Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
I knew from therapy that sometimes lifestyle changes could be just as effective for anxiety and depression as meds could be; that for some people, you just needed the meds to get your motivation back to work at building a life you loved again.
The move to Florida made a lot of pieces fall into place. I had a career I was thriving in, my own space, a supportive grandmother, a friend, lots of sunshine which was good for my vitamin D levels, and I was more removed from the pressures and expectations of my family.
It was all going amazingly.
Until Marco.
I shook those thoughts away.
“But, sometimes, things like this cycle back,” I concluded, shrugging. “I adjusted my meds. But I’ve been feeling kind of blah, and I can’t figure out if that is still the depression peeping through, or if it is just the meds themselves.”
“And then you have stress like tonight on top of it all.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t help,” I agreed.
Sure, he only thought my place got ransacked, not that I’d been forced to commit crimes and threatened with violence. But even just having your business torn apart was enough to stress out anyone.
“Are you going to tell your grandmother about what happened tonight?” he asked, making me jerk up.
I hadn’t even considered that. Mostly because I’d been planning on not saying anything to anyone. But with the pots broken, I knew I’d have to tell Traeg, unless I wanted to pay for all of them outright—and I wasn’t sure I could afford that. If I told Traeger, there was a small chance that could possibly circle back to my grandmother. She followed him online, and if he posted about hustling extra hard because his other pots got destroyed, she would have questions.
It made sense to just tell her what I’d told Kylo. Wild kids did destructive things all the time. I could claim I’d been in the kitchen when a crew came in and quickly started to wreck things. By the time I came out, they rushed off and I didn’t really get a look at them, so calling the police felt pointless.
Just annoying kids doing annoying kid stuff, like smashing pumpkins around Halloween or TP’ing trees.
I’d assure her that I got the cameras fixed in case it happened again.
I hated to lie.
But I’d been lying for quite a while about the whole Marco situation already. What was one more in the grand scheme of things? The last thing I wanted was for her to get involved in any way. She was in danger enough already.
“So, your next day off… you wanna try to scratch something off that list of yours again?” he asked. “Or do you need to keep things chill for a while?”
Was he actually still… interested?
After my little backstory? After crying all over him?
My heart fluttered even as my mind told me not to get my hopes up too high.
“I don’t think I’m up for something crazy like parasailing. But I might be interested in doing some of the more tame things.”
“Could I plan it, or would the surprise be too anxiety-inducing?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.
“So long as I can back out if it’s too much, I think a surprise might be something good to think about for a change.”
“Good. Then I’ll get on that.”
“Do you need a copy of the note?”
“I remember a good chunk of the highlights.”
“Really? Why?”
“It’s interesting. I don’t have a bucket list. I’ve done a little bit of everything. It’s kind of fun to help you scratch things off. Plus, good company.”
“And by that, you clearly mean Ernest,” I said, waving over toward my dog who’d flipped onto his back, his short legs straight up in the air, his head spread out on the floor, and his wrinkly face looking like it was melting backward.
“Who wouldn’t want to listen to a wood chipper inside their house?” he asked as Ernest snored away.
“Thanks for this,” I said, realizing I’d finished my plate. “I needed this.”
I needed it all.
Someone to find my dog and be there while I broke apart. A safe place to unwind. Food.
“It was really lucky you were passing by and saw Ernest,” I added, thinking of how wrecked I would have been if something happened to him.
“Yeah,” Kylo agreed, getting to his feet. “Right place, right time for sure.”
He seemed in a hurry to get the dishes back to the kitchen all of a sudden.
Maybe I’d overstayed my welcome.
I grabbed the fork that he’d left behind and rushed behind him.
“I should get going,” I offered.
“You don’t have to.”
“I’ve already stolen several hours of your night. Besides, you have plans to make,” I added, trying to play it off so he didn’t feel weird about wanting me to get going. He probably had a party or something to get back to at the other house.