The Caregiver - By Shelley Shepard Gray Page 0,59

he looked at it this way and that. “I think you’re right. Lucy, I would venture a guess that this berry right here is the best in the whole pail.”

There were at least a hundred berries in that pail. “The best, hmm?”

“Do you think it’s as sweet as it looks?”

“I surely have no idea.”

He brought it to her lips. “Taste it and see, why don’tcha?”

Before she could stop herself, Lucy opened her lips and let Calvin feed her. She was so shocked, she closed her mouth quickly. Narrowly missing his fingers.

“Easy now,” he murmured. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. So . . . how does it taste?”

Lucy bit. Instantaneously, the bittersweet juice exploded in her mouth. Worried that juice would somehow run down her chin, she swallowed quickly. “It’s delicious.”

His gaze turned warmer. “I’m glad of that.”

The tension between them was as electric as the lightning the night they met. Lucy was aware of every bit of him. Of the way he held his shoulders back, so proud and strong. Of his height, and his strength.

How his smiles came so easily. And how he always seemed to be aware of her. As aware as she was of him.

Seeking to keep things light, she tilted her chin up. “I’m quite sure that berry was the best of the batch.”

“Well, we’ll just have to see about that,” he replied, his eyes sparkling. After choosing another, he popped one into his own mouth. “Hmm . . . maybe I was wrong. This one was pretty good, too.”

Unable to stop herself, she started laughing. “Calvin Weaver, what am I going to do with you?”

“Sit here and eat berries with me. Just for a little while.” His expression earnest, he eyed her. “Can you do that, Lucy? Can you just sit with me for a little while and enjoy the day?”

She had things to do. They had things to talk about.

But none of that seemed as important as sitting next to him, as feeling that same little rush of emotion that she’d now come to anticipate whenever he was near. “You know what? I can sit with you for a spell,” she said, plucking out a berry for herself. “I would very much like to enjoy the day. At least for a little while.”

Calvin nodded. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

Chapter 21

“Mattie, your blood counts are low today. I think we’d better watch over you for a while this evening,” Dr. Wilmington, her oncologist, said when he entered her examining room.

Mattie nodded even as her world spun. Perhaps she shouldn’t have been surprised? For the last few days she’d felt terrible—even worse than usual. Plus, she was tired. So, so tired.

Beside her, Lucy hopped to her feet. “Doctor, the low blood counts—what does that mean?”

“It means Mattie’s body might not be responding to the chemo drugs as well as I would have hoped,” he said quietly. “I want to run a few more tests and monitor some things. We can’t do that in an office visit.”

“Oh,” Lucy said.

Feeling her cousin’s gaze settle on her, Mattie knew she should say something. Try to reassure her. But unfortunately, she just couldn’t do it.

Instead, she bit her lip as Lucy’s jaw tightened and her voice turned cheerful and optimistic. “Well, this is for the best, then, ain’t so, Mattie?”

Was it? Mattie only shrugged and looked out the window as Dr. Wilmington was already murmuring orders to the nurse who had just entered.

When the nurse exited the room, Lucy stepped forward and started pestering the doctor again. “Dr. Wilmington, has Mattie gotten worse?” she asked, just as if Mattie wasn’t sitting there right next to her. “Is something terribly wrong?”

“Not necessarily.” While Dr. Wilmington went into a long and drawn-out explanation about numbers and platelets to Lucy—who must had been studying up on such things because she kept interrupting and asking for clarification—Mattie let her mind wander.

Instead of concentrating on the state of her blood, she thought about her garden. Wondered when her daisies and black-eyed Susans would bloom. Thought about getting a hydrangea bush. She did so love its violet blooms.

As Lucy and the doctor continued to weigh the pros and cons of her treatment, Mattie daydreamed about gardening. Oh, she hoped that one day soon she could kneel in the soft dirt and feel the sun on her back again. That she could dig her hands into the earth and not have to worry about getting an infection.

Dreaming about nature was the best way to get