School ReYOUnion

Chapter Twenty Two

"Uh, what exactly are you doing?" With my hands on my waist, I'm crossly staring at Mitch, who is slowly trying to pull on a pair of jogging bottoms while awkwardly sat on the edge of his bed.

Looking exasperated, he huffs out. "I'm trying to get dressed because I'm wanting to go and get myself a glass of orange juice."

Still extremely cross with him, my reply is curt. "I can get you an orange juice, now stop trying to put these on before you cause yourself even more mischief." Rushing to kneel down by his feet, I'm pulling off the jogging bottoms that are crumpled up around each one of his ankles.

Harshly exhaling, Mitch lowers his head with solemn defeat. "I have a nurse, Rebecca, you don't need to nurse me."

After five days of being with Mitch, of which three days have been spent at his home in Hidden Hills, he is physically getting better...but his spirits are rapidly declining.

He's frustrated.

Bored.

Maybe even a little embarrassed?

Yup, Mitch Heston is proving to be a difficult patient.

With the sting of his words still affecting me a little on the inside, I'll still not rise to them. "Well, your nurse isn't here. You shouted at her, remember? You told her to stop treating you like a child, when she was simply trying to do her job. She is now downstairs, probably thinking to herself what a pain in her nursing ass you really are, while I am up here, thinking what a pain in my ass you totally are." Pausing my little rant at him, my hands are now palm down by the side of his hips on the bed and I'm angrily waiting for him to look at me. Only, he doesn't. He just sits still and quiet on the edge of his mattress with that defeated head of his lower than it was before. My anger with him quickly starts to dissolve inside of me and my rant quickly becomes replaced with the need to just comfort him. In moments, I am kneeling even more closer in front of him. In another moment, my body is pressed against his knees. "I know this is hard for you, but you need to give yourself time to recover. You've been very lucky. That stunt could have cost you your life." Placing my hands into the warmness of Mitch's lap, he then begins to lift his dull gaze up to mine. To thank him for engaging with me, I gift him with a small and grateful smile. "Now, I'll help you get dressed, then together, we shall go and get ourselves an orange juice, and together, we shall then sit beside your beautiful fireplace in your living room and talk about everything but your accident, okay?"

Dragging that dull gaze away from mine, Mitch looks down at my hands, taking hold of them both with his own before bringing them up to his waiting lips. Softly and lovingly, he then leaves a long kiss upon them. "I don't deserve your kindness and I certainly don't deserve your patience."

When he lifts his chin, I'm waiting with that smile of mine again. "Why do you say that?" I curiously ask with a friendly, arched brow.

Squeezing my fingers, with nothing but tender affection, Mitch eventually replies. "Because I don't deserve them. You are only here for me. You should be back in England, taking care of your business...not me." His blue eyes have so long been full of either apology or anger, framed with the bruised reminders of his accident, that I just wish they were now full of something else. Those bruises, along with the cuts and the grazes, are slowly fading...but Mitch's apologies and his anger, are not.

With understanding, I tilt my head when I respond to him. "I've told you before and I'll tell you again, I'm exactly where I need to be. My business is in good and safe hands with Iris. Everything is fine back home, we just need to make sure that you are now fine." My voice carries such light enthusiasm, an enthusiasm that wants to see Mitch emotionally bounce back from his accident.