“I’ll be in the living room.”
I use the bathroom. As I wash my hands, I inspect myself in the big mirror. Jesus. I look like Ursula fromThe Little Mermaid. I try to pat my hair down. I have no makeup on, which doesn’t help, so I splash cold water onto my face and pat it dry.
Whatever.
A tiny little part of me wants to be attractive for Marek. Because… I don’t know. If I want to look good for him, doesn’t that mean I want him to be attracted to me? And I don’t. I told him I’m too busy for an “us.”
But I’m also too tired and sad to summon up enough energy to actually do something about that. So, Ursula it is.
I find Marek in the kitchen eating baby carrots from a bag. He offers some to me, so I take a carrot and crunch it. “I’d rather be eating potato chips.”
He grins. “You and me both, beautiful.”
“I guess you don’t have any?”
“Nope.”
I sigh and eat another carrot.
“Did you eat lunch?” he asks.
I hold up a carrot.
“Shit, Nikki. I’ll make you something.”
“You don’t have to wait on me. I feel weird enough being here.”
He opens the fridge and peers in. “I have leftover tuna salad.” My silence prompts him to look at me. “What? It’s good. And I have lettuce. You can have tuna salad lettuce wraps. Low carb.”
“Hmmm. Okay.”
He sets out the container of salad, which has carrots and cucumber in it, and piles a plate with lettuce leaves. Sitting at the counter, I scoop up salad, roll it up, and take a bite. I nod. “This is good. What’s the dressing? Is it mayo?”
“Nope. Avocado, mustard, and sriracha.”
“Maybe staying here won’t be so bad.”
“I’m sorry it’s such a hardship being here.” His tone is sardonic.
“Somehow I thought your bachelor pad would be full of snacks and beer.”
“I do have some beer.” I make a face and he laughs. “I have to eat healthy, too. The team has a dietician who works with us.”
Surprisingly, I eat several of the wraps. Marek passes me another bottle of water he takes out of a cupboard.
He remembers.
It doesn’t matter anymore. But he remembers.
“What would you normally be doing right now?” I ask him. “I don’t want to disrupt your routine.”
“Well. Levi wanted me to visit a hospital today.”
I blink. “Oh. Um, who’s Levi?”
“Levi Rhodes. Communications guy. He sets up stuff for us to do in the community.”
“Ah. So you’re missing out on a hospital visit.”
