Nightmares from Within Read Free Page B

was watching you and the hottie. You shook his hand then turned white as a damn ghost before you booked it in here. Are you all right? What happened?”
    I needed to come up with something fast. It couldn’t be anything catching that would risk me being sent home before my shift ended, so I went with the first thing that popped in my head. “Low blood sugar, I think.” It was a lame excuse, but when I chanced a look at Cassie’s face, I could see she’d bought it. “I went for a run this morning and came to work without eating breakfast. I guess my body just bottomed out on me.”
    She reached up and began to pat my back soothingly. I tried to mask the instinctive flinch I felt anytime someone touched me with a shiver and I must have been successful because she didn’t remove her hand right away. “I have an unopened toothbrush in my purse. You want me to go get it?” Her kindness was almost too much on my frayed nerves, but I had to get the taste out of my mouth before it caused me to puke again.
    “That would be great. Thank you.”
    She smiled brightly. “Sure thing. Hang tight and I’ll be right back.”
    Once I was alone in the bathroom, I looked in the mirror and studied my reflection. I felt as if the woman I was looking at was a total stranger to me. If you looked past the tired eyes you’d see a woman that most people would consider to be pretty. Light brown eyes, that from a distance, looked almost copper and hair that fell in waves down the length of my back almost to my waist. I only stood at 5’3, but years of yoga and running kept my muscles long and lean. Combined with the generous curves I had thanks to my father’s family, I had a pretty decent figure.
    But I already knew from experience that appearances didn’t stand for anything. For all the pretty on the outside I was a dark and ugly mess on the inside. For every person that asked ‘how is that young girl single?’ I’d think to myself ‘who in their right mind would want to deal with all my crazy?’
    I was a giant ball of neuroses wrapped in a pretty little package.
    “Here you go. Oral B, the brand most dentists use.”
    I looked up at Cassie and gave her a small smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes. “Thank you for this,” I replied softly, pointing at the toothbrush.
    “No problem. I haven’t been here long and you’ve always been nice to me, so I wanted to do something nice for you in return.” The sincerity in her voice caused a crack in my protective armor. She knew there was something strange about me, everyone I spent more than a few minutes with knew, but that didn’t seem to matter to her. That caused my smile to become more genuine and I felt myself warming up to her.
    Cassie returned my smile and flashed her pearly whites.
    She leaned against the sink next to me as I brushed my teeth, and strangely, it didn’t feel uncomfortable having her around me. I knew she stayed for no other reason than to make sure I was okay. Because of that alone, I couldn’t have stopped my growing respect for her even if I wanted to. “You okay to go back out there?” she asked once I’d finished and was wiping my mouth. I thought about the man at table seven and cringed.
    Daniel.
    “Is he still out there?” There was no way of masking the quiver in my voice. Something about him opened up memories I didn’t want to remember.
    “Yeah. But I can get one of the other girls to take that table if you want. Or I can even ask him to leave if you’re not comfortable with him being here.”
    The thought of interacting with him again wasn’t exactly at the top of my list, but my gut told me that this man had answers to questions I’d carried with me most of my life. I needed answers.
    “It’s okay, Cassie. I’ll be out in just a minute.”

“Everything okay?” Daniel asked once I was standing in front of his table again. The level of concern shining in his bright blue eyes wasn’t something you’d expect from a person you