Zack: Good job.
Jay: We might need proof.
Logan: Yeah, I don’t believe it.
Me: *picture of Lyla with a huge smile on her face*
Me: It killed me to let her win, but her smile made it worth it.
Zack: See? Told you.
Logan: Well I’ll be damned.
Zack: You and Jay owe me $20.
Me: Seriously? You guys bet against me?
Jay: Didn’t think you’d go through with it.
Me: Thanks for the vote of confidence.
Jay: Not confident enough to win me money.
Chapter Seventeen
ADAM
I pulledthe casserole dish from the oven and placed it on top of the stove. Mexican and Italian were Lyla’s favorites, and when I told her I could make my mom’s lasagna tonight for dinner, her eyes lit up. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she took the first bite.
My phone vibrated on the kitchen counter, and I glanced down, thankful to see my mom was calling. Talking to her would take my mind off Lyla in the shower.
Hopefully.
I picked up the phone and swiped the answer button. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hi.”
“Everythingokay?”
“Yeah. Just wanted to see if you were still coming by tomorrow to look at my kitchen sink.”
I flinched, having forgotten all about it until she had mentioned it. Which wasn’t typically like me, but the gorgeous redhead living in my apartment and taking up permanent residence in my head was one hell of a distraction. “Yep. Probably after lunchtime. Lyla has physical therapy in the morning.”
“How’s she doing?”
I turned off the oven and leaned back against the counter. “Good. She’ll do two weeks of PT and then she should be able to get back to work.”
“That’s great. Feel free to bring her with you tomorrow. I always love talking with her.”
What was she rambling about? When did she talk with Lyla? As far as I knew, they’d only met once when Lyla and I were on shift and picked up lunch at The Dock. My mom happened to be there with a group of her friends.
“What do you mean? When do you talk to her?”
“Oh.” She chuckled. “Anytime we run into each other, she always stops and chats with me. She’s so sweet.”
I smiled. That sounded like Lyla. She was good with people. Would get patients talking and calm better than I could sometimes. And anytime we went anywhere in this small town, she would stop and talk to anyone and everyone. I saw myself the same way, and I liked that we shared that trait.
It worked especially well with our crew. Logan and Seth were quiet and standoffish. Zack was great at making people laugh. Jay was better with kids than adults sometimes. And Lyla and I could easily get people talking about anything and everything.
