“Is Kiesha okay?” he asked sharply.
Despite what the entire population of Wishingbone thought, Reuben did care. It’s just that he only cared because she did. There was a hierarchy in Reuben’s brain when it came to other people.
There was her.
There was everyone she cared about.
Then there was the rest of the world.
She came first. And he forced himself to care about people that were important to her because he wanted her happy.
The rest of the world could rot. It wasn’t healthy for him. For her either, probably. However, that sort of love was something she’d needed. Maybe she still did. Maybe she’d never have a relationship, not because she was a freak. But because nobody would love her the way he did.
Was that weird? Yep, it was weird. It was just that they’d both had very shitty upbringings that had brought them to this point.
“You need a girlfriend,” she blurted out.
His eyebrows rose. “I do?”
“Yeah. You do. Do you even date? You never mention it. You’ve got to, though, right? You’ve probably got needs.”
Dear Lord.
“I can’t believe you just said that.”
“Yeah, me neither. Think I might have thrown up in my mouth a little,” she told him.
They both grimaced.
“Last thing I need right now is a woman in my life.”
“A man then.”
He glared at her. “Or a man. We’re talking about you.”
She sighed. It was always about her. “Why don’t you ever tell me about what’s happening in your life?”
“Mini, tell me everything that happened today.”
Shoot. She winced. “You know about my job.”
“I do. I’m going to do something very nasty to that dickhead boss of yours.”
“Reuben, don’t.”
“How dare he fire you. He’ll regret that.”
“Reuben, you can’t. And he didn’t fire me.”
“He’s soon going to find himself demoted down to toilet scrubber and that might not be far enough.”
“Reuben, I hated that job.”
“What?”
“I hated it.”
“You did? Why did you never say something? Did someone say something? Do something?”