Page 56 of Escape
“I’m here,” I assured her. “Are you okay with me coming in to help?”
“I… uh… hang on just a second,” she returned.
“Take your time,” I urged, a smile playing at my lips. I guessed she was going to attempt to cover herself up, but I didn’t want her risking an injury to do it.
Eventually, she said, “Um, okay. You can come in now.”
Though there was a part of me that wanted to throw the door open to assess the situation faster, the logical part of my brain knew I needed to demonstrate some restraint. So, I slowly pushed the door open and found Josie standing there, clutching a towel to her body and looking extremely nervous.
Once I confirmed with my own eyes that she wasn’t injured, I swallowed down the urge to allow my eyes to drift down to her bare legs. Recalling what she’d said when I was outside the door, I asked, “You weren’t able to get your hair washed?”
She shook her head. “No. No, I thought it would be doable with one arm, but it’s virtually impossible since I’ve also got the achy ribs. So, I skipped it. And though I somehow succeeded in getting my clothes off my body, unfortunately, I’m learning it’s going to be quite the task to put anything back on.”
I narrowed my eyes slightly, considering a solution to the problem. When an idea popped into my head, I declared, “Wait right there.”
Without waiting for a response, I walked out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom. As quickly as I could, I found what I needed and returned. It was obvious Josie had a ton of questions. “What’s going on?”
I held up one of my T-shirts and said, “This is mine. I’m going to help you get this on. While we’re doing that, we’ll fill up the tub again. You can get back in wearing this, and I’ll wash your hair for you.”
“What?”
“I’ll wash your hair for you, since you can’t manage it on your own right now,” I explained.
She sent an incredulous look my way before she stammered, “You… you’d do that for me?”
“Yes.”
Josie blinked in surprise.
When she said nothing else, I moved toward the tub, turned it on, and once I had the temperature set, I allowed it to start filling up again. Then I spun around to face Josie once more, held the shirt up between us, and asked, “Can I help you get this on?”
She nodded slowly, the look on her face indicating she was still coping with some level of shock.
With her permission, I reached for her wrist on her bad arm and slid the sleeve of the shirt over it. She continued to hold the towel tightly against her body with the opposite arm and hand. I made it up to her shoulder, held open the neckline, and urged, “Tilt your head this way.”
Josie did as I requested, and I used every effort to slip the shirt over her head without pulling too much on her injured arm. Then I moved to hold the other sleeve open while she adjusted her arms to prevent the towel from falling. Once she had the second arm through, I said, “I’ll look away as you shift the towel to let the shirt fall down over your body.”
Doing as I promised, I waited for Josie to give me an indication all was good.
It only took a few seconds. “You can look at me now.”
When I returned my attention to her, I smiled at her. “Are you okay?”
She offered a slight nod in return. “I am. Are you sure you don’t mind doing this? I already feel like a huge inconvenience.”
“Please don’t feel that way. I feel honored to be able to do this for you.” I took her by the hand and helped her into the bathtub again. “Does the water feel okay?”
“It’s perfect.”
As she eased herself down into the water, I was grateful for the fact I’d chosen the charcoal grey shirt for her. The last thing that would have helped me give Josie the reassurance she needed would have been turning this into the next wet T-shirt contest. It was going to be bad enough the material would mold itself to her curves once it was wet. I didn’t need it to be see-through as well.
My bathtub had a faucet and a spray wand, so I took the wand, brought it up to her head, and made sure her hair was soaked. Then I grabbed the shampoo, squirted some into my palm, and brought both hands to her head.
If I had to guess, nobody had ever taken care of Josie like this. Granted, I was doing this because she was physically unable to, but I still wanted her to feel slightly pampered. I thought she deserved to feel like somebody cared about her and wanted her to feel special.
So, I took my time lathering up her hair. I worked my fingers through her strands as I massaged her scalp. Josie’s eyes had drifted shut, and even through the lingering bruising on her face, I could see a peace had settled over her.
“This feels wonderful, Huck,” she murmured.