Page 26 of The Potter

“Just stop here.” I sigh, noting the car slowing down. “I can walk the rest of the way.” I ignore his wide eyes and clenching jaw. “Seriously, Dr. Potter. Neither of us has the energy to deal with each other right now. Stop the car.”

I just need my bed and a long conversation with Oscar. He’ll understand the day I’ve had. He’s the one who’s endured every job I started and quit. It’s been a long, few years of saving money for this surgery. A long, few years of learning to walk again, spilling drinks on customers because I was still rebuilding my arm strength. The whispers were the worst. No matter how far away I thought I’d gone, the rumors always followed me.Did you hear what happened to her? I heard she tried to stab him. No, I heard she was breaking into his house.

Over and over, I relived my past trauma. I powered through, and for what reason? So Dr. Potter could make me feel like that same small girl who was talked about? The same girl that couldn’t leave her room because she was ugly and weak. Because she allowed a man to break her.

I’ll never be that girl again.

He won’t break me.

No matter what mistakes I’ve made, I’ve paid for them.

This Halle is changed. She’s stronger than ever before. She doesn’t need a man. She only needs a chance to go after the life she wanted. A life to be anyone she wants to be. A mermaid. A rich mistress. I can be anyone in front of a camera. I never have to be Halle from Georgia with the limp and scars.

No one knows this Halle.

This Halle is endless.

“Are you hungry?” comes a quiet voice.

I shake my head, there’s no need to face him. “No, I just want to go home. Please take me home, Vance.”

I hate the strain in my voice, the way it broke at the end, showing my weakness. The last thing I need is Dr. Potter seeing a limitation. I don’t need him saying I’m not mentally ready for surgery or that I’m not strong enough to handle going under the knife again. I’ve seen therapists. Dozens. Trust me, I can handle it.

The car slows and Vance turns around at the next gas station.

“Thank you,” I tell him quietly, the exhaustion of dealing with this day settling in as the motel comes into view. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see the rundown sign with letters y and s missing.

It might look like a shithole to Vance, but to me, it feels safe and like home. Not like the home I ran from in Georgia. I don’t need fresh paint and fake neighbors. I just need four walls and Oscar.

And maybe my grouchy teenage neighbor. He’s not afraid to be himself around me.

We pull into Clyde’s, and my hand is on the handle, ready to jump out as soon as Vance stops the car. But when he puts the car in park, and the doors unlock, he relocks them. “Can I come in and use the bathroom?”

He asks the question so nonchalantly, I would have believed he needed to actually use the bathroom if his forehead didn’t wrinkle while he scoured the parking lot as if someone was about to leap out and pull a gun on us.

“You don’t need to use the restroom,” I accuse. “You just want to see how shitty my place is.”

His gaze turns hard as his eyes narrow in my direction. “How do you know I don’t need to pee?”

“Because you don’t.” I lean back in the leather seat and fold my arms across my chest, challenging him.

“Should I prove it by peeing on your door then?” he suggests, seriously.

Dammit, I laugh. I don’t mean to. The last thing Dr. Potter needs is encouragement. “I’m tempted to call bullshit.”

Vance’s gaze doesn’t waver. “But you won’t because that’s not what sweet, southern women do, is it?”

Ugh! I want to shake him. Just full-on shake the meanness out of him. Instead, I answer him like he does me. “Who says I’m a sweet girl?”

He flashes me a wink and grins, unlocking the door, presumably taking my comment as a win. “You did, Peach. When you helped me in the bathroom earlier.”

He gets out of the car, and I scramble out behind him. “I thought we weren’t bringing up bathroom-gate.”

He rears back, a line forming across his forehead. “What the hell is bathroom-gate?”

Oh, geez.

I wave my hand between us, pushing him over so I can unlock the door. “Just hurry and use the bathroom.”

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