Page 80 of My Best Bet

“Colt,” she hissed, dropping her fork. “I don’t have–”

“She does,” I repeated, giving her a hard look.

She glared at me. Her neck immediately started going blotchy, and my stomach twisted, but I had a feeling this was the only way she’d get it looked at.

“Oooh, she’smaaad,” Kappy murmured.

“Yeah, she is,” I said plainly, not taking my eyes off her, “but I'll take an angry Mer over an injured one any day, even if that makes me the bad guy.” My jaw tightened, trying to hold my resolve, and I nodded for her to follow Ryan into the living room. I didn’t want her hurting. This was a hard line for me and I wasn’t going to apologize for it.

My words must’ve landed, because she dropped her head and pushed out of her chair. She refused to look at me as she passed by, and I felt like a dick, but there’s no way I was going to let history repeat itself.

After finishing breakfast, Kappy and JP went outside with Lucy to finish raking the leaves. I think everyone needed some fresh air after being trapped in here yesterday.

I lingered in the kitchen, drinking my coffee, waiting for Mer. Unfortunately, Mer was soft spoken as always, and I could only hear Ryan’s side of the conversation, not hers.

“I’d say an MRI would be needed to fully diagnose it,” he said.

She murmured a question that I couldn’t quite make out.

“Not necessarily, surgery would be recommended if there’s a trapped nerve, but from what you’ve said it sounds like chronic nerve pain from the injury or original surgery. Honestly, I think you should take it easy and see what happens. Lifestyle changes could help.”

She asked another question.

“I’m not surprised. Massage therapy is very beneficial, loosens the muscles, stimulates blood flow. There’s also physical therapy exercises, heat and cold therapy, nerve blockers. There’s been a lot of advancement in the last ten years.”

I think she said something about coaching then, but I couldn't be sure.

“Understandable, but you need to prioritize your physical health and monitor if it gets worse. Being on your feet in the cold for hours is not doing you any favors, so I’d try to scale back and see if that makes a difference,” Ryan told her.

I’d one hundred percent be making sure she followed that advice.

“I get it, but don’t be scared to go in and ask for help, alright? I’ll give you my card in case you need some recommendations.”

I had to clench my jaw because she was clearly anxious and I wanted to be the one to comfort her.

Kappy stumbled back into the room and his eyes darted to the living room. “She alright?” he whispered.

“She will be,” I said with determination.

22.Mer - Communicating

So much had remained the same, but one thing had definitely changed– Colt was much more dominating than he used to be. It was always in him to take charge, and I wasn’t at all surprised that he now captained his hockey team. He had a calm confidence about him that was attractive, making it feel like he’d solve any situation he came across.

But that didn’t mean I was okay with how he bulldozed this situation– even though Ryan was very helpful, and he did make me feel better about my knee.

After Ryan left, everyone chatted in the kitchen for a bit, but I kept quiet, trying to navigate my feelings. From the way Colt kept looking at me with a tense grimace on his face, he totally knew he was in the doghouse.

What he did wasn’t fair and he knew it. He ambushed me and made me talk about my knee when I wasn’t ready. But at the same time, I understood why he did it. In the past, I left in the dark about my pain. We were both reacting to previous trauma.

When Colt offered to let me get ready in his bathroom and use his shower, I immediately jumped at the opportunity, because we needed a minute alone.

We were quiet as we climbed the stairs. He stopped with two steps left and turned on me. “Are you still mad at me?”

“Yes.” I passed him so that I stood a step higher, making us face-to-face.

“Okay.” He pulled at the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, I was just worried about you.”

“I understand that, but you can’t just…” My eyebrows tugged together. “Don’t just…” I couldn’t seem to come up with the rightwords. “Please don’t do that again. If we’re gonna–” I cut myself off, because what was I going to say?Do this again? Date?I didn't even know what to call it. “We need to communicate better. I have to work on it, too,” I admitted.

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