Page 74 of Forced Proximity
I hadn’t meant to let that slip, but the words had spilled forth like they were meant to.
She looked up sharply. “What? Why?”
I tapped my nose. “I’m allergic to dogs. Like really allergic. Uncontrollable sneezing. Itchy, watery eyes. Throat tends to close up a little bit. Breathing treatments are sometimes needed. I don’t die or anything. But I’m utterly miserable for a few long hours after I come into contact with one.”
That was putting it mildly.
If suffering a sucky, non-death was a thing, I’d have it when I came into contact with dogs.
“Damn,” she said. “Have you tried those allergy shots?”
I nodded. “This is with allergy shots.”
Well, it was with allergy shots when I could afford them. Which hadn’t been all that much lately.
“Double damn,” Silver murmured. “Well, I’ll deliver this on my way home then.”
She stepped into me, giving me a hug that felt so nice and warm that I wanted to sink into it forever.
Yet another thing that I hadn’t gotten since my best friend had passed away.
A good ol’ hug between friends.
“Thanks for everything,” she whispered quietly.
I squeezed her hand. “Bye, Silver.”
“Bye, Dru. Have a good night at work.”
Oh, I doubted I would.
Night shifts sucked.
Night shifts after being up all day sucked even more.
But I had a feeling I had plenty of things to think about when I was awake all night.
Like my sister and her fifty-one text messages telling me about how Eugene was living his life.
Joy.
Fourteen
You think you can hurt my feelings, but I’m an overthinker. I hurt my own feelings.
—Apollo to Dru
APOLLO
She’d gone into work, and I didn’t know what to say about that.
I’d asked her to stay at home with me, and she’d said she would, only to go back on her word.
“She said that she needed the money.” Silver shrugged.
Webber threw his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side before saying, “Aella said that she was always working. It can’t be healthy to be throwing down seventy-two hours a week.”
No.
