Bad Seed

He walked through the doors of the PT building at exactly seven o’clock. I smiled and walked quickly over to him, standing on my tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips.

“I see you aren’t mad at me anymore,” he said without emotion.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was out of line.”

“Yeah, you were.”

He was still angry, but as we got into the session, his mood began to brighten. His muscle control was better than ever, and he was walking without the crutches more and more. I asked him to let go of the bars a few times, and he did amazing. He didn’t stumble a single time, but when we were finished, his face was contorted in a grimace.

“Are you in pain?” I asked, worried that I’d pushed him too hard.

“I didn’t get a chance to pick up my pills this morning,” he said. “I still can’t drive.”

My guilt worsened. It was obvious that Caleb’s pain was real. I felt like shit that I’d questioned him. I realized my worries were about myself and not him. I was scared about my cancer, and instead of dealing with it, I took it out on him.

“I’ll drive you,” I said quickly. “Come on. We’ll go right now.”

“Don’t you have to work?” he asked, glancing toward my desk.

I shook my head. “I can finish up in the morning.”

I handed Caleb his crutches and led the way to my car. Caleb slid into the passenger seat, and I tossed his crutches in the back. We drove through town toward the pharmacy. After we had his pills, I took Caleb home.

We lingered in my car outside of his apartment, neither of us saying a word. He was still mad at me for accusing him of abusing his painkillers, and I was still worried about my health. There was a giant wall betwe

en us, and nothing I did seemed to put a dent in it.

I turned to look at him. He was already watching me, his eyebrows pulled together and his forehead creased with concern. There were a million things I wanted to tell him, but when I opened my mouth, no words came out. He waited a few minutes, hoping I would say something. When I didn’t, he sighed and kissed me.

“I’ll see you later, Tara.”

“Goodnight.”

I watched him disappear inside his apartment, the door swinging shut behind him. It took me five minutes to drive away, and when I did, I instantly regretted it.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - CALEB

My mother came over for breakfast the next day. She brought donuts and coffee and sat down at my kitchen table with a silly smile on her face.

“You’re happy,” I said, reaching for a donut.

“Is that a crime?” she asked.

“Should be,” I said under my breath.

I was in a shitty mood after yet another confusing night with Tara. My physical therapy session went great. I kicked ass and managed to ignore the throbbing pain in my leg until it was completely over. Medically, I was doing fucking amazing. Personally, my life was in shambles.

I still didn’t know what the hell was going on with Tara. She continuously pulled me in and then pushed me away, and there was nothing I could do about it. After she accused me of abusing my drugs, I knew something was wrong. Whatever was distracting her so much was serious. I didn’t know why she wouldn’t just tell me instead of walking around with a huge chip on her shoulder.

“Coffee?” Mom asked, pushing a to go cup toward me.

“Thanks.” I raised the cup to my lips and took a long sip. It was scalding hot and burned my tongue, but I didn’t care. My head was too full of Tara to care about anything else.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong with you, or do I have to guess?” Mom asked boldly.

I looked up at her and sighed.

“How much do you want to know?” I asked.