Forever: A Lobster Kind Of Love (25 page)

“Yeah, what is the deal with Ryan? Spill, lady.”

Crap, here we go
. “He is my client.”

“I call bullshit!” Jill yelled from behind Tonya.

“I second that bullshit.” Tonya chimed in.

“What? Well, he is.”

Tonya yanked my head back and glared down at me. “You know exactly what I am talking about, Lydia. Don’t play stupid. I have known you since kindergarten. There is no dirty deed or secret you can keep from me.”

“There haven’t been any dirty deeds,” I said meekly.

“Yet!” Jill piped up again.

Traitor. She knew exactly how to egg Tonya on
.

“We just kiss, that’s all. I am his nurse. I can’t let it progress.”

“Lydia, there is nothing but love and lust in that man’s eyes. He looks at you like a lion looks at a zebra.”

“He is going to eat you up, girl.” Jill cooed behind Tonya.

“I don’t even know how that would work.”

“Well, Ms. Nurse, does ‘it’ work?” I guess my facial expression said it all as my two friends cackled like hyenas, shaking the bed.

“Holy shit, it does work! Did you touch it? Do you give him a shower? Do you wash it twice: once for clean and twice for pleasure?”

My fucking friends were dirty birds and I couldn’t believe the direction this conversation had taken.

“NO! I don’t wash it! He showers himself.” I shouted at them quieting their cackles as they eagerly waited for details. “But I felt it.” I covered my face in embarrassment as my hyena girls laughed it up once more.

“So how was it? Is he big?” Tonya asked excitedly.

“From what’s been pressing against my ass, yeah he is big enough to get the job done well for sure.”

“So when are you going to give it up? Sweep out the cobwebs and lay down some pipe.” Tonya chided as she wiggled her eyebrows at me.

“You don’t think it’s cheating on Mason?” The room fell quiet at the mention of my husband’s name.
Way to be a buzzkill, Lyds.

Tonya began stroking my hair again and let out a long breath. “Lydia, Mason isn’t coming back. It is not cheating, sweetie. You didn’t make that choice. There is no divorce in death. It’s just done. There are no bad guys or bad wives, just good memories.

"Ryan wants you, I see it in his eyes. In the way he looks at you…no, the way he stares at you, his eyes are only for you,” Tonya continued. “He actually missed his mouth a few times at dinner. At first, I thought it was part of his handicap and maybe he had some bad coordination or something, but that wasn’t it at all. He was just too busy staring at you to be bothered with reaching his mouth properly.”

“Didn’t you see the strawberry pie all down his shirt? You licked the whipped cream off the back of your spoon and
ploop
he got a chest full of strawberry filling.” Jill laughed as she recalled the scenario.

“He has made it very clear he is attracted to me, trust me, but what do I do about work?” I pleaded.

“What about work? Who is going to tell? Let me ask you this, would you have cooked Thanksgiving dinner if it was on a Saturday or because you were getting paid to do it?”

Without hesitation, I answered, “I would have done it anyway. I didn’t want him to be alone.”

“And when was your shift over today?” Jill asked.

“6:00.” I replied.

“So basically, the minute we walked in the door, you were off the clock and it was game on. You were there because you wanted to be. The question is do you want to be there
with him
?”

“Why else would I be there?”

“Exactly!” they said in unison.

“I understand the taking it slow part Lydia, but make no mistake, Ryan wants you,” Tonya said in no uncertain terms.

I laid in Tonya’s lap and thought about what they said as she continued to play with my hair before Jill broke the quiet.

“So how far is Lubec? I want to be there when the outlet opens. I'm getting an Apple watch. I have to have it!” We all laughed at her enthusiasm. I knew the minute she bought that thing she would be calling us from it and playing with it for weeks.

We discussed Christmas gifts and caught up on Nazareth gossip, and as the early dawn approached, the girls left for their Black Friday shopping spree. I snuggled back in my bed and I was asleep within minutes.

Lydia was back in the morning and looked no worse for wear. She was probably up all night with her girlfriends. It was a pretty lazy day, and I insisted she sit the fuck down and just chill with me for the day. We were still observing her damn 6:00 rule, but there was no rule against snuggling on the couch.

We watched episode after episode of
Walking Dead
on Netflix, and every couple of hours, Lydia would grab us some snacks or nibbles of leftovers. I don’t think either of us really was paying much attention, it was just mindless television. After lunch, we both fell into a food coma and were sound asleep.

I woke up to Lydia huddled under my arm and she was shivering. I knew we’d fallen asleep watching television but now the screen was dark and the house was freezing cold. I reached into the console and grabbed the afghan from inside and draped it over Lydia’s shivering body. I carefully slid to the side and rested her head on one of the couch pillows. I transferred into my wheelchair as gently as possible, trying not to disturb her.

I rolled toward the thermostat and it read 60 degrees. I checked the settings, and the heat was on but it was cold in here. I leaned over and felt the baseboard on the wall and it was cold. The windows were all closed and the deck doors were closed. I didn’t understand it. I pulled back the blinds and flipped the deck light on. It didn’t come on.

Holy shit
. It had snowed while we’d slept and the snow had drifted halfway up the sliding deck doors. There was a blanket of white as far as the eye could see. I didn’t see any lights anywhere. I pulled the blinds back into place and rolled to the front door. I was afraid to open it since it was so cold in here to begin with so I peered through the two long panes of glass that bordered each side of the door. I couldn’t see any lights.

The power must be out
. Without power, the heat wouldn’t work and neither would the baseboard heaters.

I dug under the footstools and pulled out all the afghans I could reach. It was early in the evening and as night settled in the temperature was sure to drop even lower. Lydia couldn’t drive home in this. Her SUV was buried under a drift halfway up her doors. The best we could do was wait until daylight or the power came back on to figure out our next step.

After collecting as many blankets as I could and the flashlights from the sideboard by the light of my cell phone, I returned to the sectional to lay head to head with Lydia. I made sure she was covered well before I transferred back to the sofa and bundled up as well. I fell back asleep to the melody of Lydia’s soft snores.

I woke up with a start as my foot caught a cold draft. I quickly tugged my foot back under the covers and went to turn over and nearly fell off the couch.

What the hell? Where am I?
I was still in my scrubs but I was barefoot. I dug in my pocket for my phone and turned on the backlight and it was almost midnight. I shined the light and found Ryan sleeping next to me his head next to mine.

Shit, I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I better head home.

“Ryan…” I whispered trying not to startle him but rouse him so he could go to his comfy bed. “Ryan…”

I felt so bad; he was out here on the couch with me when he had a perfectly good bed waiting. I shook his shoulder a little and he moaned as he turned onto his back. “It’s Saturday go back to bed.”

“You go to bed; I’m going home. It’s midnight.”

“Too much snow, Lyds, go back to sleep.”

Snow? What snow?
I got up off the couch and went to the sliding doors and pulled the blinds to the side. Without even turning on the light, I saw the level of snow that had drifted against the sliding doors.

“Holy shit, that’s a lot of snow. Ryan, did you see this?” I turned back to the couch and Ryan was rubbing his eye as he was trying to focus with the illumination of his phone.

“Yeah it came down pretty hard while we were sleeping. The power is out, too.” I tried the back deck light switch and sure enough, nothing.

“Is that why it’s so cold in here?” I asked as I rubbed my exposed arms and scurried back to the warmth of the blankets on the couch.

“Yeah, the blowers and baseboard heaters won’t work without power. Come on, go back to sleep,” Ryan said lazily.

“You can’t be comfortable on the couch, Ryan. Come on, go to bed.”

He just laid his phone on his chest for the dim light and kept rubbing his eyes. “You coming?” he asked groggily.

“What? Yeah, sure I will help you.”

Ryan sat up and turned, moving his legs in front of him. “Lydia, I don’t need your help to get into bed. I want you in my bed. With me.”

“Ryan…” I pleaded.

“Lydia, just stop. It’s cold and there is a draft off the deck. My room is warmer and our body heat will keep us warm with the help of the blankets, and we can close the door to keep the warm air back there.”

“But…”

“No buts. There is no driving in this mess. You can’t even see enough to make it down the ramp never mind clean off your car. The streets are a mess and no one will even begin to plow until daylight. Do you have somewhere else to be?”

“No.”

“Then stop being so stubborn. Besides, it’s after 6:00; you’re mine,” he informed me with a cocky grin.

I thought about what the girls said, and I was out of excuses. “Okay, let’s go. It’s cold in here!” I grabbed the blankets off him, bundled them with mine, and ran for the bedroom.

“No fucking fair. Oh woman, you are going to pay for that.” Ryan hollered from the living room as he transferred to his chair.

I went back to the bedroom doorway, grabbed the pull-up bar with both hands, and dangled from it. “This is not bowling or golf. There is no handicap start. You coming or not?” I teased as I swayed from the bar.

“Oh, I am coming all right. Get off my bar woman so I can get in there. You’re going to get it.” Ryan warned, swatting at my butt.

I spread the blankets I’d brought from the living room over the bed. I slid under the bars that ran over his bed, climbed under the covers, and tucked them up to my nose.

Ryan moved with such swift agility that it was really a sight to be seen. He usually remained in his chair when I was around. He worked out when I wasn’t around, and now as I watched him swing from bar to bar, I was just amazed at how far he had come. The next thing I knew, he hanging over me by one arm with his legs draped next to mine and his other arm against the mattress next to my hip.

She is so fucking beautiful, and she is in my bed
. I was afraid to let go of the bar. My weight was supported, but I was afraid she would run. She was just lying there, staring at me like a circus act. I supposed it must have looked like it for sure, but I was just still in shock that she was here. I thought for sure she would have protested coming to bed.

“You okay with this? I mean I can keep my clothes on.”

“Ryan, don’t be silly. You have jeans on. Scrubs are practically pajamas, but you can’t possibly be comfortable in jeans. What do you normally sleep in?” she asked.