It was his turn to blink. “Luna.”
I blinked right back. “Ripley.”
“I’m taking you to the doctor,” he told me just as loudly as he had said every other word before.
He really must feel terrible.
I had no business being so touched by his concern. He was my boss. If I wasn’t well, I could potentially do my job horribly.
“You’re being very sweet,” I managed to say without cracking a smile, just to be a pain. “But—”
He didn’t let me finish my statement, and I’d swear he leaned into me even more. “I’m not being sweet.”
His mom had died in a car wreck, I thought, before pushing that aside again for later like I had promised myself.
I could act normal. So, I closed an eye and brought my index finger and thumb pretty close together. “Little bit.”
His jaw did that twitch thing again. “I’m not, but you’re going to the doctor, and I’m driving you there,” he tried to claim. Tried to tell me.
But I just stared back at him. “You don’t have to.”
His elbow landed on the top of my thigh, and I wasn’t sure if he was doing it to intimidate me—which I doubted—or if he was finally feeling how tight the space was. “I’m taking you to the goddamn doctor.”
I opened my mouth to keep arguing with him, but that was when my phone rang. Pulling it out of my pocket, I looked at the screen and couldn’t help but frown when Thea’s name popped up. I happened to look up at the rearview mirror and found Mr. Cooper’s blue eyes on mine through the reflection. He had a funny look on his face. I smiled at him before poking at the screen.
“Hello?” I answered, trying to whisper since Rip had already put enough of my business out there in front of someone I had barely met and another man who might not understand why or how Rip and I were talking to each other so… almost friendly.
“Luna,” my sister said my name all funny.
“Hi, Thee.” I bit the inside of my cheek when she didn’t immediately say anything else. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” she rushed out. “Are you?”
“Yeah. I told you in my message, remember? I’m okay,” I promised, not liking the way she sounded. I could appreciate her being worried about me but….
She kicked you out of her apartment.
So there was that.
“Yeah? Nothing else happened?” she asked, sounding too… different.
I took in the back of the seat in front of me, trying to ignore the unease her tone made me feel. “No, it was only the accident. Just a little whiplash,” I promised her, telling myself not to think this over too much. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, Luna. Yeah,” my sister replied a little too quickly.
She didn’t sound like it. I lowered my head. “Did you get your rental insurance sorted?” I made myself ask.
Thea made a weird noise I hadn’t heard before, which put me even more on edge. “Um, yes. They’re covering my things.”
“Good.”
“I’m glad you’re fine,” she muttered, sounding distracted then. “Well, that’s all I was calling for. I just… wanted to make sure you were okay.”
In the three years since she had moved out on her own, she had never, not once called tomake sure I was okay. I wasn’t much better at calling, but I did text her at least once a week.
“I’m okay.” I lifted my head and stared at the back of the seat, something about this feeling wrong and weird. “Thee, is everything all right with you?”
“I’m fine, don’t worry about me. But I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later,” she answered quickly.
