Page 38 of Indebted

“Is this the program?”

Shit.

Like that.

He clicked on it.

“It’s not done yet.”

A preview of the program popped up, the main page and all the tabs.

Justin’s eyes went wide. “This is completely different than what I saw a few weeks ago.” The awe in his voice had my chest inflating.

I’d wanted it to be a surprise, but I guess this kind of was.

“It’s not done yet. My professor and I are still figuring out the best way to make it run. He thinks it has potential. If you don’t mind beta testing it for me, I can market it for clinical use, maybe even sell it.”

“Katie this looks amazing.”

His praise did something to my insides. I took a large mouthful of noodles and broth.

He started to navigate around the page, some of the connections not built to the other pages.

“I’m still working out the kinks. Shouldn’t take too much longer though.” I’d been checking my email almost every day, waiting for any word from my professor on news of his contacts.

It was fun to watch Justin play with the program, his face completely enraptured by what I’d made. He toyed around with a few more working commands and then closed it. “You’ll let me know when it’s done?”

The genuine interest in his gaze had my cheeks heating. I cut my gaze back to my soup. “Sure.”

I could feel his attention on me. His arm was pressed up against mine and it was all I could do not to melt into him. Something about having a Justin sized body pillow sounded so very inviting. But cuddling was something couples did. People who cared about each other.

And that was not me and Justin.

“You want to tell me why you suddenly tensed up?” he asked nonchalant, as he logged into a streaming service.

“No,” I stuffed my mouth with soft, warm bread.

Beside me, he sighed. “I get why you blame me, Katie, I do. I didn’t know until it was too late. I should’ve known. I should’ve—" He inhaled, and now it was my turn to study him.

“You should’ve what?”

He was quiet a moment. “Put the pieces together. When the meds started disappearing from the clinic, I thought it was local break-ins. We’d been drifting apart, and I didn’t notice until it was too late.”

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

His head whipped around to face me. “Your mother’s death, Katie.”

I nodded, slowly. The pieces not falling into place in my foggy brain. “She wrapped herself around a tree, she was under the influence. She always liked a stiff drink.”

I hadn’t even finished my sentence when Justin started to shake his head, his eyes despondent. “Katie,” his throat worked. “Your mother was under the influence of drugs—oxycodone. She got addicted…”

A strange buzzing filled my ears.

I was vaguely aware of the plastic container being plucked from my hands, something warm cupping my face, drawing me back to the two pools of azurite.

His thumb brushed along my cheek where a single tear had fallen.

“You didn’t know,” he said.