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"These," he handed her the ss, "are your pain killers This," he shook the other bag, "is lunch"

"Ooh, whatcha get?" She reached for the bag, and he handed it to her "I a out the container "I forgot to give you money for my medicine, and I’ll need to pay you for this too, as well as your gas and ti the chair by her dresser closer to the bed and sat down "Your insurance covered most of it, and I told you I’as either As for onna let you payat the label on the container "Grilled chicken salad, no toht thousand"

She looked up at hihtly open, and he knehat she was thinking, so he cleared his throat "I also got you a turkey sub and sory for noring his co out the Coke Zero fro and his iced tea He handed her the soda "Did I get it right?" he asked as if he didn’t already know he’d been spot on

The s toat her, so he reached for the bag she’d set aside "I got a tunato feel like a real sap now He hadn’t even noticed the lady place the order on the container the way he very specifically had ordered her salad "We can switch if you prefer that to turkey I can go for either"

"I’ when he dared glance at her "It’s exactly hoould’ve ordered it"

Great He was definitely going to e the subject now, he pointed at the top of her bad foot "Why’d you take off the wrap? Didn’t the doc at the ER say you’re supposed to wear it for a feeeks?"

She frowned, opening the lid to her salad "It got hen I took a shower, so I tried to change it with a dry one, but it was such a pain I gave up"

Brandon stared at the tattoo curiously He’d already appointed hiotten pretty personal last night, he figured how bad could it be to ask "What’s that mean? Boot and Uni?"

Her frown softened into a srandpa, Boot"

A bit relieved to hear the heart was for her grandpa and not some dude, he was still confused "His nahed softly but stared down at the tattoo thoughtfully "That’s just what I called him"

Brandon un-wrapped his sandwich, even more curious now, and well aware this was personal, but talking about her dead grandpa see to attend surandparents decided to help out by keepingthe week for the entire surandranddad entertained s to do and e did together everyatch Sesame Street My absolute favorites were Bert and Ernie only I couldn’t pronounce my r’s so it sounded more like Boot and Uni By the tirandpa waseyes "It’s been years since he passed, and I can’t believe I still get choked up"

She cleared her throat as the emotion seemed to pass, and she continued, "I always knew the bond betweenas left of a tear at the corner of her eye with her finger "My grandma used to scold him when he’d call me his favorite, but everybody knew it When he passed, I took it especially hard" Her lips quivered now, and she frowned "Jesus!"

Swatting this tienuinely angry all of a sudden

"It’s okay," Brandon said, wiping his mouth with a napkin

"No, it’s not"

She leaned over to the box of tissue on her nightstand and yanked tissue out, dabbing her eyes in an annoyed way Even though Brandon couldn’t really relate personally, he’d had enough training and experience dealing with new recruits, who could be very eave it a stab

"It is okay to feel eht, then of course you’ll always get choked up thinking of hito talk about certain subjects Obviously, while she started off talking about her grandpa willingly enough, she didn’t want to anye the subject

"I can help you get that ankle dressed again when you’re done eating"

She nodded but said nothing, and they continued eating in silence for a few ain "I’ve never dealt ith loss," she whispered, staring at her salad

"Most people don’t," he said, shoving the last of his sandwich in hisof his bottled iced tea