"Winter Rental", by Gratiana Lovelace (Done 2022) (copyrighted 2022)

Ch. 8: Snuggling, and then some

"Winter Rental", Ch. 8: Snuggling, and then some, by Gratiana Lovelace, February 20, 2022 (Post #1448)

["Winter Rental" is an original contemporary romance story copyrighted by Gratiana Lovelace, 2022; All rights reserved.];   [(1) the "Winter Rental" story cover (left)]

[Author's notes: I cast my characters as I write my stories—to help myself and my readers visualize the main characters. So my main characters for "Winter Rental" are: Richard Armitage as Greg Halliday; Cameron Diaz as his younger sister Connie Halliday; Anne Hathaway as Diana Langley; Liam Hemsworth as Eddie Hughes; Rege-Jean Page as Mike Porter, Octavia Spencer as Octavia Porter, and others as noted.

This is also a gentle romance (with chapters being rated as PG-13 or so, unless otherwise noted), with some heartfelt romantic moments—and some mature romantic discussions put to humorous effect. So if you cannot or will not attend a movie with my maturity ratings, then don't read that chapter. And though I set my story in the lovely city and area of Galena, IL—which I have enjoyed visiting many times—for the purposes of my storytelling here, I use dramatic license of the facts, individuals, locations, etc. These are my disclaimers. And I will post new story chapters weekly on both my SAL blog, as also on my Wattpad site.]

Winter Rental", Ch. 8: Snuggling, and then some

Greg Halliday intuitively knowing that his sister Connie will want to stay a second week to help tend to Eddie Hughes in his recovery from his wolf claw and bite wounds, Greg rents Connie her own minivan to use around town  so that Greg can use the larger not so minivan. Greg also drives their friends Ron and Sylvia to the airport for them to fly out to their home on the East coast one day earlier than planned--after they profusely thank Diana Langley for letting them stay in her home that the Hallidays had unknowingly rented via the Pineridge Mountain Ski Resort and Hotel.

And kindly of them, the Hughes family invite Connie Halliday to stay in one of their Galena Mansion estates' nearer to the main house guest cottages with Eddie Hughes, since she is being so devoted to him and his recovery—rather than her having to find a local hotel room and commute to see and tend to Eddie. And the cottage being on one level will be easier for their son Eddie when he starts to get [out of bed and moves] around [the cottage].

So after several days recovering in the hospital, Eddie Hughes is moved by ambulance from the hospital to the Hughes Galena estates' cottage. Though Eddie's family has also engaged a day time nurse to tend to his wounds and an additional orderly to assist Eddie with bathing and such mornings before breakfast, Connie Halliday has become Eddie's emotional care giver—continuing her assumed role when Eddie was in the hospital. She encourages him, keeps him company with reading him stories or talking of shared memories and new possibilities, and she soothes him in the overnight [hours]—giving him his pain meds, as well as checking his wounds overnight.

And though Connie has her own bedroom in the Hughes Mansion's cottage—and she purposely musses the bedlinens to give the impression to the cleaning staff and others that she is using that bed—she actually sleeps in Eddie's room to soothe him in the night and monitor his temperature and such. Though she started out sleeping in a chaise lounge near the bed and holding Eddie's hand their first night in the cottage—similar to her overnight stays with Eddie in the hospital--Connie could quickly see that Eddie needed her comfort in a more tangible way at the cottage.

So Connie in her purposely goofy snowman [pajamas], gently slides into bed with Eddie, holding his hand, tenderly kissing him on his lips, then carefully laying her head upon his shoulder only, so as not to inadvertently lay upon any of his healing wounds.

Connie: "Is that better, Eddie?" She asks to make sure that her movement in Eddie's king sized bed, kissing him, and holding his near hand hasn't jostled him nor caused him pain. And she is thankful that his lips do not feel like he has a fever.