“No, you’re down an arm, full of drugs and still recovering,” she insists.
I shake my head, chuckling, and then hide my grimace at the pain it causes. I reach over to grab Lily’s hand, holding it tightly in my own, needing the comfort she brings me. I just want to go home and sleep in my own bed, next to my girl, and get started on the rest of our lives together.
As soon as we get back to my house, Lily takes me inside, and instead of Franki greeting me violently, she rubs herself against my leg.
“Did you tell her to be nice to me?” I question.
“Yeah, we had a long talk about being nice to you while you’re recovering.”
“I’ll take it for now.”
Lily starts to lead me to my bedroom, and Franki follows, even jumps on the bed as Lily helps me down onto it.
“You’re joining me, right?” I ask, settling into the much comfier bed than I’ve been in for days.
“No funny business.” She points her finger at me, and I pull her onto me with a laugh. She quickly moves to lay next to me instead of on top of me. “I just said no funny business.”
I shrug, wrapping my good arm around her. “It was worth a try.”
She settles against me, and rests her hand on her stomach, rubbing it up and down which I’ve noticed her doing often.
“What do you think it’s going to be?” she asks quietly.
“Perfect,” I answer immediately. Because no matter what, I know our baby is going to be absolutely perfect.
Lily looks up at me with a smile. “I love you.”
“I love you so fucking much,” I lean down to press my lips against hers. When I try to slide my tongue through her lips, she pushes me back and I groan.
“Don’t tempt me. You need to be a good boy.”
“I can be such a good boy for you, Lil.” I wink and she shakes her head.
“You’re going to be a problem, aren’t you?”
“I’myourproblem.”
“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She kisses me again. I don’t try to push it this time, I just enjoy being here. With her.
My entire focushas been on planning the best proposal for Lily. Yes, I should be recovering and I’m doing that too. Butknowing we’re going to have a baby has me ready to ask her the question I’ve wanted to ask for years.
Of course, I push the limits of my recovery several times. The result has been Lily yelling at me, but I truly do feel better. The only thing that hinders me is my damn broken arm. It’s my left, but it’s a huge pain in the ass to not be able to use it.
I want to wait to propose until after the cast’s off, though it’s killing me to wait. It’s also killing me not to go back to work. I hate not doing anything. I end up going with Lily to her parent’s house to pack up some of her things. I’m intent on helping her, but she says that if I try she’s going to make me wish I was still in the hospital.
Instead, I go with her to see Ethan. I haven’t seen him since the fire, and Lily told me how guilty he feels. I want to make sure he’s okay and that he knows I’m not upset with him.
Lily gives me a pointed look when I try one more time to help her pack some of her things and shoos me away to go see Ethan. He’s in his room, and I knock on the cracked door before entering.
As soon as he sees me, he perks up from his tablet. “Parker!” he exclaims, trying to rush out of bed, but I see his wince of pain at how fast he moves.
“Don’t hurt yourself,” I tell him as he wraps his arms around me in a tight hug. When he lets go, I see his eyes go to my arm and his face drops.
“I’m so sorry.” He sniffs.
I kneel down to be closer to eye level with him,even though my legs scream at me. “You don’t need to be sorry, okay? I know you were just trying to help, maybe next time leave it to the pros.”
He nods. “I will, I just wanted to get the animals out for you.”