“Flynn…?” I asked. I panned my gaze over to him standing at the door, and I watched him unfurl his arms before he came and sat on the edge of my hospital bed. His large, strong hand descended lightly onto my leg, and when he began to rub it in an attempt to quell my fears, I felt myself melt into the warmth of his touch.
“I’ll come by as often as I can, but I just won’t be able to upkeep the farm and make sure you have everything you need.”
I could hear the tears in my mother’s eyes, and I lobbed my gaze over toward her. Tears were streaming down her face, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. So, I turned my hand over and locked my fingers with hers before I urged her to look at me.
“You are not an incompetent mother, Mom. You have responsibilities, and you trust Flynn. I think we all do, even after all these years.”
I felt his hand squeeze my leg, and it took every ounce of energy I had not to groan in comfort right there in the middle of the hospital room.
“I’ll come by every day,” my mother breathed.
“Ssshhhh… it’s alright,” I soothed. I pulled her close to me and felt her wrap her tired arms around me. Whoever suggested that Flynn take care of me was right, even without the responsibility of the farm, my mother’s energy went towards taking care of my father. She would’ve never had the energy and strength to juggle taking care of both of us.
“You’ll be just fine with me, Chelsea,” Flynn said lowly.
And a smile graced my chapped lips just as my mother began to pull away from the crook of my neck.
“I know,” I said. “I know.”
Chapter 11: Flynn
I knew Chelsea’s mother would’ve never been able to take care of her in the condition she was in. From what the doctor was telling us, Chelsea would have issues getting up to walk and cleaning herself for a while, which meant she wouldn’t be able to do things like cook and clean for herself. Her mom was inundated with responsibilities around her ranch and was still the prime caretaker of Barber, and it killed me to think about Chelsea not being taken care of in the way she needed to be.
When we had all this information, it was just before Chelsea had woken up, and when I suggested it to Mrs. August, she had thrown a fit. She accused me of calling her a terrible mother, and I had to hold her close and tell her that I meant absolutely none of that. I explained to her the sheer amount of time it would take to take care of Chelsea, even if she was sleeping a great deal because of her pain medication. Chelsea would have doctor’s appointments to get back and forth to, and she would need help in the shower as well as getting clothes on. Mrs. August was tough, but she was also older, and lugging around Barber whenever he needed help was more exertion than she could take some days.
And that was no secret to the community.
I told her I’d be there to help her and that I’d give her a key to my home. I told her she could come by anytime she wanted to visit and check up on Chelsea, and that I’d keep my phone on me so she could call whenever she wanted. It was quite the fight with her, but when Barber finally intervened, he was able to talk some sense into her.
And finally, she relented and agreed to let me take Chelsea home to care for her.
I stayed by Chelsea’s bedside and lived in the few clothes I kept slung in the back of my truck. When she was sleeping, I went up to the local laundromat and cleaned my clothes up, and when I needed a shower, I used the little one that was attached to Chelsea’s hospital room. She was still groggy from the antivenom and the pain medication she was on, so she slept more than she was awake. But, that didn’t bother me. It gave me a lot of time to think on some things.
I made some phone calls and moved back riding lessons for the next two weeks. I figured if I could get Chelsea up and going on her own halfway through the month, then I could at least resume giving lessons to the boys who had aspirations of riding in the rodeo one day. I made a call to Bradley and told him I’d pay him money if he would come over and take care of my animals so I could focus on Chelsea, and he said he could switch off with his dad. I tried to get him to agree on a price, but he refused to be paid.
Figures, with a selfless man like him.
So, I told him I’d offer him free work in return. If he were gonna come take care of my animals free of charge, then I’d offer him the same courtesy. I told him he could take me up on that offer anytime he’d like, and it could be a way for him and his father to take a vacation. Far as I knew, they’d never taken one-- not since his mama died anyway-- proclaiming that it wasn’t a family vacation without the entire family.
But sometimes you just needed a break from work.
I told him how Chelsea was and he promised to stop by later on. I told him to seriously consider my offer, even if he and his dad just sat around the house and did absolutely nothing. That wasn’t a vacation, that was just being lazy, and Bradley laughed through the phone before he hung up.
Now, it was just a matter of fixing up things in the house before Chelsea got there. I had a spare bedroom across the hall from mine, but the issue was it was upstairs. I had a room downstairs that I could clear out, but that required furniture to be moved and I wasn’t sure I could pull that off in the amount of time I had. So, since Chelsea was still sound asleep, I went off in search of the doctor.
“Ash! Hey… hey, Ash!”
She turned around with a small smile on her lips, and I caught myself before I approached her.
“I mean, doctor. Hey, doctor.”
“What can I do for you, Bullhead,” she lulled.
“I have some questions on how to make Chelsea safe and comfortable given her condition.”
“Alright. Shoot,” she said.
“Stairs. Yay or nay?”