Inside, I walked with Jake as we followed Klara to the waiting area. She checked in with a nurse at the desk, and they spoke for several minutes.
Leaning against Jake’s arm, I glanced up at him. “Feeling better?”
“Some. A broken leg sucks and that’s gonna put him out of commission for a while, but he can recover from that.”
And it wasn’t likely to kill him. Or at least, it was not considered a fatal injury of any kind.
“What about what Klara said about him applying for reassignment to the States?”
Jake sighed. “I don’t know what to do with that. Or what to do with the idea that he didn’t fight for us because he didn’t want to force Mom to stay here. Then at the same time, Klara’s… She’s amazing and she’s family. It’s not like he turned his back on us for some skank.”
“Thank you,” Klara said, and Jake stiffened.
“Sorry, Klara,” he apologized stiffly, and she laughed.
“Relax, Jakey. I do possess a sense of humor, and you just called me family, baby boy. It’s been a long time since you did that.” She gave us both a warm smile, then motioned to the chairs. “Let’s sit. Your father is in recovery, the surgery went well,” she began as soon as we were seated. “They had to put a pair of rods in to reconnect the bones, and he’s going to need physical therapy after he’s healed. Probably at least six to ten weeks of very light duty, followed by conditioning duty, then a reassessment.”
“He’s gonna hate that,” Jake muttered.
“Probably, but he’ll do the work. Now, after the surgeon comes out to speak to us, we can go back to our place and get you two settled. He won’t be awake for a few hours, and you’ve been running. You’re also probably hungry.”
My stomach growled, and Jake grinned.
“Hey,” I said. “I can always eat.”
“One of the things I love about you,” he said with a wink. “But yeah, if you think it’ll be a while before he wakes up… I want to talk to the surgeon, then call Mom.”
“We can do all of that.”
We did. The surgeon basically told us what Klara had, and he reassured Jake that it would be several hours before they lightened his sedation and let his dad wake up. The guys were on the plane when I texted them about the report, and Coop answered this time that they were going to head back and get to work on the new place and take care of the moving.
He promised to sneak me pictures. He also said I owed him at least one nice nude for being so helpful.
When I showed Jake the message, he sent Coop his middle finger and then said he’d think about it.
There was laughter in the group message after that, but even Jake seemed more relaxed. I sat with Klara and had coffee while Jake called Alicia.
“You’re good for him,” Klara told me, and I glanced at her.
“He’s good for me.”
“I’m sure,” she said. “But he was so serious and so tense all the time after we first got to Germany. He was very determined to not like it here, and yet he wouldn’t tell us why.” She shot me a look. “I’m pretty sure I know why now.”
I smiled. “He’s happy now.”
“Yes, he is.”
And I planned to keep him that way. “Do you think he and his dad can work things out?”
“I do, even if we have to lock the stubborn bastards up and make them talk.”
I laughed.
“You think I’m joking.”
“Actually,” I said slowly. “I don’t think that at all. But I don’t know that I’d help you lock him up.”
“That’s the right answer.”
“Not that this was a test,” I deadpanned, and it was Klara’s turn to grin.
“Oh yes, I do like you.”
That was cool, I liked her too.
Chapter Twenty-Four
From Where You Are
Frankie
“You look sleepy,” Coop said from the screen on my computer. I was sprawled next to Jake in the bed, and I hadn’t bothered with pulling the sheet up. Coop had video-chatted right in the middle of sex, and Jake answered then told him to wait. The fact Coop swore because Jake’s ass was in the way competed with Coop’s own suggestions had left me in stitches from laughter.
Worse, I’d been trying to smother it because Jake’s dad was home from the hospital and they were only two rooms away. I did not need them hearing me, even if Jake had been all the more determined to make me scream. Turned out orgasms were even better when you had the giggles.
“I wore her out,” Jake said with a wicked grin, running his thumb up and down my arm. The last week here had been a combination of playing tourist and history buff in and around time spent visiting with Jake’s dad. When he came home from the hospital two days earlier, it had led to some tensions, and I had a feeling an explosion was imminent between the two men.
Jake’s dad had taken to his convalescence probably as well as Jake would, especially since it also came with a wheelchair and orders to stay in it for at least another week, then they would fit him with a leg support and brace. Meanwhile, Jake had done the heavy lifting, and his dad had been a prick about it. Klara’s words, not mine, and I was staying out of it.
For now.
Per Jake’s request.
Mostly because he said if his dad snarled at me even once he was going to take his head off, and while I didn’t think he would snarl at me, probably better to reduce the potential for violence. But seriously, his father was a
