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 f
urniture 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?”
“If she’s got help, no problem. But, she might get dizzy looking down them with the concussion she’s got, so a general ‘nay’ unless someone’ll help her down every single time.”
“Alright. What about diet? Anything I should stay away from with her swelling and stuff?”
“Anything that prompts inflammation will be bad, but if you just stick to a healthy diet that isn’t rich in breads, you’ll be good. Lots of water, no soda, and absolutely no caffeine.”
“Chelsea’s not gonna like that,” I mused lowly.
“No one ever does,” Ash smirked.
“Whose care is she being released into?” she asked.
“Mine.” Ash pursed her lips.
“Bet her momma didn’t like that.”
“Not at first, but I gave her a key to the house so she could come by whenever she wanted.”
“That’s good,” Ash smiled, “you’re a good man, Flynn.”
“Thanks,” I sighed.
“Just… know your limits,” she warned.
“What’s that mean?”