“You texted me three times this week to confirm this appointment,” she says at last.
Heat creeps up my neck again. “I like a firm schedule.”
“And you almost canceled last night.”
“You saw that.”
“You said you were ‘fine now’ and probably didn’t need to come in. What changed?”
A girl in an elevator with a laugh I’ve never forgotten.
“I ran into someone.” I shift hard enough that the couch squeaks.
“A teammate?”
“No.”
“Staff?”
“No. Nothing like that.”
Her pen pauses. “Then who?”
I drag a hand over my jaw, fingers pressing into the ache there. “A girl. We met at a party six months ago.”
Her brows lift slightly, but she lets the silence do the asking.
“I only met her for maybe five minutes, and then she was gone. I told myself I’d forget her, and it was stupid to feel anything, but I didn’t.” My chest tightens that too-fast squeeze I always pretend is nothing. “I tried. I went out with other girls and pretended I wasn’t measuring everyone against a stranger I barely knew.”
“And now she is back.”
“Yeah. I got in the elevator, and she was just there. Like the universe decided to throw a live wire into my chest.”
“You’re certain it was her?” Dr. Shah clarifies.
“Oh, yeah. She called me trouble and told me to bring pie to dinner with her mom.”
Her brows rise another fraction. “Dinner with her mother?”
“It’s a fake date thing. She needs a boyfriend to get her mom off her back. I said I’d help.”
“And that’s not a big deal?”
The couch complains when I shift again. “She needs someone to play the part, and I can do that. We have plans to talk about rules, keep things clean and simple.”
“What rule did you want to make first?”
“No feelings,” I say, too fast.
She tilts her head. “How soon did you decide that rule?”
“Before she finished explaining,” I admit, bitter amusement leaking through. “Because if I don’t fence this in somehow, I’m screwed.”
“What happens if you break that rule?”
“Then I’m the idiot who caught feelings for a girl who might not want me back. Or worse, I fall, and she does, too, and it still blows up. And then I’m the reason her life gets messy.”
“And?” she prompts gently.
