AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Cancer.”
“You seem well-adjusted,” I noted, and she outright guffawed.
“If you think choosing all the wrong men to fall in love with and fearing they will leave, so you walk on eggshells around them, then yes, I’m very well-adjusted. What about you?”
I didn’t like her sarcastic answer, especially because of the rage congealing in my chest, imagining Kennedy giving in to assholes. But I responded to her question anyway. “Well, I fight with a heavy bag almost every night because sometimes it feels like the only way I can safely feel anything, so…maybe?”
She leaned her head on my shoulder, her other hand wrapping around the top of mine as if I needed comfort. I didn’t.Shedid. She was the one who basically admitted to struggling.
But she had me telling her more of my story. “I live in my head, for the most part. Great with facts and figures, not so great with letting out emotion. When my dad died, I saw what a rough time my mom was having. My eldest brother, Seamus, was pissed off all the time. Brian cried a lot, and Collin was only five, so he didn’t even fully get it. I made sure not to do anything that would require anyone to give me any extra attention. I went to school, got good grades, was never in trouble, and after a few years, it was easier for me to just keep my mouth shut about everything. Even when the neighborhood assholes started to pick on me. I never told my mother because I didn’t want to worry her, but Seamus figured out what was going on, and by then, he’d already been training for a while, so he took me into the ring.”
“That’s why you box?” She lifted her head, her face so close to mine, I could see the distinction of gold and brown in her irises. “Because of your brother?”
“He was on the amateur circuit, and it was a safe space for me to let it all out. All the things I kept inside. I learned to take it out on the bag. Plus, you know, assholes.”
“I can’t believe you were bullied.”
I lifted one shoulder. “I was an easy target.”
She huffed. “I hate them. Where are they now?”
“No idea.”
With another cute little annoyed huff, she laid her head back on my shoulder.
“Tell me more about these eggshells,” I said, my lips dragging over her hair.
“When my dad died, my mom went into a deep depression. The can’t get out of bed or shower kind of depression, and my sister pretty much became my mother for a few years until Mom pulled herself out of it. Sort of like you, I saw what was going on around me, and I didn’t want to make it any harder or upset anyone. And then I was diagnosed with epilepsy, which was kinda inconvenient for everyone. It doesn’t just affect me. It affects everyone around me because I’m a liability.”
I stayed quiet, sitting in the guilt of how I might have contributed to her feeling like she had to walk on eggshells around me and Finn.
“I don’t ever want to make anyone feel like they have to do anything special for me. I don’t want to be extra work,” she said, and I forced my jaw to unclench.
“You’re not extra work, Kennedy.”
She lifted her head, meeting my gaze. “I am, and don’t try to deny it to make me feel better. I know I pissed you off when I showed up here without a car.”
“Yeah, but?—”
“I’m a people pleaser and avoid rocking the boat so they don’t get mad when they realize I come with so many instructions.”
“Instructions?” I repeated with a reluctant chuckle.
“Yeah. I’m like new clothes that come with a tag of tiny directions.”
“Wash on cold and dry on low?”
“Exactly.” She breathed out a laugh, her breath fanning over me. “I’m high-maintenance. I know that about myself.”
Having a medical condition and requiring intervention for it wasnothigh-maintenance. It was life. And once again, I found myself curling my fingers into fists at the idea that anyone made Kennedy feel less than or unworthy. That she’d believe simply living her life the way she needed to was somehow bad.
“I hope you know you don’t have to walk on eggshells around me.” When she nodded, I told her, “And if the people in your life really love you, they won’t care about you being extra work. You’re epileptic and have a penchant for bad luck, so what?”
“So what?” She jerked upright. “So, you sat with me in the car for a day while I drove around, and you put up multiple signs around the house for what to do in case I have a seizure.”
“Yeah. So what?” Never mind that those signs could potentially save her life, and I wouldn’t care if they were turned into wallpaper and glued on every inch of the house. “What you need doesn’t affect anyone else. If they argue otherwise, you let me know who they are, and I’ll take ’em out back to teach ’em what’s what.”
“My knight in shining armor.”
