Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
I stopped talking, because I really didn’t want to start crying with an audience. In the next instant, Embry grabbed me in a fierce hug, which was startling. I didn’t know what to do, so I held up my hands like someone had a gun on me. “Want to go up to the attic right now and bring some stuff down? I’ll help you,” he said. “It won’t be the same as before, but you don’t have to live in a museum. Not if you don’t want to.”
“Thanks, but I’m not ready to face it.”
“Okay. If you change your mind, let me know.”
When he let go of me, I covered my embarrassment by busying myself with the wine. As I pulled another decanter out of the cabinet, Embry asked, “Can I help?”
“Sure. If you want to take those glasses to your friends, I’ll follow with the wine.”
He began to gather the wine glasses into the crook of his arm. I was about to offer him a tray when one fell onto the floor and shattered. He muttered, “Oops,” and tried to shift the remaining glasses, but he lost control of them and they fell with a huge crash. He looked completely distraught as he exclaimed, “I’m so sorry! I’ll clean it up.”
“No, don’t—”
Before I could stop him, he tried to pick up a shard of glass and gasped in pain as he cut his finger. When he clutched it to his chest, a blood stain appeared on his pink sweater.
I grabbed a clean dishtowel and said, “Give me your hand.” It was shaking as he held it out, and I quickly wrapped the towel around it to slow the bleeding.
His big, blue eyes were filling with tears. “I’m so sorry,” he said again. “I always screw everything up.”
“Don’t worry about it. I need to see how bad your injury is, but first we need to get away from all this broken glass and rinse off the blood. Is it okay if I pick you up?” He was wearing fabric slip-on shoes with thin soles, and the last thing I wanted was for him to step on a shard and cut himself again.
When he nodded, I scooped him into my arms. He was surprisingly light. His friends had rushed over and were all talking at once, but I hurried past them and carried Embry down the hall to the guest bathroom.
I sat him down on the vanity, and while he held his hand under running water, I found the first aid kit in one of the drawers. Yolanda had followed us, and she told me, “I’m a nurse. Does it look like a deep cut?”
“I’m not sure yet. Is someone watching the dog to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself on the broken glass?”
“Yeah, Hal picked him up when he ran inside.” She shut off the water and examined the cut before wrapping the towel around it again. “I don’t think it’ll need stitches. Let’s see what’s in that first aid kit.” I handed it over, and as she fished out some supplies, she glanced at me and said, “You’re pretty good in a crisis.”
“I spent a lot of years working in kitchens. There were plenty of minor medical emergencies—knife cuts, burns, you name it.”
As Yolanda bandaged up his index finger, Embry told me, “I guess I should have mentioned this up front.”
“Mentioned what?”
“That I’m a total klutz. I should come with a warning label. If you don’t want to do this now because you don’t want me to wreck more of your stuff, I understand. And I’ll pay you back for the glasses, I promise. It might take me a little time because they looked expensive, but—”
“You don’t have to pay me back.”
“They were really nice, though.”
“They don’t matter.”
“They don’t?”
“They were just stuff. You’re what matters, and I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt.”
He offered me a sad little smile as Yolanda finished wrapping some first aid tape around his finger. Then she said, as she washed her hands, “Try to keep that dry, Embry. I’ll check it and rebandage it for you in the morning.”
“Thanks, Yo.”
She told us, “I’ll give you two a minute,” before leaving the bathroom.
I leaned against the wall and said, “Those people are more than your friends. They’re your family.”
Embry nodded. “You’re right, they are.”
“So, why would you want to move away from them?”
“I’m not really moving away. I’m keeping my room in the Pink Victorian, and I’ll be back there in a year. But if I did move out at some point they’d still be my family, even if we weren’t living under the same roof.”
“I think moving in here and away from them might make you sad, though.”
“Maybe a little, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said. “I’ve always been broke. Like, broke broke. It’s hard to keep a job longer than a few days or weeks because I’m so clumsy. But with this money, I could start my own business.”