Page 45 of Fish out of Water
Because that tiny part of me thought she might understand. Might be willing to overlook my less than appealing qualities.
But that tiny part of me was wrong. Women like her only embraced their own weird.
They laughed in the face of anyone else’s.
I didn’t move until I heard her door close, shutting me out.
Where I belonged.
I went to the sofa and dropped to the cushions, pressing my hands to my face, digging the heel of each palm into my eyes.
This is why I stayed away from women like her. They brought out the worst parts of me.
The insecurity.
The self-doubt.
The loathing.
It had to stop. Had to end.
I couldn’t do it again. I wouldn’t.
* * *
“MORNING, NERD.” JULIA padded into the kitchen and went straight to the coffee pot.
I didn’t look up from my laptop. “Morning.”
She filled a mug and went to the fridge to pour in some sweetened creamer before coming to stand at the peninsula between us. “What are you doing?”
“Working.”
“Nerd.”
“You work. No one calls you a nerd for it.”
She snorted. “I’m an arborist. You really think no one’s called me a nerd for that?” Julia tipped back her coffee, seemingly unbothered by the fact that her chosen career led people to decide she was something she wasn’t. “Did you look up any of those addresses?”
“Not yet.” I’d actually forgotten all about them.
I suddenly had too much shit on my mind.
“I’m sure your uncle won’t mind being held captive while you finish checking your email.” Julia came around the counter to snag the paper from where it sat on the table. “They’re probably only cutting off the toes he doesn’t need.”
“No one’s cutting off his toes.” I was tired of Vito’s shit before, but now that his shit was digging up mine I was even less amused. “And even if they did he might deserve it.”
“Wow.” Julia’s blue eyes went wide. “That escalated quickly.” She turned. “I guess I’ll go do this while you’re mathing your way through the day.” She disappeared into the room she had set up as an office, but not before turning back to look my way. “Nerd.”
She was just giving me shit. I knew that.
But it dug into my hide like little else could.
Fifteen minutes later Julia emerged, but this time she came straight to my side, dropping into the chair next to me, making it impossible to avoid directly looking at her.
She kicked one foot up onto my leg before crossing the other one over top of it. Her toes were delicate and painted bright yellow. The center one had a stack of thin gold bands circling the base.
But that wasn’t what caught my eye.
