Page 56 of Objection to Love

Somewhere, he’d lost track of the conversation. But he picked it back up easily enough. They stayed for over an hour. Hearing some of his mom’s recollections about ways patients had sprained their ankles. Laughing good-naturedly when his mom told the story of the time Garrett had snuck out of the house, only to find both his parents sitting in the front seat of his old car. They’d always been one step ahead of him.

Even Em opened up some, first sharing more about the murder case she was working on, then telling a few stories about her and April and their own forms of mischief growing up. Garrett got the impression that her family was a lot more straight-laced than his had been, but she’d still had a few good escapades.

At the end of the night, Garrett carried Em back to the car, brushing off some of the dried mud on the seat before setting Em on it.

“So what are you going to do about Monday?” he asked as he climbed in his side and started the car.

“Huh? Oh, staying off my foot? I’m not really sure. Probably just keep my foot up while I’m working.” She shrugged.

And before he could stop himself, he was offering an alternative. “Take the day off. We can do something fun. And guaranteed injury-free.”

“I thought about taking off, but I don’t know if I can with this case.”

“Oh, come on, one day won’t kill you,” he urged when he really should have dropped it.

“You’d have to take off work too,” she pointed out, apparently catching on to his use of the word “we.”

“Easy to do.” He shrugged. The guys could get on without him for one day.

“You’d do that for me?”

“Sure.” He looked at her from the corner of his eyes. Was she actually considering it?

“I might have to work late the rest of the week,” she hedged.

“We can extend your curfew to eight.”

She rolled her eyes at him, but from what he could see—she was smiling. “Okay. Just one day won’t kill me. I think.”

“You actually seem concerned.” Incredulous amusement bled into his voice.

“I kind of am.”

“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun.”

“What do you want to do?” she asked, shifting in her chair to face him more fully. He didn’t miss the slight grimace as she did so.

“I’ll surprise you.”

She groaned.

Chapter 20

Em

“It’sjustasprain.I’ll be fine, really. But I’m taking the day off.”

There was stunned silence on the other end of the line. Em began to wonder if April had hung up on her. But, finally, the sound of her incredulous voice came through. “You. Taking the day off.”

“Yes. Garrett convinced me to. His mom said I needed to stay off my ankle for a few days.”

“His mom. Because you met her. With Garrett. Your hot neighbor.”

Em rolled her eyes. “Yes, April. Are you okay?”

“Uh-huh. Just shocked. Want me to bring you anything?”

“No, it’s okay.”

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