Page 6 of One Week With You
“Me? I’m fine,” she said, but her pitchy tone sounded more likeI’m dying inside.
“You know, when people say they’re fine, it usually means the opposite, right?”
“Okay, Detective. You got me. You solved the case. Whoopdee doo!”
I chuckled. “Well, almost. How about you tell me what’s wrong and then I’ll close it.”
Talia fell silent and I straightened from my slump against the kitchen counter. “Are you in danger?” I demanded, unsettled by the way my heart had relocated to my throat.
“Why do you always think the worst?” she grumbled.
“I think it’s warranted in this instance. Is it wrong to worry about you?”
“No, no… It’s nice that you worry. Or that you care enough to worry,” she added quietly.
My stomach lurched. How she thought I didn’t care enough was beyond me. But then I remembered the way she’d looked at me when I told her our kiss had been a mistake. Something had twisted painfully in my chest every time I’d thought about those shiny eyes, for weeks afterwards. Maybe even months. Hell, even now.
“Of course I care,” I settled on, trying to figure out the best way to phrase it. I’d lived to regret hasty words between us before. “I know we’ve not spoken in a while but I’m always here for you. We could go a year without speaking and I’d still be there. Whatever you need.”
Another beat of silence bled down the line, then…
“I got fired today,” she admitted, so soft I almost didn’t catch it over the loud cheer seeping in from the other room.
Leo whooped and clapped while his sister’s heart ached like a fresh bruise.
“I’m so sorry. What can I do?”
“Nothing. I just needed to tell someone, you know? And I thought, who can I tell who won’t make me feel like a failure? And I thought of you.”
She thought ofme.Fucking hell,I felt ten feet tall.
“You’re not a failure.”
“I guess,” she said with a half-hearted sigh. “But my parents are going to be so disappointed in me.”
Impossible. David and Joanna Johnson were some of the best people I knew. Leo and Talia (and Oliver and Jacob) had won the parent lottery. There was no way they’d ever be disappointed.
“How bad is that?” Talia carried on. “Thirty-five years old and I’m worried about what my parents think. Embarrassing.”
“Wanting to please your parents doesn’t magically switch off in adulthood.” Something I knew all too well. Unfortunately.
“Well it should because this feeling sucks and I don’t know how to stop it.”
I ached to hold her. Take her in my arms, crush her to my chest and whisper that everything would be okay. I rarely felt helpless, but I had no idea how to give her the comfort she needed. I scowled at nothing and everything, all at once.
“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?” I asked.
“There’s nothingtodo. But I feel better for telling someone. Now I’m going to drink the night away to forget for a while. And I’m cooking microwave fries. Well, obviously not cooking. More like zapping. But whoever invented these deserves an award, like how amazing to have fries in ninety seconds.” A faint ding in the background. “They’re ready!”
A smile broke out across my face. If anyone could make me smile, it was her.
“You know what would go great with those fries?” I suggested.
“Oooh, what? Tell me.”
“Water. Drink some now. I’ll wait while you do it.”
“You’re so bossy.”
