Cement Heart(78)

Interesting way to look at it.

“Do you think she feels the same way about you?”

I locked my fingers on the top of my head, letting it fall back against the couch in frustration as I stared up at the ceiling. “Who knows? Women are so damn confusing.”

“Don’t give me that. You’ve been with and around enough women to know when they’re into you and when they’re not. Be straight with me.”

“Fine.” I dropped my hands and looked straight at her. “Then yes, I think maybe she is.”

“You can’t completely shut the door on this, Viper. If you need to close it for a little while and think about it some more, that’s fine, but don’t shut it completely. Sometimes once you shut a door, you can’t open it again.”

The lightbulb flipped on and caught my attention.

“Wow.” I looked from it to her. “That went fast.”

She gave me a tight smile. “That’s what happens when you’re half an hour late for an appointment.”

“My bad.” I stood up, grabbed the water bottle off of the table, and headed for the exit door.

“Hey, Viper?” she called after me. “Wanna keep going? Maybe a whole month?”

I got to the exit door and rested my head against it without turning around. “Fine,” I agreed. “I’m getting pretty good with my left hand anyway. It’s kinda like having a new girlfriend.”



Once I got to my car, I checked my messages. To my surprise, I had one from Michelle. She never texted me first.



M: Hey, I know you said you were busy this morning, but I wanted to shoot a quick text anyway and tell you thanks for last night. It was a super shitty day, but you really turned it around when you showed up. I appreciate it.



I stared down at my phone, thinking about what Dr. Roberts had just said about the door. At that moment, I didn’t want to just fling it open, I wanted to pull it off its fucking hinges and throw it away so it could never close again.



Don’t thank me. It was a no-brainer.



M: By the way, I wanted to ask you… I looked at your hockey schedule. You guys are in town on December 12th, and there isn’t a game at all that day. Care to accompany me to my neighbor’s wedding so I don’t have to sit by myself like a loser?



Sure, but Viper still doesn’t dance.



M: I wasn’t even gonna ask. ;)



Sleeping on that couch had done my back no favors, so I decided to head to the stadium and see the trainer. After a little heat and a little ice, I figured I’d get in a quick workout while I was there, even though it was our day off. I needed something to keep my brain occupied anyway.

I was on the treadmill with my earbuds in when Brody walked by the door. He looked in but kept going, backing up when he realized it was me.

He said something but I couldn’t hear him and lip-reading was not one of my specialties. I hit the pause button and stood on the sides of the treadmill as it slowed to a stop, then plucked my buds from my ears. “What’d you say?”

“I said, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’”

“I had an appointment with the mind reader this morning. My back was all tight, so I came in to see Pete and have him work on it.” I leaned against the rail of the treadmill and crossed my arms.

Brody glanced quickly around the room, making sure no one could hear him. “How’s that going, by the way? The therapist thing?”

I shrugged. “Good, I guess. I’ve been given the all clear from her with the office, so at this point it’s my choice to keep going.”

“Nice!” He reached out and punched my bicep.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“What? I thought you liked her?”

“I do, but her… practices… are a little unconventional.”

He frowned at me. “Like what?”

It was my turn to look around the room for nosy ears. “A while back, she challenged me to abstain from sex for a week, so to humor her, I did it. Then she upped the challenge to two weeks. Again, I did it. Now, she has me going a month, and I’m sure after that, it’ll keep going.”

The corners of his mouth pointed down as he nodded his head to the side. “That’s definitely interesting, especially for you. Has it fallen off yet?”

“No, asshole,” I said sarcastically. “It hasn’t been all that bad, actually. Different, yes, but not bad.”

“Well, whatever this doctor is doing seems to be working. Tell her I said to keep it up.” He winked at me and tossed his hoodie over his shoulder as he turned for the door. “By the way,”—he stopped suddenly and spun back toward me—“at the risk of you going off on me again, what’s up with you and Michelle?”