Page 17 of Forever Only Once
“I’m a big girl, and there is such a thing as grocery delivery these days.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. “I have lupus, Cross. I’m not dying. Get that out of your head.”
I visibly flinched at the use of the word dying and swallowed hard. “I’ll always worry. I can’t help it. I’m going to be the overprotective asshole forever, and you’ll just have to deal with it.”
“And you will just have to deal with the fact that I can do some things on my own. I can go grocery shopping. I can bring in baked goods for the retirement home. I can take Jasper out on W-A-L-Ks. I can do all of that. I’m healthy. I take care of myself. And we both know that Liam doesn’t let me do anything too strenuous.” She winked. “Some things can be a little strenuous.”
“I swear to God if you elaborate on that, I am walking right out this door.” I squeezed my eyes shut.
“No, you’re not.”
I opened my lids. Saw her eyes dancing with laughter. “You really have to stop doing that. You know it freaks all of us out.”
“Perhaps, but I enjoy it. Anyway, the guys will be over soon, and I think that’s all I needed help with. Thank you again for coming. That box was just a little too heavy since the UPS man put it at the foot of the porch stairs.”
“Your normal guy is Mike, right? He doesn’t do that.”
“Mike is on vacation,” she said and sighed. “The fact that I know the name of my UPS driver and that I know that he’s on vacation tells me I probably order too many things.”
“No, it just means you’re friendly.” I paused. “And you probably order too many things.”
“Anyway, enough about me and all of my needs. How about you? Anything interesting happen in the few days since we’ve chatted?”
“Not really,” I said, going to the fridge for a glass of water. I used the pitcher to pour both of us glasses and then handed her one.
“Keeping me hydrated?” she asked, a single brow raised.
“Taking care of you. Can’t really help it. Plus, you know that Liam texted me earlier to make sure you’re keeping up with your water intake. You know you were dehydrated a few days ago.”
“I swear, it’s like I got married, and Liam connected with you guys to the point that even his brothers are starting to worry about me. Everything’s multiplied.”
“We can’t help it. We worry about you.”
“Enough of that. Tell me. How’s work? How’s Chris?” she asked the last part with a wince, and I sighed.
“I think I hate my partner,” I said honestly.
“I’ve never really liked him. He was always a jerk. And he kept hitting on me.”
I set the glass down and leaned forward. “Excuse me? When the fuck did he hit on you? You said this before, sort of, and I missed what you said. But why the tone now?”
She gave me a look. “Excuse me. He’s always done it. Haven’t you noticed that he gets too close when we speak? Or that he slowly encroaches on any woman’s presence. It’s creepy.”
My stomach fell, and I wanted to punch something. “How the fuck did I miss that?”
“Probably because, at first, he did it when you weren’t watching. And then you were so busy cleaning up after him that I don’t think you were able to watch. You haven’t had any complaints about it from any of your female clients?”
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. “No. What the fuck? We could get sued.”
“You might. Or maybe he isn’t as creepy with other women as he is with me.”
“I could seriously kick his ass for this.”
“No, that’s Liam’s job.” She paused. “Or my job. But I’m not in the mood to kick anyone’s ass. I’ll just send over one of the Montgomerys. Or my other brothers.”
“You won’t let me do it?” I asked.
“No, because you still have to work with him until you dissolve the partnership. Speaking of, is that really what you’re going to do?”
“Fuck. I have to end it. I cannot work with him anymore.”