Page 84 of Lovebug
“Are you okay?” David asks with concern etched on his brow.
“Fine,” I murmur. “I’m always fine. Just not great with insults. Yet. But don’t worry, I’m working on it.”
“Ya know what?” David says and wraps his arm protectively around his son. “I think Holden, Carl, and I are going to go check out the dunk tank. My buddy is one of the firefighters who could go under, so…”
“Oh, that’s great! Sure, yeah! Go, go! Have fun! See you tomorrow, Holden buddy! Nice to finally meet you, David! Send my best to Renée!”
“Will do!” he says over his shoulder, but he’s already over twenty feet away and can’t seem to get farther from me fast enough.
Great, I’ve been entrusted to watch over his child thirty hours a week, and now he thinks I’m a lunatic.
I don’t dwell on this for too long, though, because that loud, throaty laugh captures my full attention again. I look over and see them standing super close. Her hand is on his chest, rubbing a small circle.
And suddenly, what feels like a tiny scorching ball of fire settles in the pit of my stomach, and I feel like throwing up.
So this is jealousy, huh?
Can’t say I’m a fan.
Chapter Sixteen
“We’re still on for noon, tiger?” Naomi practically purrs and continues to rub circles on Wally’s chest. That’s her move, apparently. And again, Wally doesn’t seem to mind.
Noon? What the heck are they doing at noon?
“You bet, Naomi,” he says back in a tone I can’t decipher. Is he responding to her flirtation? It’s hard to tell because everything he says and does is somehow sexy.
“Mabes? You okay?” Louise says from her booth beside mine. I can see her shifting her gaze back and forth between me and the scene Naomi is making with Wally.
“Fine. I’m always fine,” I murmur, my eyes starting to glaze over.
“Okay, you really have to stop saying that,” Louise says as she gently drops a starfish into her tank. She walks the few steps to my booth. “You know you don’t always have to be fine, right? A lot of times when people say they are fine, what they really mean is they are suffering below the surface, but they are ashamed to admit it. A lot of times, what they really mean is ‘I am the opposite of fine, but if you saw just hownotfine I am, I’m afraid you would judge me.’ A lot of times, people don’t want other people to think they’re weak and—”
“Lou?” I cut her off as politely as possible. “I’m so glad the therapy is working for you, but seriously, I’m fine. I don’t need any well-meaning speeches to—Oh crap on a cracker! Bert Alert!” I exhale on a crazy, loud whispery breath and then drop to the ground like I’ve been shot.
“What alert?! What?” Louise rushes over and crouches down beside me, presumably to tend to my wounds. “Have you been shot? What’s going on?”
“Bert. Alert. Ten o’clock,” I eek out through clenched teeth.
“What? I don’t understand.”
“My boyfriend, I mean, fiancé. I mean, ex. Bert.”
“Ohhhhhh.” Louise finally catches on to what I’m saying. “Okay, let me look.”
“No, no, no, don’t look, don’t!”
She disregards me and rises to her full height. “That guy? Really? In the turtleneck?”
“Would you call it a full turtleneck, though?” I murmur while trying to stay hidden. “I was under the impression the turtlenecks he wears are mock.”
“Mock or not, it’s eighty degrees out here, and that man is dressed like a mime.” Louise’s light laughter cuts off, and she’s suddenly serious. And sad? “Oh,” she breathes. “Oh, god.”
“What?”
“Mabel, I’m so sorry,” she coos.
“What? What’s happening? Why are we so sorry?!” I peek up from my crouched position and see Louise squinting a bit at what she’s studying.
