Cherish (Covet #1.5) by Tracey Garvis Graves Read Free Book Online

undress and remind him to sit down on the bench they put in the shower because it’s not safe for him to stand too long. When he’s done he yells for me, and I help him dry off and get dressed.
    It was awkward the first time. No matter how many years I spent looking at him naked—and I used to love looking at him naked—assisting your ex-husband in the shower after not talking to him for almost two years is definitely strange. But now it’s no big deal. I get him in and out of the shower, and after breakfast we wait for them to come get him for his first therapy session of the day.
    Daniel and I have plenty of time to kill, so we talk. None of the subjects we cover are especially personal—we stick mostly to current events, changes in the weather, and the things he’s looking forward to, like sleeping in his own bed. It’s as if we’ve reached some sort of wary truce, accomplished partly because Daniel can’t remember everything that drove us apart in the first place. It’s a little like getting to know each other again.
    Actually, it’s a lot like that.
    Being around him makes me happy. He was my best friend for so long. The person I turned to when I needed help. The person whose comfort I sought when things upset me.
    Until the day I didn’t.
     
    While Daniel is at his first therapy session of the day, Dylan pops his head into the room. I never know when he’s going to show up, but to his credit he comes around more than I expected him to. He’s working for some tech company in Overland Park, but who knows how long that will last. At least the job is keeping him here.
    For now.
    “Hey,” he says when he sees me.
    “Hey. You just missed Daniel. He should be back soon.”
    “I’ll wait. I’m in no hurry.”
    “Aren’t they expecting you at your job?”
    “It didn’t work out,” he says.
    “It never does.”
    He shrugs. He’s probably made enough money to drift for a while. The no-strings-attached, I’ll-go-where-the-wind-takes-me lifestyle is the thing he really loves.
    “I hope you don’t stop coming around. For Daniel’s sake.”
    “That’s a bit hypocritical coming from you.”
    “Yes,” I say, standing up and grabbing my purse. “I suppose it is. But the things that drove Daniel and me apart were a hell of a lot bigger than your nomadic whims, Dylan.”
    Big enough that we couldn’t solve them, no matter how much we both wanted to.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
    DANIEL
    I hate the rehab hospital. It’s not that the facility is horrible or anything, and it beats the hell out of being in the ICU (or dead), but I feel like a prisoner. Everything is regimented, from the time I wake up to when I eat and when I’m supposed to go to bed, which is early because they’re very big on rest here. I’d give anything to be in my own home, watching TV on the couch as late as I want.
    If rehab is jail, then Jessie is my warden. She has a day planner she carries everywhere she goes. It’s leather and zips shut. Inside are various handouts with instructions on everything from wound care to self-administered pain medicine. Every scrap of paper the hospital has ever given us is in there. Jessie uses the calendar tab to keep track of my daily schedule: cognitive retraining, physical therapy—including strength, coordination, endurance, and balance—and occupational therapy, which has been the hardest for me to accept. I don’t care what anyone says, learning to dress yourself again at thirty-eight is a humbling experience. Thankfully, only Jessie is here to see me fumbling with my pant leg while I try to balance on one foot, and I remind myself that I’d rather stand in front of her in my underwear than a parade of nurses. It’s not like she hasn’t seen it all before. Having Jessie here is like having my own personal assistant, and I’m grateful to her for it.
    Today she walks into my room holding a cardboard box. She’s wearing jeans and a yellow T-shirt. “Good morning,” she says, smiling at