closer and kissed her head. “You aren’t. There is only so much you can do on your own.”
“I know that in my head, but I can’t let go of this need to make everything okay for her.”
He wiped her cheeks dry. “Nobody can do that. She’s ill and she will continue to get worse. As she does, your ability to help her decreases.”
“God,” Carrie said as she closed her eyes, “you sound like one of those pamphlets I’ve read.”
Smiling, Will confessed, “I may have done some research last night.”
“Ugh. That was a terrible idea.”
“Why?” he asked.
“I don’t need a counselor,” Carrie said. “I need someone to listen to me whine without judging me.”
“I can do that.” He kissed her head again. “Anytime you need.”
“Thanks. Just don’t let it be too often. If I start incessantly complaining, push me down the stairs.”
“That’s not funny,” he said, despite the smile that curved his lips. “Get some rest. We’ll talk more later.”
“Without the benefit of your research, I hope.”
Will shrugged. “I might have to throw something out there every now and then. I thrive on sounding intelligent.”
“Poor you,” she teased, and his smile spread.
Chapter 12
Though she was still feeling the stiffness of her fall in her muscles, Carrie had managed to sit on a stool at the kitchen island and look over page after page of résumés. “No,” she said, pushing another one away.
“What’s wrong with this one?” Natalie asked, obviously aggravated by Carrie’s inability to agree to any of the people she had suggested.
“It should be a woman. Women are more patient and understanding.”
“He’s a registered nurse. He knows what he’s doing.”
“I think Mama would do better with a woman.”
“Fine.” Natalie thumbed through the résumés she’d collected, pulling out two and setting them aside. “What about hair color?”
“What?”
“Do you have a preference on hair color? Height? Weight?”
“Go ahead and be a bitch,” Carrie said with as much frustration. “You don’t have to live with this person.”
“You don’t either, Care. This is someone coming in a few hours a week to help take some of the pressure off you. Stop being so damned picky.”
“It has to be someone that Mama will get along with.”
“She doesn’t get along with men?”
“There are things that she isn’t going to want a man helping her with. What if she needs help going to the restroom, changing, bathing? She may have dementia, Nat, but she still has some dignity.”
“Okay,” she said, “no men.”
Carrie watched her read over a page and frowned. “This is a bad idea.”
“No, it’s not. It’s the best idea that you’ve had for a long time. Not that it was your idea, but I’ll give you credit since it took so long for you to agree to it.”
“What if Mama reacts badly to having someone care for her? What if it upsets her?”
“You don’t have to tell her that this person is here to take care of her. Let her start helping in small ways and then take over more. Or tell Mama that you are still hurting too much from your fall to do those things for her. Which isn’t a lie.”
Carrie sighed, looking down at the sling that still held her right arm. “I hate this.”
“I know, babe. But until your arm feels better, the doctor doesn’t want you to overdo it. The only way to stop you from doing that is strapping you in.”
“I meant the situation,” Carrie said. “Needing help from a stranger.”
“It was going to happen eventually.”
“Right.” She exhaled heavily.
Natalie cleared her throat. “William Walker seems pretty concerned about your well-being.”
“He’s very nice.”
“Mm-hmm. Is there something going on there?”
Carrie exhaled as she rejected another applicant. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
Carrie contemplated her answer. “What would you think if there was?”
“Are you kidding? He’s nice, sexy. Rich.”
“He also lives in California.”
“So?”
“So, I doubt Iowa is high on his list of places to reside. Especially since there isn’t much of a demand for multi-million-dollar actors here.”
“There are these things called planes. They make traveling to Iowa so much easier than the covered wagons you’re used to.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“He’s leaving in a matter of weeks, two months at the most. What then?”
“Long-distance relationships aren’t unheard of.”
“But they don’t work well.”
Natalie frowned. “They do for some people. Don’t be so quick to end something that could be great for you. He cares about you. I saw that plain as day when we were waiting to hear from the doctor. He was terrified for you, and he went out of his way to comfort Mama.”
“I don’t think I’d fit in his world, Nat.”
“What does he think?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it.”
“How did this happen?” Natalie asked with amazement. “I mean, he’s William Walker.”
“Yes, I know who he is.”
“And he is interested in you.”
Carrie lifted her gaze to her friend, taking in the confusion on Natalie’s face. “Thanks.”
“I don’t mean it like you aren’t worthy, because you definitely are. It’s just that he is the William Walker, and he is interested in you.”
“Stop saying that. You make it sound like I’m a band geek dating the quarterback.”
“Honey, you kind of are.”
Carrie laughed at Natalie’s comparison and the realization that, in a way, it was true. He was known around the world. She was barely noticed in her own town.
“I don’t know how it happened. We spent a lot of time talking and, you know.”
“No, I don’t know, but I am trying to find out.”
“He’s very easy to talk to, and he is very sympathetic toward Doreen. He has a really good sense of humor. It’s been a long time since someone has made me laugh like he does.”
“Are you dating?”
Carrie scrunched up her nose. “What exactly is dating? We’ve never gone out, but he did ask me to dinner.”
“Nice.”
“He seems interested in pursuing some kind of relationship.”
“And you are seriously considering turning him down?”
Looking at a résumé without really seeing the words, Carrie shrugged. “I don’t want to get caught up in something that isn’t real. I don’t need that right now. I keep wondering if he’s going to get back to his life and realize how uninteresting I really am.”
“You aren’t.”
“I am.” She locked gazes with Natalie. “Compared to the women he’s used to, compared to the people he’s usually around, I’m extremely uninteresting.”
“Well, something turned his head.”
“Midlife crisis.”
“He said that?”
“No, of course not,” Carrie said. “But that’s what I’ve determined by overanalyzing every word he’s ever said to me.”
Natalie gave her a sideways glance as she continued to examine the papers in front of her. “Have you kissed?”
Carrie felt her face instantly burn to a bright shade of red. “I’m not discussing that.”
“Oh my God, you have! I mean, I thought that’s what was going on in the office, but I wasn’t sure.”
“I mean it. I’m not talking abou
t that.”
Her refusal caused Natalie to gawk before breaking out into a full laugh. Carrie tried to resist, knowing it would hurt, but she couldn’t help but laugh as well.
Doreen walked into the kitchen. “What is going on in here? You two are as giggly as schoolgirls.”
Natalie turned in her seat to look at Mama. “We are looking for some part-time help. Carrie can’t handle it all anymore, so we’re going to get someone in here to take over a few things.”
Carrie eyed her friend, not appreciating the way she threw the idea of having someone else in the house out there without consulting her first. “Just a few hours a day.”
Doreen smiled brightly. “I think that’s a great idea. She doesn’t believe me when I say she can’t take on the world.”
“I knew you’d approve.” Natalie smiled cockily at her friend, causing Carrie to roll her eyes and return her attention to the résumés.
“Decaf.” Will set a mug in front of Carrie. Though she was doing much better, he still found himself taking a few extra steps to look after her. She didn’t seem to mind as much now as she had the first few days. He was glad she was letting him do small things for her now. That was the least he could do considering all she had on her plate.
She looked up and smiled. “Thank you.”
He looked over her shoulder, scanning the résumé she was reading. “Have you decided on one?”
“I don’t know.” She let out a long, dramatic sigh. “This is so difficult.”
“May I look?”
She handed over the pages and picked up her mug, taking a sip. “They’re all perfectly qualified to help with Mama, but I can’t seem to accept that any of them could do a decent job.”
“Why don’t you call them in to interview them?”
“All of them?”
“Sure. Why not? Anyone can look good on paper. It’s a lot more difficult to look good in person if you are a complete screw up.”
She chuckled at his assessment. “True.”
“Do you want help?”
“Interviewing?”
“Yeah. I can sit back and give them the evil eye.”
“Somehow I don’t think that will have the same effect coming from you.”
“I don’t look scary enough?”
“Not really.” She accepted the papers when he held them out to her and set them back on the counter, fiddling with them instead of looking to where he sat, next to her.
