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Chapter 80: For as long as I lived
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Keeping Score Chapter 81: Move on
LEO"Don't you think you've had enough?" Eli Tucker, one-time star receiver for Gatbury High's football team, a guy I'd once loved to watch play the game, looked up at me from his wheelchair. In his eyes, I saw compassion, sympathy and understanding.I fucking hated that. "No, as a matter of fact, I don't." I slammed back the rest of my boilermaker and signaled to the bartender. "And I'm pretty sure I just met you yesterday, dude. Which means you're not even a little qualified to tell me what to do.""I've known you for two years. Does that give me the right to say you need to slow down?" Standing next to the wheelchair, one hand resting on its back, Zelda cocked her head at me. Her blonde hair was twisted up, exposing the slim column of her neck, and I thought distractedly that this chick was extremely fuckable. Maybe she'd be just what I needed to take my mind off my problems. Maybe she could do what this booze wasn't and make me forget Quinn. I was about to open my mouth to
Keeping Score Chapter 82: Past prerogative
LEO"Excuse me. Aren't you Leo Taylor?"I gritted my teeth and just barely kept from rolling my eyes. I wanted to turn to the blonde standing just behind my bar stool and tell her to leave me the fuck alone, but I knew that wouldn't fly with the PR suits at the Richmond Rebels, the team that had drafted me with their number three pick back in April.So instead, I stretched my lips into a parody of a smile and nodded, shifting a little so I could face the chick who was checking me out. "Yes, I am." I stuck out a hand. "Nice to meet you."She laughed and shook her head, ignoring my hand. "You don't remember me. Well, it's been a long time. I'm Dana Jenkins. Sarah's little sister?"It took me a minute before I placed her. The mischievous brown eyes, the pert, upturned nose-she'd been the annoying little kid who'd tried to spy on Sarah and me when we'd dated in junior high and then again in high school. "Holy shit." I stood up and wrapped her in a hug. "I haven't seen you in-well,
Keeping Score Chapter 83: Trapped
QUINN"...and then this set, he takes an hour after lunch. I wrote 1 PM on the box, but you need to make sure if he eats a little later or earlier, he gets the pills exactly one hour later. If it's any earlier, they can cause stomach upset, but if it's any later, it can interfere with his later meds." Sheri shook the plastic medicine box. "Quinn, did you understand that? Do you hear me?"I jerked my attention back to Nate's mom, who was frowning at me across the coffee table. In front of her lay the tray of medicines, organized into smaller containers, each labeled with a day of the week, and next to that was a manila folder full of notes about the prescriptions as well as other aspects of Nate's care. "Yes." I struggled to keep my eyes open and my voice clear. "One PM. After lunch. The blue box. Got it.""No, not the blue box. The clear box. The blue box is for before breakfast. Remember? B stands for before breakfast." Sheri was frustrated, and she wasn't trying to hide it in he
Keeping Score Chapter 84: Escape
QUINNThe silence in my car was absolutely blissful. I drove slowly down the side roads of my hometown, smiling as I saw the red, white and blue bunting on some of the houses. Eatonboro had the best Fourth of July parade, and I'd missed it the last three years. It made me sad; the last time I'd sat curbside watching the floats, the antique cars and the endless local marching bands, it had been mere weeks after my father had died. I'd been with Leo and Nate that day, I recalled. Leo had carried two lawn chairs from my house to the edge of the parade route, five blocks away. After he'd set them up, Nate had taken one, and Leo and I shared the other, with me nestled between his muscled thighs. Leo's arms had been wrapped around me as I'd leaned back against his chest, feeling safe and protected-and just so right. With a sigh, I forced myself to pay attention to where I was going. There was a grocery store only about five minutes from Nate's house, and I was pretty sure I could get ever
Keeping Score Chapter 85: Not who I needed to see
QUINNI'd just rounded the corner of the canned vegetables aisle when Leo caught up with me. "Quinn. Wait a minute. Hold on."I paused without turning around. "What do you want, Leo?" I was so stiff that I felt like I might crumble."Hey." He gripped my shoulder, urging me to face him. I might have been gratified by his touch, but it occurred to me that this was the same hand that had been on Sarah's skin moments before. I shrugged him off and took a few steps backward, away from him.He scowled, withdrawing his hand and rubbing it over his jaw. "You look like hell, Mia."All the mad that I'd been harboring, the anger I'd just been pondering on my way to the store, bubbled to the surface. I no longer cared who had caused it-Sheri, Nate, Leo or even myself. No, I just let it go."Yeah? Hmm, I wonder why that could be? Maybe because I'm not sleeping. Maybe because I'm camped in someone's living room, trying to figure out what I'm doing and how the fuck I ended up there. Maybe becau
Keeping Score Chapter 86: Making it work
NATE"Did I ever tell you the story of our first Christmas together, after your mom and I were married?" I frowned as my dad sat down at the other end of the sofa. We'd finished our makeshift Fourth of July picnic about half an hour before, and he'd been in the kitchen, helping my mom, Quinn and Carrie clean up. The red checkered picnic cloth was still spread over the coffee table; the idea of making my way outside to the backyard exhausted me, and no way in hell was I going to give in to my dad's suggestion that he carry me there. I might have been dying by degrees, but I could still do my best not to look like a cripple in my wife's eyes. Yeah, I knew it was stupid and pigheaded of me. But since I was dying at the age of twenty-two, I figured I was owed a little latitude. My father's opening line was random, but he was shrewd and more often than not, came around to his topic by the backdoor, as my mom liked to say. So I decided to see where he was going with this."I don't th
Keeping Score Chapter 87: Luckiest guy in the world
NATE"Wake up, lazy bones." My eyes were heavy, but I forced them open, my lips curving into a smile at the same time. There was no way I could be grumpy when the sweetest girl in the world was rousing me. "What time is it?" Old habits die hard. Schedules didn't mean anything to me anymore, not when there was nowhere I had to be, but still, I felt that letting go of the idea of time was relinquishing one more hold on life. "Nine-thirty. Why, do you have a hot date?" Quinn's voice was teasing, making me glad, and I reached out to catch hold of her hand where it rested next to my leg as she perched on the side of the bed."The hottest around." I lifted her fingers to my lips and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. "Did you sleep well?""I did, thanks. And it seems like you did, too." She scanned my face carefully, and I knew she was watching for any tell-tale signs that I was in pain. "Yeah. Since Dr. Randall adjusted that medicine, I've been getting better sleep. Only problem i
Keeping Score Chapter 88: Visitors
NATEI sighed now, remembering. These weeks since we'd moved down here had been incredible, and I was grateful that my dad had suggested it. For the first time since I'd proposed to Quinn, the guilt I'd been harboring over doing it had eased a little. Her happiness was all I needed, I realized, and now that I could have her with me and make her smile, that was everything. "Breakfast is served." She came around the corner of the kitchen doorway, carrying the tray. "All your favorites. Cinnamon toast, one egg over easy and crispy bacon.""Wow. It's like the best day ever." I reached for a piece of toast. "Under other circumstances, I'd ask you if I'm dying or something, but we both know the answer to that.""Nice, Nate." She exhaled as though in annoyance, but I could tell it was more bluff than anything else. "Just enjoy your food, and then maybe-"She was interrupted by a loud knock at the front door, and she jumped up, smiling big. "That might be your surprise. Be right back."
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