In Her Way by Eryn Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

worse).
    "Don't worry. After this all settles down, we won't be working as many hours. I promise." Em has me worried that I'm coming off super controlling, so I give them my best boss smile and act as go-with-the-flow as I can. They tell me it's no problem at all before getting to work on the rest of our supplies in the back.
    Kaylee shows up last, but still a few minutes before the nine o'clock starting time we gave her. Her light brown hair is braided up and around her head like freaking Heidi. She appears to have no make up on again, yet glows as if baby dolphins spritzed water on her face when she floated out of bed this morning.
    But that's nothing compared to the next thing that catches my eye. She's using crutches.
    Em and I rush forward from our different ends of the office. "Kaylee, what happened?" Our words shoot out at the same time.
    She laughs. "Oh, I just hurt my back moving furniture and boxes around in my new apartment." She waves her hand at us, sending her millions of bracelets jingling down her wrist, and starts walking forward like a giant robotic contraption.
    I press my lips together and try to keep the controlling part of me from telling her that crutches are usually meant for leg injuries, not back injuries, as she hobbles past us and sits down with a big sigh.
    "Can we help you with anything?" Em asks.
    Kaylee smiles and presses her hands to her lower back, closing her eyes and grimacing. "No, no. Don't worry yourselves about me. I've got these puppies." She points to her crutches and turns to start her computer.
    We shrug our shoulders at each other. Em heads off to her desk while I go into the back to help the other girls. After finishing inventory, we orient ourselves with all of the features of our computer software (only getting red-faced-frustrated three times, which is pretty good if you ask me) and are more than ready for lunch when noon rolls around.
    I wipe my forehead as I walk up to the front desk, but my hand doesn't drop down by my side, because what I see has it plastered to my face. I watch what I can only guess has been happening all morning. The wheels of Kaylee's office chair squeak as she rolls herself around the horseshoe-shaped front desk, moving between her computer and the file cabinet. But it's the way she's moving that has my mouth gaping open. The crutches have become ski-pole-esque and she's using them to crawl across the carpet like a crazy preying mantis crab creature, pulling herself and the chair behind.
    The ridiculousness of it all is only slightly outdone by the fact that the mere motion of pulling herself around with the crutches is probably putting a ton of pressure on her back muscles. Kaylee looks up and sees me standing there.
    "Hey!"
    The smile I plaster on my face in response is the fake-est damn thing that's ever touched my skin. I feel slightly mean-girl-from-high-school-ish, but I can't help it. I have to put something there instead of the this-is-ridiculous face that wants to take over.
    "Ha -- hey." I keep smiling and point to the door. "I'm gonna get something for lunch. Want anything?"
    Kaylee shakes her head and rolls herself unnecessarily over to the counter where she picks up a paper bag. "Brought my own today." She scrunches her forehead. "Wait, do we have a toaster here? I brought bread."
    I tip my head to the side. I love bread as much as the next gluten-slut, but just toast for lunch seems odd. I nod. "Yeah, Em brought one in this weekend with the microwave."
    She giggles and claps her hands together while my face pulls tight. "Okay. See you in a bit then." I turn, holding onto my composure by a single strand of floss.
    I end up in front of Em's desk.
    "Please tell me we're going to get something to eat. From the noises my stomach has been making, you'd think I’ve trapped a live Gremlin in there." She pats her mostly-flat-but-she-thinks-it's-too-big belly.
    I try to nod. I try to act normal. But I just performed basically a miracle by not