Page 10 of A Love Unfaltering

A helpful voice told me where to turn after a few seconds, and he set the phone down on the center console.

“I just hope that I don’t pop a stitch or anything. It’ll be annoying to have to go back to the hospital for a single stitch,” he muttered.

“Yeah, you’ve done it before. A million times,” I added, looking over at him. “The number of stitches you’ve had in your life is probably twenty times the number I’ve had, considering you were too much of an idiot back in the day.”

He looked at me, scandalized, but I was right, so he couldn’t say anything.

“Well, okay, whatever,” he replied, crossing his arms while I laughed. “That just means I had more fun than you.”

“No, it means you were more stupid than me,” I said, turning when the voice told me to. “Anyway, I’m guessing you’ll pop at least one over the next few weeks because you’re too impatient to take it easy.”

“You don’t need to call me out like this. You could’ve just left it at how much more pristine your childhood was,” he grumbled, to which I smiled.

I’d missed him. Truly, genuinely, I had missed him; there were so many things from our childhoods that only the other knew.

“It’s here,” he said, nodding toward a small, shoddy-looking inn on the side of the road. I looked at it a bit apprehensively as I pulled into the parking lot, turned off the car, and looked at him.

“Really?” I asked with raised brows. “I mean, I’ve been in some hard times myself, but this place looks like a serial killer’s rodeo.”

“Yeah, yeah. Trying to save money for a little while,” he said, chuckling as he got out of the car and took his crutches from the backseat.

I nodded grimly but looked back at the building with a bit of apprehension.

I really didn’t like the idea of him staying there.

“I’m on the first floor, at least,” he said, breaking me out of my thoughts as he began making his way toward one of the doors. “So I don’t have to climb up the stairs every day.”

I paused for a brief moment, pondering whether I really wanted to ask him to leave the place, but I eventually decided it was worth it.

“Okay, listen. You’re a stupid ass, and I also don’t like the look of this place. Pack your stuff and come stay in my apartment, alright?”

He looked over at me with a bit of surprise in his eyes, obviously not having expected anything like that. “I… Are you sure, Amy? I don’t want to impose or anything.”

“Shut up; we’ve spent the night together a hundred times over the years. Pack your stuff and get back in the car,” I said, doing my best to sound assertive so that I could avoid sounding embarrassed.

Apparently, it worked. He held his hands up in the air with a bit of a grin, nodded, and said, “Yes, ma’am.”

That was good, at least. I didn’t want to have to argue the point.

I waited outside while he packed up his stuff, and I was a bit surprised when he came back out, closing the door behind himself with only a single duffel bag.

“That’s all you brought?” I asked, looking at him with curiosity.

“Yep. Not much else I needed,” he said, patting the bag with a bit of a smile. “Anyway, I’ll just toss it in the trunk, and you can kidnap me as you wish.”

I rolled my eyes and popped the trunk for him, and he walked around to throw it in. I went to help him, considering he was struggling with the crutches, but as I expected, he just shooed me away and did it himself.

He then jumped back into the front seat, and I got into the driver’s seat. We sat there, just staring at each other for a while.

“Well? Go on, then. You’re the one kidnapping me,” he said, grinning and nodding toward the road.

So I turned on the car and took off, wondering what I had just gotten myself into.

Chapter Six

Jared

Walking into Amy’s apartment was like stepping back in time, back to her first year of college, where I was figuring out who the hell I was.

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