Page 43 of Delay of Game
“If you think I’m some chivalrous asshole, I’d like to introduce you to our running backs coach. I’ve yelled at her.”
“Maybe she sucks too?”
He grinned at that. “Probably. I doubt she’d mind me saying as much. Still, you’re in good sucky company.”
Despite his reassurances, I ducked my head.
“I’m avoiding visiting my aunt. I haven’t been in two weeks, and I barely call other than to talk to the nursing staff.” The words rushed out, filling the empty room with a confession I wasn’t sure I should have made. My breath stalled in my throat.
He nodded, meeting my eyes. “I get it.”
It wasn’t the response I expected, though I wasn’t really sure what I expected. Something between disgust and sympathy. Some acknowledgement that avoiding my ill aunt made me a monster. Not an “I get it.”
“But I still suck.”
He shrugged, extending his hand to my elbow and giving it a squeeze. “It’s gotta be hard not knowing if she knows who you are or where she is. Especially after living together for so long.”
“It’s only, she’s hardly ever lucid at night, anymore. If I go in the evenings, I make her mad or scared right before bed. It upsets both of us, which only leaves the weekends…”
The pressure of his callused hand on my elbow felt nice, comforting. Rob didn’t seem like much of a toucher, and I waited for his hand to fall away. Dreaded it.
Instead, his fingertips ran up my arm, fluttering over my back as his other hand drew me in close. My cheek pressed to his broad chest as his arms enveloped me in a warm hug. A comforting hug. One I didn’t want to end.
“I should visit, though, even if she doesn’t know me. She doesn’t have anyone else. And I hate the thought of her being lonely. Of waking up in the morning alone and confused. Of the days where she knows where she is and doesn’t know why she’s alone.”
“She’s not alone. She’s near people. Lots of people. She has the nursing staff and the other residents. You did the right thing,moving her into a home. I get why it’s hard to visit.” His breath was hot, lips brushing my hair as his arms tightened into a wonderfully consuming hug.
“I just need to pull off the band aid and visit, but it’s been so long. What if she doesn’t recognize me anymore?” My fears bubbled out of my mouth in a torrent mixed with the tears.
“Then she’ll recognize you the next time. Or maybe the time after that. Even if she can’t remember you, she knows you.”
I burrowed into Rob, the combination of physical contact and my confession lessening some of my stress.
“I’d love to meet her. How about you bring me along?” His grip tightened as his lips glanced the top of my head. An incidental touch so close to a kiss that my body shivered. “Not today. But I’m back in town on Tuesday. How about we go then?”
“You don’t have to do that, Rob.”
“But I want to.” He pulled back, his soft brown eyes searching mine and his hands rubbing my arms. His face twisted, the smile fading into a look of confusion that faded away as his hands fell. “Now, I have an hour, and I’ve always wanted to know what the fuck a bunco is. Any chance you can explain it to me?”
SIXTEEN
ROB
Astrid wrungher hands in her light blue dress, the gauzy fabric wrinkling and her knuckles turning white. I pulled into a parking space at the memory care facility and tapped the steering wheel, hesitating before I reached across the car to cover her hand with mine.
“Relax,” I muttered as my thumb slid over her knuckles. “It’ll be fine.”
Touching Astrid came to me easily. Way too easily. And after the hug, I couldn’t seem to stop searching for ways to touch her. A hand to the small of her back while navigating past her in the furniture-laden hallways of her aunt’s house. Fingertips brushing her hair under the pretense of holding a door for her. And now.
“You don’t have to come,” she said for about the millionth time since I’d suggested meeting her aunt.
“I know. I want to. Are you gonna let me? If you’re uncomfortable, we can go back to your place, replace some fuses,” I teased.
She exhaled, closing her eyes. Her fingers fluttered under mine, palm turning up to interlace our hands for a fraction of a second before she pulled away.
She shook her head. “No. I want you to meet her. I just…if she’s not having a good day…”
She faltered, shooting me a weak smile.
