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“Look, I’m sorry I pushed, but Amelia said—”
“This is not helping my stomach,” I whispered, starting to shake. “It’sstressand fear, and you are stressing me out and making me afraid that you won’t leave when I ask you to.”
“Good job, asshole,” Jesse or Jared growled as he came storming over and shoved his brother. “Yeah, you handle it because all of us crowding her is too much. And you upset her to the point she’sshakingwhile begging you to leave.
“We drove several states to take this job to help her and you get us booted. Go cool your head.” He got Jackson out the door and closed it, leaning against it and sighing.
“Thank you,” I muttered, not sure how he was still staying, but at least it ended the situation with Jackson. “I don’t know which one you are, sorry.”
“It’s okay, we’re identical. If we really wanted people to know, we’d do our hair differently,” he said, clearing his throat when I didn’t say anything. “We’re thinking of making a boy band.”
I smiled. The idea was so silly it cut through the tension. “Like The Fabulous Baker Boys?”
“Hey, I like the sound of that! Nice one.”
I burst out into giggles. “It’s a movie from the eighties. I’ve never seen it, but I’ve heard of it.”
“That’s funny. That’s really funny, kitten.”
I frowned. “No more nicknames.”
“But you’re such a kitten,” he murmured. “You’re hiding under that hood, but you just beat Jackson down with those claws you got digging in with the truth. You’re a scrappy scratching kitten.”
I shrugged and went to move around him, but he followed. I bit back a sigh, knowing the situation wasn’t really over.
“Can I say one thing which is the only thing heshouldhave said?”
“You will anyways,” I grumbled as I sat back down. “I’m just a wittle kitten, so everyone does.”
“Nope, not gonna then. If you say no, no means no. Do you want to talk about water heaters then?”
“We can, but it will all be Greek to me,” I hedged, glancing up at him then. “Which one are you?”
“Jesse.”
“Thank you, Jesse.”
He smiled. “No problem, kitten. We might all be triplets, but I’m the middle child and I get not being heard.” He gave me a wink. “I’m still calling you kitten though.”
I nodded, studying him a few moments. He really wasn’t going to push the topic. “Okay, what were you going to say?”
“That if you have stomach problems, those protein shakes are not helping,” he said gently. “They’re hurting you. Dairy is bad to have then.”
I couldn’t even hide my shock on that. “But they’ve got soy in them, and they don’t have to be in the fridge like dairy.”
“Right, but soy isn’t easy to digest either. Whey comes from milk which is the protein in there. You’d be better off with a couple of scrambled eggs and a multivitamin.” He gave me a few moments to sit with that. “Can I show you tomorrow? I can show you how to beat a couple eggs in a coffee mug and zap it.”
“Um, okay, yeah. Thanks. I really can’t cook though.”
He nodded. “There are ways to make it seriously idiotproof because even I can do it.”
“Like?” I asked, wondering what he thought counted as idiotproof.
He shrugged. “We have a rice cooker. You put in some rice, add water, and hit the button. It has a steam tray, and I put in a piece of defrosted salmon, spread on some seasoning, and it comes out perfect with rice. You could do that but small portions if you want to stay at twelve hundred calories.”
“I’d try that,” I admitted, sighing as I fidgeted with the hood. “I’m not anorexic. I can’t cook, and I started with the protein shakes because I forget to eat. I get all caught up in work and I forget. And it hurts to eat when my stomach is upset.”
“I believe you. It’s hard to balance it all.”
