Brody hugged him and slapped him on the back. “I love you, man. Take care of yourself. Take care of her. That’s all you can do. Everything else will come with time.”
“Thanks, Brody. I really appreciate you coming today. I needed to hear those things.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. I hope the two of you will be happy together again.”
“Me too.”
Brody squeezed his shoulder and left.
Dylan stood over Jessie, staring down at her pale face. “I love you, Jess.” He didn’t know she was still half-awake.
“I see why Rain forgave Brody. He’s not what I expected.”
“He’s been through a lot. After he nearly died in the military, he came home and fought hard to win Rain back. I’m going to fight even harder for you, Jess, but I need you to get better. I can’t live without you.” Dylan took her hand, linking his fingers with hers. “Please, Jess, don’t leave me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Dylan believed her when she squeezed his hand, her grip strong, despite her dire illness.
Chapter Twenty-Three
* * *
TWO DAYS PASSED before Jessie’s fever broke and the medication kicked in and killed the infection ravaging her body. Dylan never left her side, which made her both happy and annoyed.
Every time she told him to go away, he refused to acknowledge she’d said anything.
She stayed awake for longer periods of time. She didn’t want to talk and often lost herself staring out the window.
Greg worried about her. He didn’t like seeing her so quiet. “It brings back an eerie memory of you after Hope’s death,” he said the other day. He never wanted to see her depressed like that again. She had to admit, she didn’t like scaring him, or feeling this way.
She shuffled back to the bed from the bathroom. The door opened and Greg walked in. Not exactly happy to see him, she’d finally had some time alone and didn’t want to talk to him or anyone for that matter.
Dylan left hours ago to go to his office and do some work. He’d kissed her on the forehead and told her he’d be back and reminded her for the hundredth time they needed to have a long talk. She continued to stare out the window and ignore him. Her silence irritated him even more than her asking him to leave. She didn’t care. She wasn’t ready to talk to him, or hear what he had to say to her.
“I hear they’re springing you from this place tomorrow,” Greg said and pulled the chair in front of her. He sat and blocked her view of the window. “Stop ignoring me. Today, you’ll participate in the conversation,” he ordered.
“I’ll give you a thousand dollars if you find my clothes and take me home right now.”
Surprised, he fell back in the seat and stared at her. “This is new. Ready to leave so soon? I’d have thought nine days in the hospital would be quite relaxing.”
“Relaxing? Someone is either jabbing a needle in my arm or torturing one of the many cuts and scrapes on my body. I’m tired of my ass hanging out the back of this gown, and Dylan won’t leave me alone. He gave me a sponge bath last night that left nothing to the imagination. I’m too weak to fight him, and he’s using it to his advantage.”
“It’s not the first bath he’s given you. The man took care of you like a mother hen the whole time you had the fever. I’ve never seen anyone care so deeply for another. He loves you, honey.”
“He feels sorry for me and guilty. He’s grateful I saved his son. Those things I believe. Love? Not a chance. If he loved me so much, he’d have never left me. He’d have at least done the decent thing and told me he was leaving.”
“Now you’re just being stubborn and ornery,” Greg said, giving her leg a pat.
“Back to my old self. Get me out of here. I have work to do.”
“You can barely walk to the bathroom by yourself. Besides, I’m not taking you home until you stop all this self-pity crap. We’re way past that. Just say what’s on your mind.”
“Work is on my mind.”
“Say it.”
“What?”
“You’re pissed off because I told him about Hope. Yell at me. Scream. Cuss me out. Whatever it takes to get you out of this funk. Because so help me God, if you spend the next six months dying in front of me, I swear to God, I’ll put you over my knee and paddle your ass.”
“You’ll have to get past me,” Dylan said from the doorway.
“Bullshit.” Greg stood and paced the room. “Damnit, Jessie. Snap out of this.”
She threw the covers off and stood up in front of Greg and slapped both hands flat on his chest. “She’s dead. I know that. I remember it every goddamn day. Don’t tell me to snap out of it.”