“Okay, well, I guess we can go to bed now.”
“Good. I’m tired.”
I slip under the sheets and tease her much like she did to me one night, “I promise to stay on my side.” If I could, I would pat the bed, but I would have to reach over myself and it’d be more of a hassle than it’s worth.
Avery rolls her eyes, but climbs beneath the sheets as well. As I close my eyes, I repeat the word in my head over and over.
Slow. Slow. Slow.
When I wake up, the beautiful aroma of bacon has drifted into my room. I mosey on down to the kitchen to find Avery at the stove.
“Morning.”
She glances at me and smiles. “Good morning, Jax.”
“Smells good. Hey,” she quickly looks at me again, “I need a shower. Is my nurse going to give me a sponge bath?”
Avery laughs. “I don’t think you’re that hurt, Jax. As long as you don’t lift your arm, you’ll be fine.”
“Trust me, I won’t be doing that.”
I watch her move around, put the food on our plates, and bring them over to the table before going back for drinks. She does take care of me and I think she likes to take care of people. I mean, she was a nurse.
“Thanks for breakfast,” I say once she sits down.
She smiles. “You’re welcome.”
We begin to eat and I hum in appreciation.
“You’re going to rest today and relax,” Avery starts. “Like you said, I’m your nurse, so you have to do whatever I tell you to without being a pain in the ass.”
I laugh. “Me? A pain in the ass? It was one time, and it turned out pretty great, I think.”
“Yeah, well, we don’t need a repeat performance, Jax,” she replies while trying to hide a smile.
“Do you miss your job, Avery?” I blurt out.
“What?” She seems surprised by the change of topic.
“You’ve said yourself that you take care of me all the time. You’re doing it right now. Do you miss being a nurse?”
Avery takes the time to think about it. “I liked it better before the promotion.” She laughs softly. “That’s backward, right? But it’s true. I don’t miss it too much, Jax. And I liked working for you. You were a good boss.” She goes to nudge my elbow, but has to stop because she’s on my right side.
I frown. “I don’t like you calling me that, you know.”
“What? Boss?”
“Yeah, it… feels wrong. I’m your husband, not your boss. I mean, I know you’re teasing, but–”
“I understand what you’re saying. How about we look at it this way? We’re in a partnership and I run the business side of our empire,” she laughs with the last word, making me laugh with her.
“Better.”
She goes to take our empty plates, so I carefully grab both our glasses with one hand by my forefinger and thumb holding one and the rest with the other.
“Jax, I could have gotten those,” Avery frowns when I walk into the kitchen. She quickly comes to take them from me.
“I could, too, so I did. Thanks again for breakfast; I’m going to go shower.”