“What?” I asked.
“Since when do you go anywhere?” he asked. “What’s changed that you’d be willing to fly to Washington, D.C.?”
I patted the bag that was in my lap.
“I found a miracle drug that allows me not to freak out when I get on a plane,” I said. “And sometimes, my seatmate is really nice and lets me hold their hand.”
Louis blinked at me as if he was trying to decide if I was being serious or not.
I was.
I didn’t like flying.
Even worse, I really sucked at takeoffs and landing.
I’d only held onto a man’s hand once, though.
The rest of the times, I was already passed out before the takeoff, meaning that I didn’t worry about whether I was going to live or die.
“You’re so scared that you have to take medication, yet you’re still going?” he asked, sounding off.
I smiled sadly at him. “Someone once told me that I had to be brave to experience the world. I’m only doing what he suggested.”
And we both knew that he was the one to say those words to me.
What was worse, that was one of the reasons that I had a feeling he broke up with me about.
Not that he would ever admit it or anything.
That would make him look like a complete and utter asshole if he broke up with me because I was scared to do something.
He stared at me so long that I started to squirm on the table.
Thank God that the bag finally finished draining, because Prissy was there in an instant, unhooking me and shooing me out of her area.
When I walked around the table and tried to bypass Louis, he stepped back and wouldn’t let me pass.
“What are you doing next week?”
I frowned. “Why?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets, his eyes on me.
And they were weird. He was staring at me like he had something to say, but he wasn’t sure how to say it.
“I gotta go,” I said, looking away. “And I won’t be here for the next week. Sorry.”
He frowned hard. “Where? To Washington, D.C. the whole time?”
I didn’t want to tell him. In fact, I didn’t have to tell him.
So I didn’t.
Instead, I smiled, waved, and turned my back on him, and didn’t turn back when he called my name.
Before I left, I made sure to go see Myrtle next door.
Opening the door to Scrapbooks & More, I poked my head in and smiled at my good friend.
“Myrtle!”
Myrtle looked up from her phone and grinned. “I think I scared him, doll!”
I snickered. “You did.”
“He was all, ‘oh, no, ma’am. I don’t think that’s appropriate.’” She snickered. “I like him. You should date him.”
I frowned. “I did date him. He dumped me.”
Her brows rose. “Well, then maybe you should try again. The whole time I was trying to get him to sign my boob, he was all looking in at you and staring moon-eyes. Trust me when I say, he isn’t over you at all.”
I refused to admit that he cared even the least bit about me.
Because to admit that he cared, meant that I was allowing him in enough to break my heart all over again. And I wasn’t having any of that.
Later, when I boarded my plane to Washington, D.C., I had to thank Louis for opening my eyes and seeing the error in my ways. Had he never broken up with me, I wouldn’t have pushed myself to explore my boundaries. And I wouldn’t have left the city limits of Kilgore and experienced the beauty that I had.
Today I would be traveling for my second job. The one that I did on my own time after I got off of work at the high school as the school nurse.
This week, the school was off for a teacher in-service week, and even though I wasn’t a teacher, I got to be off, too.
Which was a perfect time to utilize my time wisely and go do the interview with a couple of Navy SEALS that were now, sadly, disabled.Chapter 2
Having a weird mom builds character.
-T-shirt
Louis
If I’d had any fucking idea that the SWAT calendar would’ve gotten as much attention as it did, I would’ve never done it. Not in a million motherfuckin’ years.
“You want us to what?” I asked, leaning back in my chair and looking at my boss, Lucas Roberts, and my father’s good friend, as if he was a crazy bastard.
Then again, he was a crazy bastard, but still.
“I want you to do an interview with Hero Magazine.” He repeated his earlier statement.
“Shit,” I mumbled under my breath. “That’s what I thought you said.”
He grinned. “It’s for a good cause.”
My brows rose. “I can’t see how.”
Luke dropped his feet and stared at me with a look of annoyance. “It’s for Calloway.”
That had me sitting up straighter.
“What do you mean, it’s for Calloway?” I barked.