SKYE
My arms stretchedover my head as a yawn claimed me. When they lowered back down, they felt heavy. I sighed as I continued cutting up cucumbers to go in my salads for meal prep for my lunches. Last week, I’d barely slept. Normally, every time my head hit the pillow, I was lights out. But for the past seven days, I’d gotten in bed and spent hours twisting and turning with pent-up agitation.
Nick was not responsible for my sleeplessness. It wasn’t his fault that I had a galactic-sized crush on him. He’d been nothing but gracious, kind, and accommodating.
The only one to blame for my exhaustion was me. Every single time I closed my eyes, I saw his shirtless body. I’d thought that my days off this weekend would have served as an out-of-sight, out-of-mind situation. But if anything, the past few days I’ve actually thought about him more, which I hadn’t thought was possible. I’d hoped that seventy-two hoursnotin his company would have served as a palate cleanser, at the very least. I assumed that not being in his presence would be like sloshing water around in my mouth at a wine tasting. I thought there might be a faint taste of him, but I was wrong. I was still overwhelmed by the notes of his earthy scent, his bold baritone, and his spicy sexiness.
And in just a few hours, I’d be seeing him again. Or at least, there was a possibility that I would. After speaking to him in the kitchen about why I’d gotten into nursing, I’d been doing my best to avoid him. Still, I averaged at least four Nick sightings every shift.
“Mom, what is your favorite thing to do?” Callie asked from the kitchen table where she was supposed to be doing her homework.
“Why?”
“It’s for a project,” Callie chirped.
“Sleeping.”
“Mom, I’m serious.”
“I don’t know… reading.” I did love reading; it was my escape from reality. My books were my company on lonely nights and days. Being a single parent was a very isolating experience. Or at least that had been my experience. Between school, work, and raising Callie, I hadn’t really had time in my life for anything else.
Bullshit, if you wanted to, you would make time,Rihanna’s voice sounded in my head.
“Who is your celebrity crush?” Callie asked.
“Celebrity crush?”
“Yeah.”
“Um, Chris Hemsworth.” As soon as I said the name out loud, a bolt of realization struck me. That was who Nick reminded me of. Besides his voice being so familiar, he also resembled the actor. Except Nick was even sexier.
“What is a dealbreaker for you?”
“A dealbreaker? What do you mean by a dealbreaker?”
“Like in a relationship?”
“What class is this for?”
Callie’s lips pursed before she said, “English.”
She was lying. Since she was a little girl, her lips pursing had been her lying tell. I stopped chopping and just stared at her. I knew that the stare-until-she-broke tactic wasn’t going to work forever. I thought for sure that once she hit preteen, the ‘look’ would have lost its efficacy, but so far, I was still batting a thousand.
Her shoulders dropped as she blew out a sigh. “Fine, I signed you up for something, and I’m filling out your bio.”
“Signed me up for what?” I asked even though I was 99.9% sure I already knew the answer. Her silence confirmed my suspicions. “Callie, you can’t sign someone up for a dating app without them knowing.”
“Yes, you can,” she argued. “Georgia did, and her mom met her new boyfriend.”
“Mindy met Carlos on a dating app?” I’d met him briefly at one of the girls’ cheer events. He seemed like a totally normal guy, which was more than I could say for the winners Ri had met.
“Yes.”
“That’s great for Mindy, but I don’t date,” I explained for the hundredth time to my daughter.
“Iknow, which is why I’m signing you up for the app.”
I felt a migraine coming on. I hadn’t had one in a while. They only occurred when I was anxious and/or hadn’t had any sleep. Between my week of tossing and turning, meeting Nick, and Callie talking about dating apps, it was the perfect storm of stress.
