Until it wasn’t… Those pesky negative thoughts invaded my brain.
A gasp sounds behind me, and I jump in my slippers and spin. Not only is Micah there, but Raeann is too, standing just in front of him. I point the spatula at him accusingly. “Tattlers don’t get pancakes.”
Micah shrugs. “I simply notified her that you were up…and cooking.”
Raeann moves around the side of the island. “I’ll finish those up.”
I think about arguing with her because I’m absolutely fine—I haven’t had any coughing fits and my burns are the regular amount of soreness today—however, my stomach wins out. I’m starving, so I willingly hand her the spatula, grab a pancake from the stack with my fingers and plop it on one of the plates I have laid out.
“What are you doing up this morning?” Raeann asks.
I’ve already shoved the first delicious bite into my mouth, so I chew while watching Micah go in for his pancakes. I eye him, and he smirks. Once I swallow it down, I say, “I’m going into work today.”
“I have it handled.”
“So do I, and I love you to pieces, but don’t fight me on this.”
I watch her take the information in. Her shoulders bunch, but they release a little. I’m used to being the one who takes care of Raeann and not the other way around. I will say, she’s handled this all really well, stepping up when I needed her to.
I peer around the side of the island and spot Athena lying on the floor next to her. I swear she lifts her head and smiles at me, then resumes the position.
That’s a good sign. If she sensed anything wrong with me, she’d be over here in a heartbeat.
Raeann sighs. “Isn’t this?—”
“The best idea I’ve ever had? Yes, thank you. It is.”
“I was going to say too soon.”
“Listen, if I get tired, I’ll come home, but I feel really good this morning, and I want to do something productive with my life.”
Honestly, the spat with Levi woke something up inside me. It’s as if he was forcing me to live in the real world and be present. Not to mention think about something other than the fire and my burns. Evoking emotion inside me that wasn’t just desolation.
I thought for sure I’d wake up to a text from him, but I didn’t. I was pretty harsh last night, but I needed to be. He does have a reputation, so we’ll just see how he responds. If he thinks I’m not worth the trouble, I’ll have my answer in the form of no answer. But I’ll be leaving with a sweet new phone and a couple of hot spank bank pics.
My face flushes, and I have to push him into the back of my mind before I give anything away.
“Well, I don’t like it,” Raeann says, scraping the last of the pancake batter onto the griddle.
“I promise I’ll go easy.”
After another pancake, I stand and stride toward my room to get dressed. If I’m lucky, I’ll be ready before she is, and I won’t have to hear her try to talk me out of going.
“What are you going to wear?” she calls out after me.
“I’ll figure it out!” I stop in the hallway. “Better question, where’s my wallet and stuff?”
“Hall closet.”
Perfect!
I head to my room and close the door, leaning my back against it briefly as I take a deep breath.Lungs still clear, Raeann is on board. Sort of. So far, so good.
I head to the closet to look at my outfit choices and most definitely not the phone that I hid in there earlier. Except, when I open the doors, the first thing I do is check to see if anyone—and by anyone, I mean the only person who has this number—texted me.
My heart leaps when a message pops on the screen.
Levi: Incoming.
