She’s not up to that yet.
“Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.
Crap. He’d kind of zoned out on her again.
“Just working through that problem.”
“With Archie?”
“Yeah.” He washed down her tummy. “Why don’t you lie back?”
“My hair will get wet.”
“I’ll wash it for you.” He helped her lie back then he moved to wash her legs.
“I thought we might have heard from him.” There was a sad note in her voice and he instantly felt like an asshole. What if Kent was right? What if she needed Archer too? Could he deny her anything that she needed?
Short answer was no.
But he still wanted to think on this for a bit. There wasn’t just the logistics of this sort of relationship. There was the fact that Archer lived in a different city. He couldn’t imagine his brother living here, with them.
And he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
He sat her back up and grabbed a cup to wet her hair.
“I was spoiled today.”
He turned her face around, so she was looking at him. “If anyone deserves it, baby doll, it’s you.”
She gave him a small smile. “I didn’t think I would ever have this again. A feeling of being home. Of being loved.”
He lightly kissed her lips. “Welcome home, Caley. We’re gonna make lots of happy memories here.”
“I know.”
He finished washing her hair then lifted her out of the bath and quickly dried her off. He rubbed the towel through her hair.
He grabbed some clean panties. They were a pale pink with clouds on them. A gift. He felt bad that he hadn’t thought to buy her anything before they left Bozeman. Although he had ordered a few things online for her last night while he was trying to sleep in that uncomfortable hospital chair. The nurses had tried to kick him out, but there had been no way he was leaving her.
He took note of the way she was pressing her legs together. She hadn’t been to the bathroom much today. The nurse had helped her first thing this morning then he’d helped her while they’d been waiting for everyone to arrive. And that was only because he’d made her go.
Poor baby, he knew it had to be hard to let others help her, but she shouldn’t hold it in. It wasn’t healthy.
“You need the potty, baby doll?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “But I can do it myself.”
He eyed her hands which were still thickly bandaged. “Not until those hands heal a bit more.”
Her cheeks were flushed.
“Baby doll, you don’t have to be embarrassed. It’s my privilege to help you. This is what I thrive on, taking care of you. I need it.”
She stared at him then sighed. “It’s just embarrassing.”
“You can’t hold it, baby doll. You’ll give yourself a UTI.” He frowned. “This isn’t why you’re hardly eating, is it?”
She looked away guiltily.