I’d been balancing on one foot in my driveway for fifteen minutes. My entire leg was throbbing.Russ noticed me wince when he set me down on the couch and went searching in the kitchen. He came back with some Tylenol and a glass of water. He waited wordlessly while I took the medicine, then set the glass on the coffee table and sat down next to me.“Long night for you,” he said.When I didn’t respond, he surprised me by pulling me into his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and I lay my head on his shoulder as if we’d done this a million times. The action was so natural it was unnatural.I felt as if I’d been freezing to death without knowing it and Russ had draped a warm blanket around me. His supernatural energy, if that’s what I was feeling, was working its way through my body. When it reached my heart, it felt like it was somehow gluing the pieces back together.Maybe it was just a guy thing, but Russ didn’t hound me for any details. We sat in silence for a long time. I was grateful Russ hadn’t decided to give me any more lectures.
