Page 41 of Rush of Jealousy

The doorbell rings. I’m glad to excuse myself and not be pressured to eat whatever it is that Claire cooked up. I check the peep hole and see Dr. Saber standing on the step. He is dressed in jeans and a button-down.

I open the door and welcome him inside.

“I wasn’t expecting you, Dr. Saber.”

“Mitch,” he says with a smile. “Graham wanted to make sure you are fully healed and that your stitches could be removed promptly.”

“In other words, he wanted to control the situation,” I mumble, regretting my words as soon as they escape my mouth. My brain-to-mouth filter seems to be broken. “Sorry.”

Dr. Saber throws back his head and laughs. “Wow, Graham has finally met his match in you. Never thought I’d see the day.”

I give a shrug. I am just calling it as I see it.

I show Dr. Saber to the main floor bathroom so he can wash up. Claire introduces herself and then goes upstairs to get ready for the day. It takes about three minutes for my stitches to be out and for a smaller bandage to cover the area while I continue to heal.

“How does it feel?”

“I have been having some pain.”

Dr. Saber takes my hand in his gloved one and examines my range of motion as I bend my fingers. “Hmm…you definitely do not have nerve damage. You healed up beautifully.”

“Is there any way I can just get a few pain pills to help me cope with the recovery of using my dominant hand again? To get by as I adjust?”

His brows furrow, and I take a deep breath. I hope he doesn’t tell Graham my request and make it into something that it’s not. Then I’ll have him breaking down my door to try to rescue me.

“I don’t typically prescribe medication for situations like this due to the addictive nature that those drugs can bring to innocent lives. Give it a few weeks. Things should improve naturally. But if they don’t, I can recommend an occupational therapist and they can probably come to your house if that is convenient for you.”

“I doubt my insurance will allow that,” I mumble. I have the cheapest package specifically designed for poor college students like me. After being blacklisted from Entice by the cranky boss-in-disguise, I refuse to use their healthcare services either. “Speaking of which, how much is all of this going to cost?”

“Angie, don’t you realize that Graham will cover everything? I have known him for years. I guess the benefit of being someone he cares about is that you will always be taken care of.”

Yeah, against my will.

I walk Dr. Saber out and enter my car. I have just enough time to get to the coffee shop and to class before Bryce will start blowing up my phone. He just does not handle change very well. I can relate.

* * *

After class, I go back home and find Claire watching recorded infomercials while wearing a shirt that is four sizes too big. Wow. This is getting worse and worse.

I look at her sad face. “How much did you buy?”

“It was a good deal.”

I groan. “Like the vegetable spiral thingy?”

“Better. This will actually work.”

I look at the screen and see the miraculous demonstration of the foolproof hair-cutting gadget set for women. No way in hell is she using my head as a test dummy. I draw the line there.

“I need your help,” I say with hesitation.

Claire looks up at me skeptically. As she should, because this was a very last-minute plan I constructed in my head during my morning class. But I figure, if she doesn’t have a daily goal, she is going to just mope around and be sad for herself. She and Ethan could have just had a misunderstanding. Regardless, I need to get Claire out of this slump she seems to be content living in and change the course of her day so she can figure out what to do next.

“Go on.”

“I think I’m ready to try out that dancing class at your gym but am afraid that I won’t be good at it.”

“That’s nonsense,” she scoffs, “everyone is good at it, as long as they move.”

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