“Sure, thanks.”
Katia touched her ankle, and a moment later, Isobel cried, “You can’t heal me. You’re exhausted. I can feel it in your magic.”
Katia gave her a weary smile. “We had quite a day at the clinic. Lots of healing to do.”
“You should have told Rafe. This is nothing. You’ll pass out if you try to use any more magic.”
“He made it sound like an emergency.” Katia looked at me. “It’s not, by the way. A very mild sprain that should be better in a few days.”
Relief rushed through me, but I didn’t regret my actions. I did feel bad about Katia coming all the way out here, though, especially when she was tired. “Can I give you a ride back?”
“I’m fine, I brought my car.” She rose and turned her attention to Isobel. “I’ve heard about Lavender House. It’s all over town that you’re trying to fix it up on a deadline. If you can’t put weight on your ankle, come into the clinic tomorrow. A good night’s rest will have me ready to heal you in a jiffy.”
“Thank you.” Isobel smiled up at her.
I walked Katia to the door and down to the main floor, paying her exorbitant house-call fee.
“I can tell you like that one.” Katia winked, then turned and left.
Like that one? Katia didn’t even know me. How could she tell anything?
I shut the door behind her and returned upstairs. Isobel was attempting to rise from the sofa, and I hurried toward her. “Hang on, I’ll help you.”
“I’m fine.” She tried putting weight on her bad ankle and winced. “Okay, maybe a little help.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“To the bath. I’m desperate for a long, hot soak.”
I nodded, then hoisted her into my arms and carried her to the bathroom. She sat on the edge of the tub and turned on the water. Within seconds, steam began to rise. “Perfection.”
“I’ll go fetch your tea.”
“Thank you.” She gave me a long look. “You really don’t have to take care of me, you know.”
I gestured around me, indicating the knickknacks that had somehow managed to invade even the bathroom. “Of course I do. If you fall anywhere in this place, you’ll take out half a dozen of Poa’s creepy admirers.”
She looked at a little porcelain puppy that sat on the back of the cistern and winced. “Good point. She would kill me for that.”
“Glad you’re seeing reason. You can’t get on that cat’s bad side.” I couldn’t believe I was joking with her, but that had definitely sounded like a joke.
“You’re just too good, you know that?”
I gave her an incredulous look. “That is patently untrue.”
“It’s really not. I’ve been watching you, you know.” She gave a little laugh that morphed into a grimace, and it was cute as hell.
Cute as hell?
I was losing my mind.
“I mean, not watching you in a stalkerish way,” she continued. “But around. Day to day. And you’re good. Like, a really good person.”
“All right, I’m leaving.” I turned and headed toward the living room to get her tea. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I liked taking care of her. I shook my head. Better not get used to it.
By the time I returned to the bathroom, she had my jumper off and was working on the buttons of her jeans. She looked up, her gaze catching mine. Heat flushed her cheeks, and she nodded toward the little ledge on the bathroom sink. “You can put it there.”
I nodded and did as she asked. “I’ll be just outside the door in case you fall.”
“I’ll be okay on my own. Seriously. You go do your thing.” She turned to face the tub and made a squeak of pain as she put weight on her ankle.
“Like I said.”
“Fine.” I could actually hear her roll her eyes. “And thank you.”
I felt a smile tug the corner of my lip but said nothing as I left. After shutting the door behind me, I went to the kitchen to get a chair to sit in, then put it by the bathroom so I could hear if she needed help.
Eventually, she called through the door, “Are you out there?”
“I am.”
“What are you doing?”
“Sitting.”
“On what?”
“A kitchen chair.” I smiled. “What’s with the twenty questions?”
“Don’t know.” There was an audible shrug in her voice. “Just want to know you, I guess.”
“By knowing what I’m sitting on?”
“You can know a lot about a person by what they choose to sit on. For example, you could have gone for the floor. Or a cushy chair. Or a stepstool.”
“And what would that have told you about me?”
“I’m still working on that bit.”
I smiled again, unable to help myself.
“How about you tell me something real, then?” she asked. “Like why your room is so barren. There’s nothing in there.”
I sighed, not particularly fond of this question.
When I didn’t answer, she continued. “Like, are you a secret serial killer?”
I laughed. “What about a tidy room leads you to think ‘serial killer’？”
“It’s more than just tidy, it’s empty.”
She had a point. “Fine. Since the alternative is you thinking that I’m a serial killer, I’ll tell you.” I shook my head and smiled as I leaned back against the wall. “I’ve moved around so much that I got sick of throwing things away. And since I don’t remember my friends and family, I don’t have any important mementos.”
“Oh, wow, that sucks.” I could hear contrition in her voice. “Sorry, I didn’t think about that. I shouldn’t have poked so hard.”
“Don’t worry about it. When I think about it from your perspective, it is a bit weird. Most people decorate their places. Pictures on the walls, that kind of thing.” I shrugged, looking toward the window that I could see the other end of the hall. “The outdoors is so beautiful here that I don’t feel any need to hang pictures. And I don’t look at the walls, anyway. I look at my work.”
“Fair enough.” There was a pause. “So, you have nothing from your previous life. Is that because you forgot everything after she cursed you?”
“Yeah. I woke up outside, with no memory of where I lived or what I did. I remembered my first name and her face. From there, I had to figure things out.”
“Wow. That’s…intense.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t the best part of my life.”
“But you built something amazing.”
“I built something, at least.” And that was the most I could say about it. After all, I would hardly call it amazing, since I felt the need to move around every couple years. Nothing ever felt like home, no matter how hard I tried. “The water has to be getting cold. Are you ready to get out?”
“Done talking so soon, huh?”
She knew me too well after too short a time. “It’ll be an early day tomorrow. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“All right.” I heard water sloshing as she rose and waited, wondering what I should do. Did she need help?