“There’s nothing like having your own space,” he said.
“Do you want anything to eat or drink yet?”
“No,” he said. “I was looking at buying a place in this next year or so, but I had my accident first, and now I’m not sure where and what I’m doing.”
“Right,” she said, “you better phone Rodney and let him know that you’re okay.”
“I already did,” he said.
“Okay, I’ll go out and see if I can lift that bag of dog food.”
“Alternatively,” he said, “because I know it’s heavy, maybe just take a bowl out, open up a corner, and bring in some dog food for her.”
“That works too,” she said. She probably wasn’t capable of getting the bag out on her own, and she didn’t want him even trying. But, if he saw her struggling, then chances were he would try to get it out for her. She went in and grabbed a big mixing bowl and headed out to the truck, feeling a little foolish. She cut open the top of the bag dipped the bowl inside until it was full, grabbed the pack of treats, and brought them back into the house too.
As soon as Bernie saw her, she came running, trying to get into the bowl. Addie walked into the kitchen, laughing, and divvied it into a smaller bowl and took it outside on the deck. She filled a matching bowl full of water and put it down for the dog too. Bernie immediately dove into the bowl of food.
“Now that’s what I like to see,” she said, “a healthy appetite.”
“Well, I had an appetite,” he said, “but that was before getting my head smashed.”
“And we do have our dinner all boxed up,” she said, “if you want to try that.”
“We might as well warm it up,” he said. “Maybe I’ll get a little down.”
“I have an air fryer. I can toss in all the fries and see if I can crisp them back up again.”
“You do that,” he said. “I’ll just sit here and rest.”
She went through the motions of rewarming the meat out of the buns, remade the burgers, and put the fries into the air fryer. By the time it was all ready and hot at the same time, she carried it out to find him gently sleeping beside her. She set down the plates quietly.
“I’m not sleeping.”
“Too bad,” she said. “I wish you were.”
“I’m fine,” he said, opening his eyes and smiling at her.
“You’re a tough nut.”
“And I have a tough head, yes,” he said with a slight nod. “And a strong constitution, which was a good thing when I was on missions,” he said, “because I do heal fast.”
“Well, you used to,” she said, “but every time it’s different. And the more injuries you have, the slower you heal.”
“And I probably used up all my goodwill in healing by now,” he said, “but I don’t feel that bad.”
“Good painkillers,” she said cheerfully. She nudged his plate and said, “See if you can get some food down.”
He took one look, smiled, and said, “This looks good. Location-wise, your place is much nicer than the restaurant.”
“Just a few hours later eating our dinner,” she said. “We didn’t expect that jaunt to the hospital.”
“No, but all’s well that ends well.”
Tucker finished the burger and looked at his empty plate. “Considering that was warmed up from a couple hours ago,” he said, “it tasted surprisingly well.”
“Good,” she said, “also good on that maybe you’re not feeling too bad.”
“Nothing a good night’s sleep won’t fix,” he said. He looked down to see Bernie lying at his feet with a hopeful look in her eyes. He smiled and said, “I don’t have anything for you, girl.”
She just laid her head on his foot, and he reached down and scratched her gently.
“What’s the chance of you getting some hands-on training for her?” she asked him curiously.
He looked up at her. “What are you thinking?”
“There’s probably a need for her services,” she said. “When you consider it, she could do an awful lot to help people. It would be a hell of a new job for you too.”
“Instead of construction?” he asked with a smile.
“I get the idea that the construction job is a temporary one for you, but maybe I’m wrong.” She shrugged. “It’s your life. I don’t mean to be getting too involved.”
“You can be involved all you want,” he said, “but I don’t know what I want to do. I think it’s a good idea, and I have put out a couple queries into such a training program,” he said, as he gently patted the dog on the head. “I think she would enjoy it.”
“She would enjoy a lot of things,” she said. “Hikes in the mountains and walks in the woods and even running along a beach. An outdoor lifestyle for the dog would be great, but it’s a matter of what can you and she do to earn a living? And what do you want to do for yourself? If you don’t want to work with the dog full-time, then that’s not the avenue to go. Maybe you could take her to the job on the construction sites.”
“That’s possible too,” he said, as he shrugged. Just then his phone rang. He looked down and smiled. “It’s my sister.” He hit the Talk button and left it on Speakerphone. “I’m fine, sis.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, almost wailing. “Rodney told me all about it.”
“Well,” he said, “I’m fine. I’m sitting at Addie’s place. We just had our restaurant meals warmed up. I’ve got stitches in my head, and I’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.”
“How come you keep getting injured?” she asked, still in a teary voice. “I can’t stand to see you hurting all the time.”
“Well, this time, I’m not sure, but I think it was connected to Rodney’s construction site.”
“He did imply something along that line,” she said, sniffling. “I just think that’s terrible.”
“Personally I’m not feeling all that great about it either.”
She gave a long noisy sigh. “Do I need to push off the wedding?”
“Good Lord, no,” he said. “You and he have pushed that off long enough.”
“I want you there,” she murmured.
“And I’ll be there,” he said. “Don’t worry. I do have to get down there though. Why you chose Saint Pete’s and Tampa, I don’t know.”
“Because that’s where so many of my friends are,” she said. “It seemed easier to make us go there than to have everybody inconvenienced to come here.”
He shook his head. “Honestly,” he said, “you should be doing whatever you want to do, and don’t worry about them.”
“I just want to get married,” she said. “It’s taken me a long time to get to this point, and, now that you’re here, I want to make sure I get the job done.”
“Then I’ll be there,” he said, and, just as they went to hang up, he asked, “By the way, can I bring a friend?”