“Nope.”
“You are so damn stubborn.”
“You expected less?”
“No. So I did some online research about this.”
“Got your WebMD in the last couple days, did you?” he teased.
She nudged him with her shoulder. “Smartass. I just needed to know more information about her condition for myself. Of course they stressed that every case is different and to listen to your doctor.”
“No. Really?”
“Knock it off. And if you get up and do an I-told-you-so dance, I’ll trip you.”
“Then I’ll likely break my other hip.”
Kimi leaned her head against his shoulder. “We used to crack sex jokes. Now we’re cracking old people jokes. What happened to us?”
Carson put his arm around her. “Hate to break it to you, but we are old. The mind can fool us, but darlin’, the body don’t lie.”
“I’ll stick with the mental image I have of myself when I was twenty-five, thanks.”
Silence settled between them, not uncomfortable, just…there.
“This sucks. I need a damn cigarette.”
He smiled. “Got a pack in the truck if you’re serious.”
“You too, huh?”
“Yeah. It helped.”
“You never were addicted to them like I was.”
“True. Last time I bought a pack was after Keely’s emergency C-section with the twins. Caro never said a word. In fact she rustled up a pack of matches for me.”
“She’s the best.”
“No argument from me.”
Kimi’s voice was so soft he barely heard it. “I’m scared for her.”
“So am I.” Carson closed his eyes. “I’m scared for myself because I can’t imagine…”
“Me neither. Besides Cal, she’s everything to me. She’s been there through it all. Watching over me at Catholic school, playing referee in our screwed up family situation, telling me that falling in love with Cal so fast wasn’t a bad thing. Helping me through pregnancy even when she was pregnant herself. Showin’ me how to be a good mother and bein’ a second mother to my boys, lovin’ them as if they were her own…” She sniffled. “Caro’s been a daily part of my life for so long that even when I know she’s here, I picked up the phone this mornin’ to call her. As the line was ringing, I’m lookin’ at my geraniums, thinking they never grow as good as hers and what is taking her so long to answer the damn phone…and then I remembered she wasn’t there.” She sniffled again and her voice turned hoarse. “Goddammit. I hate that she’s not there. I just wanna talk to her.”
“I do talk to her,” Carson admitted. “From the moment I sit down in her room until the five minutes are up. In these last few days I’ve relived a lifetime of memories with her and it still ain’t enough. I want more time. I tell her that too.”
“Has she responded at all?”
“Like squeezed my hand or something?”
“Yeah.”
“Nope. The faceguard forces me to talk real loud, and I’m sure the nurses think I’m just an old fool. But I’m talkin’ to her as much for her as for me.”