Marek: Sorry about earlier. Is everything okay?
Marek: Are you mad at me? I’m sorry I couldn’t talk earlier.
Marek: Tinley, call me. You’ve got me worried.
Serves him right for being too busy when she needed him. If she could have just gone over to his place in the first place, none of this would have happened. Now she has a busted ankle, and who knows how long she’ll be out of commission. Feeling pathetic, she quickly types out a text and doesn’t think before hitting send.
Me: I’m pretty sure I broke my ankle and I’m also pretty sure I’m never drinking with Dakota again, and it’s all your fault.
He doesn’t instantly send a reply, which sours her mood even more. Doesn’t he know that she needs him right now? What else could be going on in his life that is so much more important? Nothing, that’s what. Wallowing in her own personal pity party, she gently slides on her sweatpants, avoiding her ankle as much as possible. She whimpers out in pain but continues on. Fortunately, Dakota was smart enough to toss her slippers over, and she easily slides those on.
A couple minutes later, her best friend comes flying back to her room. “Okay, I’ve got the car warming up right now, and I pulled it around right outside the door. I’m going to help you up, and you can put all your weight on me.”
Tinley starts to get up and Dakota freezes. “Wait! You need a sweatshirt.” She runs over to Tinley’s closet and grabs one, throwing it at her face.
She pulls it on over her head and watches as her roommate wears a hole in the floor. “Dakota! Stop pacing. You’re starting to freak me out. Calm yourself down, it’s just an ankle. It’s not like I’m dying.”
She turns toward her and instantly breaks down crying. “I’m so sorry. This whole thing is my fault. If I hadn’t wanted to go out last night, we wouldn’t have gotten wasted, and you wouldn’t be broken right now.”
Tinley can’t remember much from last night, but she doesn’t think they actually talked about whatever has been bothering Dakota. And she has a feeling this breakdown is probably more about that than the fact that Tinley may or may not have a broken ankle right now. Dakota has her breakdown for several minutes before helping Tinley out to the car. Before they take off, she shoots another text to Marek to at least let him know what’s going on.
Me: I don’t want you to be worried, but my ankle is in pretty bad shape and Dakota is taking me to the hospital to get it checked out. I don’t want to bother you because you obviously have something going on, but I wanted you to know just in case.
“Are you currently pregnant?”
Dakota starts cracking up laughing, and Tinley chuckles along with her then answers, “Uh, not that I know of.”
The nurse looks from Dakota and back to Tinley. Obviously annoyed with the both of them, she asks her question differently, “Let me rephrase that: is it possible that you could be pregnant? You’re about to get an x-ray, and while it’s on your ankle, we still need to take extra precautions if you’re pregnant.”
Tinley looks over at Dakota, whose mouth is hanging wide open. She hasn’t told her roommate about Marek yet or the fact that she’s seeing anyone at all, and now is really not the time to have that conversation.
The nurse sees the reluctance on Tinley’s face and turns toward Dakota. “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to step outside for a moment.”
“But—”
“It’s okay Dakota, just do what she says.”
Dakota purses her lips but nods. “Fine. I’m going to go get some coffee for both of us then I’ll be back.” She steps out of the room and heads down the hallway.
“Sorry, my roommate doesn’t know I’m dating someone. She actually isn’t too fond of him, and that’s why I haven’t told her. I’m pretty sure I’m not pregnant, but I don’t really know what it feels like to be pregnant. I’ve been sexually active for a while now, maybe a few months or so…sorry, I don’t remember the exact date. I am on the pill though, so I can’t be pregnant, right?”
“Okay, when was the first day of your last period?”
Her mom always told her to keep track of things like that, but it never seemed important enough before. She also wasn’t sleeping with anyone, so it wasn’t a big deal if her period didn’t come every month because there was no way she could be pregnant anyway. She looks up at the nurse and shrugs her shoulders.
The nurse hands her a cup and makes her go fill it up in the bathroom. She knows she should have some sort of feeling about this, but mostly she’s just annoyed about her ankle. Hobbling to the bathroom to pee in a cup is not how she planned on spending her day—not that she really had any plans in mind, but Netflix and a cupcake sounds much better than this. With a rush order placed on the results of the test, Tinley has her answer within thirty minutes, and she doesn’t have time to process before she’s whisked off to get her x-ray.
“Sorry to break it to you, but looks like it’s broken.”
“Was that some kind of funny doctor humor with your pun there? And are you sure? Can I get a second opinion from another doctor? Maybe you’re reading the x-ray wrong.”
He looks mildly annoyed as he puts the x-ray back up on the light box thing and turns it on. Tinley doesn’t really know what she’s looking at other than seeing the outline of her leg and foot.
“Do you see that space right there?” He points to a spot near where she thinks her ankle is and nods her head. Turning back toward her, he says, “You’re not supposed to have a space there. The bone is supposed to be attached in that spot, and your bone is fractured.”
“Well shit.”
He chuckles slightly and shuts the light off. “That’s one way to put it.”
He goes on to explain how long it’s going to take to heal and the fact that she’ll be stuck in a boot for some amount of time, but she ignores everything he says. A tall man with dark hair just walked by her door, and she could have sworn it was Marek, but if he were at the hospital for some reason, wouldn’t he have told her?
Chapter 27
The frat boy corner, as Dakota and Tinley always refer to it, is surprisingly quiet today. Of course, she isn’t used to working on a Saturday, but still, there’s usually more excitement over there. Maybe their luck has run out, and they’re struggling to bring in sales like everyone else in the office. Her curiosity gets the better of her, and she hobbles off to the bathroom, which takes her right by that section of the sales floor. What completely surprises her is the fact that Marek seems to be missing from his desk.
Jonah is getting up from his computer at the same time as she passes by, no doubt for one of his many smoke breaks, and she asks, “Hey Jonah, is Marek not in today? I thought it was mandatory for everyone on the phones to work today.”
He shrugs and mumbles something under his breath about needing a smoke then continues walking past her. It’s pretty freaking rude, but still, it doesn’t change the fact that Marek didn’t come in today. He never misses work, and she still hasn’t heard from him since before she broke her foot. She’s been out all week because of her stupid injury, and today was her first day back. She had been hoping to finally see Marek and talk about everything. The silence has been gotten annoying at this point; if he doesn’t want to actually take their relationship somewhere, he needs to let her know and not do this stupid ghosting shit. What happened to him telling her he was a man and not into childish games?
She wanted to reach out so many times this week, but her pride got the better of her. He never responded to the last text she sent him before she went to the hospital and she doesn’t exactly want to talk to him anyway other than in person with the news she has. But at this point, she’s debating on whether or not she should tell him at all.
When she gets into the bathroom, she pulls her phone out of her hoodie pocket and immediately shoots off a text to him.
Me: Hey, didn’t you have to work today?
She expects radio silence yet again but is pleasantly surprised when he immediately s
tarts typing out a response. She’s almost worried what he’s going to say back to her since it’s been over a week since the last time they talked.
Marek: I’m sick and I stayed home. I should be all better by Monday though.
Me: Oh no. Do you need me to get you anything?
Marek: No. It’s just a cold. I’m actually getting ready to take a nap. I’ll talk to you later.
Me: Feel better soon. Let me know if you need anything.
So, if she did see him at the hospital last weekend when she was there, it must have been because he was sick. Now she feels absolutely horrible for thinking he was just being a jerk and avoiding her when in reality he’s been sick this whole time. He’s probably been at home completely miserable and attempting to take care of himself. What kind of a girlfriend does it make her that she’s been avoiding reaching out to him because she thought he was ignoring her? Ugh. Now look who’s playing games and sounds like a toddler. Her hormones are turning her into a crazy person or something. She mentally berates herself and makes plans to bring him a nice care package later when she gets off work, which is only in a couple of hours since they have a half-day today.
After getting off work, Tinley immediately went to the soup place she and Marek went to the day he told her he loved her. What better way to make him feel better than a gentle reminder of their love for each other? It will also distract from how much of a jerk she’s been this week. Fortunately, she just made a batch of cupcakes last night so she can grab some of those as well.
When she came flying through the front door of her apartment, her roommate was nowhere in sight, and she assumed Dakota was gone for the day. What she did not expect was to find her sitting on the couch when she came out of her bedroom after changing into a sundress. She wanted to feel pretty for once, even if she has to wear that damn boot.
“Where are you off to?”
“I have a friend who is sick, so I’m bringing h-her some cupcakes and soup.” She almost said the wrong pronoun there, and that would have been a disaster. She feels kind of gross about still lying to Dakota about everything, but Marek has a lot to lose if anyone at work finds out they’re together. He might not be her direct supervisor, but he’s still a supervisor, and that’s grounds for him to get fired.
“What friend? You don’t have any other friends.”
Shit. She didn’t really think that one through at all. Of course Dakota is going to question her when she suddenly mentions a friend. Wouldn’t she have already mentioned this person before? Way to go. “I, uh, met her during that speed-dating thing. We both laughed about how lame the thing was.”
“And now you’re close enough for you to take her soup when she’s sick? Don’t you think that’s kind of weird?”
“Why do you care? I can have more friends than just you, geez.”
The guilt hits Tinley almost immediately as she opens the front door and walks away after slamming it behind her. She didn’t mean to get so defensive, but she can’t risk Dakota finding out her secret until she and Marek figure things out. Which is why she doesn’t care how sick he is. It’s been long enough, and they have way too much to talk about. Whether or not he wants to see her, they’re going to figure everything out today. Time—that’s all she needs.
Chapter 28
The butterflies in her stomach are flapping a million miles a minute. She knows she shouldn’t be this nervous and excited, but something about Marek just sets her body on fire. Yes, the sex is mind-blowing, but it’s more than that. He gets her, and for the first time in her almost thirty years of life, she feels it—the insane connection you can’t describe, but when you have it, you know it’s meant to be. Never in a million years did she think she would be thinking about who her soul mate is, but it’s hard to deny what’s so obvious.
It might seem slightly stalkerish that she found Marek’s address with a quick internet search, but it’s not her fault that it’s really easy to cyberstalk people these days. The very first link that popped up was his address. The fact that he owns his own home means he has at least part of his life together, and that is a complete turn-on. Besides, he can’t be too mad at her when he sees the treats she brought him.
Since the sun finally decided to pop up today and warm everything up a bit, her cute sundress is perfect, and the cupcakes and soup are safely tucked away in her wicker picnic basket. She’s secretly hoping he’s not super sick and will let her stay to nurse him back to health. For half a second, she contemplated wearing Dakota’s nurse costume from last year’s Halloween, but there’s no way she would have easily left the house wearing it. Her roommate was already suspicious enough.
She pulls her car into the driveway and double-checks the address on her phone. Yep, definitely the place. It’s an adorable craftsman-style house with stone and natural wood detailing, but her absolute favorite part is the oversized porch complete with a porch swing. This is the kind of house she could imagine herself living in—with a family, of course. She instinctually places her hand on her belly and butterflies fill her stomach. Maybe she should start looking for a new job. There’s nothing really keeping her at the call center, and the pay isn’t really worth it. She could find something different, and then they wouldn’t have to hide their relationship anymore.
She eyes the porch swing again and can just imagine swinging all snuggled up with Marek on a hot summer night, sipping on lemonade. It sounds absolutely perfect. Completely set on telling Marek her plan to find a new place of employment soon, she knocks on the door. After a couple of minutes and still no answer, she’s about to knock again but the front door swings open.
A little girl with dark raven long hair and bright blue eyes stands in front of her, wearing kitty pajamas. She looks Tinley up and down and tilts her head to the side. “Who are you? You’re not my mommy.”
The girl is absolutely adorable, but if she’s the reason Marek is at home, why didn’t he just say that? It’s one thing for him to call in sick to work, but why did he tell her the same story instead of the truth?
“You’re right, sweetie, I’m not your mommy. Is your Uncle Marek home?” She doesn’t know if Marek has a younger sister or niece, but this little girl doesn’t look much older than four, maybe five. If she’s his younger sister, that’s a huge age gap, so niece is more likely.
The little girl throws her head back and starts laughing hysterically. Her giggles are loud and overly exaggerated, but Tinley can’t help but smile at happiness she’s exuding. The little girl plops herself onto the floor sitting with her legs crossed and stops laughing long enough to say, “I don’t have an Uncle Marek.”
Maybe this little girl is a neighbor or friend’s daughter? Although it seems strange that Marek would miss work to do a favor for somebody else.
Tinley crouches down so that she’s at the same level as the girl and asks, “Oh, is he—”
“My daddy’s name is Marek though, and my name is Luna. What’s your name?”
To be continued…
Continue reading Tinley & Marek’s story in
Sinking in the Shadows
Releases May 14th
Playlist
“Floral and Fading” Pierce the Veil
“My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark” Fall Out Boy
“Good Times” All Time Low
“Dirty Little Secret” The All-American Rejects
“The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage” Panic! At the Disco
“Feel Good” Neon Trees
“Good to Be Alive (Hallelujah)” Andy Grammer
“Heartbeat” Mat Kearney
“How You Love Me Now” Hey Monday
“Into the Rest (Feat. Kellin Quinn)” Avion Roe
“Stupid for You” Waterparks
“I Wanna Go Out” American Authors
“Take Me To The Top” ONE OK ROCK
“Empire to Ashes” Sleeping with Sirens
“A Beautiful Lie” Thirty Seconds to Mars
&
nbsp; Listen to the entire playlist here.
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Acknowledgments
Why are these always so hard to write? I always put off writing the acknowledgements until the very end and then I have to scramble. Procrastination at its finest ;)
As always, I have to start with a major thank to you my husband. He always puts up with my crazy when I’m working on a new book and I let stuff like house work and cooking go to the backburner.
To Aubrey. Pfft, like you didn’t know you’d end up in here. We’ve only been friends for a couple of years, but dude it feels like we’ve been together for life. Seriously though, you’re always the first person I think to talk to and you’re always there for me. One of these days I’ll convince you to move to my side of the world.
To Megan. Dude! You completely nailed it on the cover. You were patient while I was indecisive and wishy washy. You didn’t even bat an eyelash when I had you change things five hundred million times. I owe you all the pizza and coffee. ;)
To Caitlin and Ellie. You two are my dream team and I am so glad I found you both! I can’t imagine letting anyone else work on my books from here on out.
To the Minxes. You ladies rock! Seriously I found my tribe with all of you and I can’t imagine trying to find my way through this book world without all of you. You put up with me every day and I am forever grateful.
Dating in the Dark (Dating Trilogy Book 1) Page 13