Page 50 of Surviving Love

“Friends?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“We’re not friends, Jack. Don’t blow smoke up my ass.”

He chuckled. “Look, I’m interested in your story. What’s the harm in telling me?”

Was he actually interested? Or was he just bored and I was the only person here to talk to? That was probably more like it. Ihighlydoubted he saw me as a friend.

“You swear you won’t share my personal business with Harold or anyone else?”

“Absolutely.”

“If I’m truthful with you, you have to promise not to think less of me. I’m as physically strong as I ever was.”

“Okay.” He sounded confused.

I’d never voluntarily shared my story with anyone who wasn’t connected to my rehabilitation before. My heart beat swiftly as I considered telling Jack what had happened to me. “I don’t tell people this ever,” I said quietly.

“Just tell me, Mason.” His tone was coaxing.

I gritted my teeth, trying to push away my anxiety. “Well…”

“Come on, you can do it.”

“Don’t mock me, or I won’t talk to you.”

“I’m not mocking you, I swear.” He sounded sincere.

I pinched the skin between my eyes and said, “Growing up, I led a very sheltered life.”

“Did you?”

“Yes. My mom was, and is, a very fearful person. Obsessively so. It rubbed off on me growing up.”

“What was she afraid of?”

“Everything.”

“Oh.”

“She watched me so closely, I never even got a skinned knee growing up.” I was embarrassed to admit that, but it gave insight into just how sheltered I’d been. What normal kid didn’t get a skinned knee?

“Really?” His surprise was evident. “Hell, I broke my arm as a kid falling out of a tree.”

“I’d never have been allowed near a tree. My mom would have had a fit.”

“I see.”

I sighed. “She ingrained in me how dangerous the world was. I lived most of my life not taking chances of any kind. I never did anything that might make my asthma flare up, or that could worsen my chronic anxiety. It seemed safer to sit back and just let life quietly carry on without me. I thought I had an unspoken deal with the universe that if I didn’t tempt fate, it would leave me alone.”

“But it didn’t?”

My laugh was harsh. “No. It came at me with a vengeance.”

“What happened?” His voice was hushed.

“I almost died,” I said bitterly. “Never taking any risks didn’t protect me at all.”