all goes well, then yes. I don’t see any reason Juliet can’t sleep in her own room tonight.”
She closed her eyes, appalled at the tears that burned there.
Henry rested a comforting hand on her shoulder and she had to fight the urge to lean into him.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the doctor taking in the gesture with one slightly raised eyebrow. Juliet could see her leaping to entirely the wrong conclusion.
She and Henry were not a thing. He was her dear friend. That was all. Even if her pulse did race whenever he was nearby and she always felt a little breathless and off balance these days.
She had to cut this out. For heaven’s sake, she had been lying in a hospital bed for four days. She was only wearing mascara and lipstick that Caitlin had brought her and her hair was a rumpled mess, though she’d tried to style it as best she could.
She probably looked every single one of her fifty-three years, but she supposed he needed to see her at her worst.
Something seemed to have changed between them in the past few months. From a few things he had said and hints he had scattered in conversation, she had begun to wonder if it was possible Henry might want more from her than friendship.
She thought she might have been imagining things until three weeks earlier, when he had come in after hours at the garden center so she could help fill an order for a job he was doing and he had asked her to dinner that weekend.
At the time, in the moment, she hadn’t been exactly sure what was going on. Surely he was not asking her on a date. Was he?
They had been friends for years. She had been best friends with his wife and had grieved with Henry when Lilianne lost her long and difficult battle against cancer three years earlier.
When he asked her to dinner, she had been caught so off guard that for a horrifying moment, she hadn’t said anything. And then she had managed to turn the whole thing into an outing with Caitlin and Jake, which she knew wasn’t what he meant.
He hadn’t mentioned going out again. She had to hope time and a little reflection had shown him how ridiculous the idea of them dating was.
Age was only part of it. She couldn’t tell him the much greater reason why he should look elsewhere, if he was lonely and in need of some female companionship.
“What else can I do to help you get ready to go home?” he asked now.
“You’ve done more than enough, Henry. Really. I’m grateful, believe me, but I don’t want you to feel obligated to babysit me.”
“You need to call Olivia and tell her, don’t you?”
“Yes. I suppose. I’ll need a ride home from the hospital.”
“I would offer my pickup but I’m afraid that might be a little tough for you to climb into just a few days after hip replacement surgery.”
“You’re probably right.”
“I’m available all day, though. If you want, I can stick around long enough to help you into whatever vehicle you take home.”
“There are orderlies and staff who could do that.”
“And friends,” he pointed out with that smile she adored.
She sighed, not knowing how to refuse. She was so weak where Henry was concerned.
“Tell you what. It likely will take some time for them to work through your discharge orders. I’ll keep you company until then. If you don’t need my help leaving this place, I’ll at least head to Sea Glass Cottage so I can be there to help you into the house and to your room.”
She was fully of the opinion it was better to give than receive, but in this case she had to learn to accept help more gracefully. Especially now that she couldn’t avoid taking help from others over the next few months. If he wanted to help her, it seemed churlish and small to refuse.
“Thank you. I would appreciate that,” she said.
“While you wait for all your discharge orders to go through, want to watch another episode of Doctor Who?”
“Sure. I would love that.”
They had been slowly working their way through the seasons over the past few months, usually watching at her house while Caitlin and Jake did homework or watched a movie in the other room.
She wondered if he had any idea how much she treasured those quiet moments with him.
The hospital was set up for streaming services and Henry quickly found the