Page 50 of Axe Backwards
“Spoiler alert, I don’t.”
“Okay, then.” He resumed his stretching, wearing a smirk that made it clear he was annoying me on purpose.
“You’re flexing again.” I was sweating now. Dammit. I forced a scowl to my face and huffed. “You look like you’re posing for a body-building competition.”
He feigned innocence, clearly enjoying learning how to push my buttons. “I have no clue what you’re talking about. I’m stretching. I can’t help it that I’m very strong and tall.” He tipped back, and his T-shirt rode up again, this time exposing several inches of toned stomach muscles and dark hair. “And manly,” he added, releasing his hold on the doorframe and striking a pose that emphasized the size of his biceps.
The man was ridiculous. But as he turned to one side and flexed again, the dam burst. All the frustration eating away at me after my shitty meeting and the exhaustion weighing me down flooded out of me in one big wave, and I started to laugh.
He joined in, his chuckles making me feel lighter.
It was all so absurd. At what point had my life taken such an insane turn?
Noah collapsed on the couch, a hand on his abdomen as he continued to laugh. I fell into a fit of giggles, tears streaming down my face.
He handed me a box of tissues, and I dabbed at my wet cheeks, even as the laughter and tears continued. Eventually, I’d exorcised all my demons, and I slumped back in exhaustion.
I’d never experienced a moment like this. I’d never understood how laughing could be stress relief. But Noah had known what I needed the moment I walked through the door.
He got up and did a silly dance, his arms flailing.
I scoffed. “What are you doing now?”
“A victory celebration.” He pumped his fist dramatically. “I made you laugh. Usually, when you laugh, it’s atSchitt’s Creekor Tess. But today it was me. Even if I had to act like a complete idiot to pull it off, I feel like I accomplished something significant.”
Significant? This man was so invested in making me laugh that he’d gone through all of that? My stomach flipped as I assessed him.
“You make me work for it. It takes effort to earn your smiles and your laughter.”
The stomach flip quickly turned into a lurch. This was another prime example of why I was difficult. Why I was too much.
“Yeah.” I sighed, settling back again. “I know. I’m too serious. Too intense.”
Frowning, he dropped to his knees in front of me. “You misunderstand me.” He wrapped his hands around my calves. “You may not be easy, but that doesn’t mean you’re not worth the work.”
Chapter 16
Noah
“This is so strange.”
It had been decades since I’d stepped through the doors of my old school. Not much had changed. Though it was more colorful and the fixtures had been updated, it still held the same sense of foreboding.
My entire childhood, I struggled to sit still long enough to learn anything. I swore the only reason I learned to read at eight years old was because my mother, who worked long shifts as a nurse, sat with me every night for over a year and gave me the one-on-one instruction I needed.
The taunting and teasing of classmates still haunted me, along with the annual threats that I would be held back. Kissing Tess’s forehead, I prayed she’d have an easier time than I did. That she’d have tons of friends and that schoolwork would come naturally to her.
“Da,” she said, smacking at my face, annoyed that I was blocking her view of the crowd.
I shifted the diaper bag on my shoulder, exhaling with relief. My girl was already a genius. I had nothing to worry about.
“This way.” Vic clutched my elbow and dragged me into the gym. “We need good seats.”
She looked extra pretty tonight. I couldn’t have turned her down when she asked me to come to the town meeting with her if I’d tried. Her hair was down, and she was wearing a summery dress with little flowers on it that swished around her legs. If I wasn’t mistaken, she was even wearing a little makeup.
She snagged seats at the end of the second row, marking them with the diaper bag.
“Go grab snacks,” she said, pointing to the back of the gym.
