“Why, why, why!” I closed my eyes as my chin dipped to my chest.
When I opened them, several people around me gave me that are-you-okay-or-just-crazy look.
“Sorry,” I whispered then shoved my sandwich into my mouth, ripping off a very unladylike-sized bite.
Lake:I haven’t left the states. How soon can you get to Seattle?
Lake:Do you remember our first kiss?
Lake:You turned your head. I wasn’t going to kiss you on the lips.
Lake:Thank you for turning your head. Best. Kiss. Ever.
Lake:Are you still there?
Cage:Just being polite and listening to you.
Lake:Sorry. I talk a lot.
Cage:I noticed, especially to yourself.
Lake:I don’t talk to myself.
Cage:You do. The day we met? You used the bathroom at my dad’s house, and I heard you talking to yourself.
He heard me. I couldn’t believe he heard me. So. Embarrassing.
After shutting the bathroom door, I rested my hands on the edge of the sink, looking in the mirror at the flushed face of a girl who hadn’t given a second glance to a guy since her accident. “He’s gorgeous, Lake. Stop thinking stupid shit about a gorgeous guy that lives a million miles away, and oh yeah… he’s naturally going to be attracted to gorgeous women with all their limbs intact.”
I may have had some self-esteem issues right after my accident.
Lake:I don’t talk to myself. Sometimes I just think out loud. Why were you eavesdropping on my thoughts?
Cage:Lol, because you think so loud.
Lake:I’m ashamed.
Cage:Why?
Lake:Because you were grieving your dad that day. I ached for you, but it didn’t stop me from pining for you too. I was lonely and insecure.
Cage:And now?
He asked some really good questions. I took a few minutes to enjoy the rest of my lunch while I thought about it. Cage didn’t text me again. He waited for me. I loved his patience.
Lake:Now I’m alone, but I’m no longer lonely—Netflix, Trzy, etc., and I’m not insecure about my body.
Half-truths. A cat and Netflix were a stretch for defining companionship. It had been so long since I’d been intimate with anyone, that I couldn’t honestly say how insecure I would feel lying on a bed naked in front of a sexy man like Cage. Clearly, my thoughts were jumping ahead to… maybe never.
Cage:When did you get Trzy? She’s quite the cat.
I grinned.
Lake:She was a gift.
Cage:Was she in one piece when you got her?
Lake:Lol! No. They say the truth is more unbelievable than fiction, well, here it is… she was a gift from a date I met on an online dating website. I knew right away my leg made him nervous and there wouldn’t be a second date, but I think he mistook my kindness for attraction. The next day he had a friend of his deliver me a package with a note that said, “Sorry we didn’t work out, hope she keeps you company until you find the right guy. Her name is Trzy, which means three in Polish. I’m half-Polish and you are missing a leg so I thought it was a fitting reminder of our date. The rescue shelter said she lost her leg and part of her ear when she got tangled up in a group of bikers. I hope you two bond and you think of me often.”
