Page 64 of Hesi-Dating
He reached out and took my hand. "I have a hard time believing school was too hard for you. Maybe you were stretched too thin between working days and going to school at night?"
"Not stretched too thin. I've never been book smart." I used the spoon to play with the melting ice cream.
He released my hand. "You're a smart woman. Seems like you could accomplish anything you put your mind to doing. I'll get us some water."
"Not smart enough."
"Maybe you didn't want it hard enough?"
"It wasn't self-sabotage. I have a problem."
He put a glass in front of each of us. "I don't understand."
I swallowed hard and whispered, "I have a hard time reading. I'm not illiterate. I can read. I just have…difficulty."
"Like you need glasses but don't want to wear them or something?"
I shook my head. "A grade school counselor thought I had a form of dyslexia or something, but I never had anyone to help me figure it out. I've tried a few free tools online to try to improve, but they did nothing for me. I found an app to read things out loud to me so I could learn the course material. It's not too hard for me. I understand it. It's the tests that were a problem. If a test required a lot of reading, I panicked. I'm too slow at comprehending what was being asked to get through a whole test in the time allotted." I dared to meet his gaze, fearing the pity or judgement I'd see there. "So, I failed."
He bit the inside of his left cheek. "I assume none of your teachers knew."
"Not even my siblings know. I don't want people feeling more sorry for me than they already do. It's a shit excuse for messing things up. I could've gotten help, I suppose."It costs money that I don't have.I pushed pieces of crust around on the plate with the fork. "I'm a fuck up."
"I never got that Amber pities you. Seems like she only wants what's best for you."
"I shouldn't have told you about my reading problem."
"Is there more than school going on?"
I nibbled on my lower lip. He wasn't the sheriff because he had a fantastic ass. Maybe he'd dug into my past. "I'm sorry I left like that last time…"Last month."You look…tired. How're you holding up?"
"It's been a long week."
I noticed the lines around his eyes. He had a butterfly bandage above his left eyebrow beneath his hair and the hint of a black eye. Damn, I was so selfish.
"Oh, God. What happened?" I rushed around the table to touch his eye. "I'm sorry. I was so caught up in me. Here you are, actually hurt."
"I'm fine."
"Who did this?" I lightly traced over his blackening eye.
"Casualty of breaking apart deputies who went at it over a girl."
I put a hand on his shoulder to lean in and see if there was more damage to the other side of his face. He flinched. I lifted my hand away from him. "Your shoulder hurts too?"
"I got shot."
"Youwhat? Someoneshotyou?" My hands shook out of haste to unbutton his sheriff shirt and expose his shoulder. A huge bandage covered the area. "Jesus, Seth. How'd this happen?" I hovered a hand above the wrap and whispered, "Someone shot you. I can't believe…"
"More of a graze. Wrong place at the wrong time while trying to stop a robbery." I noticed him wince as he shrugged. He smiled wryly. "I'm better now that you're here."
"No, you're not. I'm so sorry I busted in and cried all over you." I stood in preparation to go. "I'm so self-centered. I should go so you can recover."
"No," he barked out. He evened out his voice. "Stay, please. It's not the first time I've been shot. I'm fine." He pulled me onto his lap. "I'm better if I'm not alone right now."
"Was the last time you got shot your leg?"
"It's why I limp as the day goes on."
