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Tess

I’m bored and annoyed as shit. I can’t go for a walk for more than a block or two before I panic and come home. I don’t want to undo the good work. Resting is so not my thing. Alex’s been wonderful, but it’s still a bitch of a situation.

I have an outline of a new book. Final galleys of another one and my current work-in-progress is with my editor. I honestly don’t have a thing to fucking do but heal, and it’s driving me crazy. I’m off my pain meds and thought I’d have a cocktail, but there’s no bourbon. Drizzly won’t deliver for another couple of hours. I’m locked in this vacancy.

I should clean up the PT stuff. It’s kind of all over. I also have the galleys spread on the coffee table. I hobble back down the stairs, and now I’m checking the mailbox, where I don’t actually get mail. There’s no more scrolling to be done, I’ve literally read everyone’s feed in the world, and I don’t like any of the books I’m currently reading. I get to the second chapter and put it down. Mikey was supposed to come to keep me company, but the dick flew to New York. I haven’t seen Ari in like a month, except for Facetime. I’ve done everything I can to help it heal as fast as possible.

Someone told me turmeric is an anti-inflammatory and helps muscle rebuild. I take a lot of it. Now, when I pee, it smells like tandoori chicken. I try to cover it up. I keep telling Alex I ate shawarma for lunch again.

He’s so busy, but he’s made all kinds of time for me. We even watched a movie the other night. He fell asleep but was still it was two hours of couch cuddling. I fell asleep too and have no idea how it ended, but we did it. I’m so jealous he’s so busy. I hate sitting idly by. I’m fucking restless.

I make my way to the couch, and Alex finally comes home.

“Hey, babe,” he says.

Suddenly I’m annoyed as hell at him. “There’s laundry in the dryer, but I couldn’t get all of yours done. I did what I could. But in the future, bring it down.”

“Cool. Anything else I can do for you?” He walks to the little bench in the corner and puts his laptop down. I’ve taken over his office upstairs. I told him we could share, but he insisted.

“Bourbon will be here in an hour, but if you finish a bottle, let me know so I can replenish it. I wanted a drink, and it was gone.”

“There’s Chard in the wine fridge,” he answers in a bit of a huff.

“I wanted bourbon.”

“Ok.” He grabs a beer and heads to the firepit. No, hello kiss, not how was your day? Just walked right on by.

“That’s not cool.” I hobble to the sliding glass door and fling it open.

“What do you want from me? Fuck, you’re in a bad mood.” He stands when he gestures widely. His beer spills a bit and pisses him off more.

“What the hell did you just say to me?” My hands go to my hips as I square my shoulders at him.

“I’ve been home like a second, and you’ve already told me three things I did wrong without even saying hello. Keep on bitching, but I’m going to finish my beer and ignore you.”

“That’s not how we do things. We talk it out.” He looks at his Apple watch. I know he got a text or an email.

He cocks his head and narrows his eyes. “Well, look at that. I have a friend in town. Not going to be here for dinner. Order all the fucking shawarma you want. Maybe pick up some of your shit. It’s everywhere.” He brushes right past me. I manage to catch him as he gets to the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Out. Be home later. Better put your knee up. It looks swollen.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck me?” He turns back, and this is a new look I don’t like. “Go to bed, Tess. We’ll talk about whatever the hell this is tomorrow.”

“You’re avoiding things.”

“What the hell is there to avoid, other than your shit ass attitude and an evening of sleeping through a Reese Witherspoon movie then wading through your PT shit to find the stairs.”

He stomps away.

“Yeah, well, I fell asleep too!”

Asshole. Coward. Won’t even stay here and talk this through. I see how it’s going to be when things get rough. Apparently, eight weeks is our threshold for living together peacefully.