She is fascinating.

And completely...distracting.

I shouldn't have indulged her or myself by coming to sit with her if I actually wanted to get any work done. It is a rare occasion for me to have a Saturday off and for Addy to be out of the house during the weekend. She is spending time with her friends this weekend which means I have the opportunity to make some progress on my current assignments.

Bailey already ruined my earlier attempts. I don't know how she still manages to find me all the time. It is like she sewed a tracker into my clothes. Maybe she did; I wouldn't put it past her. She is consistently successful at frustrating me to death.

The only reason I entertain her at all is simply because I need someone to watch Addy in the evenings after school until I get home from work. Addy likes Bailey. And I like the fact that Bailey is willing to do it for free; something about using the hours to count as charity volunteer work.

I don't want Addy or myself to be considered charity but if I can save some money, I will allow Bailey to use the hours for whatever she wants. However, sometime in the last four years, she has decided that she is in love with me. She never makes advances on me in front of Addy but whenever she has the chance to corner me somewhere, she never fails to make me want to peel my skin off with a vegetable peeler and stab my eyes and ears with an icepick.

But free childcare is free childcare, and I can deal with it until Addy leaves for college. It's not that I don't trust my sister to not be an idiot; she is actually a pretty good kid, but she is also a teenager. There is no possible way that I am going to leave my fifteen-year-old sister home by herself for four hours every single day after school. I was a teenager not that long ago and an empty house every day is a key ingredient in the recipe for disaster.

"Are you going to keep pretending to be working or would you rather talk?"

Her voice broke me from my obviously unfocused thoughts and with an amused smile, I looked up at her over the top of my computer screen, "I am working."

She took a sip of her tea, "My hair is a wig."

"What?"

"Oh, I just thought we were naming things that were false," she said with a smile, her eyes glinting with mischief.

I shook my head at her, but I felt a smile on my own face.

"So, what are you "working" on anyway?"

Drawing my mouth into a line, I deadpanned, "I can't tell you or I would have to kill you; it's top secret."

"Mhm. Is that why you look so stressed and exhausted? Your top-secret mission?"

I kept my face neutral, "Yes, that is definitely why."

How does she read me so well? She did it last night too. I thought I looked halfway rested today, but I guess not. She isn't wrong though; I am exhausted...and stressed.

She laughed to herself and tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear. She took another sip of her tea before popping the last bite of her biscuit into her mouth. Her eyes unintentionally flickered down to my still uneaten biscuit and wordlessly, I pushed the plate toward her.

"You don't want it?"

I smiled, "Not as much as you do apparently."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded my head yes and she made quick work of that small biscuit. She turned her attention back to the window, presumably to continue people-watching so I attempted to turn my attention back to my laptop. However, my eyes seemed to follow their own desires and continued to trace over her instead. She glanced sideways at me and smiled but didn't turn her head to look at me again, so I actually decided to look back down at my computer.

I restarted on my current assignment and forced myself to focus. I have limited time to actually work on this, remember, self? Minutes tick by as we sit in complete silence, although it is not uncomfortable silence. She is contented to stare out the window and drink her tea, and I am working. But the crinkle of a plastic bag caught my attention, and I moved my eyes up to see her pulling a baggie of...pills...out of her coat pocket.

She as silently as possible opened the baggie and poured the pills into her hand. Amused at her attempt to pretend like she was not doing anything, I kept my head bent like I was still working on my laptop but watched her as she tossed them all into her mouth, quickly following it with another few sips of her tea. Only when she set her cup back down did she realize I was watching her.

Despite the blush that tinged her cheeks, she confidently said, "Overachieving heart, remember?"

"I remember. Also, that was like a whole handful. Are all of those just for your heart?"

She looked away from me, so I hurriedly added, "It's not my business. You don't have to tell me."

Sighing, she replied, "It's okay. No, they are not all for my heart. And it was only six pills, so not that many."

"Six is still a lot."

"Not really, I take eight at night."

"So, you take fourteen pills every single day?"

"Yep."

I was slightly afraid of the answer, but I asked the question anyway, dropping my voice down to a whisper, "Are you dying?"

She whispered back, "Yes..."

I went to respond but before I could, she started laughing, "I'm just messing with you. I am not dying any more than you are right now. I have a few chronic illnesses. The pills help me manage them. That's all."

I blinked in surprise and looked her over, "You look fine though."

She scoffed, "Of course, I do. All of my chronic illnesses are invisible. I look fine until I am obviously not. Also, just for future reference, that isn't a very helpful thing to say."

"I'm sorry."

She smiled and waved a hand at me dismissively, "It's not a big deal. You are not the first person to say that to me and you certainly won't be the last. Having an invisible disability is a bit of a blessing and a curse. I look 'normal' or whatever that means unless one of my conditions decides to become a little more visible. My body just does that. It is a symptom of...and I'm rambling. Sorry."

"You're not rambling, and you don't need to apologize. Can I ask one more question though?"

"Sure."

"When you were anxious earlier, what were you doing with your fingers that helped you calm down?"

"You noticed that?"

I nodded.

"It was something I learned a long time ago. Pressing my fingertips into a surface while taking a deep breath helps me settle my anxiety before it becomes an attack. Why?"

"Just curious. My sister has anxiety attacks pretty frequently and it is hard to know what to do to help her sometimes."

"You are a good brother."

I am trying really hard to be. I hope Addy knows that.

"Thanks."

She fell quiet so I decided now would be a good time to head to the restroom.

"I'll be right back."

"Okay, I'll still be here."

I closed my laptop and shut my notebook and walked into the men's room to handle my business. After washing my hands, I walked back out and when I saw that Summer still had her back to this side of the café, I went up to the counter. The lady who gave me the free biscuit greeted me with a raised eyebrow.

In a hushed tone, I said, "I would like to pay for her meal whenever she comes in next. How much should I give you?"

The lady smiled, "Her usual is $9.64."

I pulled a ten out of my wallet and handed it to her, "Just keep the change."

She hummed in agreement, and I walked back over to the table.

"Hey."

Summer startled at the sound of my voice and then laughed at herself.

I apologized for scaring her. She waved me off, "I have a bad startle reflex. Don't stress it."

Sliding back into the chair across from her, I placed my notebook on top of my computer and pushed them both to the side.

"I have to leave soon, but since I am failing at working, would you like to talk?"

She smirked, "Ah so he admits his defeat...the top-secret mission has been placed on pause while Superspy Eli tries to..."

"Superspy Eli?"

"Would you rather me call you creep?" she retorted.

"I would rather you call me babe."

"You are hopeless."

"Nah, just hopeful."

She crossed her arms, "For?"

"The slight chance that you might give me your number this time."

"Sorry to kill your dreams, Superspy, but..."

I cut her off, "Let me guess, you don't give out your number to guys in coffee shops either."

She just smiled and shrugged. I sighed in dramatic fashion and leaned back in my chair, "So, what do you do for work?"

"I work in the children's hospital as a pediatric genetic counselor. What do you do?"

I chuckled, "I am not going to pretend that I know what that is, but it makes sense that your job is to help sick kids. It suits you. As for me, I am a millionaire trust fund baby. I don't need to work."

She looked at me in shock, "Really?"

"How else do you think I afforded my own house?"

"Good point."

"Okay, your turn. You ask me something."

She tapped her finger against her chin in contemplation while I ridiculed myself for lying to her. Why couldn't I just tell her the truth? Probably for the same reason that I didn't want her to see what I have been working on. She is settled into her career while I am barely scraping by. I work three jobs just to keep my sister and I afloat.

Honestly, my main job would be enough to support us, albeit still paycheck to paycheck but then there would be nothing in savings. I want Addy to be able to go to college if she wants to. So, she needs to have a college fund. And I can't save money if I have to spend it all on living essentials.

"Eli?"

"Hmm?"

"I asked you what your sister's name is."

"Oh, her name is Adaline, but she prefers to be called Addy."

She gave me a look and I realized it was because she wanted me to ask her something now.

"Do you have any siblings?"

Her eyes sparkled as she smiled, "Yeah, I have two younger sisters. Quinn is twenty and Paige is eighteen."

I returned her smile and she lost hers. She dropped her voice, "Why did you lie about your job?"

The blood drained from my face and my hands instantly felt clammy, "Wha..?"

She tilted her head at me, a bemused half-smile playing on her lips, "Your laptop is easily four or five years old; if you were a millionaire, you would have a computer that doesn't sound like it might fly away at any moment. You have checked your phone seventeen times while you have been sitting here, suggesting you are not used to having time on your hands. And speaking of your hands, they are calloused. You have a blood blister under two of your nails. And a small bruise on the side of your thumb. So, you probably work in construction of some kind. How far off am I?"

I blinked in shock, uncertainty clouding my face, "How?"

"I am trained to notice things. But I don't know why you would lie about that. It isn't a big deal."

I swallowed, trying to gain my composure back, "You are pretty close. I don't know why I lied. I tend to blurt out things when I am nervous. It's a bad habit."

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, "Are you saying that I make you nervous...Eli?"

Avoiding her eyes, I rubbed my hand against the back of my neck, "Possibly."

"Good," she teased, leaning back in her chair, "So, what do you actually do for work, besides the superspy stuff?"

I met her eyes again, and smiled, "Well during the school day, I work with a construction crew to flip and renovate houses. Then I come home for two hours to spend time with my sister before I work a four-hour shift as a server. And on the weekends, I normally take on other small, odd jobs like mowing, leaf removal, that kind of thing. You're right, I don't often find myself with extra time like this."

"You are a busy man."

I nodded and sighed, "I am."

"You said you had to go soon?"

"Unfortunately."

"Do you want to walk me back to my apartment complex?"

"Yes," I replied a little too quickly, and Summer laughed to herself and gathered up her belongings. Standing up, I tucked my laptop and notebook under my arm and slid my phone into my pocket. She stood up slowly, pausing for a minute before walking to the door. I took a few quicker steps to pull the door open for her. The doorbell jingled as we left the café...together.

She pulled her jacket a little tighter around her body as the fall breeze flowed around us. I wanted to say something but wasn't exactly sure what to say so I kept quiet. But this quiet does not feel uncomfortable. She was smiling as we walked down the sidewalk, slightly turning her face toward the sun. The reflection of the sun off her red hair almost makes her look like she is glowing.

She is beautiful.