Glenn woke to pain so intense he had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. A quiet voice told him to stay still while a hand brushed his hair back from his forehead. He turned his head just enough to see Joey seated on a chair beside him. "How long…?" Glenn asked.
"Have you been out? About five hours." Joey pulled the blankets up to cover him.
"No. How long have you been sitting there?"
"About five hours," Joey admitted with a small smile.
Glenn looked at him and growled, "Idiot, you should be sleeping."
"I did, on and off."
"Joey, damn…" Glenn's eyes closed again. "You don't have to…" His words faded away.
"Yeah I do," Joey said quietly.
Three hours later Glenn woke again. This time when the pain made him groan deeply Joey's mother was the one to respond.
"I have some painkillers I found in the first aid kit but you'll have to sit up a bit if you don't want the water to soak you. Do you think you can handle that?"
Glenn nodded and with her help he raised up enough to drink from the glass of water once she'd given him the pills. "Where's Joey?" he asked when he'd finished.
"I told him if he didn't get upstairs and sleep I'd tie him to the bed," she told him with a smile. "I guess he believed me because he went up about half an hour ago."
"Stupid kid," Glenn muttered.
"Concerned young man, Glenn. Don't fault him for that. He cares." Once he was prone again she pulled back the blanket so she could check the wound in his thigh. He gritted his teeth hard while she cleaned it again and dosed it with more antibiotic cream. After she'd rewrapped it, she let him know that so far it wasn't infected. "But I will be keeping an eye on it and as soon as Joey's awake we'll get you upstairs so you can have a real bed to recuperate in." She stared hard at him for a long moment then asked, "Where is the body?"
"Safely hidden away. No one will find it unless they know it’s there. Well," he smiled tightly, "at least not unless someone goes into the barn while it's decomposing, which is unlikely since the place looks like it's been deserted for quite a while now."
"Where is it?" she asked. When he told her, she nodded her head. "Mr. Grant died two years ago. He had no heirs so it's been sitting vacant. Occasionally someone goes by to look at it since it's on the market but," she chuckled low. "It's rumored that he haunts it because he doesn't want anyone there. He was a very reclusive man who hated almost everyone, so most people around here wouldn't be in the least surprised if his ghost really did hang out there."
"So Fairburn picked a good place to hide out." Glenn glanced around before asking, "Where's Mary by the way?"
"Still asleep as far as I can tell. Or not," she added when they heard footsteps on the stairs.
Mary came to stand shyly by Glenn. "Thank you," she whispered.
"I don't bite," he told her with a smile. "And you're welcome." He turned to look at Miriam. "I don't suppose I could have something to eat?"
"Of course. Mary, come with me and help."
When the two females disappeared into the kitchen Glenn closed his eyes. He wasn't certain how he felt about the fact that Joey spent most of the night at his side watching over him. On the one hand he liked the idea, much more than he knew he should. A great deal more. On the other hand he knew that he had to quell any hopes Joey had that there could be something between them. 'It would never work,' he thought with some remorse. He liked the kid, more than he should, but last night's episode with Fairburn brought it home to him that they were from two different worlds. 'So now how do I handle that?' He sighed deeply. He had no idea but he knew that he'd have to, somehow.
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