Page 21 of As Long As You'll Have Me
“You literally told me you went and saw her for a second time fifteen minutes ago,” Carter comments, watching me complete my set. “More than one visit would begoing to therapy, if you ask me.”
“Well thankfully for me, I didn’t ask you,” I huff out, reracking the weights before moving out of the way for him to slide in.
I grab a pair of free weights from the rack and start to use them. The three of us fall silent as we work to breathe through the self-inflicted pain of our workout.Coop moves his headphones from his ear and looks at me once he’s completed his set.
“Well,didyou have a sex dream about your therapist?”
I groan and try to disguise my eye roll by pinching the bridge of my nose with my fingers. “It doesn’t matter if I did or I didn’t.”
“He did, he totally did,” Carter butts in, nodding his head frantically.
“Is she cute?” Coop asks.
“I mean, conventionally, sure.”
Liar.
She’s more than cute; she’s beautiful. Soft in her movements but sharp in her words and wit. A button nose perfectly fit for her face with little freckles that dance joyfully when she laughs. The way her glasses slip down nose constantly just for her to have to press them back up again is endearing as all hell and I want nothing more than to know what it feels like to run my fingers through her hair.
“I don’t know, you guys, she’s my therapist. I’m sure there’s some rule against having the hots for your therapist,” I hurry out, shaking my head at the two of them and slipping back under the bar to trade spots with Carter.
“So sheisyour therapist,” he jests.
“And youdohave the hots for her,” Coop follows close behind.
“I swear to god the two of you are going to give me an aneurysm,” I groan, closing my eyes and trying to focus on my movement.
I don’t care what they said about it, whether she’s my therapist or not, I certainly donothave the hots for her. The dream was just that—a dream. Nothing more. One brought on by too much smoke inhalation and not enough sleep.
Nothing more.
“Coop, you still in for drinks tonight?” Carter asks when the three of us finish another set. For once, his short-lived attention span works in my favor.
“I mean, I won’t be drinking but sure, I’ll come out with you two idiots. When are you off?”
Cooper has been sober most of his life. He saw what it did to his dad after his mom died and made a vow long before he was legally allowed to drink that he would stay away from the stuff. While Carter and I aren’t ones to go out and get tanked, having a default designated driver is always a plus.
“Five o’clock. Plenty of time to head home, have dinner, and head out for a few hours,” Carter explains, his voice getting more and more excited as he speaks.
“I’ll come pick you two up at eight. We can take my car,” Coop offers.
“As long as you don’t show up in the cruiser,” I snort. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d pull that stunt.
“Orthe dog,” Carter adds quickly.
A smile grows across Coop’s face and he pulls his headphones over his ears, blocking us out entirely. I can only assume he’s thinking about the time he agreed to go out with us only to show up in full uniform with Lola in tow. Needless to say, it wasn’t a very fun evening.
“Coop, you heard me, right?” Carter asks, dipping his head in front of our friend’s to try and get his attention. “Right?”
Cooper only laughs and shakes his head at a panicked looking Carter. The three of us finish our workout in peace before Coop heads out to start his Saturday while Carter and I hang back and enjoy another day on call at Firehouse Nine.
11
HANNA
Once Miles disappeared down the hall, the rest of Thursday and Friday went by without much excitement. I’m happy to see he noticed how I moved some things around in my office in case he decided to come back. After he left our first session, I stayed late to take some things off the wall and even looked up the local fire code to make sure I was abiding by it. It wasn’t a major gesture by any means, but I could tell it meant a lot to him. He seemed more relaxed the second time around, even if he had come to me in a near state of panic.
I feel my eyebrows push together as I remember his words.I had an argument with Carter and haven’t been able to sleep the last few days. I went for a run earlier this morning and kind of ended up here.I’d convinced myself that our first session had been a flop based on how eager he was to leave. Clearly, I’d made some sort of an impact on him if, while on a run in the early hours of the day, he thought to come and talk to me when he was feeling unsteady. Once he shared the softer side of himself, I couldn’t seem to keep my brain focused on anything else.
