Henry winced in sympathy. “You never do things halfway, do you?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. Surgery tomorrow and a few weeks of recovery and I’ll be good as new.”
He raised an eyebrow, clearly doubtful, and she wanted to throw a pillow at him. She was trying to be optimistic here. She didn’t need a hospital room full of Debbie Downers.
“I hope that’s the case,” he said. “What time is surgery tomorrow?”
“We’re not sure yet,” Caitlin said.
“I haven’t decided if I’m having surgery.”
It was a stupid position and she knew it. Of course she had to have surgery. She had a broken hip that needed to be repaired. She had no choice, and no amount of trying to exert a little control would change that.
“I hope you know that Caitlin is welcome to stay with us until you break out of here. Even after, if you need to go into a rehabilitation center.”
She was an old lady with a broken hip who might need to go into a nursing home to recover.
Could her life hit a lower point?
“Thank you. I was hoping you’d say that. There you go, honey. You can stay with Henry and Jake for now. I’ll compromise. You can take a sick day tomorrow to be here during my surgery as long as you email your teachers to find out what homework you might have.”
Her granddaughter pouted but apparently didn’t want to argue in front of their neighbors and friends.
“What can we do to help?” Henry sat in the visitor’s chair, entirely too close for Juliet’s comfort. Of course, anywhere he chose to sit in the room would be too close for comfort.
That was the awful pain pills talking, she told herself, but she knew it was a lie. Over the past few months, she had developed a completely ridiculous attraction to the man.
She couldn’t be attracted to him. He was her friend. One of her closest. His late wife had been one of her dearest friends.
She needed to focus on that and not on the way her pulse seemed to jump whenever he was near and her insides felt shaky and weak.
She cherished his friendship too much to ruin everything. Not only that, but he was eight years younger than her, and as a local landscape designer with a thriving company, he was one of her best clients at Harper Hill Home & Garden. She couldn’t lose sight of that.
“I don’t know yet, to be honest. Right now, I can hardly think straight. I just want to make it through the surgery tomorrow and then I’ll focus on how to make it through the next few months.”
He reached for her hand, his skin warm and a little rough from his work as a landscaping contractor.
“I would tell you to call me if you need anything, but I’m pretty sure you won’t do that, will you?”
She wanted to lean into his hand, into him, and let him take care of everything. That was one of Henry Cragun’s defining traits. He came across as a strong, capable man who could handle any crisis, from a leaky faucet to a woman who hadn’t had an orgasm with someone else in years.
She didn’t lean into him. Instead, she slipped her hand away to play with the edge of the hospital blanket. “I don’t think I need help right now, but thank you. I have good employees.” At least the ones who were left. She felt the betrayal all over again of losing Sharon.
“Well, keep me posted, then. I’ll be around.”
She found more comfort from that than she probably should. “Thank you.”
A knock at the door heralded more visitors.
“You’re a popular person today.”
“Yeah. And all I needed to do to win the popularity contest was fall off a ladder.”
He smiled as the door opened and Lucien Hall, her longtime neurologist, walked in.
Juliet could feel panic swelling in her along with the pain. Oh no. She should have anticipated this. Lucien treated her disease and was one of a very small number of people who knew about it.
If he said anything, even dropped a hint, her secret would be out and everything would change.
“I’m sorry to interrupt. I was here visiting another patient and received a text from Dr. Adeno, letting me know about your injuries. I just saw you a week ago. What happened?”
“She fell off a ladder and broke two ribs and her hip. And she has a concussion,” Caitlin said, giving