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The phone rang quietly from the other room and Lee stumbled out of bed to get it. He picked up the phone aggressively and smashed his ear to the receiver, growling, “What do you want at three in the morning?”

A squeak came through the other side, “Can you come and get me? I’m at the hospital.”

“Lark?” his sleep-fog cleared quickly, he then turned a little hostile, “Why the vanilla bean are you at the hospital?”

“I fell and bruised a few ribs at work,” she explained, her voice small and tinny over the landline. Lee ran a hand through his hair and practically let out a snarl.

“Why didn’t you call your parents?” he asked, feeling his hackles raise. I’m not her keeper! Why do I always have to do things like this for her?

“They’d yell.” The explanation was soft, but the effect was a punch in Lee’s gut. His angry energy drained out like a balloon losing air. He was going to pick her up, though, like always.

“Which one?”

 

Breathing to Lark was a pain, but when she saw Lee coming into the hospital in rumpled sweats and a t-shirt, her chest swelled.

“Lee!” her voice was raspy, but it got his attention. Lee walked over to her, jaw jumping with tension. He’s going to ask me questions about how I got four bruised ribs at a job as a teaching assistant. Lark ran her tongue over the chip in her front tooth nervously. The intensity of Lee’s face came clearer as he came nearer to her.

“I can repeat, why in the vanilla bean rocky road are you at the hospital?” he asked, using his substitute for expletives. When he used more than one type of ice cream, it was pretty serious, “because you’re scaring the strawberry cheesecake out of me.”

That’s my favorite. Lark furrowed her eyebrows, trying not to breathe too deeply or talk too loudly, “I told you, I got it at work.”

Lee’s thick eyebrow raised and she sent a breath out, then winced, “Not here, okay?”

He nodded and led her out to his pickup truck that was parked as closely as he could to the hospital. Lark got in with some help from Lee and, as he made his way over to the driver’s seat, she tried to formulate how to explain to her overprotective man friend how she got her injuries.

Lee slammed the door on the driver’s side and turned to her. Lark tried to copy the gesture, but winced and let out a little yelp. Lee sighed and turned back to the steering wheel, “Don’t do that, you’ll hurt yourself.”

He started the car and turned around to back up, placing his hard around Lark’s shoulder as he did so. Lark blushed to the roots of her hair and wrung her hands in the seat. He’d kill pa if he knew.

“I know it was your pa, Lark,” Lee said as he inched out of the parking lot and looked both ways in the street to pull out. She startled at his forwardness, then increased the intensity of her gaze on her hands, “I don’t see why you can’t move out. You have plenty of friends that could take you in. For the love of mint chocolate chip, I could take you in. Anything to keep you safe, okay?”

Lark nodded quietly, “But I’m really fine there, he just lost his temper it won’t happen—”

“Stop telling me you’re fine,” Lee kept his eyes on the road but sought out her hand, “why don’t you ever tell me?”

List of reasons ran through her mind, but Lee’s hand in hers stopped her excuses, “I will.”

His eyebrows knotted, “What?”

“I’ll tell you when something’s wrong and I’ll move.”

His smile brightened the whole car, and when there was a stoplight, Lee turned towards Lark and hugged her. So hard she winced, but Lark didn’t mind.