Page 104 of Insidious Heart
“That’s a really nice way to welcome a friend.” I cringe as she frowns. “I just wanted to check on you. Yesterday was really rough, and after our brief talk this morning I was worried.”
I blow out a breath and nod as my shoulders sag. “I’m sorry. Really, I didn’t mean to be so rude, I just… I never have anyone over because my father doesn’t really like it.” Her brows arch, so I quickly add, “He does a lot of work out of the house. Meetings and stuff. I never really know when he’ll have people around, or if he’ll be busy when he gets home so I just avoid it.”
“Okay…” Linnie drawls, clearly not buying my attempt to bullshit her. “What does your dad do for a living?”
“Construction,” I blurt like a moron.
She glances at the front of my house before taking in the line of motorcycles in my driveway. “Construction?”
I nod.
“And he has meetings here?”
“Yeah.” I start chewing the inside of my cheek.This is going to be a disaster.
“Uh huh…” Linnie looks around again as my heart rate spikes to triple the norm, then she shrugs. “Must be nice to have all these sexy construction workers hanging around all the time then.”
Again, gross.But I nod and force a smile anyway because I need her to believe that. “Could be worse.”And it definitely has been.
“I know I wouldn’t mind so much man candy to look at when I took my study breaks.” Her hazel eyes connect with mine as she smiles. “How is school, by the way? I feel like we haven’t talked about that in a while.”
“It’s…” I sigh and drop down onto the swing, hoping the thing doesn’t break. “Not so great, actually.”
“No?”
Linnie sits down next to me as I shake my head. “I’m actually thinking I may have to drop out.”
“Why?You were doing so well, I thought?”
“I was, but… well, I’ve been missing a lot.” I have, and since Beau has been ramping up his lectures, the thought of dropping out has crossed my mind more times than I’d like to admit. I don’t want to, not when I do really enjoy school and it’s one of the only places I’m allowed to go, but I haven’t been to class in weeks and the time off to heal or watch the boys has really taken its toll lately. I can’t tell my friend any of that though. “It’s getting harder to keep up with all the extra work, or find time to make up the labs.”
“I get that.” Linnie nods with a sigh. “Nursing school is so hard, but you’ve got the chops for it.”
“Now just might not be the time.”
“Maybe you should just take the rest of the semester off.”
I shrug. “Yeah, I guess I could.”
“I know that fall down the stairs laid you out for a while, then the family stuff you had going on.” She reaches over and gives my knee a squeeze. “Plus everything that happened yesterday. I get why you feel like dropping out is the answer, but maybe just take the semester off and see where you’re at when school starts again next year.”
I’ll probably be dead.
My nose scrunches at the extremely morbid thought.
The thought that was one hundred percent fueled by the escalation of my father’s behavior and nothing more, surprisingly.
Usually there’s at least a hint of dark intent behind thoughts like those, but ever since a certain ghost has been visiting me, my desire to live has become a lot stronger than it was before. So much so that I’ve found myself wondering how I can get out of Beau’s house before he has the chance to kill me, but I’m not quite ready for that yet.
Even if it means I could be dead a few months from now.
“I’ll think about it.” I pat my friend’s hand then carefully lean back in the swing. “So, what’s new with you? Like you said, we haven’t really had much of a chance to catch up at work lately.”
Linnie huffs and mirrors my position. “Not much, since I’m working a million hours a week.”
“Gotta keep Harvey rolling in the cat treats.”
“Oh he’s spoiled and happy.” She giggles. “His mama is not, though.”
