Stairs, Bodie thought with disgust. He could breeze through most of the physical therapy exercises the doctor had told him to keep doing as he healed. But stairs? With working on the main floor of the house, he hadn’t had a lot of reason to go up and down the stairs. When the need had arisen, he hadn’t had issues, but multiple trips had him gritting his teeth as sharp pain shot through his pinned-together hip.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been so eager to do Sarah’s bidding.

Not if he wanted to keep her from figuring out he wasn’t as tough as she thought he was.

He knew he wasn’t. But he liked the way she looked at him, as if she thought him capable of doing anything. Being with her made him feel as if he could.

Except stairs.

He was finding out the hard way that going up and down stairs repeatedly was torture on his hip and leg. And his teeth may be permanently damaged from the grinding he’d done that last trip down.

“Would you mind if, rather than bring down more boxes right away, we put these decorations out first?” Her eyes were full of pleading. “I’d like to unpack these, and then we can carry the empty boxes back upstairs to keep from having such a cluttered mess.”

Despite his lack of Christmas spirit, he jumped on the offer to decorate if it meant he could give his body a break from the steps.

“Sounds like a great idea.”

Getting Sarah’s claw-foot tub into the bathroom had been a major pain, but with the help of some of Sarah’s church friends that morning, Bodie had gotten it in, and was working on getting it hooked up. The tub made the room a bit tight, but with the right lighting, the finished product was going to look good.

She’d opted to go with the tiled showers in both downstairs suite bathrooms, just a much smaller one in the room with the tub. He’d almost finished Aunt Jean’s en suite and was making great progress in the other.

“Bodie and I carried Aunt Jean’s ornaments down last night.”

Trying not to listen in on Sarah’s phone conversation, Bodie focused on his work. Unfortunately, Sarah had a tendency to talk loudly when she was excited, so not hearing her conversation proved impossible.

“I’m going to go pick out a Christmas tree at Harvey Farms later this morning, but I still have to make arrangements for delivery,” she continued.

Earlier, she had been in the living area going through the remainder of the boxes they’d carried down the night before. Now, he could hear her moving around, cell phone to her ear, as she decorated the room while talking to her friend Maybelle.

“I need a truck.” She laughed. “Maybe I can get Rosie to convince Lou to get it for me.”