Page 32 of The Recovery Coach
Distracted from her work, she looked at him.He still stared straight up.A smile tugged at her lips.“Yeah.”
“This is like that.”
She’d been seven and skinned her knee.She sat on the toilet while he cleaned rocks out of her owie.The similarities ended there.Hers had been two drops of blood that some hydrogen peroxide and antibiotic ointment fixed right up.
His was a seeping, bone-deep, five-inch-long surgical wound that would scar for life.“It is kind of like that,” she said.
“Who knew all those years ago you’d have to return the favor?”
Olivia wrapped an ace bandage over the gauze.“Wish I had some CareBear bandaids for you.It would make your healing so much more whimsical.”
Connor laughed.“We could buy some.”
“They’re at the top of my grocery list,” she teased.Olivia patted his leg, letting him know he could look.She reached for his brace.
“You’re forgetting something.”
Was she?She didn’t think so.Olivia reached for the written instructions and scanned them.“I did all the steps.”
Connor bit back a mischievous grin.“I seem to recall kissing your booboo being the magical touch.”
Olivia snorted and leaned forward.She kissed his knee, right below the bandage.“There,” she said.“Better?”
He nodded.“Much.”
Chapter 12
Hazy
Notevenaweekafter his team paraded through his house, Hazy celebrated a birthday.The week had crawled by in a storm of self-pity and isolation.He didn’t attend practice.He didn’t call his parents.Lover hadn’t been around in days because of the Freeze’s back-to-back game schedule.The only bright spot had been the uninterrupted time with Livy.They spent the days couch-rotting and wallowing, both contemplating everything wrong with their lives and spiraling into depressive episodes.
Hazy in no way felt like celebrating, but he also wasn’t one to deny his friends a party.
For his past five birthdays, Daisy had planned a perfect event, per usual.Her career as a team-building expert earned her friends in fun places, and she always pulled strings with bar owners, caterers, and entertainment companies to spoil the Connors on their special days.
With Hazy’s broken leg, the plans she’d been working on for weeks got tossed out the window, but she still came through for him.
On the evening of his birthday, his friends and teammates all gathered in a circle around his card table, playing blackjack.The table was pulled close to the couch so Hazy could sit in the corner he liked and keep his leg elevated.Lover squeezed his body between Hazy and Livy.As the night progressed, he scooted as close to Livy as he could get.He was practically on top of her, and Hazy’s attention remained locked on the contact between them.When Lover left to pee, Hazy breathed a sigh of relief.
Toma Novikov slapped the overturned cards in front of Livy.“You’re bad at this,” he told her in an accent that effortlessly made panties drop.It never did the panty-wearers any good.Toma wasn’t for the girls.Sadly, he wasn’t for Hazy either.
Livy let out a shocked laugh.“It’s all luck.You can’t honestly believe you could do any better.”
Toma turned his nose up at the taunt.“Of course I can do better.I will do better right now.”
Reesy dealt a new round, and Hazy blocked Toma and Livy’s view as he checked his cards.He tapped on the table and Reesy handed him another.He stayed at nineteen.
Toma glanced at his cards and indicated he would like to keep his current hand.
Livy examined her cards.Then the ceiling.Then her cards again.She rubbed her forehead.Then she tapped on the table and Reesy handed her a new card.Her shoulders drooped, and she flipped over her card, busted.
“See?”Toma said as he gathered the chips he’d earned.“You are bad.”
Livy flipped him off, and Harland shuffled again before dealing another hand.
Lover returned in the middle of a game, so he stood on the opposite side of the table.Hazy watched him tap out a message on his phone.
Livy’s phone beeped with a notification, and she pulled it free from her pocket.She checked her messages, and a private little smile formed on her lips.She typed a reply, set her phone on the table face down, and stared at Lover.
