But apparently, once needles left the boundaries of the oral cavity, my brain decided to get full-body heebie-jeebies.
“Hope, are you scared?” He immediately stopped what he was doing.
“I’m not.”
His brow lifted. “Hope.”
“Fine. Maybe a little.” I cleared my throat. “Just—needles outside the mouth freak me out.”
His brow furrowed. “You anesthetize people all the time.”
“That’s different.”
“How is that different?”
I glared. “Because I’m the one holding the needle.”
Jay’s mouth tugged back up into a slow, knowing half-smile. “Ah,Claro. So control issues.”
“Oh, shut up.”
He resumed, positioning the needle. “Just an observation.”
I sucked in a breath as he prepared to do the first stitch.
Jay’s voice softened. “Hey.Respira.”
I tried my best to exhale steadily, but it was still a bit shaky.
“Tell me about your writing. It’ll distract you.”
“My writing?” I repeated.
“Yeah. Tell me how it’s going.”
I tried to focus on his eyes instead of the needle hovering near my face. “Um… I, uh—I’m working on a new chapter.”
He nodded, starting the first stitch. I felt the tug more than the pain, but still flinched.
Jay’s voice dipped low. “Breathe.”
I exhaled shakily.
“What’s the chapter about?”
“It’s uh…it’s kind of a turning point.”
“For your main character?” He tightened the knot on the suture.
“Yeah,” I said. “She figures out a way to keep her gallery open, but she realizes it’s gonna take a lot of sacrifice.”
Jay hummed, expression unreadable. “And what’s going to happen after the sacrifice, after she figures out how to keep the gallery open?”
I blinked. “I’m not exactly sure yet.”
“It’ll come, I’m sure,” he said as he tied off another stitch.
“I hope so.”
