Two months had passed and she hadn't heard anything. Jesse had to remind herself daily that he was healing from burns and those took a heck of a lot longer. She wondered if she should call, surely she wouldn't be imposing.
Marty looked at her cell phone to see Jesse's name pop up.
"Jesse?"
"Marty, I'm so glad to hear your voice. How are you?"
"Fine, just sitting here trying to unwind."
"You sound stressed, what's wrong. Am I calling at a bad time, because if it is you can tell me?"
Enjoying the voice at the other end she started laughing and crying, "No, no I just I've missed you, why haven't you called or come over?" She didn't mention how upset Gage was, not yet, she needed to know that Jesse wasn't avoiding him on purpose.
"Gage needed to heal. I didn't want to get in the way of that. Burns take a lot out of a person. He needed rest not foot traffic and flowers."
Marty released a pent-up breath. "We had nothing, but that for the first three weeks, I thought I was going to go insane if his or my phone rang one more time."
"No sympathy, check. So what would help the most right now?"
Looking at the phone in wonder she sighed. "Would you come over and cook dinner for me, please. I-I..." Tears streamed down her cheeks, "I just can't and Gage needs to eat, so it's not..."
"Stop, you don't have to explain. I'm headed to the grocery store and will be at your door in, oh, a half hour. Leave the front door unlocked, grab a glass of wine and crawl into that bed of yours. I'll wake you for dinner, or not, you decide with a note on the counter top." The phone then made an audible click signaling the end to the conversation.
Marty's face lit in happiness. Getting up from the sofa she did what she was told, grabbed a glass of wine and went to her bedroom where she slept soundly for the first time in months.
Jesse came in and went to work, she boiled the penne pasta created a parmesian cream sauce to die for and finished it up with sautéed shrimp, crab and chicken.
When the meal was ready she went in search of her one taste tester.
Lightly knocking on the door, he muttered a reply. Walking in she found him lounging in his bed, he looked nothing like himself, not just the parts that were healing but his eyes they looked so very sad.
"Time to eat."
Gage looked up in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Helping out. I missed you both. How are you healing?"
"See for yourself," he said angrily.
"Slowly, but surely by my guess, burns take a long time."
Gage growled, "Yeah whatever."
He was different, very different, no wonder Marty was upset.
"Come on and eat."
"Why bother," he muttered.
Turning to look at him she saw the pain banked in those baby blues. Walking toward him she gently took his hand and placed it on top of her own. "I don't like eating alone and you are the perfect companion."
His hand gripped her wrist. "Where have you been?"
With a sigh of regret she shrugged, "Giving you time to heal. Guess that's not working out so well huh?"
Coming to his feet wearing those skimpy shorts and nothing else she could see bits of shiny skin that hadn't quite finished healing along with more serious bits that would definitely take at least one more month maybe more.
