Page 73 of Lady Luck

The words danced across my memory, triggered by the smell, their meaning clicking into place.

It was subtle, but the jean jacket smelled like my sweater.

It’d originally been Vinh’s, not Liem’s.

Some unnamed emotion bubbled in my chest at the realization, and I flushed hot all over, as if my blood had been replaced with lava that didn’t burn but instead revitalized.

Hope.

Is that what this was? The feeling was foreign and unexpected. A fact that was, frankly speaking, fucking sad.

I opened the door, and Vinh was right there to help me out. The hope in my chest flared brighter.

“Liem didn’t pack you any socks or shoes, did he?”

I looked at my lone mud-splattered rain boot sitting in the corner, thankful for the distraction from my volatile emotions. “He did not.”

“And no bottoms, I take it.”

“Not in the traditional sense.”

His jaw flexed, and that was enough for the lava to turn molten and bring my pity party to a close.

“Let’s get you situated here and then I’ll be right back.” He helped me to the chair in the corner, and with a quick squeeze to my bare knee, he was out the door. He returned almost instantly with a pair of no-slip hospital socks in hand and a proud smile on his face before taking a knee in front of me.

The lava was coursing now. It seemed that every time Vinh was near me—which was almost always unplanned—my emotions were a riot of contrasts. The common denominator among them was the feeling of being safe, the exponent turned on to the highest power.

He slipped both socks onto my uninjured foot, and I sent a thankful prayer to the heavens that I hadn’t said any of my horny-yet-nerdy inner ramblings out loud. If they’d given me the good painkillers, I’m sure that would’ve been the part I blurted out.

“Vinh, I’m turned on to the highest power. I cannot find the sum of how hot you are with a calculator. And you make me feel as secure as a warm blankie.”

I snorted.

Vinh looked up with an amused smile. “Wanna share with the class?”

“I do not.”

He narrowed his eyes at me and stood up, holding out a hand to help me do the same, then keeping an arm around me for support. “I’m going to wheel you to my car. Is that okay?”

I groaned. “There isn’t a better way, is there?”

“Well, we could get you crutches. But it’s still raining, and that doesn’t seem like the safest bet….” He paused, eyes sweeping over me. “I could also carry you out.”

“Bring me my chariot, Vinh.”

29

VINH

She hadn’t argued as hard as I’d expected about me taking her to the boat, and the thin protests she had voiced had no real conviction behind them. They’d grown even thinner after I pointed out that to reach her home, she’d first have to track through the river that was coursing through the property from all the rain.

Her home that I now knew was a trailer unfit for anyone to live in.

A trailer that I was 100% not going to ask her about right now.

I did consider the safety of her living arrangements to be somewhat my business. And I respected her ability to care for herself even more.

Both were true, if not a bit at odds.

---