her out onto the porch and down the ramp to his vehicle.
She couldn’t see everything from her vantage point in the chair, but what she did see was beautiful. “Love your choices,” she said. “Did Olivia help you pick them out?”
“No. Melody Baker, actually. She’s very knowledgeable and actually directed me away from a couple of things, toward some choices I think actually will work better.”
“Oh, I’m so glad she’s working out. I hope she’ll stay on after I’m back. If I ever get back.”
Suddenly, without warning, she could feel tears burning again in her throat. She was so tired of the pain and the uncertainty and, yes, the fear. She had been afraid when she was stranded there on the ground earlier. Only now did she realize how much. It had been a terrifying thing when she couldn’t make her body cooperate, something she worried was only a precursor of things to come.
“You’ll get there,” he said softly. “I know it’s hard to be patient but right now your body just needs time to heal.”
“I know.” To her mortification, she felt a tear slide down. Henry reached a thumb out and wiped it away, which only made more tears trickle down after the first one.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying.”
The lie tangled in her throat. She knew why. She was crying because her heart ached at the idea that soon she would have to push this wonderful man out of her life and she was crying because she selfishly wanted to hold on to him as long as she could.
“I’ve got a crew meeting me down the coast to help me plant these tomorrow. Want to come along?”
“I shouldn’t.” She wasn’t sure she could afford to spend more time with him.
“But you want to.”
So desperately.
“It will take you the better part of the day to plant everything. I don’t think I’m up to that,” she said honestly. “I would hate for you to have to cut away early to bring me back.”
“Understood.” He sounded as disappointed as she felt. “Maybe we could take a drive down later to see it, though.”
She should not be encouraging him to spend more time with her. She knew it would not end well. But she was weak and stupid and hopelessly in love with him.
“I would love that,” she murmured.
He pushed her back into the house, Otis trotting after them.
“Where do you want to settle while you wait for Olivia and Caitlin to get back?”
“The wheelchair is fine for now. By the window, where I can enjoy the view.”
He situated her just so, then stepped back. “Anything else I can get you before I leave?”
“I’m fine,” she said.
He leaned in to kiss her cheek. The feel of his mouth against her skin sent shivers down her spine.
One kiss.
What would be the harm in sharing another one?
She turned her head, her gaze locked with his, but before their mouths could meet, she heard someone at the front door and quickly leaned her head away just as Caitlin rushed inside.
“Hi, Mr. Cragun.” She sounded slightly breathless, as if she had run up Harper Hill.
“What are you doing home so early?” Juliet demanded, grateful beyond words that Caitlin hadn’t caught her kissing Henry.
“It’s not that early. I just skipped my last hour, which is PE. I had a stomachache. I talked to Coach Landry and told him I would go for an extra run this weekend to make up for it.”
She didn’t appear to have a stomachache. She seemed fine, if a little on edge. Juliet frowned but didn’t want to reprimand her in front of Henry for skipping her last class again.
“Well, I need to take off. I feel better now that you’re here,” he said to Caitlin. “Take care of your grandmother. Make sure she takes her pain medicine, since she fell a little while ago.”
Caitlin’s distracted expression shifted to concern as she focused on her grandmother. “Wait—what? Are you okay? Did you reinjure your hip or your ribs?”
“I’m totally fine. Don’t worry about me, darling.” Juliet glared at Henry. He should never have even mentioned that to Caitlin. The girl had enough worries on her mind.
“I’ll see you later,” he said. “Be careful.”
She nodded, though she knew it was far too late for that.
23
CAITLIN
She was about to go out of her freaking mind.
Caitlin carefully set her backpack on one of the kitchen chairs, her attention completely focused on the laptop and the email that had come in just as she was