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“You don’t have to tell me twice.” I poured myself a cup of coffee from the pot and then walked back to the table, filling my plate with food. “How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?”
“Unless giving Oaklynn a bath counts as fun, it was same ol’ same ol’.”
I chewed over my food, thinking. “What do you typically do in a day?”
She shrugged. “I like to read, so I do that quite a bit now that the kids are gone. Sometimes I take Oaklynn to the beach in the morning and go on walks. I like to cook meals and drop them off at the local foster care agency for new foster parents. Nothing big. And a lot of my time has been sucked up by dialysis now. Twelve hours a week might not seem like much, but it sure does feel like a lot.”
“I totally get it,” I said. “I don’t have kids or family and I still feel like I’m always behind with work.”
A knock sounded on the door, and she set her silverware down. “That must be the tech.”
She left me at the table, eating the last of my food, and returned with an adorable guy in scrubs. He must have been a year or two younger than me, but he had tattoos all up and down his arms, and I was trying to keep from drooling.
I couldn’t help but feel like Mariah was getting the short end of the stick by having me and not him.
“This is Mara,” Mariah said. “She’ll be here helping me out.”
The guy grinned at me, and despite myself, I melted, just a little bit. “I’m Jake. Looks like your day’s off to a good start.”
“It definitely is,” I said, then I realized I needed to turn the flirt dialwaydown. Mariah was my “boyfriend’s” mom, after all. “My boyfriend’s dad made this amazing breakfast, and now I get to spend time with this dime piece!”
Riah chuckled, waving her hand at me. “She is full of it.”
Smiling, Jake said, “If you two are ready, we can get to it?”
We both nodded and went to the sunroom off the kitchen. I’d never been back here before, but it was a cute room with green carpet, mismatched chairs, and a wall full of windows. In one corner, there was a coat tree with their jackets hanging, and a shoe rack rested against the wall.
“I thought it would be nice to get some sun while I do this,” Mariah said.
“Great idea,” I agreed.
Jake walked to the machine and began programming it, then walked me through each step to get her set up. Soon, the machine was running, and Mariah was settled in her own chair with her Kindle in her lap.
I walked with Jake toward the front door to let him out, while he walked me through last-minute information. “If you have any issues at all, our company has a nurse-on-call line, so you can always get through no matter the time of day. But...” He stopped by the door, getting a pen out of his pocket. “If you want to reach me personally, I live about twenty minutes from here. And I can make time for you.” He winked, then handed me the paper with his phone number on it.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, glancing toward the floor and trying not to pay too much attention to his tattoos or wonder how much of his body they covered.
As soon as he was out the door, I walked back to the sunroom with my laptop bag and sat in the chair next to Mariah’s. “How’s it going?” I asked her. “Is it better being here for dialysis?”
She rolled her head toward me. “You have no idea. Ihatedgoing to that place. It was so sterile, and I felt like everyone was staring at me.”
“I get it,” I said. “I know it’s not the same, but when you’re a big girl, especially at the beach in a swimsuit, people like to stare.”
“Stupid.”
“Agreed.” I got out my laptop and opened it on my lap.
“What are you working on?” Mariah asked. “Please tell me it’s Liza and Reid’s story.”
I grinned. “You read Jennika and Martin’s book, didn’t you? Jonas said you were reading one, but I couldn’t really tell from what he gave me.”
Mariah laughed. “I think I scarred him for life with that sex scene.”
I chuckled, remembering his phone call. “I feel like every guy should read a romance at some point.”
“Especially Jennika’s.” She let out a happy sigh. “Seeing her overcome her eating disorder and make love to Martin, with whipped cream. Oh my god, I didn’t think anything could be so sweet and meaningful andhot, all at the same time.”
Now my cheeks were getting warm. I didn’t usually get a chance to talk to readers like this. “Thank you. That means a lot.”