Page 106 of The Love Haters

I hated how hurt my voice sounded. Could Hutch hear it, too?

Hutch checked the time. “I thought you stayed until ten.”

It was 9:27. Close enough. “I’ve got everything I need.”

Except for the two hundred push-ups. But even that wasn’t worth staying for.

Now that I was leaving, Hutch seemed oddly dismayed about it. “Let me help you with your stuff.”

“I got it,” I said.

But there was no stopping him. He grabbed my remaining bags and followed me down the dock back to Rue’s car. Even after everything was loaded, he was still standing there—lingering. “Thank you,” he said then, squinting into the sun. And then, as if we would never see each other again, he said, “I had a weirdly great time yesterday.”

I wasn’t ready to get nostalgic aboutour time together before he rejected me. “Yeah, well,” I said.

“See you at work, then,” he said next, stepping back.

But I didn’t want to go to work. And it suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t have to. I could take a mental health day, right?Iwasn’t in the military, after all. Nobody would know—or care—if I spent a day in bed, eating bad food and watching bad TV.

“I’m pretty sure,” I said, “that I’ll be skipping work today.”

Seventeen

“I’M TAKING Apersonal day,” I told Beanie when I video-called her later.

“Brilliant,” Beanie said, when I told her why. “Reclaim your power.”

I wasn’t sure eating Lindor chocolates for breakfast and binge-watching HGTV was reclaiming my power, exactly. But it would do for now.

Beanie, for the record, was appalled by Hutch kicking me out of bed. “He’s given youyesafteryesafteryes—and now suddenly it’s ano?”

“Exactly,” I said.

“So much for heroes,” Beanie said.

“I mean,” I said, now feeling an urge to defend him, “he did do the twenty-four hours. Even though he didn’t want to.”

“But he did it for his brother, not you.”

“And he did dive in and save me when his dog knocked me overboard.”

“Big whoop. That’s his literal job.”

“And he sneaked me snacks on the helicopter so I wouldn’t barf.”

At that, Beanie brought the phone close to her face to stare me down. “Katie,” she said, “raise your bar.”

Before we hung up, she made me add to the beauty list.

“I don’t want to today,” I said.

“That’s exactly why you have to.”

“Can’t I take a day off?”

“No,” Beanie said. “It’s more important than ever.”

I frowned, looking for another excuse.

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