Her eyes were narrowed when she faced me again. “Yes, actually, it’s worked out just fine these last few weeks. So, I’m thinking it’s gonna be just fine now too.”
I gritted my teeth and kept my mouth shut. She didn’t give me a chance to say anything anyway before she turned around to leave again. Her first step looked normal, but the second didn’t look smooth enough. She was favoring her left leg. What was I gonna do with her? Without even realizing it, she had just crumpled another wall I’d tried my best to put up.
Still just a few steps separating us, I called out after her. “Your bag.”
She stopped and looked at me over her shoulder, her features tight. “What?”
Staying silent, I raised my eyebrow and showed her the bag in my hand. She limped back the few steps she had taken and held her hand up, eyes boring into mine.
She was something else.
I studied her face, thinking maybe I could intimidate her, but she wasn’t giving an inch. I’d gotten to know her pretty well, and I knew she wouldn’t give in, no matter what I said or did. Shaking my head, I threw her bag on my left shoulder and tucked her arm around my right.
She stiffened next to me and tried to pull away. I covered the back of her hand with my right hand to keep her still.
“I’m not going back to your apartment, Jack,” she said through gritted teeth as a group of runners and their two dogs forced us to move to the edge of the road.
“It’s not my apartment anymore, is it?” I asked distractedly. “It’s supposed to be ours. Get used to it so you don’t let something like that slip around your cousins or other people.”
“Are you taking me to work or—”
“We’re going to your precious coffee shop, goddammit,” I burst out, and then I tried my best to gentle my voice. “You called me for help and I’m helping. Stop arguing with me and try to walk instead.”
That shut her up. She gave me another look and bit down on her lip as she grabbed my arm with her left hand too. After a few slow steps, she rested a bit more of her weight on me.
She was as stubborn as a mule. Another thing that made me like her more.
“How are your knees?” I asked, completely aware of how surly I sounded.
Another fleeting look at me. “They feel a little tight. I’m sure it’ll go back to normal in a few hours. We’re closer to the coffee shop than our apartment anyway.”
I gritted my teeth, glaring at the people walking past us. “Right.” After a few minutes of shuffling and resting and wincing, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Put your arm around my neck,” I ordered. When she hesitated, I sighed and did it myself.
“I’m shorter than you, so we can’t walk like that—Jack!”
“What?” I asked, grunting softly when I had her up in my arms.
“Have you lost your mind?”
I started walking at a normal pace, holding her tightly against my chest as she slid her other hand around my neck.
“Jack, you don’t have to carry me, I can walk. Put me down.”
“No. You can’t put weight on your left leg. You’re gonna make it worse.”
“I can. I’ve been walking with your help. Jack, I can.”
“With the speed we were going, you’d reach your coffee shop at noon. What’s the problem? I’m doing all the work here, and I thought you were in a hurry to get there.”
“Jack,” she growled, her eyes shooting daggers at me. I kept my eyes forward and continued walking. “Jack, I’m warning you, you’re not going to carry me all the way to the coffee shop.”
“I’m not? If you say so, I’m sure it must be true.”
“Everyone is staring at us,” she whispered.
“We’ve only passed two people.”
“And both of them were looking at us like we were crazy. I’m not gonna be in your arms while we’re crossing 5th Avenue with all those people around. Everyone will look at us. The traffic! And Madison Avenue!”
“You will.”
“I’m really regretting calling you right now.”
“I couldn’t tell.”
I was enjoying it too much.
When trying to push off of me so she could get down didn’t work, she gently slapped my shoulder with her injured hand and then winced.
I clenched my jaw so I wouldn’t smile. “Stop squirming. You’re not the only one who likes to get to work on time.”