Just a Little Reminder Read Online Free PDF Page B

“And I thought I had problems.”
     

Chapter Four
    Wednesday, June 05
    “Whoa, Jules,” Luke said, nearly tripping over his feet as he stumbled around Bruno’s desk. “What the hell happened to you?”
    I combed my bangs downward, hoping they’d magically grow a few inches longer to cover the darkening bruise around my left eye.
    Falling through the floor had sucked, sure, and I could’ve lived without the black eye. But my problems were nothing compared to the ones Charlie had to face in the upcoming days, and I felt terrible that everything had literally come crashing down without a moment’s notice.
    Luckily for my uncle, he knew a few guys who were willing to come out after hours and take a look at the damage upstairs. But those guys knew some other guys, and those were the ones who had given us the worst news of all.
    And even though it had only been a few hours since the ceiling collapsed and then tumbled down on top of me, my left eye had only gotten larger, and the blackness seemed to spread a little more as time went on.
    Between my poking-slapping-shoving match with Kara and The Great Ceiling Collapse of Three Hours Ago, I was nothing more than a giant, walking bruise.
    “Jules?” Luke said, resting both of his hands on my shoulders. He knelt lower to meet my gaze, and his eyes traced the swelling just above my left cheek.
    “I fell,” I said, looking up.
    “You fell?”
    “Yes,” I said, and I forced a smile to ease the tension. “Crash, ker-plunk.”
    Luke stood taller and tilted his head. I wasn’t sure if he believed me or not, but as he crossed his arms at his chest and raised one hand to his mouth, I sensed he was trying to read my mind. 
    “I went up to the attic, the floor gave out, and I fell. All the way down to the second floor. Landed on my face.”
    Bruno snickered, and Luke shot an unimpressed glare in his direction.
    “You fell through the attic floor?” Luke asked, turning back to me.
    “Yep,” I said, clapping my hands together to make a splatter. 
    Bruno chuckled again, but he didn’t get a reaction from Luke this time. He simply kept his head low, listened to our conversation, and chewed at the corner of his meatball sub, never once looking over in our direction.
    “Jules,” Luke said under his breath, and he moved my hair to the side to examine my eye. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
    “Just a few cuts and bruises,” I said, examining my arms. I managed a half-smile for his benefit; I didn’t need him thinking that I’d nearly died or anything. “I’ll survive. I promise.”
    And I was confident in that much.
    After everything I’d been through in the past year and a half, after everything that had just happened back in Piqua… I didn’t see how I had any choice but to keep surviving. I’d lived through so much and escaped so many uncertainties. I’d felt like my number had come up more than once, and yet I still managed to walk away with nothing but a few bad memories, nightmares, and scars.
    I mean… things could’ve been so much worse.
    If I’d been home the night Conan had killed my parents….
    If Luke hadn’t showed up the night Hannah had gone off the deep end….
    If Derek hadn’t pulled the trigger….
    “Is there anything I can do for you, kid?”
    “Yes,” I said matter-of-factly.
    “Okay?”
    “I know you’re busy,” I said, gnawing on my bottom lip, though I wasn’t sure he was really all that busy. After all, he wasn’t even on duty. What kind of ‘busy’ person goes to work on their off hours just to hang out? “And I know this isn’t the best time, but… I do need your help. I’m kind of in a rut.”
    Luke nodded.
    “Name it,” he said. “I’ll do whatever I can.”
    “I need a place to stay.”
    “ Yes! ” Bruno hissed, seeming as though he’d finally heard something he could get interested in. He dropped his sandwich with a thud and turned his seat around. He threw his hands back behind his head, kicked his