Page 116 of On the Double

I buried my nose in his fur and giggled as he playfully bit my ear. He was such a cutie patootie.

“Don’t forget you have an appointment on Thursday,” Oliver reminded me as he started packing in the kitchen. “Do you want me to go with you?”

“Yes,” I said immediately. “I should be getting the cast off.”

I wasn’t comfortable driving yet. In fact, the first time I got in a car after the accident when I wasn’t hopped up on drugs, I about had a panic attack. It was getting easier—as long as Oliver drove under the speed limit, never drove on a road with others if he could avoid it, and waited an extra three seconds at every intersection.

Other than that, I was totally fine.

“I bet that’ll feel good. And no pain with your neck?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, Doctor.”

“Hey, I’m just making sure. I know you like to hide things from me,” he scolded playfully.

“My neck and back are fine. They have been for a while now, and the doctor wouldn’t have said I could take off the brace if he thought otherwise.”

“Fine,” he grunted in frustration. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I am.” Geez, he sounded more like a parent than my brother. But since I told him about Mom’s affair, he’d been acting like this—more protective and cautious. I would be pissed at him if it didn’t make me feel so good to know he was on my side.

“Here, let me get those plates,” I said, nudging him out of the way. “Those were Gram’s. I want to make sure they get packed the right way.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “Yeah, because there’s a wrong way to pack plates.”

“There is,” I snapped. “And if you break them, I’ll be really pissed at you.”

“Just show me what to do. You can’t do it with one hand.”

“Yes, I can,” I argued.

“You’re going to break them like that,” he said, watching as I held onto the plate with my fingertips. My arm was weak and I would need therapy when the cast came off, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me right now.

“You’re going to break it if you don’t stop!”

A loud whistle tore through the house, and Oliver and I stopped bickering long enough to look up and see Edu standing in the doorway, looking around in confusion.

“What the hell is going on?”

I pursed my lips at his tone. “We’re moving.”

“I can see that. But why are you moving?”

Oliver and I shared a look before he stepped in. “Because we wanted a new place. New memories.” He jerked his head at him. “How’s it going?”

Thankfully, Oliver knew I didn’t want any drama with Edu, so he pretended he wasn’t pissed at him for the way he’d basically disappeared from my life.

“Can’t complain,” he muttered, still looking around. “Is that a cat?”

“Oreo,” I said, walking over and grabbing the kitten.

“How long have you had him?”

“About two weeks.”

Edu scratched the back of his head. I could tell exactly what he was thinking. Had he really been that out of the loop that he hadn’t known I’d gotten a cat? How had he not noticed the other day when he was here? How had he not noticed the boxes stacked up in the corner from us packing?

“How’s work?” I asked, changing the subject. I set Oreo down and went back to packing.