Would his friends want him to go directly to the doctor for a checkup?
Very likely.
But just as he was starting to feel a little hint of what the hell did I just do, Jocelyn leaned in, wrapped her arms around him, and hugged him. And that surge of happiness washed the rest away.
Getting married for the health insurance wasn’t exactly romantic. Or the way she’d ever thought she’d be saying I do, but it was maybe the most practical thing she’d ever done.
And honestly, Grant Lorre was very hard to say no to.
At least for her. She also had a suspicion that he was starting to figure that out. That might be a problem down the road.
Oh, who was she kidding? It was a problem right now. He was talking her into getting married. Because her gall bladder was about to bite the dust.
Ugh. This was absolutely not the swoony-tell-all-her-girlfriends-about-it situation she’d always imagined.
But her gall bladder stabbed against her side—she was imagining it with a little frowny face and a giant knife that it stuck into her from time to time insisting on being let out—and she realized that she didn’t really have a choice here.
She had to get her gall bladder out. No matter what she’d been telling herself and Grant, it was getting worse. And now that she knew what it was, she was freaking out a little bit. It made sense that her symptoms had been coming and going. It depended on what she’d eaten that day. She hadn’t put those things together, of course, thinking it was her shoulder, but now it made sense.
She did want to get it out. Thinking about having an infected internal organ swelling up inside her and making her sick, not to mention the associated pain, had definitely pushed this to the must do column in her head.
And the estimate the hospital had given her had made her feel even sicker.
But Grant was here. Offering a practical solution. That would work. And would keep him around longer, and yes, in her bed. In her kitchen for that matter. In her… life.
Josie knew that her romantic tendencies could be a problem. She knew that real life wasn’t like the movies. But… she wanted to date him. She wanted to get to know him better. She wanted to spend time with him. She absolutely wanted to have more sex with him.
Being married was one way for all of that to happen.
It wouldn’t be a hardship to let Grant move in here. He was bossy, and yet at the same time, had a way of being protective and caring. It was a potent combination.
She’d watched that combination with her father and grandfather toward her mom and grandma all her life. The men respected their wives and certainly encouraged their independence, but her dad, Chris, and her grandpa, Larry, also took care of them. They went above and beyond to make sure they were safe and healthy and happy.
The happy part had always been what she’d focused on. The little treats her dad would bring home even though money was always tight. The way he’d whisper in her mom’s ear and make her laugh. The way he’d go with her to school events—her mom was a fourth-grade teacher—and would haul boxes and set up huge science-fair displays and would dress up as Aristotle or Sir Isaac Newton without batting an eye. Because it made her mom happy.
He’d always wanted to take her to Italy, but unable to afford that, every year on their anniversary they went to a fancy Italian restaurant, and they’d watch Roman Holiday and Only You, her mom’s two favorite romantic movies, while snuggled up on the couch and would go over the fantasy trip itinerary that they’d started while on their honeymoon to Branson, Missouri instead of Rome.
It was sad that her father couldn’t take her mom on their dream trip. But the effort he made to keep that dream alive was incredibly romantic, and Josie swore that her mom was happier with their imagined trip than an actual one at this point. The real thing might not have a chance of measuring up.
But now… looking up at Grant and thinking about something as mundane as health insurance… she had to admit that the “in sickness and in health” part of the whole getting-married thing could be romantic too.
Him wanting her when she was healthy and happy and fully able to be