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I glance at Reece before quickly looking away. “They don’t accept insurance but they do accept sponsorships. So when you call, make sure you tell them my name and they’ll—”
“Lex.” Using his arm around my shoulders, Reece rotates me his way. “Itake care of my family.”
I push mute.
“It’s just like with the boutique, rook. My name will get her through the door, then the rest is up to you,” I lie. Kordin’s never audited my medical expenses before and I don’t see why he’d start, so as long as Charlie uses the same doctor I do, any bills I receive will be paid in full. I just have to speak to the billing department before her brother does.
The moment Reece nods, I unmute the phone, asking, “How does that sound, Charlie?”
“Okay. Yeah. We can try. Thank you. You’re literally a lifesaver.”
Water coats my vision as I whisper, “It’s nothing.”
Most things I do for my mom she doesn’t even realize. But this, doing something for someone else, someone I don’t owe anything to, it feels…good. Nice. Ilikeit.
I may not be a Lotus, but maybe my core isn’t as polluted as I’ve always believed.
Gwen calls her son’s name, so I hit the speaker button again and blindly give the phone back to him.
“Can I expect you two for dinner tonight?” she asks.
“No. We’re going to the movies.”
We are? He didn’t tell me that.
When he ends the call a few minutes later, his eyebrows are puckered.
“My sister’s broken.”
“She’s not broken,” I argue, feeling irrationally protective over Charlie. “Her body’s out of balance right now. Lots of women go through hormone imbalances. Once the root of the problem is determined, she can get proper treatment.”
“So you’ll give a stranger more compassion than you’ll give yourself?”
“It’s not…” I stop to thoroughly consider my response—the one I gave about Charlie—then Reece’s. He was baiting me, trying to prove a point. While I understand where he’s trying to come from, he’ll never fully grasp where I actually do come from.
“I told you my tattoo isn’t just about my thyroid.” I got it before I even knew about my Graves’ disease.
“And if I said she shot someone to save my mom…would you let me call her broken?”
“She…” My chest rising and falling rapidly, I shake my head.No, I wouldn’t.
Gripping my chin and looking between my eyes, Reece says, “Charlie’s not broken and neither are you. You’re fucking perfect.” He seals his lips to mine before pulling back an inch, whispering over them, “For me.”
But Charlie didn’t shoot her mom in the fucking head. Charlie didn’t rob her mom of a normal life. That’s what Reece is missing. That’s what Reece will never wholly comprehend.
“I don’t know how,” I confess quietly.
“How to what?”
“How to…” Love myself. Forgive myself. Give myself an ounce of fucking grace.
“I’ll teach you,” Reece says.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“I don’t need to. Whatever you don’t know, I’ll teach you.”
“And if you don’t know it?”
