The Proposal at Siesta Key Part 8

As he'd hoped, she relaxed a bit. "You haven't embraced Southern food yet?"

"Nope."

"It took me some time after I moved here, too."

He zeroed in on that like the bird's inordinate interest in his window. "I want to hear all about when you moved here, and I'll be happy to give you my order, but first I need your help."

"How may I help you?"

He pointed to his crutches across the room. "I forgot to ask Beverly to set those by the bed last night. I need them."

She rushed to get them and didn't blink when he slid to the side and carefully got upright. As he started making his way to the facilities, she merely stood to one side and didn't embarra.s.s him by asking if he needed help. He did not.

She didn't even gape at the way one of his pajama bottoms had been cut and hemmed to just below his knee to account for the prosthesis. He'd long since given up the idea that he had to hang on to that extra fabric to save anyone else's sensibilities.

After he came out of the bathroom, he hid a smile when he saw that she'd straightened his sheets and fluffed his pillows. There was no need to draw attention to her kindness when she'd done so much to save his dignity.

Then he heard that blasted bird squawk again.

"Penny, come here," he ordered as he crutched over to the window.

She rushed to his side. "What's wrong?"

After locating the string, he pulled open the blind and stared at the small gray and white mockingbird that was standing on the windowsill, looking in. "This is what's wrong."

Penny tilted her head to one side. "You don't care for birds?"

The small creature eyed them, pecked at the window, then squawked. "I don't care for rude birds. This little guy woke me up the moment the sun appeared on the horizon."

She tilted her head. Then, for the first time, her expression became unguarded, transforming her from a rather charming girl into a particularly lovely woman.

His body jolted in response.

"What do you want to do?" she murmured.

He wasn't sure. Did he want to flirt with her a little? Attempt to make her smile again? Try to figure out why there were shadows dancing behind her eyes except when she spied noisy little birds?

"I can't decide," he answered honestly.

When the bird pecked the window again, she clucked her tongue against her teeth and reached for the latch, which, of course, dislodged the annoying bird. After snapping the window shut, she located a sheet of the inn's letterhead on his desk, then slipped that into the window's wood frame so it was lodged there.

"What does the paper do?"

"Removes the reflection. The morning sun must hit your window in such a way that there's a good reflection on it. Birds are social creatures. When they see their reflections, they will peck and peck until they reach their new friend. This should do the trick."

"That is clever."

She chuckled. "Not so much. I just know birds, I guess." After pulling the blind back down, she continued. "Now, Michael Knoxx, you must tell me what you want for breakfast and do it quickly or Miss Beverly's gonna wonder what I'm doing."

"I'll have the pancakes, juice, and kaffi."

"Do you take cream?" Her eyes widened. "Or sugar? Do like sugar in your kaffi, too?"

She was too cute. Obviously Miss Beverly had coached her to ask guests how they wanted their coffee.

"Just cream."

She turned toward the door. "I'll be back soon with your plate."

"Wait."

"Yes?"

"Help me with the crutches, would ya?" he asked as he hobbled over to his bedside and lowered himself onto it.

Her hand hovered. "Where do you need me to place them?"

"Against the wall is fine. Usually, I simply lay them on the floor and kind of scoot down to pick them up myself. But my knee is hurting too much for that."

She took the crutches and set them against the wall near the bed's headboard. "How's this? I'll be happy to help you with them if I'm here. But if you have an emergency you can reach them without putting pressure on your knee."

"That is perfect, Penny."

And when she smiled back at him, looking pleased with herself, he couldn't resist teasing her some more. "Penny, you are turning out to be a woman I can't live without," he announced in a dramatic way.

"Is that right?"

"Absolutely! You're able to solve my problems, solve the bird's problems, and make my life easier. All in one very affable way."

"Affable, hmm? You make me sound so special."

He grinned. "You, I think, are more than that."

She rolled her eyes before striding out the door.

But in the quiet of his very comfortable, now very peaceful room, Michael realized that he'd been tempted to say that his words couldn't have been truer. Her presence in his life was serving to lift his mood. A reminder that he wasn't always a speaker or a motivator, or anything special. Really, he was simply a man. Just a man who was kind of, sort of, developing a crush on a girl in the middle of Pinecraft, Florida.

Which, in many ways, was far more discomfiting than a noisy bird outside his window.

BY THE TIME PENNY finally made her way back to the kitchen, Miss Beverly was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs. Inwardly, she winced, trying to come up with an excuse, but having no idea how to explain herself.

Luckily, Beverly started talking before Penny had a moment to even think. "Penny, at last!" she exclaimed with what looked to be a very relieved sigh. "I've been standing here for the last five minutes, debating about whether to go upstairs and see what was taking you so long or to simply be patient and wait."

The comment was so endearing, Penny took the chance to tease her. "I hate to say it, but you don't look like you've been waiting all that patiently."

Beverly smiled, tucking her chin in embarra.s.sment. "You are right about that. I've been more than a little bit concerned."

"I'm sorry. Michael had some things he needed me to do," she said evasively. She didn't want to embarra.s.s him by sharing too much information.

"Like what?"

Well, at least she'd tried to give him a little bit of privacy. "Michael needed to go to the bathroom. Then, well, then he had some trouble with a bird."

"What kind of trouble?"

"A lonely mockingbird." Penny smiled. "Michael said she'd been pecking and squawking at his window all morning. She woke him up."

"Perhaps he can now count birds among his number of fans," she joked. "I'm surprised he didn't call me to help him shoo it away."

"His crutches were out of his reach. I'm afraid he was stuck in bed." Penny had a feeling that Michael wouldn't have been in a hurry to reveal more weaknesses to Miss Beverly, anyway.

Her expression fell. "Oh, that poor boy. I remember now. I set them next to the door after I checked on him last night. I don't know what I was thinking."

Penny didn't know what to say to that. On one hand, Miss Beverly was exactly right; she hadn't been thinking. Poor Michael had been stuck in bed, which was a difficult thing for any man, let alone a man like him who was no doubt used to his freedom. In fact, he seemed determined to prove his independence at every turn.

On the other, he was definitely not helpless. Which meant that he should have remembered to make sure his crutches were nearby.

"Everything's taken care of now," she murmured, "so there isn't anything to worry about."

"You're right." She clapped her hands lightly together. "Now, what would he like for breakfast?"

"Pancakes, juice, and kaffi."

"Right. Let's go to the kitchen. I'll make his pancakes, you can get him a carafe of kaffi." As she walked, she added, "He's not an easy guest, Penny, but you're doing just fine with him. He said you have a way about you that's warm and pleasing."

"He said that?"

"Oh, jah. I must tell you, I'm impressed. I know of too many girls who would be treating him like a celebrity and making him feel self-conscious."

She couldn't help but smile at that. This morning, she hadn't even thought of him as "Michael Knoxx." Instead, he'd been simply Michael. The more they'd gotten to know each other, the less she'd thought about how famous he was. Little by little, she was starting to appreciate his kindness and his humor. "We seem to get along well enough."

"Hiring you was the right decision, Penny. Michael is so used to being independent, I feared he was going to have a hard time recovering from surgery. However, he might let down his guard if you two are friends."

"I'm not sure if we are actually friends. . . ."

"If you two aren't exactly friends yet, you're at least developing a relationship, right?"

Penny supposed so. "Right," she agreed.

"I'm only speaking the truth, dear. Just wanted you to know that I've noticed how well you are doing with such a difficult guest."

Miss Beverly's words were kind, but inside, Penny thought her boss couldn't be more wrong. Michael Knoxx wasn't difficult at all. He was handsome and interesting. Nice.

He was making her think things she had no business thinking about.

Or maybe, instead, he was inspiring her to think things she probably should have thought about years before.

Before it was too late.

PENNY WAS STILL DWELLING on her choices five hours later when she peeked in on Michael before leaving for the day. While she'd spent much of the day in the kitchen helping Beverly or cleaning mixing bowls, baking sheets, and dishes from afternoon tea, Michael had gone to a doctor's appointment. Miss Beverly had told her he was likely sleeping now, but Penny couldn't resist checking on him just to make sure he wasn't in pain after the eventful day.

But when she cracked open his door, she immediately noticed that he wasn't sleeping at all. Instead, he was sitting in the chair she usually sat in and gazing out the window. He turned her way when she stepped inside.

"Time to leave?"

"Jah."

He nodded, his expression tight. "All right then. See you tomorrow."

This was her cue to leave. It's what she should be ready to do, too. Spending the day on her feet in a warm kitchen would make anyone eager to go home and take a cool shower. But his quick, quiet dismissal was so different from how he'd acted that morning, she grew concerned. "Did your appointment go all right?"

He shrugged. "We discussed what would happen during Friday's surgery." After a pause, he added, "Penny, I think I've been fooling myself. I hadn't wanted to really think about the surgery and the extent of the damage. Now I know that it's going to be a tougher recovery than I had imagined."

"Oh, Michael. I really am so sorry. I wish you would have heard better news," she murmured before realizing that it didn't sound very professional.

The corners of his lips curved up. "That pretty much covers it. I knew it was coming, but today it finally sank in."

She stepped a little closer. "Are you worried?"

"About the surgery?" When she nodded, he shook his head. "Not really. The doktah says that although they're going to have to do quite a bit of repair work, it won't take all that long. It's not supposed to take over an hour." Looking down at his leg, he grimaced. "I shouldn't even be thinking twice about this. After all, I've been through worse. And I made myself a promise when I was stuck in that ravine never to let myself be disappointed about my leg."

Penny wasn't sure if she could have done that. She knew from experience that sometimes one couldn't help but be human and have human reactions to things that happened. "Then what is bothering you?"

"Truth?"

When she nodded, he said, "It's nothing that I'm very proud of. I was just sitting here, feeling a little bit sorry for myself." He grimaced. "I hate knowing that I'm lying in bed while my whole family is out working hard. I hate that they're all doing their best to pay my medical bills for me. I feel like no matter how hard I try otherwise, I'm still a burden."

"I know that's hard. Once, a lot of people raised money for my family but it was difficult for my parents to accept it." She paused, remembering several men from the church arriving at their house one evening with a large envelope filled with cash they'd collected. But instead of looking relieved, her parents had looked devastated. Realizing she'd been in a daze, she shook her head. "Accepting charity is never easy."

"For what were they raising money?"

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him about Lissy and how her dear sister's abduction had changed their lives forever. But she had a feeling if she started talking, she wouldn't be able to stop. She'd share how scared and worried she'd been. How lonely she was now. How confused she was about her parents and her future. And before they knew it, the conversation would be all about her, which wasn't right, since he was the one who was going to have surgery soon. "I'll tell you another day."

He narrowed his eyes, looking like he wanted to press her, then nodded. "Hey, I was just looking outside, but no matter how hard I try, I can't see the ocean."

She giggled. "That's because it's not in that direction, silly. It is to our west."

"Too bad for me. I would love to see Siesta Key one day."

"You've never been?"

"Nope. My family has visited here several times, but we've never stayed long enough to visit the gulf."

"Maybe you can visit after you recover," she ventured. "It will give you something to look forward to, and it's not far away at all."

"That's a nice thought, but I think my recovery might be a while. I don't think the doctors are going to be too eager for me to be around a bunch of sand."

"Oh."