Page 75 of Roll With The Punches
“Of course I do.”
“Then trust me when I tell you that this isn’t a problem for us. Our first concern is your health.”
* * * *
The next morning, Jeff lay in bed long after Brandon and Stuart had left for work. They’d put him in the middle so they wouldn’t have to climb over him and risk hurting him when their alarms went off.
Every part of Jeff’s body ached. He really didn’t want to get up, even to take his meds. He knew it’d hurt.
The bad kind of pain that left him physically wrecked, not the good kind of pain that left him charged up and frisky.
Finally, he dragged himself out to the kitchen. Stuart had left him a note propped next to the pill caddy Emma had painstakingly set up for him yesterday afternoon.
TAKE THEM. Emma and Grace will be here later this morning after her swim training. Let them take care of you. Love you :)
Jeff poured himself a glass of water, opened the pill caddy compartment to get the meds out, and started swallowing pills and capsules one at a time. He’d planned on cooking dinner for everyone tonight, but the way he felt right now, he wasn’t sure if he’d have the strength to do more than make it out to the couch to take a nap by the time he finished taking his meds.
I hate my body.
He was thirty-eight and felt like a goddamned old man. Going back to work would be arealfucking bitch if the medication didn’t kick in and start making a massive difference in the next couple of days.
If the doctors would even clear him to go back to work.
Or if Brandon and Stuart would let him go back to work.
Except, right now, he felt worthless, like he was a mooch by not contributing to their household expenses. He didn’t care that Brandon and Stuart had told him not to worry about that.
Heworried about it.
Jeff ended up back in bed after he forced himself to eat a small bowl of cereal. As he dozed, he was aware of Emma and Grace coming home at some point before noon. Emma sent him a text to see if he needed anything, but he assured her all he wanted to do was sleep, and that he’d try to eat a little soup for dinner later.
He turned up the TV, which he’d left on all morning, so he wouldn’t be able to hear them.
About an hour later, he realized he was overdue to take his afternoon meds. Forcing himself up and out of bed, he paused at the sliders on his way to the bathroom. They looked out onto the lanai and there had been a few nights where the three of them had snuck out there to skinny dip or fool around in the pool after Emma had gone to bed. Normally, they left the blinds closed if they weren’t home, even though they had window tint to help repel afternoon sunlight and heat. Today, he’d cracked them open earlier to give him enough light to see by without having to leave a lamp on.
At first, he wasn’t processing what he was seeing beside the pool. Emma and Grace were out there—not unusual. Grace’s parents didn’t have a pool.
The girls were stretched out on the lanai deck at the edge of the pool, in a shady spot, side by side on beach towels.
Kissing.
And not innocent little affectionate, friendly kind of pecks, either.
They weresnogging.
And that was Grace’s hand up the bottom of Emma’s—
Whoa.
Not even bothering to pull the vertical blinds out of the way first, he unlocked and yanked the sliders open. “A-hem.”
Parent mode: fully engaged.
Emma startled and rolled back, losing her balance and ending up in the pool with a splash.
Jeff managed to get the blinds out of his way and step outside without tripping over them and face-planting onto the concrete lanai deck.
“Both of you, inside. Kitchen.Now.”
