Page 5 of Burn With Me

“I wish, but she spends her time sexing her way through the doctors so they don’t realize she doesn’t do her job.”

I turn the water off, grab my microfiber towel for my hair, and wrap it up as I say, “Well, what is it?!” I grab my other towel and wrap it around my‌ body.

“Sam is moving down here, and he’s bringing his best friend, Luke, with him. I’m working to convince them to help at the farmers’ market on the weekends they don’t work,” she says as she hops off the counter and follows me into my room.

“Wait, why is Sam moving here? I mean, I’m never going to turn down free labor at the farmers’ markets, but also, why are you just now telling me?” I say, only slightly offended she kept this from me, as I grab clothes out of my dresser.

“Well, I also just found out because he’s a doucher. I guess he’s been interviewing at the fire department and didn’t want to get our hopes up, just in case he didn’t get the job. Not that I would care either way. I love him, but he’s annoying.”

If Sam is anything, it’s annoying and a womanizer. He’s the typical older brother and protective of us both. I would have never thought he would leave Boston.

We make our way to the living room, and I turn the TV on. I don’t even ask as I put onMonty Python and the Holy Grailfor background noise.

“Well, as long as he doesn’t spend all his time flirting with every female that comes up to the booth, he can stay. Where is he staying, or did he find a place?” I open the bags with our food and pass Pam hers.

When I open my chimichanga, I moan at the smell. I swear it’s one of the best I’ve ever had.

“Girl, you know he’s going to flirt with everyone. He’s crashing with me for a couple of weeks while he finds a place.” With an eye roll, she digs into her tacos.

I laugh because they’ll be ready to kill each other after a couple of weeks of living together, but I know how happy she is that he’ll be closer.

We eat in relative silence while quoting the movie that has been one of our favorites since high school. This right here is why she’s my best friend. We don’t have to talk the whole time, so I can let my social battery recharge like it desperately needs to.

Pam breaks the silence as she starts to clean up her takeout boxes. “How did your meetings go today?”

“Great, actually. It’s nice that everyone is happy with not only the quality of food but also the fact that we’re expanding since I’ve been testing some new produce and herbs along with trying out adding shrimp to the mix. I didn’t want to promise it was going to work since shrimp are very much assholes and super aggressive, but the test batch makes me feel better about trying them out more. Speaking of, I have to go over numbers and make sure I have enough for everyone’s midweek deliveries.” Standing up, I gather our boxes to throw them away.

“While I’m so proud of how successful you’ve become, I don’t envy you being the boss. You’re mostly work and very little play, which makes you a dull and boring bitch,” she says as she rinses the silverware and puts them in the dishwasher.

“Well, being the boss has some perks, one of them being I can bring my dog to work with me most days. Oh, and I don’t have to answer to anyone, and if I want to take time off, I could, but if I took time off, what would we do? Neither of us likes people enough to travel to a city.” I point out, which is mostly true. I don’t know if either of us could handle a big city for a vacation. “We would probably punch someone and end up in jail after three days. Then we’d have to ask Sam to bail us out.”

Sometimes it’s weird that I’ve turned into the voice of reason between the two of us. I can say, though, if I had to deal with the petty bullshit she deals with at the clinic, I don’t think my therapy would be as effective as it has been.

I grab my backpack and head back to the living room.

“Speaking of being your own boss and being able to make your own schedule. You should schedule a night off and try dating again,” Pam says casually.

Groaning, I sit on the couch and pull out my laptop, a notebook, and a pen. I fight to not roll my eyes. “We’ve been over this. I’m not ready yet. I’m too busy to date. With a growing company to run, I feel like I can barely keep up some days. Very few men would likely want to date around my random-ass schedule.” I give her a pointed look.

We’ve had this conversation several times over the last couple of years.

I know she means well, but even after years of therapy, I’m just not ready to put myself out there. Even if I was, I’m too old for hookup culture, and the thought of having to socialize makes my skin crawl.

“Am, I love you, but it’s been five years.” I go to defend my reasoning, but she puts her hand up to stop me. “I get it, really, I do. You were hurt in a way that makes it hard to trust again, but you’re doing yourself a disservice. By sticking to this, you’re going to be alone for the rest of your life. Leo was a fucking asshole, and I hope he chokes on a bag of dicks, but you’rethriving. You grew your business from the ground up, you’re close to expanding. Youcanmake time, you’re just too afraid to,” she says.

Her words are full of the tough love she knows I need. Deep down, I know she’s right. I’ve just come so far, and I’m not sure if I’m ready to hand my heart over to someone yet—or ever.

“I appreciate you more than I’ll ever be able to put into words, but I’m really happy right now and just don’t have the energy to try to get into the dating pool,” I say firmly, hoping we can change the topic.

To drive the point further, I start to work on stuff I need to figure out before tomorrow.

“I know you don’t want to deal with the hookup life, but you need to at least let someone dust those cobwebs out of your cootch because that bitch has to be dusty,” she says as she rolls with laughter.

I throw my extra pen at her. “BOB works just fine, so fuck right off. I’m done talking to you. I don’t know why we’re friends.”

“Because you love me and have no idea how you would survive your life without me,” she says, batting her eyelashes at me dramatically.

“I know, but you’re still annoying as hell,” I say, smirking at her before reviewing some contracts.

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