Dena looked at him. “I hope so. I think she would have been concerned about me having a baby on my own, but she would have loved a great-grandchild.”

“So you never thought of selling?”

“The B and B?” Her voice was a yelp. “No! Why would I do that? What a terrible thing to say.”

He held up both hands in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry. I was just asking.”

“Don’t. Not that question. Sell the B and B. As if.”

He tried to hide his smile. “You have a lot of energy on a lot of topics.”

She opened her mouth to reply, then went completely white. He set down the small toy store he’d been about to put in place and moved to her side. After grabbing her wrist, he pressed in several places, automatically matching his breathing to hers, as if that would help ease her discomfort.

She closed her eyes. He felt her try to relax as her color went from white to green and she pressed her free hand to her stomach.

“Inhale,” he murmured, aware of how close they were standing and how he could breathe in the scent of her shampoo. It was a citrusy scent—clean and appealing. He studied the freckles on her nose and across her cheeks, and the shape of her mouth. Wanting stirred.

“Count to four,” he said, even as he heard a faint melody in the back of his mind. The notes moved like leaves in the wind, back and forth.

Thought I was strong, but I was in pain.

Because healing mattered. The spirit of the holidays was about hope and forgiveness and—

“Better,” Dena said.

He blinked, bringing himself back to her. Her color had returned to normal, and she’d opened her eyes.

“You are very skilled. You should do a video for YouTube or something.”

He released her wrist. “I’m sure there are plenty of videos about pressure points online.”

“But you’d be an added attraction. ‘Learn How Not to Throw Up, with Micah Ruiz.’” She wrinkled her nose. “It would probably need a catchier title.”

“I don’t know. That one is direct.”

They smiled at each other. They were still standing close together. He found himself wanting to take that last half step and—

And what? Hug her? Hold her? Kiss her?

All valid questions, for which he had no answer. But he liked that he was asking. Since losing Adriana, he hadn’t felt any kind of desire, no need and certainly nothing close to curiosity about a woman. While he’d been in physical rehab, he’d been required to work on healing his mind, as well. He knew that his emotions would heal more slowly than his bones, but they would still recover.