Page 14 of The Trauma Response
“Uh, not much to tell either. I went to the fire academy and I’ve been at Denver FD ever since. Jackson is a lawyer now, right?”
“Yep. He’s a patent lawyer though. Criminal law almost made him fail out of college. He doesn’t have the stomach for it, I guess. You’re not married, clearly.” She slides that last sentence on like it’s no big deal but I catch the sly side eye.
“No, not married.” I don’t dredge into my horrible dating life, especially since I swore it off for a while. Nobody needs his heart broken repeatedly, so it’s better to hang back and reassess life.
“Me either. Well, obviously,” she says and waves her hand around. “Actually, part of the reason I was so stressed the night of the accident was because I’d just broken up with my boyfriend of two years. Well, he broke up with me. Over the phone.”
“Over the…over thephone?”I ask.
She nods. “Yep.”
I regrip the wheel and let the frustration out through my fingers. “What a jerk.”
“Well, he doesn’t live in Denver. That’s part of why we broke up. He didn’t want to relocate and he knew I wouldn’t want to either. I don’t have any hard feelings though. In fact, I’m a little too focused on my recovery right now to even think about what went wrong.”
I turn down the last road leading to the bookstore and try not to get too excited that Whits is not only single, but hanging out with me again. Willingly, when she didn’t want to be near anyone else. Still, I can’t get too excited. It isn’t like this is the first time she blew off everyone else in favor of hanging out with me, her little brother’s friend who makes her laugh when she’s sad.
“I guess that’s good then. I’m glad it isn’t something causing you pain right now. Breakups can suck, I know, but you seem fine with it.” I park and Whits cranes her neck.
“You brought me to a bookstore? What kind of glutton for punishment are you? Don’t you remember—”
I grab her hand that she’s flailing around and grin. “Of course, I remember how much damage you can do in a bookstore. We’ll go in, I’ll introduce you to a friend of mine, then you can browse until your heart’s content while I sip coffee and wait for you to bring me the basket full of books you want.”
“Yeah, well, I’m on a budget these days,” she says and unbuckles. She doesn’t wiggle her hand free from mine, so I’m left trying to figure out how I can get out of the car with her and never let her go. It’s impossible, so I sigh and release her.
“I never said you’d be paying for the books, beautiful.”
Outside of the car, she glances over the roof and squints at me, blocking the sun from her face. “You’re not buying me books, Cai. You don’t have to do that.”
I glance at my watch. “Well, according to the date, I’ve missed ten Christamases and birthdays, so that makes at least twenty books I need to buy today. Better get in there and get busy.”
“Cai—”
“Nope.” I shake my head and open the front door for her. “No arguments from the birthday girl.”
She chuckles and heads inside, leaving a beautiful floral scent behind her. Only a weirdo would try to sniff her as I follow her, but I’m seriously contemplating it. “It’s not my birthday, and you know it.”
“Ah, well, it is yourunbirthdayand I missed a lot of those too.”
Whits laughs again and a little of that sparkle returns to her eyes. I know my girl is in there, and I’ll buy this whole bookstore to lure her out.
On the opposite side of the store, a large banner directs shoppers to the book signing. I didn’t think to give Chantelle a heads-up that I’d be dropping in, but it should be a given that her friends would show up to support her. The line is windingdown this close to closing time, which is probably good. This way, we can chat a bit while Whits artfully stacks a basket full of books.
“Oh, I love this author. I didn’t know she was doing a signing today.” Whits stands on her tiptoes to get a better view just when Chantelle glances up. A broad grin spreads across my friend’s lips and she motions for me to come closer. I sidestep everyone and grasp Whits’ hand.
“Cai, there’s a line,” she squeals.
“Yeah, but we get a free pass to cut in line since she’s my friend.” I grin over my shoulder and release Whits long enough to wrap Chantelle in a hug. “How’s it going, Shortstack? Has it been great?”
“Yes!” Chantelle’s excitement is still running high. “Let me sign for the rest of these amazing readers and we’ll catch up!”
“Awesome. This is my friend, Tallulah. She’s a fan of yours. Whits, this is Chantelle, but you know her as Evie Chandler, her penname.”
Whits covers her cheeks, trying to hide the blush. “Cai, stop it.”
“Well, you just said you are. I’m only relaying the information.” I try to shrug it off and hope she’s not upset with me.
“Hey, I’ll take all the fans I can get. It’s nice to meet you, Tallulah. Let me finish signing these books and we can chat a bit.” Chantelle’s gaze bounces between us but she says nothing more as her eager readers snap selfies with her and shove books into her hands.
