She refused to give in and take a slice, not even when he set it on the little table right beside her, leaving the aroma to drift to her. By the time he had his third piece in his hand, she couldn’t hold out any longer. Her resolve melted, just like the stupid cheese.
Oh, well, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, right? At least for now.
“Wow, back again? Really?”
“You have a doctor’s appointment,” Jackson replied easily.
“I realize I have an appointment. That still doesn’t explain why you are here.”
“When I was on my way out yesterday, your mother told me you had an appointment, so she was going to have to cancel her volunteer work over at the library, reading to the children. I know how much the children enjoy it, so I volunteered to take you,” he said, cheeky grin in place.
“And no one thought to ask me how I felt about this arrangement?” she snapped, now knowing for certain that her mother was up to no good.
“I have the day free and you have a ride, plus your mother gets to make the kiddos happy. Everyone wins.”
“Everyone but me,” she muttered as she scooted over on her bed and stood up.
He rushed up to her. “Do you need help?”
“No. I don’t need help. I’m going to the bathroom to shower and change. And then I’m going to take the ride to the doctor because I don’t want to bother my parents any further than I already have. But I’m not happy about it. Had I known my mother was volunteering, I would have asked one of the ladies to give me a ride,” she told him before walking away and firmly shutting the bathroom door behind her.
It took her longer than she would have liked to shower and dress, and she wasn’t pleased that it taxed her strength. Each day she was feeling better, and she really thought that it was more fear, because the doctor had told her she needed bed rest, than actual weakness. Still, she was doing all she could to be careful.
When she emerged from the bathroom, she found Jackson sitting on her bed, feet stretched out while he watched a movie on HBO. She tried to fight her irritation—and lost.
“You look like you’re quite comfortable,” she said as she moved forward and picked up her purse.
“This is a great bed. I can see why you like staying in it,” he teased as he swung his feet around and then stood.
“At least you had the decency to take off your shoes. And I don’t like staying in it,” she informed him as she made her way from the room. “From what I’ve read, my doctor is a prize idiot, and I’m going to get a second opinion. Maybe the new doctor will tell me to keep people like you out of my bedroom.”
“Ah, I have heard complaints about the temp guy. But, hey, everyone needs a vacation once in a while, but Doc Alf will be back soon.”
“Doc Alf?” She’d never heard of him.
“Well, everyone just calls him Doc, but his name is Alfred, so then some of the more rambunctious kids—not me, of course,” he said with a grin that told her he must have been a front-runner in this new game. “Well, some of the kids came up with Doc Alf—you know, from that old alien television show?”
“Why are we even talking about this?” she asked.
“You were the one complaining about your doctor.”
“I guess the sooner Doc Alf gets back, the better,” she said, ending the discussion.
Reaching the top of the stairs, she looked down them, feeling a little intimidated. It was ridiculous, she thought. Nothing was going to happen to her from climbing down a staircase. Her doctor wouldn’t have her coming in this afternoon if he didn’t think it was safe.
Before she could take the first step, she felt Jackson’s arms wrap around her, and then she was being pulled into his embrace as he cradled her to his chest and then began descending the staircase, leaving her no choice but to grab ahold of him or risk falling forward.
“What in the world are you doing?”
“Making sure you don’t overexert yourself,” he said as he reached the bottom of the stairs and set her down, not even a little out of breath.
“I can walk just fine on my own, Jackson.” She was the one out of breath.
It wasn’t like she’d forgotten how it felt to be in his arms, but the memories had begun to fade. Now they were right back to being front and center with the feel of his solid arms around her.
If she didn’t manage to get her hormones under control sometime in the next century, she might be the one propositioning him next. And that wasn’t something she was willing to do.
“Ready?” he asked as he held open her parents’ front door.
She answered in a monosyllable and said nothing else as she stepped outside, and then paused as she felt the fresh air and sunshine on her face. It had been only a couple of days since she’d been outside, but that was long enough. She’d rather live in a tent than be holed up for too long indoors.
“We’ve lucked out. It’s a beautiful spring day,” Jackson said as he wrapped an arm around her to help her down the front steps.
She chose not to fight him on this, or she feared he’d pick her up again. “I hate being indoors all the time. The summers in Texas were pretty miserable in the peak heat season, but I’d rather have hot, sunny days than too much snow. When I arrived here, the ground was so white that I didn’t even know where the roads were. I was more than relieved when the stuff began melting away and the sun came out.”
“Yeah, I guess if you’re not used to it, it can be a bit overwhelming. But when you live here long enough, you learn how to adapt. There are a lot of fun winter activities to do here, too,” he said as he opened his truck door for her and held out a hand to help her up.
She ignored the hand and grabbed the handle above the door and hoisted herself into his mammoth truck, then buckled up while he shut the door and went around to the driver’s side.
“What kind of activities can you do without freezing to death?”
“There’s snowboarding, snowmobiling, ice fishing, winter camping . . .” He paused and she jumped in.
“Winter camping? What in the world is that?” Nothing pleasant, she was sure.
“As much as you love the outdoors, you’ve never been winter camping?”
“No. Who in the world would go camping in the winter? That sounds like something miserable our ancestors had to endure while traveling to a new home.”
“I know. We’ve actually laughed about that before. My brothers and I love to camp. The people traveling westward across the States would have thought we were crazy. Why would we leave homes with electricity and real heat to go up into the wilderness? It’s simple, though. Camping is all about letting go of the world and going to an area that feels untouched. In the winter there are even fewer people, and for just a small moment in time, it feels like you’re the only ones there.”