Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 76696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“They look nice, but your mother looks so young,” she said.
“They do look nice. And my mother was twenty-two when she had me. My father is fifteen years older than her. She was an intern at his company when they met.”
She studied my face. “You don’t get along?”
“We hardly see each other. They are too busy.” Well, my father was. My mother spent most of her time with her therapist or in our country club, at least when she wasn’t in rehab.
“What about when you were younger?”
“They were busy then too.”
“Oh,” she said. She brought up her legs and curled her socked-toes around the edge of the seat. “So what’s up with all the Patagonia posters? Did you travel there?”
“No,” I said, looking at my favorite poster of the Los Glaciares National Park. “But one day I will. I want to travel South America from top to bottom.”
“That would take a while.”
“Six months to a year if you want to do it properly,” I said absent-mindedly. “Guess I’ll have to wait until I’m retired for that to happen.”
“Or you could take a year off before you start to work and follow your dream.” Amber shook her head. “That sounded cheesy.”
“No,” I said softly. “I should, but I can’t. Some things just aren’t meant to be.”
“I know,” she said, brown eyes boring into my own.
***
The next three days while I was confined to my bed, Amber brought me food – and chamomile tea despite my pleas and protests – and kept me company. I'd never enjoyed being ill so much before.
I wasn't sure if her newfound comfort around me would last after I'd recovered, but I hoped she'd realized that she could feel safe with me. Brian didn't know about the time that Amber had been spending in my room and somehow I knew it was better that way. He was weird when it came to Amber. Couldn't he see that she longed for normalcy?
CHAPTER NINE
Amber
I walked out of my room, Pumpkin at my heels. He was hungry and didn't stop complaining loudly. I hurried through the living room and into the kitchen, stopping in my tracks when I saw Zach sitting at the table. He looked much better than the days before. I was still shocked about my courage to spend so much time with him over the last few days but he'd looked so helpless and I just couldn't let him down. I liked to take care of people, especially since most of the time over the last few years it had been the other way around. Before the incident I’d considered working as a doctor, but now I associated too many bad memories with hospitals. People always tried to take care of me and helping Zach had made me feel useful. I'd enjoyed spending time with him.
“Good morning, Amber.” Zach's words tore me from my thoughts.
I gave him a smile. He grinned in return, his spoon with cereal hovering a few inches in front of his face. For a moment, I marveled at how blue his eyes were.
“Are you feeling better?” I asked as I walked into the kitchen and picked up cat food from the cupboard.
“Yes, and all thanks to your cooking skills. If I'd followed Brian's advice and eaten pizza, I would have been in hospital by now.” He let out a low chuckle, more of a rumble from deep in his chest. I loved the sound.
I laughed and shook my head. “Maybe that was Brian's intention.”
Zach's booming laugh filled the kitchen and a grin tugged at my lips. It felt good to make him laugh. It almost made me feel happy. He looked even more handsome when he laughed than he did anyway. I felt my cheeks heat in embarrassment and hastily bent over Pumpkin's feeding bowl to hide my red face from Zach. Had I just thought of him as handsome? Usually, there were only two categories of men for me – very intimidating and slightly less intimidating. Apparently, a third category had been added to that. Handsome. I found Zach handsome. This realization shocked me so much that I must have remained bent over Pumpkin's bowl for a couple of minutes without giving him any food. He mewed loudly, giving me a reproachful look with his amber eye. Had Zachary noticed anything? My cheeks warmed even more and I filled the bowl hurriedly and straightened before I faced Zach. Fortunately, he was immersed in a sports magazine and hadn't noticed my strange behavior.
“Will you stay home today?” I asked before I could stop myself.
Zach raised his head and smiled. “Yes, I'm not feeling fit enough for classes.” He winked at me and again I felt myself blush. I busied myself with the apple that I was eating to avoid embarrassing myself even more. I leaned against the counter. Zach rose from his chair. I waited for the usual tensing of my muscles but nothing happened. Maybe the last couple of days with Zach had changed something. I felt almost elated when I pondered the possibility.
Zach knelt down beside Pumpkin and began petting his neck, causing my cat to purr in approval. I smiled softly. He raised his head. “Are you up for some video games? Maybe I'll even let you win.”
“Maybe I'm good and you don't need to let me win,” I countered with raised eyebrows.
“Are you any good?”
I let out a sigh and shook my head. “No, probably not.”
“Fantastic!” Zach straightened and strode into the living room. I followed him and sank down on the loveseat, facing the TV screen. Zach plopped down on the sofa and handed one of the controllers to me. The video game turned out to be car racing and I sucked at it. Most of the time I was busy not crashing against the walls or other cars. Zach was trying not to laugh at me but I could tell that he had trouble hiding his grin.
“Having fun?” I asked sarcastically.
Zach gave me an apologetic look, though his grin was ruining the effect. “Sorry. I'll make up for it. Today, I'm going to cook for us.”