Unexpected Ride (2 page)

“I can do the rest,” he said gruffly.

Uncomfortable with just how aware of him she was from simply buttoning his pants and standing close to him, she released his shirt and again stepped away from him.  She turned her back to him but could still hear him wrestling with the shirt.  After a few moments she glanced back over her shoulder and found he had managed to cover up the only other part of him that drew her eyes as much as his mouth did. 

Making her way to the chair in the corner of the room she sat down and watched as he managed to separate his socks and finally get one on.  She was surprised at how much she wanted to just go and take over for him since there was no way he would be able to tie his own shoes.

“Would you like some help with your shoes?” she asked after he finally managed to get his other sock on as well.

“No… I’ve got it,” he replied tersely. 

Fine
.  As much as it was killing her to watch him struggle, much like with her kids… Meredith, Matt or Ben and sometimes even Chuck, she would let him either figure it out on his own or wait for him to ask for help.  Stubbornness could sometimes be a benefit… at least it had been for Meredith when she’d finally decided to take back control of her own life after the accident.  Perhaps the same would be true for Greg Sanders.  Somehow watching him struggle was even harder than watching the kids since this wasn’t a learning experience for him… this was just a waste of time… and all because he wouldn’t allow her to help.

“Are you sure… I don’t mind,” she offered again after what felt like an hour passed while he tried to pull his heavy boots on with his left hand.

Sighing heavily he said, “Since you are in such a hurry…
sure
… please put my shoes on for me.”  The sarcasm in his voice brought out a level of childishness in her she hadn’t experienced in more than decade.

Glancing at her watch she said, “It’s just that the pharmacy closes at nine and we need to get your prescriptions filled yet.”

She watched his amazing eyes glance at the clock hanging on the wall which showed it wasn’t even one o’clock yet.  Then that smile spread across his beautiful mouth and she could swear he blushed.  As if he needed any more physical attributes to make him attractive… blushing only
added
to his sex appeal. 
Concentrate
.  His eyes looked green when her gaze made it from those lips back up to return his stare.  Now she was blushing…
good grief
.

“I’m sorry… I just hate this,” he said, his grin widening as she stood and approached where he sat.  To emphasize his point he tried to raise his injured arm and the look of pain that crossed his handsome face had her forgiving him in the time it took to reach his side.

“Are you okay?” she asked, stopping directly in front of him. 

“Yea… I think that hurt as bad as getting shot did,” he replied.

The idea that police officers and firemen put their lives on the line every day had just been a phrase she’d heard… a statement she was familiar with… but until she met Greg it didn’t really hold any meaning for her
.  He could have died!
  Instead, his gunshot wound had been repaired with surgery and his mobility would return with the help of a physical therapist. 

To Carla the idea of being shot brought about a breathtaking fear.  For Greg Sanders it was all part of the job and the wound was currently keeping him from doing his.

She knelt down in front of him and held open one of his large boots while he slipped his foot inside after grasping her shoulder for balance and leverage.  She managed to tie up the boot and then put the other one on and tie it as well.  After finishing she looked up at him and found him watching her while biting on one side of his full lower lip. 

His thoughts were mirrored in his eyes and she found herself lost in in his gaze for a moment until he finally cleared his throat and looked away from her.  It had been a while since she’d been with a man, more than just the year since Doug’s death, but Greg’s hand on her shoulder and his uneven breathing left little doubt what he had been imagining.

Making every effort not to look at him, she got up from where she’d knelt to put his shoes on and grabbing her purse she went to the cart and waited with her back to him.  Standing there listening to the awkward silence that filled the room, she tried to will the burning in her cheeks back into check with little to no success.  After several moments she decided that she could go on and push the cart down to the car to unload it.  He didn’t need help walking and could make his way to the car on his own.  He didn’t need her for that.

Pushing the cart towards the door, her attempts at escape were thwarted when he said, “Wait, I can get the cart.”

Great
… now getting down to the car would take twice as long as need be… much like putting on his clothes had.  Unwilling and quite honestly unable to talk to him at the moment, let alone argue, she let go of the cart.  Stepping to the door of the room, she held it open. 

A clear invitation for him to take his best shot at guiding the cart out of the room.  That offer was heavily regretted minutes later when he finally managed to steer the cart through the doorway with his left hand.

By the time they made it down to the lobby she had no patience left.  Placing her hand on the handle of the cart she said, “You are on narcotics for pain which means that if I let you roll this thing across the parking lot then essentially I am allowing you to drive under the influence… correct?”

She hadn’t realized how close she was standing to him until he turned his head to the side to look at her.  Whatever argument he had, died before ever being spoken when her eyes went straight to his mouth.  For once she could respect why a man would talk to a woman while staring at her breasts because his lips had that same effect on her and no amount of shame kept her from looking at them. 

The only thing that broke her gaze was catching his hand motioning for her to take over.  As much as she wanted to push the cart to her car as quickly as possible just to get away from him, it would do no good since within a few minutes he would be in the vehicle with her.  There was no escape from his handsome face, the wicked sensations just being near him brought out in her and definitely no way to keep from staring at his mouth.

Getting him in the car turned out to be yet another lesson on those things that were harder for him to do for himself now.  After getting in the front passenger seat, instead of waiting for her to close the door for him after unloading the items from the cart into the car, he reached across his body and tried closing the door with his left hand. 

This simply jostled his injured arm before the door bumped it which resulted in a stream of cuss words and a couple of sharp breaths on his part.  Rather than saving him from his own stupidity, she finished unloading the cart and then walked over to his side of the car.  Catching his gaze to ensure he knew what she was about to do, she closed the door for him. 
No pain this time. 
She nearly laughed out loud when she noticed Greg rolling his eyes after he thought she wasn’t looking. 

The trip to the pharmacy was much the same.  Try as she might not to get frustrated at his unwillingness to ask for help as well as his refusal to
accept
help, she was ready for a shot of something out of the liquor cabinet by the time they made it back to the house.   Thankfully, Chuck had made lunch for the boys while Meredith went to a baby shower for Lilly Jackson. 

Lilly was actually a friend of both Carla and Meredith.  She and her husband Bobby owned a motorcycle repair shop where both Chuck and Meredith were working at the moment.  Carla had wanted to go to the baby shower as well but not wanting Greg’s sister, Becca, to miss it for having to pick him up from the hospital, Carla had just sent her gift with Meredith instead.   Becca had done some legal work for Lilly and Bobby as well.  Carla knew how much Becca wanted to go so she had offered to pick Greg up since she would be helping him out for a while anyways.

After getting Greg situated at the breakfast bar in the kitchen and then unloading the car, Carla asked, “Would you like a salad for lunch?”  His frown told her he had hopes for something more substantial. 

Laughing, she said, “Or at least something light for lunch since I was thinking of grilling this evening.”

“Yea, salad is fine,” he replied sitting down on one of the barstools.

As she began pulling out fresh vegetables to cut up for the salad, Chuck entered the kitchen and said, “The boys ate a good lunch and Nathan said he would pick them up around three this afternoon.”  Then, after a brief pause in which he studied her closely, he said, “Are you going to be okay here by yourself until we get back?”

For having grown up without anything even remotely resembling a family, Chuck’s perceptiveness was second to none.  Knowing that tomorrow would have been her and Doug’s anniversary, Chuck was clearly torn between taking Meredith to the beach that Doug always took her to and not leaving Carla alone overnight at such a time.  The young man stood hesitantly waiting for her response.

“She’ll be fine… I’ll be here with her since she insists on treating me like an invalid,” Greg replied.

Chuck looked between them for a moment before nodding his acknowledgment at Greg.  Then he picked up a duffle bag he had brought downstairs, looked at Carla and said, “Call us if you need us, hot stuff.”

“I could always just take you back to the hospital,” Carla threatened Greg after Chuck left and they were once again alone in the kitchen.

“You don’t want to send me back there,” Greg replied with a smile.  “Then you would just have to continue visiting me there every day in order to boss me around.”

“Bossing you around?  Is that what they call it these days?  I have always referred to it as trying to help,” she smiled back as she began chopping up the ingredients for the salad.

“Chuck’s awful protective of you isn’t he?” Greg asked.

“Becca said much the same thing a while back.  I think it’s for two reasons.  One is that he doesn’t want to think of Meredith suffering anymore loss, especially losing
another
parent.  The second reason is that he is just now experiencing what it is like to have a family, so he doesn’t want anything to ruin that,” she replied.

“I understand that but I would think you’ve spent time alone here before… even since the break-in.  He isn’t worried because I’m here is he?” he asked as she set his salad down in front of him along with a napkin and a fork.

Carla tried not to think of that horrible day, when Chuck’s unfortunate past caught up to him here…
in her home
… where she thought he would be safe.  In this case, it was more a matter of her mental state than her physical safety that caused Chuck such concern.  Having always been very emotional, Carla was used to it, as were the boys and Meredith, but it somehow bothered Chuck to witness her tears.  Knowing that tomorrow would have been their anniversary had put the young man on full alert.

“It’s not that… tomorrow is… would have been… my wedding anniversary.  Aside from birthdays and holidays that is the worst,” she finished softly.

Feeling the sting of tears that were always simmering in the background when she thought of the accident, especially here recently, she swallowed several times trying to rein them in.  Once she was able to get it together she sat down at the bar with him and they ate in companionable silence. 

When he finished she convinced him to take some pain medicine and then lay down for a while.  Then she pulled out a small package of steaks to grill and set them to marinating.  She also made a list of those items she still needed to get at the store for Thanksgiving Dinner and for Chuck’s birthday both of which she would be hosting the following weekend.

Since Chuck was gone she went ahead and pulled his birthday gifts out of the closet in her bedroom and wrapped them while the boys watched television and waited for their grandfather in the living room.  By the time her father picked up the boys for the weekend, she was in need of a nap herself but instead decided to read over the care instructions from the hospital. 

Having spent all those months caring for Meredith’s injuries, she should be a professional at it by now but for some strange reason she found reading about how to care for wounds and the different types of medications used to treat injuries interesting.   The fact that Greg Sanders was the one she would be taking care of only heightened her interest in making sure she was able to do so properly.

“What are you reading?” Greg’s voice made her jump since she hadn’t known he was even awake let alone that he had come downstairs.  She had been so engrossed in the pamphlets from the hospital she’d lost track of time.

“Oh nothing really.  Are you hungry?  I could go ahead and start dinner,” she offered, setting the brochures aside.

“Sure.  Can I help?” he asked.

“I’m not sure what you could possibly do one handed but you can keep me company if you’d like,” she suggested, getting up from the couch and walking into the kitchen.

He followed her and sat at the bar again as she pulled a pineapple out of the refrigerator and began cutting it so she could grill it. 

“Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” he asked after she managed to cut the prickly outer shell off of the pineapple.

Swallowing hard she said, “Sure, go ahead.”

What could he possibly want to know?  He was such a handsome man that he probably had his pick of women or possibly a serious girlfriend back in New York.  Though it was doubtful he was in a relationship because if he were the woman would have come down here to Florida in order to be with him when he was injured. 
Right?

“What was your husband like and how long were you married?” he asked as she cored the pineapple and then began to cut it into thick slices.

Of all the things he could have asked her, that was the one thing she least expected.  Almost no one asked her about Doug both right after the accident or even now that some time had passed.  Perhaps they didn’t ask out of fear that trudging up memories of the accident and of losing the man she loved would be too painful for her to talk about.