“Hello, I’m Janice. I’ll be your respite nurse.”
“Thank you. I’m Lyla.” I hold out my hand. “Sorry, I’m nervous. My brother will be out in a minute. He works nights, so this is usually when he is sleeping,” I tell her.
She nods. “I will be sure to keep it down for him.”
I escort her inside, letting her set her things on the counter.
“This is my boyfriend, Wyatt. He helps with Dad a lot,” I tell her.
“Nice to meet you.”
Before I can say anything more, Will comes out, yawning.
“Hey, I’m Will. Thank you for coming.”
“Of course. Happy to be of service. So we need to go over some things, then we will set up a schedule. If you need to change the schedule, you let me know. Then you can go back to bed, and you two can go have some fun for a bit. Sound good?”
We all sit around the table as she lays out what they do and what she knows about my dad. She asks several questions, helping ease my anxiety. She pays very close attention to everything we say. Then she meets Dad.
Dad is his charming self, thinking he is in his twenties again. Within an hour, Janice is shooing us out of the room so she can spend time with Dad bonding overGreen Acres.
“I almost don’t want to go,” I tell Wyatt as we slip into his car.
“We can sit in the car if that would make you happy.”
I roll my head across the seat to look at him. “No. I’m being ridiculous. Will is inside too. We will be fine.”
“We have six hours to hang out, so let’s go ease your mind. What do you say?”
“I don’t know. What do you have in mind?”
He smirks at me. “Chicken Alfredo from Russo’s and a true crime marathon?”
I snort. “You know the way to a girl’s heart.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “Not any girl. Your heart.”
I swallow hard. “Sometimes you make me forget that we are supposed to be fake.”
He shrugs. “Don’t hold on so tight to what’s supposed to be. Live in the moment. Let go of all the expectations.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue. I want to tell him I am falling in love with him. Ask him to define what this is, but I chicken out.
“Well, what are we waiting for then?”
As he turns on the car, I keep my eyes on him.
Man, I am so far gone for Wyatt Scott.
“Oh, come on, man. You going to let her beat me like that?” Kellan yells at Jason.
“I’m trying. I can’t find her. Where the fuck are you?” Jason sounds anxious as hell as he yells at Lyla.
My girl, though? She is calm as a cucumber as she runs around killing each of my teammates.
I’ve long since dropped my controller. I don’t care about the game anyway. I am having a lot more fun watching her kick their asses.
“Wyatt, your girl is being mean,” Calvin whines.
