Page 13 of Forever & Always You
“And view the damage I caused in your reception? No thanks. I’d rather deal with the sunburn.”
Austin grins. An actual teeth-on-display smile. “Oh, c’mon. It wasn’t that bad.”
“I. Smashed. A. Table,” I remind him, forcing out the words as the visual replays in my head. Then I add, “With my face.”
“Helen’s already cleared away the evidence. Our lobby’s centerpiece is now a cactus.”
“Oooh.A cactus!” I say brightly, lifting my brows, before immediately rearranging my features back into a blank canvas. “Yeah, still not coming inside.”
“What if I said you could name the cactus?”
Okay, he’s got me there. I love naming things. Rabid raccoons, storm-damaged trees, the half-eaten cheeseburger on the side of the road. They always receive a name, courtesy of me.
“Fine,” I huff.
I push myself up from the curb and head back inside the office building. True to Austin’s word, there’s not a single shardof glass in sight. The lobby is spotless once again and the leather couches now circle a potted cactus.
Helen on the front desk pokes her head up to check I’m okay.
“Other than mentally unstable like always? Just concussed and mortified,” I say, but my joke goes down like a lead balloon. I’m clearly not mature enough to be around professionals, because Helen frowns and disappears back behind the computer.
Austin points to the cactus. “Well?”
And it’s way too easy. There is only one possible name for this plant. “Carly Buck the Cactus.”
Austin scoffs. “Carly Buck the Cactus,” he confirms. And for the avoidance of doubt that I have just named the office plant after myself like a self-obsessed bitch, Austin calls over to the front desk, “Helen, this is Gabrielle McKinley. Unfortunately, she won’t be coming on board as a client at this time, and luckily she won’t be suing us for her injuries here today.”
“I don’t recall promising that. I amabsolutelysuing you.”
Austin turns to me, a teasing smirk on his lips. “Try it.”
“Watch me.”
Helen glances between Austin and me with a worried look, but visibly relaxes when Austin lets out a breath of laughter.
“We grew up in the same neighborhood,” he tells her, and I expect him to explain further; tell her we were once inseparable best friends for ten whole years, but no. I’m resigned to being just another kid who lived across the street, which I suppose is more than I deserve. He turns to me. “I need to make some calls to the clients I’ve had to reschedule. Are you good to hang out here until your car’s ready?”
“Oh.”He’s saying goodbye for real now.“Yeah. I’m good here. Thanks for taking me to the hospital.”
He smiles tightly and gives me a clipped nod before he heads back down the hall to his office, because unlike me, he has acareer and that means he has shit to do.
I sit down on the leather couch, accept the water Helen offers me, stare at Carly Buck the Cactus for the twenty-three minutes it takes for my car to be unclamped, then hightail it out of the offices of Pierce Wealth Management with no intention of ever returning.
5
“Pleasestop screaming every time I appear.”
The shriek dies in Mom’s throat and she flies across the patio, wine glass in hand, oversized sunhat bobbing on her head.
“What happened to you, Gabrielle?”
There’s genuine concern in her panicked eyes as she studies me, whipping off her sunglasses for a better look at the dried blood in my hair. I flinch when she brushes her manicured nails over my fresh sutures. She gasps, horrified.
“Gabrielle!Are you on a bender? What have you taken?”
She really needs to drop this drugs agenda she keeps pushing. I’ve never touched a narcotic in my life—unless the two puffs of a joint in my freshman year of college counts—so Mom’s constant accusations are way off the mark.
I sigh and dodge her investigative hands. “I’m not high. I’m not drunk. I’m just laughably clumsy,” I explain. “I’m concussed, so don’t lecture me, because that’ll only delay my recovery. Capisce? Good. I’m going to grab a shower, then I’m heading back to Durham later.”
