Page 16 of Trial Run

“She loved the flowers,” Nell told him.

“I’m glad.” His jaw ticked. “She saw me, didn’t she?”

“She couldn’t see very much past the glare on the windows. But she asked if it was you. She thought she recognized you.”

“What did you tell her?”

“That I had a friend with me. I didn’t tell her who it was. I wasn’t sure if you—”

“This was a mistake.” Ben cut her off. “Why didn’t I think about the fact people were going to see me? That they’d know—”

“Know what? You wanted to send them flowers? That’s considered a nice thing to do, you know.”

He shook his head hard. “It’s unusual behavior for me. Think about it. What would a doctor be doing in a florist’s van?”

His sharp tone brought Nell’s head up. Right. His job was a lot more important than hers.

She drew her spine up straight. “I’ll take you home, then.”

“That would be best.” He set his jaw. “And I shouldn’t come with you again tomorrow. Once was enough.”

“But it helped you. You left the house, and you haven’t for a while, right?”

She couldn’t resist prodding him a little. He’d made progress today, and that was worth something.

“It did help. But I shouldn’t do it again. People might see me.”

“And that’s such a bad thing.”

“With how I am now? Yes, it is,” he snapped. He’d gone rigid in the seat next to her, hands in fists on his thighs.

“All right. We’ll head back then.” Nell backed the van out and made the turn onto the main road again. There was no point in arguing. She was here to help him, here to be cheerful, not to question him. That was their deal.

She could have helped him more, if he’d let her. But as usual, she wasn’t going to get what she wanted.

He was silent for a few minutes before speaking again. “She looked so happy. I haven’t seen her in person in a while.” He cleared his throat. “You must enjoy this part of your job. Making other people happy.”

She nodded. “That’s the best part. A lot of times, the flowers are a complete surprise to people. The looks on their faces when they get them … It’s a lot of fun. Other parts, like downtown traffic, are not so fun. And getting lost. And dropping vases.”

She tried to make a joke out of their first meeting, but he didn’t laugh.

“That could have happened to anyone,” he said.

“Yeah, well. Those kinds of things seem to happen to me a lot. Which is why I am where I am in life.”

“I don’t understand.”

He sounded genuinely confused, when it should have been obvious to anyone she was a disaster and a half.

Exasperated, Nell whipped around to face him at the stop light. “I’m careless. I drop things, I’m late all the time, and I can’t organize my bills right. I bend all the rules at work. I’m not supposed to have you in the van with me, either.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Well, now you know. I’m ninety percent chaos. That’s why I’m twenty-eight now, and working for a florist is where I’m at. Which is fine for someone like me.” She tried to keep her voice casual, but her throat closed on the last word.

“What do you mean, someone like you?” His voice sharpened.

“Someone who doesn’t have a lot of skills.” She said it lightly, but the words burned her throat. Someone who didn’t have a lot of options in life was closer to the truth.

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