Page 88 of Lee

It was a busy day at the clinic, which meant that time passed quickly. Before she knew it, they were climbing into Lee’s car to go get hers.

“Are you coming for pizza?” Lee asked as he pulled out of the parking lot. “We’d love to have you, and since the weather is nice, we’re eating outside again.”

Her first instinct was to demurely decline, but Rori stopped herself.

She had to stop thinking that they were inviting her out of some sense of responsibility or pity. They didn’t have to keep including her, but for some reason, they did.

Lee and his family had offered her so much, and she didn’t want them to tire of her being around. However, that didn’t seem to be happening yet. So maybe she just needed to take their interactions at face value. To accept that if Lee or someone else invited her to something, they actually wanted her to be there.

“Sure. It was fun last time.”

Lee turned to look at her after he came to a stop at a red light. “Wow.”

Rori felt her cheeks heat a little. “What?”

“You accepted right away,” Lee said. “I had thought up a whole bunch of things to say to convince you.”

“Should I retract my acceptance so you can use them?”

“Nope. Definitely not.” Lee turned his attention back to the road as the light turned green. “I’m thrilled that you jumped right in to accept. However, I reserve my right to use my persuasive arguments in the future.”

“You think I won’t keep accepting right away?”

“I would like to say no because that would mean you’re getting more comfortable with us. However, I don’t think you’re one hundred percent there yet.”

“You’re probably right,” Rori admitted. “But I’m trying.”

“And I appreciate that,” Lee said. “Maybe I will share one of the things I’d planned to say.”

“What’s that?” Rori asked with a laugh.

He glanced over at her. “I want you there.”

Butterflies exploded in her stomach, his forthright statement leaving her speechless. He probably didn’t mean it the way she wanted to interpret it. But still, even if his statement came from a place of friendship, it definitely warmed her.

“And just so you know, even though I’ve used that argument now, I will still use it anytime I want to in the future.”

Emotion swelled inside Rori, filling all the empty corners of her heart. This friendship with Lee and the friendships she was building with others were beyond anything she could have imagined. She’d never had like them before.

In high school, she’d been picked on a lot by the other girls. It had been a school filled with upper middle-class kids, so they’d had all the latest clothing styles and the newest phones, and she hadn’t. Apparently, that had been reason enough to tease her mercilessly.

Her life back then had focused on getting the best grades she could and working so she could buy what she needed. Plus, she hadn’t wanted people to know that her family barely tolerated her presence in their lives.

If she’d let anyone close, they would have seen that. But in the end, it hadn’t mattered, because no one had cared enough to search for the truth of her life. And she’d been fine with that.

But now, she was surrounded by people who had a good idea of the state of her relationship with her family, and yet, it didn’t seem to be an issue for them. She’d let hints of how things were with her mom and her siblings, but it hadn’t seemed to matter to them.

“I… I look forward to hearing you say it again,” Rori said, daring to be just the tiniest bit open with Lee about how she felt.

“In that case, prepare yourself to hear it every time.” He pulled his car into the parking lot of the garage where Blake worked. “Because it’s the truth.”

Oh, how she wished that there was more to his words. But she wasn’t going to let all the reasons why that wasn’t possible rob her of the joy she felt in that moment.

She had a car to pick up and a pizza dinner to attend. With Lee.

Lee followed her into the garage office, where they found Blake talking with his boss, Stan. Rori had met him that morning when she’d dropped off her car. He’d been warm and friendly, and right away, she’d trusted him more than the mechanic at other the other garage.

“I hear it’s good news,” Stan said when he spotted her.

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