Page 72 of Exchange of Heart

Neither of us moved from our seats, and I reflected on our conversation at the dinner table. How long had my mother been thinking I should leave my job? And Corey, what else did he think about my job? My life? No one seemed to think I was doing the right thing at the right place, and now nothing about me was right and I couldn’t even fix it if I wanted to.

‘Do you really think I should leave my job once I get my body back?’ my voice rushed out like a bewildered cyclone destroying the calm.

Corey shrugged with his typical careless approach to life. ‘I think you should do whatever feels right for you.’

How could anything feel right when I was all wrong? My arms were wrong, my legs were wrong, even my mind was wrong, and, annoyingly, I couldn’t stop thinking about Corey. I thought about him during the day when we went to work, wondered how he slept, how he was coping with everything. And not just because I cared about my job, but because he’d suffered enough in a job he didn’t seem to want. Now he had to suffer through another job he didn’t want, and, even worse, one he probably considered worse than his own.

‘Corey?’ I turned to him, the stomach-crushing combination of peppermint and lemon weaving between us like threads stitching us together. My heart pounded; my mind turned to mush.

‘You look like you need some water. Come on, Paddy’s probably watching us from his window.’ Corey grabbed the bottle of red wine we’d bought down the road and climbed out, leaving me with a confusing mixture of emotions.

We needed to switch back, and soon. The more time I spent with Corey, the more I realised he wasn’t the person I’d imagined him to be. I’d already found myself caring for him more than I could handle.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Corey

My fist pounded Paddy’s white apartment door which echoed like regular knocks without my strength.

‘Geez. You can’t knock politely?’ Nora muttered.

‘Viagra delivery,’ I yelled, then slapped my hand to my mouth when my feminine voice shocked me back to reality.

Nora’s eyes widened, and her mouth parted. ‘What the hell?’ She gasped.

‘I forgot, it’s a habit,’ I said.

Paddy opened the door with a grin so wide you’d think he’d heard there was a yacht delivery for him. ‘Did Corey make you say that?’

Nora glanced at me, and we let out an off-pitch laugh, relieved Paddy created his own explanation.

‘I’m Paddy.’ He wiped his hands against his jeans and offered his outstretched hand to me.

‘Nora.’ I shook his hand and gave a small smile.

‘Come on in.’ He closed the door behind us and gestured for us to follow him to the couch.

I shoved Nora aside so I could nestle into the ass groove of my regular spot on the brown three-seater, then patted the section next to me for her to sit.

‘Ha, that’s where Corey usually sits,’ Paddy noticed.

Shit.

‘What can I say, she’s got good taste,’ Nora laughed with a manic gleam in my grey eyes and handed Paddy the wine bottle.

He placed the wine on the coffee table and opened the waiting bag of chips. ‘How’d you guys meet?’

‘Nora here is basically the top of our finance class,’ Nora grinned.

‘Class? You mean, you’ve seen her every week this year and not said anything to me?’

‘Didn’t see the point. I didn’t think a beauty like her would go for a brute like me.’ Nora nudged my shoulder.

‘Ha! No wonder you never wanted to miss class. Well, except our birthday.’

Nora temporarily lost focus and raised a suspicious eyebrow at me. ‘Our birthday?’ she asked.

I cleared my throat to remind her she currently had curly hair and a penis, but Paddy’s eyes gleamed in delight and spoke first.