Chapter 31
Carla
“Shank youth,” Roy said, struggling to thank me as he sat, propped up in his hospital bed, looking ashen but hopeful. His body might have been close to paralyzed on the left side, making speech, to say nothing of mobility, difficult, but his eyes were hopeful and alive.
“Don’t thank me,” I insisted, squeezing his limp hand emotionally and wanting him to know how easily I’d understood him. “You’re family, Roy. You’re…. my father. I’ll always be here for you.”
We shared a silent tear, Mom wiping Roy’s dutifully away as I sniffled and snorted and laughed while making a mess of wiping my own. Mom looked haggard, tired, but hopeful as well, wearing a bright pink Roy’s Retreat t-shirt as if to cheer her husband back to health.
“How’sh theth boath?” he struggled and I squeezed his hand once more in reassurance.
“Just fine, Roy,” I said, nodding toward Mom who gently slid from her husband’s side. “I don’t know how much Mom has told you, but… we’ve been keeping it running for you.”
Roy’s eyes widened before exhaustion seemed to drag them back down. “Youth?” he asked, but I shook my head.
“Dad,” I said, as Mom gently led him toward the bedside. “Meet my… boyfriend… Kellan. He’s been piloting the boat for you all week!”
Kellan looked bashful but well-scrubbed, a real feat considering he’d been pinned beneath me and making his patented “O” face less than thirty minutes earlier on the floor of his rented bungalow. He offered a hand and, summoning what I imagined would be the last of his strength for the day, Roy sat up a little higher and squeezed his hand a little tighter.
“Shank youth,” Roy said, struggling to keep his emotions in check.
“It’s my privilege, sir,” Kellan said, voice hoarse with emotion as well. “But I owe most of the week’s success to Ryan. And Carla, of course. And your wife, as well…”
We all blushed, even Roy, as Kellan’s “acceptance speech” ran down. Roy nodded, as if suddenly exhausted, and Mom shot me a concerned look I immediately recognized—and understood. Kellan seemed to sense it as well and before I could kick his shin beneath the hospital bed, he said, “Well, I don’t want to bother you, but I had to meet the man for myself and let you know we’ll keep the business afloat as long as you need us, okay?”
Roy nodded, as if to speak again would embarrass us all. But I noticed his grip strengthening around Kellan’s hand, and how much effort it took for him to do so. As Mom whispered comfortingly in her husband’s ear, Kellan and I quietly slipped from the hospital room and out into the hall.
The rules were far more lax here on the 4th floor recovery unit, the nurses less frantic and severe as we walked slowly toward the elevators. “We might be here awhile,” he noted as we stepped into the first available car. “He looks pretty weak.”
“That’s what I thought,” I murmured, clinging to his side. “I just… didn’t know how you felt about that.”
He nodded, and held the door open for me when we reached the lobby. “I thought I’d head back,” he said, making my heart freeze. He seemed to sense it, and dragged me toward a potted palm in the hospital’s bustling lobby. “Just for this morning, to close up the office and maybe respond to some messages at Miami Models, you know? Grab us some essentials, clothes for a week or two and then be back by tonight. That okay?”
I sagged onto a bench as he sank beside me. “It sounds perfect, Kellan. I can’t… I can’t believe how much you’ve done for me, for all of us.”
“It’s like you said upstairs, Carla. Family takes care of family. You’ve always treated me like family, and I want to return the favor, that’s all.”
I nodded, both tired and frantically energetic. “You don’t have to do all this, you know?”
“I want to, Carla. I can’t wait to. I kind of… like it here.”
“Yeah?” I chuckled.
He nodded. “I’ve got an early boat load of real anglers tomorrow,” he said, “and I thought you could move into the cabana for a while until we find something more… permanent.”
“Permanent?” I croaked, taken by surprise.
“Not forever permanent,” he teased, squeezing my trembling hand. “But… for the next few months or so, right? Until we see how Roy’s recovery goes.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“I’d do that for us,” he insisted, tugging me off the bench and guiding me through the lobby. “I like it here, the boat suits me, the fresh air feels good, not to mention the manual labor.” He leaned in for a kiss as we stood by his car. “And the fringe benefits aren’t bad, either!”
I chuckled and kissed him passionately. “When will you be back?” I asked, leaning in his window as he buckled himself into the driver’s seat of his sleek sedan.
“A few hours’ drive,” he calculated as he fired up the engine, “a few hours in town tying up loose ends, an energy drink and a few hours back. I should be here by nightfall.”
“Good,” I purred, leaning in to kiss him and give him a taste of what might be waiting for his return trip. “I have this fantasy of fucking you under the moonlight, and it won’t wait until tomorrow.”
He blushed, gunning the engine dramatically. “Well then,” he chuckled as I slid from the window, “let’s not waste any more time talking so I can get back just after sunset!”
I watched him peel away, shocked orderlies and nurses frowning at his abrupt departure. If only they knew the power of our love, I thought, returning to the lobby for a day by Roy’s bedside, they’d understand why Kellan drove like a bat out of hell. I knew I did.