She had intensely disliked being at the hospital, although the staff were wonderful. Steve had hated it, too. While sitting in the waiting room, he’d been flooded with memories, the very ones he was trying to put behind him. Alicia had been in this very hospital. By the time Cassie appeared, her arm bandaged, he was more than ready to leave.
Once again his mind was on Cassie. He focused his eyes on Alicia’s gravestone, feeling somewhat guilty to be at his wife’s grave site and thinking about another woman. They’d been close, Alicia and him, and his life felt empty without her. She’d been gone three years now and the ache wasn’t as piercing as it had been that first year, but the closeness he felt toward her remained. Alicia would always be a part of him, even if she wasn’t with him physically.
“Her name is Cassie,” he whispered. He buried his hands in his pockets and then stood silent for a couple minutes. Before he left, he squatted down, placed his fingertips against his lips, and then placed them on her name then he returned to his truck and drove away.
What he’d told Alicia was true. His head had been full of Cassie for a long time now. Being that he was the one responsible for the construction site, he felt it was his obligation to check in and see how she was doing. That was the excuse he gave himself as he pulled up in front of Cassie’s apartment. He sat in his truck for several minutes, silently debating if dropping by unannounced was in his own best interest. A phone call would do just as well, but he had the urge—okay, the need—to see for himself how Cassie was doing.
Her daughter answered the door and her eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning when she saw it was him. “Hi, Steve,” Amiee greeted him, as if they were the best of friends. “Mom’s home.” She held the door wide open for him to come inside.
Steve could see Cassie standing by the stove. It looked as if she was cooking dinner. Right away he noticed how pale she was. It was the same pained look he recognized from the day before when he drove her to the hospital.
For a long moment they did nothing but stare at each other. Steve felt Amiee’s eyes travel from him to her mother and then back to him.
“What are you doing here?” Cassie asked, and looked none too pleased to see him.
This woman didn’t do a lot to build up his ego. “I came to check on you, seeing there’s a liability issue here.”
Right away Cassie frowned. “Liability issue? Do you seriously think I would sue Habitat?”
The fire he’d so often seen was back in her eyes. “No, but it’s a logical concern.”
“Logical?” she repeated, snickering softly.
He was making a mess of this. He might as well be honest before he dug himself in a hole too deep to climb out of. “Actually, I stopped by to see how you’re doing.”
“Mom worked today,” Amiee told him. “Most everyone takes Mondays off, but not Mom, because she needs to make extra money so we can drive to Spokane—”
“Amiee.” Her mother cast her daughter a look that immediately silenced the twelve-year-old.
“Okay, okay, but I thought Steve should know.”
“You were at the salon?” He couldn’t begin to imagine how painful it must have been for Cassie to repeatedly lift her arm while dealing with her clients. He’d assumed she would take the day off due to her injury, and he couldn’t believe she hadn’t. Didn’t she know that she should give her body at least one day to recover?
“She wouldn’t take her pain pills, either, because she said she needed a clear head,” Amiee blurted out, and then turned to face her mother, her hands braced against her hips. “You can be mad at me if you want, but Steve needs to know. He told me to make sure you took the pain pills and got lots of rest and you didn’t. You wouldn’t take the pills and you were up half the night, and I know because I heard you.”
“Amiee,” Cassie said, her face flushed with embarrassment. “Give it a rest, will you?”
“Steve would want me to tell,” her daughter insisted, squaring her shoulders as if to say she’d be willing to accept her punishment.
Steve couldn’t take his eyes off Cassie. “You must be exhausted.”
Stubborn woman that she was, Cassie didn’t confirm or deny her condition.
“Come sit,” he said, making sure his voice was even and low. When she didn’t move right away he walked over to her, took her by the hand, and then gently led her to the sofa. Looking over his shoulder, he instructed Amiee, “Get me some ice.”
“Okay.” Eager to be of help, Amiee hurried to the refrigerator, opened the freezer door, and brought out an ice-cube tray. “Now what?” she asked, looking to Steve to supply the instructions.
“Put the ice in a plastic bag and bring it to me wrapped in a towel.”
The fact that Cassie wasn’t fighting him was all the evidence he needed—she had overextended herself too soon. Amiee dumped the ice into an empty bread bag and returned from the bathroom with a clean towel. “Here,” she said proudly.
Gently Steve set Cassie down on the sofa, lifted her arm, and wrapped the towel and ice around the upper part of her arm. “Feel better?” he asked.
She nodded and closed her eyes. It seemed her entire body relaxed as she pressed her head against the back of the sofa.
“Should I get the pain meds?” Amiee asked, eager to assist.
“No,” Cassie protested. “They make me sleepy.”
Steve clenched his jaw, and when he spoke he did his best to hide his irritation. This woman was beyond stubborn. “In case you haven’t figured this out, your body needs to rest in order for you to heal.”
On hearing him, Amiee raced into the bathroom and returned with the prescription bottle and a glass of water. “Listen to the man,” she said, as she handed her mother the pill and a glass of water.
Cassie didn’t put up a fuss.
“What’s your mom’s favorite meal when she has a special treat?” he whispered to Amiee.
“A Whopper. I like KFC.”
Steve hid a smile. “I sorta got that impression already.”
Amiee grinned and lowered her voice. “I had a thigh for breakfast this morning and it was almost as good as it was last night.”
His decision made, he said in the same low tone he’d used earlier, “Put away whatever it was your mother is cooking and then the two of us will make a food run.”
Amiee’s eyes brightened. “Really?”
“Really,” he echoed.
The twelve-year-old looked absolutely delighted. “I told Mom she should marry someone like you and you know what she said?” She didn’t wait for him to respond. “She said men like you don’t marry women like her. I said she was wrong and then she said she didn’t want to talk about it. She gets grumpy like that sometimes.” As she spoke she removed the pan from the stovetop and took out two hot dogs from the boiling water and stuck them in a small plastic sandwich bag before setting them in the refrigerator.
“You ready?” he asked, thankful Cassie was already dozing.
“If you married my mom, could I get a mini iPad?”
“Ah …” Steve was rarely at a loss for words, but Amiee had completely flummoxed him.
Amiee hesitated. “I shouldn’t have asked you that, right?”
He placed his hand on her shoulder. “It’s a whole lot premature.”
“Don’t tell my mom, okay? She’d be upset enough to lay an egg.”
He grinned. “It’ll be our secret.”
By the time they returned, Cassie was sound asleep. Amiee tiptoed over to her mother. “Should I wake her?”
“No, let her sleep.” He’d stop by tomorrow and make sure she’d changed the bandage.
Amiee looked uncertain. “Mom would want that Whopper.”
“She can eat it when she wakes up.” Steve spread the afghan over Cassie, tucking it in over her torso. If Amiee wasn’t there to witness it, he would have kissed her forehead.
Amiee watched every move he made. “This is where she slept last night, too.”
The ice had melted and the fact she didn’t feel the bag leaking on her arm was a testament to how exhausted Cassie must be. The tenderness that swelled in him was hard to explain.