Page 49 of No Good Deed

She gets up from my lap. “Jake, it’s nothing. Just forget it. You want something to drink?”

I get up and follow her to the kitchen. “Let me see it.”

“See what?”

“Let me see your neck.” I reach for her scarf.

“No.” She turns away. “Leave it alone.”

“Why are you hiding it from me?”

“Because I’m embarrassed. It’s ugly.”

I move so I’m in front of her. “Tell me how it happened.”

“Okay, fine,” she says with a sigh. “It happened when Troy and I were making out.”

“I know what a hickey looks like and that wasn’t a hickey.”

“It was the lamp.” She puts her hand on the side of her neck. “We were in the middle of… you know…and I fell on the lamp. The one on the side of the bed.”

“You fell on a lamp?” I fold my arms over my chest. “You really think I’m going to believe that?”

“It’s true. We bumped the nightstand, the lamp tipped over on the bed, and I fell on it when I turned to the side. It’s one of those lamps with a heavy metal base and it has these curves to it that dug into my neck.” She pulls the scarf back to show me. “That’s why it looks like this.”

I guess it’s possible that’s what happened, but I still have doubts. I unwrap the scarf from her neck, my hand brushing over her skin. She cringes and pulls away.

“How much does it hurt?” I ask.

“A lot, but only because it just happened. It’ll be fine later.”

“You need to put something on it.” I open the freezer door and take out some ice, wrapping it in the hand towel that was by the sink. “Use this.”

She takes it and gently presses it to her neck, cringing again.

“Maybe you should see a doctor.”

“I don’t need to. It’s just a bruise. Let’s go work on the shirt.”

We return to the couch and she sits beside me.

“Can you show me how?” she asks.

“How to sew?”

She nods. “I’ve never done it.”

“You want to try?” I hold out the needle.

She sets the towel with the ice down and takes the needle from me. “Now what?”

I cut off a piece of thread and give it to her. “Put the end of this through the needle.”

She tries but can’t get it through the tiny opening.

“Here.” I wrap my hands around hers and guide the piece of thread through the hole in the needle. “See? It’s easy. You just need a steady hand.”

“And good eyes.” She laughs a little. “I think I might need glasses, but I can’t afford to see an eye doctor.”

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