Shortness of Breath

Chapter Twenty One

Casey - November first

"So she's completely fine," Hallie quoted as I drove us both to work.

"By my estimation, yes," I agreed. "We shouldn't be worried that she's found a clever, vindictive way to turn my words against me. That's business as usual. If she had nothing witty to say, now that would've been grounds for concern."

"I just don't want things to ruin things between us."

I took my eyes off the road to look at her like she was crazy. "Hal," I said, touching her reassuringly on the thigh. "Nothing could ever ruin things between you and me."

"Not you and me, conceited. E.J. and me."

I withdrew my hand then. "What things between you and Emerson are there to ruin?"

"We have a good relationship as it is," she informed me. "And she's such a cool kid, and she's your kid, and I just want us to be friends."

"Friends, huh?" I said bitterly, clearly not over the conceited comment. "Don't you have any friends your own age?"

"Don't you have any lovers your own age?"

"As a matter of fact I do, I had four in my closet last night and you had no idea."

"Do the secrets never end with you, Casey Kenny?"

That line resonated with me a little bit, but she didn't have any way of knowing she'd struck a nerve, so I didn't mention anything.

"It's kind of a relief, isn't it?" I said with a firm breath out to change the subject before we uncovered any of my other secrets. "Before this it was just between you and me."

"Don't forget Lila," she felt the need to point out.

What was probably a bright and lively expression on my face to begin with must have fallen thirty feet. "How could I forget?" I muttered, looking out the window.

"Are we going to--"

"No."

"No what?"

"No, we're not going to."

"You don't even know what I was going to ask."

"You were going to ask if we're going to address the fact that Lila caught us necking in a hospital corridor the other day, and the answer is no, we're going to pretend she didn't see a thing until she thinks she's crazy and one day concludes that she's imagined it all."

"Okay, first of all, get out of my head, second of all, that's a terrible plan, and third of all, did you just say necking?"

"What, does no one say that anymore either?"

"No, no, people say it all the time," she said. "What do I know? I'm not hip to the slang these days. I'm sure people still call making out necking, probably just as often as they refer to being in a relationship as going steady."

"Okay, what is wrong with going steady?"

"Nothing, if you've just joined a revival cast of Bye Bye Birdie."

"I'm kicking you out of my car at the next stop sign and letting you walk to work."

"Or if you're completely out of touch with your teenage daughter."

"And, now I'm not going to wait for the stop sign. Tuck and roll."

As it turned out, though, I was unable to keep up that promise and drove her all the way to work. We made it about thirty seconds into the hospital before we were being summoned.