Page 32 of Lovesick
“Can do.”
Maybe this was justutterselfishness on my part because I wanted to be around her more. See if I could gently let her down and help her realize that romance wasn’t worth the heartbreak that followed. Because my path had been dark, and maybe hers didn’t have to be.
Regardless, a part of me couldn’t help but look forward to tomorrow.
13
Lizbeth
My first day at Adventura started like a fireworks show.
In a cabin.
In the middle of the forest.
With leaky gas tanks.
And three feet of snow piled outside.
I arrived loaded down with bags of clothes charged to Maverick’s credit card as a gracious I’m-sorry-your-life-burned-down gift. He’d thrown in a couple of new books for good measure, even though I’d stopped at the library and borrowed ten. Ellie loaned me a backpack, and Bethany a laptop. With what I had left in savings, I managed to get a new phone.
But when I walked into Adventura, all my certainty faded.
An explosion seemed to have detonated since my visit, because Mark’s desk was absolutely piled with papers. His computer screen—an ancient PC that wheezed every few minutes—had practically disappeared amid the stacks.
“Glad you’re here!” Mark cried as he shook the snow off his coat. He’d helped Mav take all my stuff to my new cabin. “Have a seat.”
He waved across the desk to a folding chair that spewed stuffing from a rip across the top. Thankfully, JJ was nowhere in sight, but the vague scent of outdoors lingered in the air. He must be somewhere close.
Mark wore a pair of workout pants, an old T-shirt, and ratty tennis shoes. But his eyes were bright, and he seemed eager. I let out a long breath.
I could do this.
First, I just had to get out my spreadsheet. I’d created a matrix where I could note all his expectations, the final list of desired projects, and a timeline for each. Then I’d easily be able to map out some sort of schedule and figure out what kind of time it would take.
“Ready to get started?” he asked.
“Yes, of course. Do you mind if I ask a few questions first?”
He shrugged. “Sure.” He tipped his head to the buried computer. “Need access to it?”
“Ah, no.”
I lifted my backpack, where I’d stuffed Bethany’s laptop and headphones. “Where do you want me to work? Then I’ll start asking.”
His neck straightened. “Ah. Workspace. Right. Comes at a premium here.” He hummed to himself for a second as he scanned the area. “Good question.”
Although I’d been here before, it seemed so different without JJ in the room. The haphazard elements—clothes hanging off a nail on the wall, a spare roll of toilet paper—were out in bulk this morning. A single, dangling lightbulb had burned out over his desk, casting this side of the room in shadows. The whole place smelled like dust.
It needed a good offensive attack.
Pinnable board, here I come.
Mark tsked under his breath. “I’ll need access to my desk, so I can’t put you here for now. How about the table?”
Thetablewas a foldout that stood on three rickety legs, with books jammed under two of them. It was half behind his desk, half in the hallway that led to the bathroom. But it was that or the floor.
I shuddered thinking of what had crawled across those wooden planks.
