Eliona's War 1: Hesitant Healer

Chapter 59

Why did he even bother coming to work?

A knot formed in his throat and his eyes began to sting.

"No," he whispered. "No, not now. Stop it."

He wiped furiously at his eyes, and flushed the toilet. Now was not the time to break down. Jake was probably wondering where he went.

At the sink, he peered at his reflection in the mirror. It wasn't pretty. He looked pale as death, his eyes rimmed red. His normally round face looked a little hollow, like he'd starved himself for a week. He lowered his eyes, and turned on the tap.

Splashing cold water onto his face at the sink seemed to help settle things down, and after a few minutes, he felt composed enough to leave the sanctuary of the bathroom.

Tripp caught him at the kitchen doors. The small man looked concerned, his dark eyes carefully taking in Seth's face. Seth fidgeted beneath the stare, unable to bring himself to meet his boss's gaze.

"Hey kid," Tripp said softly, so that any nearby customers wouldn't overhear their conversation. "Is everything alright?"

Seth shrugged, eyeing a small section of peeling paint on the wall just beside the kitchen door. "Sure."

"You've been a bit off this morning," Tripp pressed. "Did something happen?"

Seth's mind blanked. Any excuse he could have spit out vanished before it even came, and he was left standing mutely. Noise filled his head. He felt faint.

But he shook his head anyway. Why couldn't Tripp just let him go back to work? That's all he wanted. Just let him go back to work and pretend everything was fine.

Tripp watched him carefully. "Are you sure?"

Seth immediately nodded.

How could he even explain what was wrong? It wasn't like Tripp would care. He was a good boss, sure, but still not much more than a stranger. Besides, the last thing he wanted was to let his boss see how pathetic and useless he really was.

Bells chimed over the door. Tripp looked past Seth to see who had just entered the diner. Seth remained quiet. He had his back to the door, and didn't really feel like turning to greet a new customer. Being friendly and smiling was beyond him right now.

He hoped that Tripp would decide to leave him alone and go deal with the customer.

"So this is the place, huh?"

Her voice slammed into Seth like an ice-pick to the brain. He froze, eyes wide, his entire world skittering to stop.

"Looks like a dump." Disdain dripped from each word, like she'd just stepped into a den of vile rats. Severance tensed, every muscle in his back tightening. Shame filled him at her words, even though he hadn't been the one to say them.

Nothing showed on Tripp's face. He appeared as composed as always. "Can I help you, miss?"

Heels clopped against tiles, drawing closer, before she spoke in an airy voice. "Oh, I don't think so. I didn't come here to be helped. I came to see my baby brother."

Tripp's gaze went to Seth, who hadn't moved or made a sound for the past minute. A trace of concern creased the small man's brow. "Seth?"

In response, Seth briefly closed his eyes. His hands curled fists, his chest heaving once as he took in a shaky breath. Then he stiffly turned around.

She looked exactly as he remembered—tall and slim and oozing arrogance from every pore. They shared the same brown hair and blue-gray eyes, but while he looked plain and ordinary, she succeeded at looking like a glamorous model. She'd streaked her waist length hair with strawberry blond, and today it was styled in loose curls. Dark eyeliner and false eyelashes made her eyes appear lighter than they were, and he couldn't remember a day where she hadn't appeared without painted red lips.