it was rhetorical. “If you could find a shop to buy some game from, you might stand a chance. You’ve run out. Don’t even buy a top off. Buy the entire refill.”
He smacked me on the shoulder, still laughing as he went to put the mats back on the stack and get our stuff ready for the next patient. The saddest thing of all was that I couldn’t even argue with him.
I knew it’d been a while since I’d tried chatting someone up or flirting, but that had been a disaster. And I hadn’t even been trying to flirt or ask her out.
If making simple conversation with her ended like that, Hunter was right. I needed to find somewhere to stock up on game because mine seemed to have run out.
Chapter 10
APRIL
Saturday morning came and brought with it my first day back at work. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? I can stay if you aren’t. Aunt Katie will be here soon, but I can cancel my shift if you need me to.”
Adi sat on our couch playing with a foam ball that was part of her therapy and watching me pace around the room. “No, Mom. Don’t cancel. I’ll be fine with Aunt Katie. I’m feeling better. I promise.”
I frowned and stopped moving for a second to really look at her. “Are you sure?”
“I’m fine.” There was a tiny hint of exasperation in her tone that made me dread the imminent teenage years.
It also told me I’d been hovering far too much the last few weeks. “Okay, but you’ll call me if you need me, right?”
“Right.” The doorbell rang, and she jumped up to get it, almost like she couldn’t wait to get a break from me.
I ran my fingers through my hair, breathing deeply through my nostrils as I tried to calm the emotional storm raging around my insides. Normally, I wasn’t one to let my emotions rule me. In fact, I was quite good at shutting them down and not showing them at all, but since Adi’s accident, I had been all over the place.
Although it had meant going into the red with my leave at work, I hadn’t been able to convince myself to go back earlier. Every time I thought about it, I got slammed with the guilt over what had happened the last time I’d left her alone.
The protective mother bear in my chest roared every time someone so much as looked at my daughter. I knew I was being an erratic helicopter parent, and yet I didn’t know how to regain my rhythm.
Going to work was probably a good place to start, even though the prospect of leaving Adi with Katie for that long was terrifying to me. Not because I didn’t trust Katie but because there was that stupid voice inside my head saying no one could care for my daughter the way I could.
But as I heard my sister joking with her and asking how her therapy went, I knew I had to get my shit under control and get the hell back to work. I forced a smile to my lips when Katie walked into the living room.
“Hi. Thanks for coming.”
She frowned at me, pulling her head back. “Thanks for coming? What’s with you?”
“Mom’s being weird today,” Adi supplied helpfully.
Katie arched her finely plucked brows. “I can see that. Is everything okay? Did something go wrong with physical therapy? Adi just told me everything was fine.”
“It was fine,” I replied. “Chris is still confident about her chances of making a full recovery, but I’m pretty sure he’s now also confident that I’m secretly obsessed with him.”
“What?” She frowned. “Why?”
I flicked my hand like it hadn’t been one of the most humiliating experiences in my life. “Adi told him about how I thought I was too poor for him.”
Her eyes flew wide open, and she brought her hand to her mouth to hide her smile. “She did?”
“Yeah. She did. I didn’t have an answer that wouldn’t make it sound like I was secretly obsessed with him, so I just shut it down.”
“How’d you do that?” Katie rounded the couch and set her purse down on it. “Because whatever you did, I’m quite sure you just made it sound more like you’re obsessed.”
“She said we’re not allowed to repeat girl talk to boys,” Adi chimed in.
My sister stared at me, blinking rapidly with her jaw slightly unhinged. “That’s what you said? Yeah, he definitely thinks you’re obsessed.”