“If only it were that easy, eh?” he asked, shoulder bumping me lightly.
“Trust me. It’s not. I’ve tried everything, but I still work my plans around the weather all these years later. That bothers them. No, it’s more like it drives them batshit crazy.”
“Brady didn’t tell me everything. He just said you were injured in a storm as a kid, and that’s why you walk with a limp.”
“Ha!” I said, sarcastic laughter filling my voice. “That’s an understatement.” I was getting angry and defensive now. “Brady had no right to tell you that and then to underplay the truth!”
“What’s the truth then, Amber?” he asked, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his thighs.
I pulled up my dress to show him the scars on my calf. “Intramedullary rod and nails in my tibia and,” I said, turning my arm outward so he could see the underside. “My left humerus. We aren’t even going to talk about my knee and thigh. A tornado hit the campground where we were camping when I was thirteen. They found me in a tree yards away from where the RV had been. It took everyone by surprise that night. Every bone on the left side of my body was broken, but I was lucky and survived, some people didn’t. The tornado split our RV right in half. I was unlucky enough to be sleeping on the bed in the middle of it.”
His hand came up to rest on my back, and his eyes closed. “I’m so sorry, Amber. I can’t even imagine. The idea of how scary that had to have been just made my stomach tremble. I understand why you don’t want to mess with Mother Nature now.”
“You mean, why I freak out about storms?” I asked sarcastically. “For your information, I have diagnosed PTSD.” My shoulders deflated, and I sighed. “Sorry, my heart is still pounding wildly. I need to run and hide, but I can’t.”
He rubbed my leg soothingly through the brace and all. “Don’t apologize. I didn’t know that,” he said with understanding. “I wish I had. I wouldn’t have played tonight’s weather off as no big deal. I would have respected your request to go inside the first time you asked. It won’t happen again. I stick by my earlier statement, though. I understand why you don’t want to mess with Mother Nature now. Why don’t you want to talk about your knee and thigh?” He had his head turned to gaze into my eyes, and I hated that it felt like he could see all my secrets so easily.
I shook my head and gazed up at the ceiling to keep the tears at bay. “I’m sure you noticed I wear a brace on that leg.”
“I felt it the other day when I picked you up,” he answered. “I didn’t know why at the time.”
“I’m just going to show you. Normally, I hide it, but whatever you think is happening here between us will eventually end. This is the quickest way to the finish line.” I grasped my dress, but he grabbed my hand to stop me.
“I don’t know what’s happening between us, Amber. I had hoped we’d be friends, but it feels like something more. Something on a deeper level than I’ve ever experienced with any other woman before, my daughter’s mother included. Regardless, the fact that you wear a brace isn’t going to make it end. I think you’ve earned the right to hold your head high after what you’ve been through, brace or no brace.”
My eyes closed, and I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “Why is it that the one guy who could make you entertain the idea of dating always comes along at the wrong time? It’s like the universe is conspiring against me.”
“It’s only the wrong time if you continue to let it be the wrong time,” he said, one brow going down to his nose.
“It is the wrong time, and you’ll understand once I show you this,” I answered, tears filling my voice as much as they filled my eyes. One tipped over my lashes and ran down my cheek when I glanced down at my dress. His hand left mine to wipe away the tear while I pulled the material out of the way. I removed the Velcro off the top of the brace and let it fall open, leaving it wide open for his inspection. When his gaze swept across my skin, and I swear to God, if I believed such a thing was possible, it healed me just a little bit more. His face was stoic. He didn’t grimace or look away from it the way most people do. He remained engaged even as he asked his first question.
“Is it painful?” he asked, his hand hovering over the red, mottled skin.
“This part is,” I said, making a circle over the top of my knee. “I don’t know why it’s so red other than it might be infected.”
“The skin?”
My eyes closed and the tears I’d been holding back dripped down my face. “I, um, I was injured back in February. The doctors think the nerves in the knee were damaged,” I said, clearing my voice to rid it of the tears. “They asked me to come back for more tests, but I haven’t.”
“This is June,” he said, not disapprovingly, just clarifying. “Could the nerve issue be causing your pain?”
“Some of it,” I agreed, nodding. “I haven’t had time to deal with it. The bigger issue is—”
“The muscle atrophy,” he said instantly. “More like there is no muscle.” His finger went to trace a divot in the leg, but he pulled it back. “I don’t want to hurt you. It looks like it hurts. The muscle is why you wear the brace?”
“It hurts a lot,” I said, my head nodding. I captured his hand in mine instead of letting him touch it. “The brace is even hard to
