Page 8 of Feels Like Forever

I shuffle my feet and scratch at the back of my head. I don’t know how to respond to that look. I don’t take care of Rae to impress people.

Momentarily, I mumble, “Yeah, so I’ve had her ever since. Almost five years.” Then, at long last, I get out, “Well, listen, I think if you’re feeling okay now, I should head to bed. Sorry to just say it like that, but my alarm clock goes off early.”

His eyebrows go up and he says quickly, “Right, yeah.” He clears his throat and stands. “You’re right. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your night.”

I wave a hand. “No, I’m happy you’re all right. Happy I was here to help. I’ve just…” I sigh, “…I’ve had a stupid day. I’m tired.”

“Oh, yeah. I get that.” He holds up a hand to inspect it. “Well, I’m not shaking anymore. Sitting down with the water helped. I think I’ll be fine, especially if I steer clear of hard candies.” He flashes me a small smile.

I return it before he looks away to considerately take his empty glass to the sink.

And now I can walk him to the door.

After he has stepped into the hallway, he pauses and looks me over. Some part of me is still mildly embarrassed about my plaid pants, which are tattered and faded, and my heart-print shirt, which is too big and riddled with holes. He doesn’t seem to care about those things, though.

As his eyes touch mine again, he says, “It was good as hell to officially meet you.”

Regardless of the rules I have for my romantic life, I’m not a cold-hearted person, so I tell him honestly, “It was good to meet you, too, Landon. Even if itwasbecause you were choking on something.”

A laugh leaves him—and then he’s suddenly quiet and frowning, like he has just tripped into deep thought.

After a few moments, he gives me a slight nod. “I’ll see you around.”

“Surely.”

He turns and walks off down the hall.

I watch him to make sure he gets safely into his apartment. Then I shut my door, lock it, and shake off the lingering, wispy thoughts of how handsome he is.

Time to get back to the real world and wrap this day up.

After I finish folding clothes, I make sure nothing in the kitchen has been left on. Then I double-check that the front door is locked and that Rae is okay. Then I get in bed and, man, it feels good to shut my eyes on the world.

But my mind doesn’t shut off.

It stays on, and it runs.

And runs.

And runs.

It runs circles around every single event of the day.

Late start getting out of the house, dead car battery, getting yelled at by customers. Adding to my work schedule by picking up Casey’s shift so she’d take me home from work, even though it wasn’t out of her way. Telling Wyatt I’d let him take me to dinner next weekend. Running over that teenage girl’s cat….

On and on and on.

And I literally saved someone’s life tonight, then got kissed for the first time since I was nineteen. And I thought the guy was nice, actually. Our whole encounter was quite unanticipated, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

Not unpleasant at all….

Before my thoughts can slip any further, I press the heels of my hands to my eyes.

That’s enough, now.

I reach over and pinch my arm, and the sharp pain clears my head.

Yeah, that’s right. I don’t need to start thinking crazy stuff about him. It’s understandable that I didn’t freak when he kissed me—I’d just been thinking about how nice he seems and then there was the thrill of helping him, but the moment is very much over now.

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