Page 63 of A Break in Communications

Christ, I was worried about her. She looked like she was going to fall apart. And I wanted her to be okay. Guess I cared after all.

Lucy sighed, looking away. “No need to worry. Grandma’s getting better, it’s just been a lot keeping up with her and staying on top of work and everything… aren’t you supposed to be in the office right now?”

I put a hand on her arm. Didn’t realize until I was doing it, but she arched her eyebrows at me, and I realized I didn’t wantto pull away. “I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re okay, Lucy.”

She stared wide-eyed at me for the longest time before she said, “Anna, what has gotten into you?”

“I… don’t know, actually.” I looked away, suddenly… shy? I didn’t know. “But I’m worried about you. Don’t really recognize you not showing up to try swiping the promotion out from under me. You’re not trying to steal the credit for the press release or anything, and I miss you.” I fumbled, feeling my face prickle. “I mean… well… you know.”

She quirked an odd smile at me, and I braced for the smart comment that didn’t come—after a second, she stepped in and hugged me, and I got a jolt down to my stomach, but I found I didn’t want to pull away. I’d missed her, whether I wanted to admit it or not, and this… I hugged her back, squeezing her, and she murmured softly against my shoulder. “Thanks, Anna.”

“Mm.” I settled for a noncommittal noise, suddenly embarrassed over why I was even here. More embarrassed still that I didn’t want to leave.

“And I missed you too, princess.”

“Yeah, yeah…” I stepped back from the hug, pointedly not looking at her. “How’s her condition?”

“Crabby and annoyed, so, normal. Pain management has been difficult and she’s had a hard time at night, so I haven’t gotten a lot of sleep, but she’s getting better. Really, though, aren’t you supposed to be at the office? Don’t tell me you took off just for little old me.”

“I took off for you, now shut up and don’t mention it again. Are you, uh…” I scratched my head. “You probably need rest.”

“I’ll be fine—”

I put my hands on her upper arms, looking her in the eye, cutting her off. “You are not minimizing this,” I said. “We’re getting you back into the office.”

She looked crestfallen. “What—all of this is just because you need help in the office? Here I’d thought maybe you couldn’t stay away from me.”

Apparently I couldn’t. Whatever. I wasn’t thinking about anything right now. “I’m not going to feel right if I just win the promotion by default. And it’s going to haunt me and that position forever, so… so we’re… we’re making this work. Tell me what we’re doing and how I can help so you can get some rest.”

She laughed, breathlessly, shaking her head. “Anna…”

“What?”

She smiled wider. “Nothing. Forget it. Right now I’ve been on arguing duty, trying to get through to insurance to get the right medications covered for Grandma’s pain management. I don’t think there’s much you can do—”

“I’m on it. Should I go see her, or does she not want to see my face?”

She cleared her throat, and she was… she was blushing. It was always cute seeing her embarrassed when she was normally so cool. “Uh—well. The truth is, she’s been telling me constantly to bring you around. I hadn’t had the heart to tell her we weren’t dating, so…”

“That’s fine,” I heard myself say without really thinking it through, and she raised her eyebrows high at me.

“Is it?”

“If it’s what she needs right now,” I said, shrugging. “I’ll give her all the nice things she wants to hear.”

She cleared her throat. “If she asks you for chili, you can ignore her… she was getting on me about not dating a housewife who cooks and cleans, and I said you make a great three-bean chili.”

I put my hands on my hips. “See, if you communicated with me, we could have avoided this, and I could have shown up with three-bean chili. I’ll have it for her next time.”

She raised her eyebrows higher still. “What, you do have a secret chili recipe?”

“I will shortly. I’ll tell her I’m simmering a batch in my slow cooker right now. Slow cooker feels like a pretty domestic housewife kind of thing to have, right?”

She laughed, hanging her head. “You’re not bad at this, Preston.”

I squeezed her hand. Didn’t even realize it was in my hand until I did, but whatever. This poor woman needed a break. “Go get some rest, Lucy. I’ll figure out what I can about the insurance and report back after, and if I don’t make headway, we’ll put our heads together.”

“I, uh… I will.” She pursed her lips, still not looking directly at me. “Just ignore anything she says.”

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