Page 24 of Holding On

Later that night when I get home, I find Mike at the kitchen table with his laptop.

"Whatcha working on?" I sit beside him.

"Ideas for this weekend's podcasts."

"You're doing more than one?" I ask, because he usually only does one on the weekend.

"This can be a tough time of year for people with PTSD. The sound of the fireworks? It's too much."

"Are you one of them?" I ask cautiously. "Do you have PTSD?" Mike's never talked about it and I've never pushed him to.

"Not to the extent some people do." He looks at me and sees the concern in my face. "Relax. I've learned ways to cope with it. You don't have to worry."

"Do you want to do something this weekend? Tina invited us to see fireworks but I didn't think you'd want to."

"You can go. I need to stay here and work on the podcasts." He turns back to his laptop. "So how was work?"

"The Chicken Shack was busier than normal."

"Any good stories to share?"

"Not really. Some ladies came in dressed like cats. Apparently there was some cat lover's event at one of the hotels in town. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful."

"How about your cleaning job? Anything interesting happen?"

"I started working at a new house. Guess who it belongs to."

"I don't know."

"Come on. Take a guess."

He looks at me. "Your ex-boyfriend?"

"Ex-boyfriend? You mean Chris? He lives in Cincinnati."

"No. That other guy. The one you met at the car wash."

"Nathan?" I laugh. "He wasn't my boyfriend. We went out twice."

I met Nathan while waiting in line to wash the van. Nathan was in the car behind me. The line was so long that Nathan got out of his car and came up to my window and struck up a conversation. He wasn't really my type but he was nice so I agreed to go out with him. But after two dates, we knew it wasn't going anywhere.

"It wasn't Nathan. Try again."

"I give up. Just tell me."

"Ethan Baxter." I sit back and wait for his reaction.

"The quarterback?" Mike crosses his arms over his chest.

"Yeah. He rents a house on the other side of town. And I'm his new maid."

He smiles. "So you're working for a celebrity."

"I guess, but with his injury, isn't his football career over?"

"I think that's still up in the air. Nobody really knows because the coach won't say anything and neither will Ethan. His dad came out with a statement about a month ago saying Ethan will definitely play again, but he could've just been saying that. His dad's a sports agent. Those guys always lie."

"Ethan's in a wheelchair so I doubt he'll be able to play this season."

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