Savage Love by Jodi Woody

make-believe, but they still encourage me to hang in there and be strong,” she said.
         “Well, I know you aren’t going to be here long, but you are welcome to read my copies while you are here,” offered Daffyd.
         “I could probably finish the Hobbit. I’m a very fast reader. I have loved books every since I was little. I was reading college level by the time I was in fifth grade. I think that is part of the reason I thought I would like to teach.”
         “Why don’t you come upstairs with me and I will get it for you,” said Daffyd.
         Daffyd had to take the stairs very slowly. I should have had Bryce or Leal give me a hand before they left. I sure don’t want to ask this little woman to help me… He faltered on the next step and Samantha reached out and took his arm. All he could do was swallow his pride and allow her to help. She ended up being stronger than he thought. Her grip was tight enough to help, but gentle enough not to hurt. Some of those nurses in the hospital practically bruised him when they lent a helping hand.
         When they got into Daffyd’s room he went to a book shelf and pulled out the book for Samantha. His was on the table by his king sized bed. Daffyd’s room was done in dark wood, almost black. His furnishings were mostly navy blue. He only had one painting on the wall, and it was of a big ship with sails flung wide on a stormy sea. Off to one side of the ship there was a small break in the cloud with a feeble ray of sunlight breaking forth. Samantha could see a large bathroom off of one wall, and again there were the big windows with the view. Daffyd’s room was on the same side as the pool. The curtains were open and the room was bright enough without the lights on.
        “Thanks for the book. How will you get a hold of me if you need me?” she asked.
        “I guess I didn’t think of that. I should have asked Trish to leave her pager. You could read in here. That chair is pretty comfortable. Or I could yell like a banshee…”
         “If you don’t mind, I could read in here. It’s a nice quiet place to enjoy a book,” she accepted.
         Daffyd crawled into bed and turned on the light that was on the table next to his bed. Samantha settled into the chair on the other side of the room putting her feet up on the ottoman. It was bright enough that she didn’t need a light. Soon they had forgotten all about each other and were engrossed in the adventures of Tolkien’s imagination. After about an hour Samantha was giggling, and Daffyd was sniffling.
         “Let me guess…let’s see, book two…they just found Gandalf?” asked Samantha.
         “Nope, Théoden just took up his sword again,” he wiped his eyes and blew his nose loudly. “And what’s so funny?”
         “Bilbo, he stumbles into the strangest things, and all he wants is his hole back in the shire,’ she said.
         “Ok, I think I need to give my emotions a break,” she laughed.
         “How about some sherbet?” he asked.
         “Taking a breather sounds good, one scoop or two?”She asked.
         “I better just do one.”
         Samantha returned with two bowls, one with a lonely scoop of sherbet in the middle and the other with a generous helping of chocolate ice cream in it. She handed Daffyd his and sat in the chair closest to his bed.
         “Yours looks better than mine,” he noticed.
         “Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t tempt you, but when I saw this I couldn’t pass it up. I’ve never been a real sherbet fan,” she apologized.
         “Me neither,” he mumbled.
         Samantha just laughed and pretended to hide her bowl from him while she took a big bite.
         “Now you’re just being mean,” he whined.
         Daffyd took his time with his bowl, making sure it was settling in his stomach. So they both ended up finishing at about the same time. Samantha got up and helped herself