“It’s just… I’m sad I won’t be able to see you anymore.”
He cupped her face. “But I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’re not going to tell me to go at least until you go home?”
“No. Not at all. In fact, I wanted to ask you if you’d come home with me and help me recuperate.”
Her mouth dropped open. He did not just say he wanted to be with her outside of the hospital. She had to be dreaming.
“I don’t think I understand,” she said.
“I want you to quit your job here, come home, and live with me. We’ll talk more about school later, but I want to help you.”
“How?”
“I know it’s hard for you to say no to your mother. Right?”
She nodded. It was a nightmare to talk to the woman because she didn’t listen to anything she had to say.
“You’re twenty-two years old, sweetheart. She can’t make you do anything.”
She looked away, ashamed. God, she was such a baby. “I’ve never been on my own.”
“But you’re not going to be. You’ll be with me.”
“But for how long? What happens when you’re healed and don’t need me anymore?”
A shiver raced down her spine when his hand started caressing up and down her arm.
“I have a feeling I’m always going to need you.”
Her eyes widened. “What are you saying?”
He cupped her chin in his hand. “I’m saying I want you to plan on staying with me always. We’ll figure something else out if you hate it, but I promise I won’t ever leave you.”
“Are you talking about me being a maid?”
He snorted. “Not quite.”
She couldn’t wrap her head around it. “You want me like a girlfriend?’
He smiled. “Yes. Exactly like that, if you want to try. Do you think you’d like to try it?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Good.”
The door opened, and a young woman wheeled a cart in.
Anna smiled. “Hi, Jenny.”
“Hi,” the girl said and looked wide-eyed between the two. Anna bit her lip to keep from laughing at the expression on her friend’s face.
“I have your food,” Jenny said.
Anna jumped down from the bed. “Thank you.”
Anna sat Zachary up a bit more, put his food on the rolling table, and adjusted it to his level.