Free Forever Grace by Linda Poitevin Page B

scrambled to gather up armloads of stuffies, she dug the pill bottle out of her pocket and dropped it on Sean’s lap before she cleared a spot on the coffee table for herself.
    “I really didn’t mean for it to get so out of hand,” he said.
    “Uh huh.” She sat down.
    “Hold on.” He narrowed his eyes. “You’re not nearly as put out as you’re letting on, are you?”
    She nodded at the bottle in his hand. “You might want to take one of those before we head out. Assuming you didn’t take more of the codeine?”
    “You’re very good, you know. You had me fooled. And no, I didn’t take anything.”
    “More importantly, I have them fooled.” Grace tipped her head toward the cleanup operation. “Can you imagine the mayhem if they knew how funny I thought they were?”
    Sean chuckled, a warm sound that wrapped the two of them in an intimate cloak of shared conspiracy. Grace sat a little straighter and gave the pill bottle another pointed look.
    He twisted off the cap and dumped two tablets into a palm. She raised an eyebrow. He recapped the bottle and held it out for her inspection.
    “Up to two,” he said, pointing to the directions. “Given that I’m about to make a second hike through the woods, the two idea seems wise.”
    He downed the tablets before she could speak. She sighed.
    “And given that you’ve just taken two heavy-duty painkillers on an empty stomach,” she observed in a dry voice, “we should make that hike sooner rather than later. Before you have to crawl home.”
    “Damn.” Sean made a face. “Didn’t think that one through, did I?”
    Grace handed his shoe to him as she studied the fatigue lining his face. “I don’t imagine you’re thinking about much at all besides sleeping in your own bed right now.”
    He gave her a wan smile. “The thought may have crossed my mind once or twice.”
    He crossed his good foot over the cast to put the shoe on. A muscle quivered at the corner of his jaw. Grace put a hand over his and took back the shoe. Without speaking, she lifted his foot and guided it to her lap, then slipped on the shoe and laced it up.
    “Thank you,” Sean said.
    She set his foot on the floor and reached to retrieve his crutches. “Give me a few minutes to look after the kids, and then we’ll leave.”

CHAPTER 11
    ………………
    “You still sure it was wise to take two of those things?”
    Sean swayed on his crutches, trying to bring one Grace into focus out of the three before him. They weren’t very cooperative.
    “The instructions said one or two,” he reminded her. Them.
    He blinked twice. The three Graces stayed.
    They sighed. “Yes, but it might have been better to wait until you were home before taking the second,” they suggested.
    Sean considered the idea. Then he grinned. “Too late.”
    “You are so hammered, it’s not even funny.”
    He giggled, disproving the latter part of her statement.
    The Graces rolled their eyes. “Come on. Let’s get you into the cottage before you keel over. I don’t have a hope in hell of getting you off the ground in this condition.”
    “Then maybe you could just join me.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Then he frowned. Wait. He was waggling his eyebrows, wasn’t he? Damn. He couldn’t feel them. He balanced on one crutch and put a hand to his forehead. Shit. His eyebrows were gone!
    Fingertips encountered fuzz and he gave a gusty sigh of relief.
    “They’re still there,” he told the Graces.
    They stooped to pick up the crutch that had fallen away from him. “I’m not even going to ask,” they muttered, tucking it under his arm again. “Now come on, Wonder Boy. Home and bed.”
    He turned his head and nuzzled an ear. “Is that a promise?”
    The Graces jerked away. “Oh, for the love of—” They sighed and regarded him narrowly. “If I say yes, will you get your butt in gear?”
    “Oh, honey. You have no idea.” Sean swung his crutches forward and followed them eagerly across the