Page 130 of Lee

“Yep.”

She didn’t get up to hug him because she wasn’t willing to chance him rebuffing her, even if it was just so that he didn’t pass his bug onto her. Her heart couldn’t handle it.

So she stayed in her chair and watched him walk away.

Rori thought that Lee had come to the front to let her know in her capacity as receptionist that he wouldn’t be available for the rest of day and that he’d come back as her boyfriend to say goodbye before he left. However, after the dog and its owner had left, time ticked by without Lee coming to talk to her.

When Alys mentioned a short time later that he’d left already, Rori, once again, didn’t know what to think, and she wished that she could leave as well. It was horribly hard to focus on her job when she was confused and her heart hurt.

They had a couple of walk-ins that afternoon, but Dr. Carl was there to take care of them. Rori was beyond grateful when the day was over, and she could escape to her apartment, which wasn’t a hovel by any stretch of the imagination.

It was, in fact, her retreat, and she was eager to get home.

After she walked inside, Rori closed the door and locked it. Since it was still bright outside, she didn’t pull down the blinds yet.

With Lee’s help, she’d recently added some gauzy curtains which protected her from people looking in during daylight hours. When darkness fell and she turned on the lights, she’d pull down the blinds to completely hide her apartment.

Since she had no plans to leave her apartment for the rest of the day, Rori switched out of her work clothes into a pair of sleep shorts and an oversized T-shirt. Once she was comfortable, she went to see what was in the kitchen to eat.

Though she wasn’t exactly hungry, Rori wanted to know what she had on hand since it hadn’t been her plan to eat supper at home that evening. There were a couple of cans of her favorite soup, along with some frozen meals to choose from so she’d be fine.

While she was in the kitchen, she made herself a cup of chai, then went to turn on her diffuser.

When she realized what she was doing, Rori decided to lean right into it and went to the windows to pull the blinds down, casting the room into shadows.

After picking up her tea from the kitchen, she went to her bed and put the mug on the night table next to it. She climbed onto the bed and rested back against the pile of pillows she’d collected over the past few weeks.

Her laptop sat closed against the back of the daybed, and Rori reached for it. After opening it, she clicked to the site where she usually ordered her ebooks and spent a few minutes perusing the titles. Her ebook library had lots of unread books, but most of them were romances. That night, the last thing she wanted to read about was some couple falling in love.

A suspense novel would be more enjoyable, given her mindset. She just needed something that would distract her from whatever it was that had gone on with Lee earlier.

At some point, they would need to have a conversation about it, but she needed a little time to prepare herself for whatever that might entail.

Though she didn’t stand up to her family when they treated her badly, it was because she just didn’t care what they thought of her. She didn’t care enough about the relationship she had with them to try to make it better.

With Lee, she very much did care about their relationship. Enough to speak up about how his words had made her feel.

But first, she’d let him heal. And give him the opportunity to acknowledge that he’d been harsh in what he’d said to her.

If neither happened, she’d have to broach it with him. The idea made her nervous, but Rori had had too many people disregard how what they did or said might hurt her.

People probably thought she was a weak person, without the strength to confront anyone. She might have actually thought that of herself, too. But she was coming to realize that when it came right down to it, she could—and would—stand up for herself. If it was important.

She closed the laptop, having made a purchase that would show up on the ebook app on her phone. Even though her phone had a small screen, it was easier to read on it than on her laptop.

Curling up on her side, Rori tucked the pillows around her body and began to read.

She’d made it through three chapters when a text appeared as an alert on her screen.

Lee: Are you coming over for pizza?

Rori lowered her phone and stared blankly across the room. What did she tell him?

Just a few days ago, she would have said yes, and hopped out of bed to change her clothes. She would have rushed over, happy that Lee wanted to see her.

But now, she felt a little hurt and needed some time to lick her wounds. She wouldn’t put off seeing him for long, but she needed her hurt to be dulled a bit. Hopefully giving herself a day or two before talking to him would achieve that.

I thought it might be cancelled because of you not feeling well.

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