Melissa: A Hathaway House Heartwarming Romance by Dale Mayer (good book club books txt) 📕

“Right. So just like you wanted to go in the pool,” he said, “it’s really nice to know that you want me, and you want me that much,” he said, tapping her gently on the nose with his index finger.

“And does that mean that you like me as much as I like you?” she whispered.

He dropped a kiss on her forehead and held her close. “I have no idea how much you like me,” he said, “but I know that my heart smiles when it sees you, that my brain wakes up and thinks of you first thing in the morning. You’re the last thought in my head before I go to sleep. And I’m looking for excuses all day long to come past your room to see if you’re around.”

She stared at him in astonishment.

He nodded and smiled, couldn’t stop smiling now. “I’ve had to keep a lot of that inside,” he said, “just because I’m in a professional environment. And we want you to heal. We want you to do the best you can do without it being tied up to an emotional attachment with one of us …”

“Oh, I love you for you,” she said, “no doubt about that. I just hadn’t realized it until all this was going on right now,” she said. “I didn’t realize I was sabotaging my own progress because I didn’t want to leave you. It makes sense to me now. A lot of it makes sense now. But honestly, it’s lovely to know that A, I could tell you, and that B, we’re here.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” He kissed her on the nose and said, “Now, you still have a couple months here, and, in that couple months,” he said, “we’ll get you back on your feet, so you’re as strong and as capable as you can be. We can look at various job options in the animal world, if that’s where you’d like to go, and,” he said, “we’ll do the best we can to take our relationship one step further.”

“And what does that mean?” she said in a cheeky voice.

He laughed and laughed. “Not that,” he said. “Not until you’re fully cleared.”

“And that’s sad,” she said.

He hugged her tight and said, “It’s something for us to wait for.”

“Because it’s all about living today.” She smiled, reached up, and caught his face gently with her hand. “And that’s a lesson I’ll delight in learning,” she said. “One day at a time. Together.”

“Every moment with us,” he said, “is a gift. So let’s just enjoy it, and later we’ll work out all the details of our tomorrows.” He leaned his head closer, and he kissed her gently and thoroughly.

When he finally lifted his head, she smiled and whispered, “I can get on that program. You’re the best in your field. So, if you say this is what I need to do, I’m happy to follow your lead.”

He shook his head and said, “In our personal relationship, you’re not following anybody’s lead. I want a partner who stands beside me and walks with me.”

“Well, hopefully,” she said, “you’re also okay if I sometimes roll along in a wheelchair too.”

He chuckled. “Absolutely. I don’t have any requirements, other than you spend your time with me.”

“Easily done,” she whispered, and he lowered his head once again.

Epilogue

Nash Covington listened as the doctor explained once again why his trip to Hathaway was delayed. “But it’s all been approved,” he said in frustration. “Why is there even a discussion about it right now?”

“We’re just making sure that you’re well enough to travel,” the doctor said. “So another four days, then you should be good to go.” The doctor walked out, not willing to discuss the issue anymore, not willing to even explain any further.

Nash fell back onto his bed and groaned. His buddy Owen, beside him for many weeks, said, “So not the news you wanted?”

“Well, it’s not bad news,” he said. “It’s just the same old bull again.”

“I think they specialize in that,” Owen said. “Here you seem pretty bound and determined to get to Hathaway. Are you sure it’s Hathaway you want to go to, or just this place you want to get away from?”

“Probably both,” Nash said. “But it’s back in Dallas, and Dallas is where I want to be. That’s family. That’s friends. That’s an old girlfriend, who I know won’t want anything to do with me in this shape. But still, that doesn’t mean that I won’t be friends with her, and, right now, it feels like I have very little family and no friends in my life.”

“I think that’s the way of it,” Owen said. “As soon as you have an accident like this, you find out who your friends truly are.”

“Well, not only is it the accident,” he said, “but it’s the accident and all the surgeries and time recovering. It’s not a short-term support system. It’s been what? Eighteen months now?”

“Mine’s not been quite so bad,” Owen said. “But, in your case, yeah. You’ve had a lot more surgeries.”

“And I’m so ready to get out of this bed.”

“How did you hear about Hathaway House?”

“A friend of mine,” Nash said. “He’s been gone quite a while already. But, last I heard from him, it was Hathaway House that made the difference. Cole was someone I could trust, and, if he says I’ll do better there, I’d like to try.”

“Then four days,” Owen said. “Four more days. That’s all you have to wait for now. And, when you get there, let me know if it’s any good, will you?”

“Count on it, buddy. You can count on it.” Nash closed his eyes, resting. If they thought he wasn’t good enough to make that trip, he was bound and determined to spend the next four days doing what he could to build up his strength and to make sure that his arrival at Hathaway happened because it seemed like everybody else was against