Page 85 of Fall From Grace
Oh, dear Lord, why did you make me such a flustered and awkward mess of a person?
“Grace, you came.” Janet beamed at me, and I watched in horror as Dean and Noah both turned this way.
I brought Gus up to my face and turned around. “Grace?” Noah sounded surprised to see me. “Grace!” I turned back around that time and saw him coming toward me. I eyed the place in the floor where I knew all the liquid was, Noah was picking up his pace.
I held out my free hand. “Wait, Noah, don’t.”
“Don’t tell me to fucking wait,” he growled, and I felt the unexpected, heated rush in my system from his words alone. Then Dustin’s words hit me,you haven’t been around him to get the full Noah-effect he has on you.
I backed away and gasped as he slid and fell into the drink on the floor. He hollered like he was in pain and I started running to check on him. “Are you okay?”
He grabbed his hand. “Ah, shit. I think my finger might be broken.”
“How did you break your finger sliding through someone’s drink?” I couldn’t help but ask.
He stood up, still holding his hand as he glared at me. “Because it was my finger that caught my fall before I could move my hand the right way.”
“Noah, are you okay?” Janet asked as they walked up behind him.
He ignored them. “What are you doing here?” he asked me quickly. “Are you finally back?” I couldn’t tell if he was hoping or asking.
Now it made it hard to confront him even more. I held Gus nervously as I looked at Janet. “Janet called crying, saying something happened to you while at the garage.” Her husband and Noah both looked at her at the same time. She grinned without a care at all.
“I didn’t expect you’d get hurt for real when I fibbed a little…” she mumbled sheepishly. “My soaps have really been paying off, it was so easy to get emotional after watching an episode this morning…”
Noah sighed. “So, that’s why you wanted me to come with you guys here, I thought it was weird.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
Dean smiled. “I’m having my gallbladder removed.”
Great, I drove all this way for Dean’s gallbladder. I tugged on my hair self-consciously, hoping I didn’t look as bad as I felt. “I think you might have broken it, by the looks of it,” Dean told Noah as he held out his hand.
“You’re already at the hospital, go get it checked out,” Janet told him.
“It’s just a finger.” He shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal.
“Nonsense,” Janet said.
“I also think you should get it checked out,” I added as he lifted his gaze and held mine, “too.”
“Grace can go with you,” Janet said with a sneaky smile.
“I don’t need her going with me,” Noah muttered, which made all of this even more awkward. As I thought, we weren’t what we were. Why did my chest feel this tight?
“Miss, I’ve asked you time and time again to take the dog outside,” the receptionist found her way outside of her area and said.
“Here, I’ll watch him while you go with Noah,” Janet told me as she took Gus from my hands without letting me reply. She looked to Dean. “You’ll be fine without me.”
He laughed. “I reckon I don’t need you to hold my hand,” he said, placing a kiss on her cheek before looking to Noah and me with a smirk. “But, Noah’s not of age yet, so I believe you should go with him.” He winked at me and I had no idea what to do.
Noah walked off and Janet waved for me to follow him as she walked outside with Gus. “Go on now,” Dean urged me. “Put him out of his misery, at least.” And with that, he walked off and I turned and followed after Noah.
Once I caught up to his long strides, I slowed down. “How does it feel?” I asked him.
“Broken,” he answered, then he turned and met my eyes as we walked. “It feels broken.” Now I didn’t feel like we were talking about his finger anymore.
I waited in a seat while he checked himself in. I was sending Dustin a text when he sat down and he must have seen his name because he muttered, “I can’t believe you lived with Dustin the last four years,” and turned his head the other direction.