Free Wounded (In My Dreams) by Erin R Flynn Page A

thing, Lily.”
    “Do you want my help or to chew me out? I thought I should check with the pharmacist that I was getting the right stuff, so stop snapping at me.”
    “I’m sorry. I’ll be good. It just hurts .” He plopped down on the stool and stuck out his lower lip. Of course it worked because I was a complete sucker for his charms. He hissed as I spread it on his lower back. “Oh, yes, good. Thank you, thank you, thank you. More please!”
    “I’m going, I’m going,” I chuckled, carefully moving around his side so I didn’t touch him with my bare skin. “Why were you in the woods shirtless, you twit?”
    “I went in there with jeans on and my boots. Why would I worry about a shirt? I was covered.”
    “Apparently not ,” I drawled, rolling my eyes. “Did you bend over or bump into something? Poison ivy climbs trees you know.”
    “ No , I didn’t know that,” he whined, gesturing to his affected skin with the oven mitt. “I’ll wear a shirt from now on. Everywhere. Always. Long sleeves for life.”
    “Don’t push it now. The only reason I work out with you is because you’re shirtless?”
    “Really?” His jaw fell open when I nodded. “What would you do if I showed up naked?”
    “I’ll walk away with the lotion if you don’t behave,” I threatened, no real malice in my tone.
    Needless to say he was a perfect patient after that. Though my mind kept wandering back to the idea of him working out naked for me. Dirty town, I swear I lived there.
    After five months, I’d lost all the weight I had last year plus the extra I’d gained back. I was still tired a little too often, but things were much better. I chalked it up to working hard and needing the rest.
    Things were great though. Jasper was selling his extra wood, still not taking any money from me, and we had a great routine. Some Fridays we would take off our jobs and go see a matinee movie, sneaking in tacos or whatever and calling it our lunch break. We tried new restaurants here and there, and when the weather was nice, we’d take a day and go to the zoo.
    We both really loved the zoo.
    “I’m going to run to Costco before rush hour,” he told me one day in the beginning of September, just after we crossed five months since he’d moved in. “You go ahead and take your nap and I’ll see you later.”
    “Don’t forget the—”
    “I’ve got your ribs on the list,” he chuckled, shaking his head at me from the stairs since I could still see him from my office.
    “You eat more of them than I do,” I defended.
    “It’s not my fault you make the best smoked ribs in the world. They’re too good not to keep eating them.” He shot me a wink and headed out.
    I finished up my morning word count and ate some leftover chicken, cold, standing up in the kitchen. I couldn’t help but frown at that. It was so easy to fall into old habits… And it made me appreciate Jasper even more. He was such a good influence on me. What was I going to do when he left? Got a place of his own and moved on with his life?
    It wasn’t like he was going to stay with me forever.
    “Way to kill a good mood,” I muttered as I tossed out the bone of my finished chicken leg and tucked the rest back in the fridge. Strangely enough the sadness of reality made me lose my appetite. I washed my hands and went to bed, staring at the empty side of it.
    I no longer woke in a panic about my pup being gone. It was a reality now, and while I still missed him a lot, I’d accepted it. It was a part of life. This time I was staring at the empty space because Jasper wasn’t there. Sure we slept in our own beds at night, but we did nap together. Sometimes it was on the couches in the family room since it was cooler down there, or if we had the air conditioning on, we both preferred my bed, now that it was super soft with the box springs.
    What would I really do when Jasper moved on? Go back to being a mess and stressed out all the time? More importantly, lonely and