I had a hard time telling the difference between all my different t-shirts—much less all my shorts and sweats. It was frustrating beyond belief, and I ended up tossing them all onto the floor in a fit of rage.
I stood there for a moment, just staring at the blurred mess I’d made, and tried my best not to have a breakdown. I inhaled a couple of deep breaths, then finally grabbed something to wear and headed to the bathroom.
I’d hoped the shower would go a little better, but no such luck. I had a hard time moving around the small space without knocking things over and tripping on the floor mat, but I eventually managed to turn on the water and even found my bodywash. I put on one of the waterproof bandages the nurse had given me for my head and incision, then stepped into the shower.
The warm water felt incredible against my back and shoulders, and it wasn’t long before the tension I’d been carrying started to fade. I carefully washed most of my hair and did a haphazard job of shaving, then got out and dried off. I thought I was getting the hang of this whole vision thing until I started to get dressed.
I managed to get on my bra and panties, but the second I started to put on my sweats, I misjudged the leg opening and ended up falling back on my ass with a hard thud. “Shit!”
I sat there with the waistband of my sweats still in my hand and started crying, and by crying, I mean sobbing like an inconsolable child. I hadn’t been sitting there long when the bathroom door flew open and Conor came rushing in. “Damn, babe. Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”
“No,” I wailed. “I-I’m fine. I just tripped.”
He scooped me up and carried me into the bedroom, then sat me down on the edge of the bed. “I should’ve been there to help. “
“No, I wanted to do it on my own.”
“It’s your first day home from the hospital, Rae. You gotta give yourself some time.”
“I know, but I gotta be able to do the basics on my own. Otherwise, I’ll never get through this.” After I wiped the tears from my face, I slipped my feet through the legs of my sweats, then stood to pull them up. “I need my t-shirt.”
“I’ll get it.” Conor stepped back into the bathroom, grabbed it off the sink, then handed it to me. “Here ya go.”
“Thanks.” I slipped it over my head, then asked, “Do I look ridiculous?”
“You look beautiful.”
“You’re just saying that.” I wound my arms around his neck and smiled. “But I love you for it.”
“And I love you.”
Conor lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me with a reverence and possessiveness that ignited an ache deep inside me—an ache that was all for him. His fingertips lightly twisted in my hair as he pulled me close and kissed me long and deep, then he nipped my bottom lip between his teeth, seducing me with his skillful mouth.
I was lost in a delicious haze of desire when I heard Haleigh shout, “Hey, you two. Locke is here with the Chinese!”
I broke away from our embrace and shouted back, “Okay, we’ll be there in a minute!”
“You good?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“That’s my girl.”
My heart swelled as I stood there in the arms of the man I loved—the man who made me feel utterly complete. I couldn’t imagine feeling more content than I did at that moment, and thanks to Conor, I had no doubt that there would be many more moments like these to come.
LYNCH
ONE MONTH LATER
“You said this place needed a little work.” Country grimaced as he took a glance around. “You didn’t say it was falling apart.”
“It’s not that bad.” I grabbed a couple of cans of paint and some rollers out of the back of the SUV, then handed them to Country. “It just needs a little TLC.”
“Are you not seeing what I’m seeing?” Country motioned his hand towards the animal shelter as he complained, “There’s not enough TLC in the world to help this place.”
“Never said it was gonna be easy.”
“No, but this is gonna be a real ballbuster.”
He was right.
The shelter was in a pitiful state and would take a shit-ton of work to fix it up, but when I turned and saw the excited look on Rae’s face as she talked with the girls, I knew it would be worth it. This shelter had come to mean a great deal to her.
While her vision had improved, it was still far from being back to normal, and even wearing the glasses Dr. Grant had prescribed for her, she wasn’t able to drive or go to work. Rae did what she could from home to finish the preparations for the anniversary party for Rebecca’s folks and the Sullivan wedding, and they both went off without a hitch.