Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 105231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
“And you will take me with you.”
“You want to come with me?” she asked. “Really? No, you don’t actually want to. It would be awful.”
“Goldie.” He walked over to sit in front of her again, staring at her intently. “I really want to.”
Caren took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. “All right.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
“Good. That’s fucking good.”
She watched as his shoulders sank. As though a weight had come off them and he could breathe more easily.
And it hit her then that he really did care. This wasn’t him trying to control her or even to just relieve his guilt.
He cared.
“Thanks, Travis,” she told him.
He gave her a surprised look. “For what?”
“For caring. A lot of people wouldn’t. And we don’t really know each other that well—”
“But we are friends now,” he interrupted.
“Yeah, we are.” She gave him a wobbly smile. She wished that she could tell him everything. But her other problem wasn’t one that she wanted him anywhere near.
That would be far too dangerous for him. And if there was one thing she knew about him it was that he could be stubborn. He wouldn’t listen to her if she told him not to get involved.
So, no, for his own safety she’d keep that a secret.
And hopefully that issue would never raise its ugly head again.
“So she grabbed your arm after her caregiver left?” he asked. “Did you put ice on it? Any cream?”
“No, it’s really not that bad.”
“What about your head? It looks bad.”
“I think it looks worse than it feels.”
He shot her a look. “What happened?”
“Oh, she threw something at me. It caught me by surprise. My fault. I’ve gotten complacent. Not that she used to throw things at me. I just forgot to be on alert, you know?”
Travis gently took hold of her chin, tilting her head back. “In no way was this your fault. At all. And complacent? Why should you worry about your own mother throwing things at you? That’s not fucking normal.”
No. He was right.
This wasn’t her fault and that wasn’t normal.
Taking a deep breath in, she let it out slowly. “You’re right. I know better than this, than trying to take the blame onto my shoulders. Even though she’s ill, she was like this before the illness.”
“Exactly, baby. Now, why didn’t you get checked out? Did you lose consciousness?”
“Ahh.” She didn’t want to tell him that because she knew what he was going to say.
“That’s a guilty look if I ever saw it. Caren,” he scolded.
“I know. I just lost consciousness for a short time, I think. And I wanted to get out of there. To get back to my hotel room and just sleep. Which is what I did. I’m sorry I didn’t answer your messages. I just couldn’t get on my phone without feeling ill.”
“I wish you had. I would have come to you.”
“That . . . that would be above and beyond friendship, Travis.”
“Don’t care. That’s what I would have done. That’s what you deserve and need.”
She wasn’t sure it was. But she wanted it. Desperately.
“What do you need?” he asked.
“Um, what do I need for what?” she asked in confusion as he stood.
“What do you need before I take you to see a doctor?”
“I’m not going to see a doctor.”
“You lost consciousness. You’re pale and exhausted. You should be checked over.”
“No, no. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. I’m taking you.”
Shit. The last thing she wanted was to spend hours in an emergency waiting room only to be told she was fine.
“I really don’t need a doctor and I don’t want to go. Besides, I don’t have insurance.”
That part was actually true.
“You don’t have insurance? Why not? Can you not afford it?” He glanced around with a shrug. “We’ll put you on Raptor’s plan.”
“Um, you can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t work for you!”
“We’ll work out something. Been meaning to get some photos taken for the website. You can do that.”
She bit her lip as amusement filled her. She had been pretty sure that he had no idea what sort of photographer she was. Now, she was certain he had no clue.
Should she tell him?
Probably. Maybe not right now, though. He’d likely had enough shocks today.
“You don’t need to do that. I’m not going to be in the states much longer so I’ll be fine without insurance.” Money wasn’t a problem. She just hadn’t thought it worth the hassle when she knew she wouldn’t be here much. Although maybe it would be nice to have a base to come home to.
Hmm. She’d tried to keep Grammy’s place as a base, but it had been too sad to come home to and she’d thought it was a house that deserved to have people live in it. So she’d sold it to a lovely family and stored what she wanted to keep.