Page 45 of The No Touch Roommate Rule
She looks even smaller now, after he kicked her while she was down.
And yeah, I get that he was only trying to help, but fuck…
It’s like he has no idea who his daughter is. I mean, has hemether? I’ve never encountered a more stubborn, pigheaded person. Or one more committed to living her dreams. Her dreams are her reason for being. Take those away from her and you have…
Well, you have this.
A deeply sad woman, imploding with grief while pink petals rain down on her hair. And no, she’s not broken. Makena still has a rally or five left in her, there’s no doubt in my mind about that, but the kind of future her dad wants for her?
It would break her. Destroy her. Leave her a shell with no firecracker left inside.
And I, for one, think that would be a fucking tragedy.
The world needs firecrackers.
Just like it needs gluttons for emotional punishment, who keep trying to pet the wild horse, no matter how many times it runs away.
I stop at the edge of the tree’s shade, leaning on my crutches, trying to figure out what to say to make this better. But I saw what was going on beneath the surface back there. Her dad is terrified of Makena being Makena. Probably has been for her whole life. Consciously or not, he seems to have a deeply held belief that she is an irrational person who makes terrible decisions, and the only way to keep her safe is to bully her into being more like him.
But shecan’tbe more like him, even if she wanted to be. So, she pushes back. And when the pushing back is met with doubling down on how ill-equipped she is to function…she runs.
I mean, what other choice does she have?
If someone looked at me like I was a tragic disappointment every time I didn’t follow their script, I’d probably develop a sprinting habit, too.
I thoughtIhad it bad, with my parents who couldn’t give two shits what I did most of the time. But now I’m thinking having one who cares too much, in all the wrong ways, would be even worse.
She looks up with a sharp sniff, blinking as she spots me across the grass. Her forehead furrows, and for a second, I think she’s going to tell me to leave her alone. But then she sighs and shakes her head. “Fine. Yeah. You’re right.”
“I didn’t say anything,” I say, picking my way across the uneven ground. “But I will say that chasing after you is going to be a lot easier once I’m cleared to ditch the crutches onMonday. I could probably ditch them now, but I’ve committed to religiously following doctor’s orders.”
She sniffs as I lower myself onto the grass, close but not too close, “That’s smart. You don’t want to fuck around with your recovery. It’s important.”
“It is,” I agree. “But so is yours. And I’m serious, I don’t think you should give up yet. There’s got to be someone else you could appeal to, some less assholey asshole higher up the insurance ladder.”
She wipes at her damp cheeks. “Yeah, maybe.”
“You don’t think so?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. Gerald seemed pretty sure of himself. And if the same thing is happening to lots of people, like Luis and his family, it’s probably a real thing. A shitty thing, but…a real thing.” She glances down, picking a pink petal off her knee. “My dad’s right. I should have read the contract more closely. This is my fault.”
I frown. “Or it could be predatory insurance practices, like you said.”
“Why not both?” She tosses the petal to the grass before resting her chin on her bent legs. “A little of this, a little of that, and at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter because I’m back to square one either way.”
“You’re not at square one,” I say. “You have proof that you can run a profitable restaurant. That’s huge, and something banks will pay attention to when you apply for a loan to start your next profitable, tasty business.”
She winces like she’s in physical pain. “Oh God, don’t remind me. I still have a small business loan. It’s almost paid off, but…fuck. Now I’ll be handing over eight grand to pay off equipment that will never cook again.” She picks another petal off her leg, throwing it to the ground with more force. “And I know this is just the way things are, but it just… It feels so unfair.”
“Itisunfair,” I say. “I’m sorry.”
She sighs again, her shoulders sagging. “But at least I don’t have children depending on me. I can’t imagine how stressful that must be for Luis and Lila. Letting myself down is hard enough.”
“You didn’t let yourself down. Stop that shit. You were the victim of a natural disaster, and now you’re getting it up the ass a second time from the insurance company. Which isn’t right. Especially without lube.”
Her lips twitch at the edges. “Anal without lube is always a bad idea.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I confess. “I’m not into sticking it in the poop hole.”
