Cardio was for the birds. It could go straight to hell.
If the reception area had been empty when I got to work, I gladly would have collapsed face down on the cold tile floor while I waited for my heart to stop trying to Shawshank its way through my ribcage.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards. As soon as I walked through the doors, four sets of eyes shot in my direction.
“Hey,” I panted, swiping at my forehead where my hair had stuck to the perspiration. “Hi. Good morning.”
“Holy God,” Laeth muttered. “What happened to you?”
I wiped beneath my eyes, hoping my mascara—the only makeup I wore—hadn’t melted down my face, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath. “What do you mean?” That’s right, Willow. Play it off.
“Did you walk to work?” Lark asked, her eyes wide.
“Jesus, Will,” Jensen started. “It’s the middle of summer. The heat index is already close to ninety.”
“Well, I don’t have my car back yet, and I figured a little cardio wouldn’t kill me. I don’t live that far. It’s no big deal.”
Gage looked me up and down skeptically. “Really? Because you look like you’re about to keel over from heat exhaustion.”
I waved his comment off, refusing to let my humiliation show. “I just need some water and I’ll be right as rain.” I cleared my throat and batted at the bead of sweat that was trailing down my cheek from my temple. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get a drink then get to work.”
Ignoring the way their eyes followed me, I headed straight for the breakroom, but instead of getting a glass of water, I moved to the refrigerator and yanked both doors open, sticking my head in the freezer and letting out a sigh of relief as the cold penetrated my overheated skin.
My whole body sagged closer to the open doors as the cool air inside helped to temper my flush and make it so I didn’t feel like I was two seconds from melting right into a puddle of Willow goo in the middle of the floor.
“You okay?”
Any other time I might have shrieked at being caught in such a strange position, but honestly, at that moment I was just grateful to feel my body temperature lower to normal. I was convinced I’d been dangerously close to cooking my insides.
I turned to find Lark standing in the doorway with a sly grin on her face.
I reached into the freezer and grabbed an ice cube. With no shame whatsoever—you couldn’t be embarrassed when you were as close to boiling to death as I was—I pulled my shirt away from my body and dropped it right down the front. “Better now,” I answered as the ice cube began to melt against my skin.
“Yeah. I can see that.” She stepped into the breakroom, moving casually toward the coffeemaker, and started to prepare a cup for herself. “Babe, why don’t you get a rental car so you don’t have to subject yourself to”—she circled her hand in front of my body—“all of this.”
I let out a sigh as I closed the refrigerator doors and headed for the water cooler in the back corner. “I looked into it,” I told her. “But my insurance won’t cover the cost of one, and I don’t have the money to pay that out of pocket right now.”
Her brow furrowed with worry, and a pang of discomfort slammed dead center into my chest. If there was anything I hated more than being so damn awkward around pretty much everyone, it was the pity I saw in people’s eyes when they looked at me. I’d been getting that look all my life just because I was different, so I’d become accustomed to dreading it, even if I received it for different reasons.
“Willow, honey, are you having money problems? Because I’d be more than happy to help—”
I cut her off with a raised hand. “No. It’s not like that.” I pulled in a deep breath before giving her the truth I’d been keeping to myself for so long. “My dad got sick a while back,” I admitted, saying those words out loud to someone other than my sisters for the very first time. Until that moment, I hadn’t talked about it to anyone. As illogical as it was, I was afraid that putting those words out into the world would give them some sort of power. Make them real. So I’d kept the truth tucked deep inside where it had begun to fester.
“Oh, sweetie. I’m so sorry.”
“It is what it is,” I said with a shrug. “I had a nice little nest egg saved to start remodeling my house, but then . . . things changed. My father’s retirement and social security only go so far. His medical bills were steep after his diagnosis, and I’m helping him out on top of all my own stuff, so my monthly expenses have gone up a bit. Things are just a little tight, so I want to save where I can, you know?”
“God, Willow . . . I don’t know what to say.”
“There’s nothing to say, really. It’s just the way things are.”
And wasn’t that the truth. It was the very reason I’d cried myself to sleep alone in my bed the night before.
Lark stepped closer and reached out to take my hand, doing her best to offer comfort. I appreciated it more than she could possibly imagine. “Have you told the guys?”
“You’re actually the first person I’ve told,” I confessed. “It feels kind of nice to talk about it. Like a weight has been lifted.”
She smiled, her fingers tightening around my hand. “I’m honored you picked me to talk to. And just so you know, if you ever need to talk more, or vent or yell or cry, I’m here. You know that, right?”
Honestly, I didn’t. Not until that very moment. Truth was, I’d never really had any friends. The few I’d managed to make through school either got tired of trying to pull me out of my shell, accusing me of being boring and weird, or they’d grown up and started their own lives, causing us to drift apart.
Lark was the first person to ever make any kind of real effort, and she was so damn kindhearted that it was impossible not to let her in.
“Thank you,” I whispered, feeling a lump form in my throat. “I—just . . . thank you.”
“That’s what friends do, right?”
“Yes,” I answered with a smile, because that sounded a lot better than admitting I didn’t really know because I’d never had a real friend before.
“Now I’m even more excited about this weekend than I already was,” she said, her tone holding a hint of giddiness. “You need a break from life for a bit. Rora and I are going to treat you to lunch, then we’re going to give you the best girls’ day you’ve ever had. It’s going to be so fun.”
Until that moment, I’d completely forgotten I’d recruited Lark the day before to help make me over. But the more she talked about it, the more her excitement grew until it began to rub off on me.
“Can’t wait,” I said with a sincere smile.
She headed out of the breakroom a second later, and I chugged my glass of water in an effort to replenish the fluids my body had practically cried out during my walk to work.
I really hoped Stone finished my car soon, because I worried that if I had to keep up with this whole cardio thing, I’d risk drying up and looking like a piece of fruit that had been in the dehydrator too long. And I couldn’t imagine that was a good look on anyone.