Careful

~Tia~

“Here we are,” Neal states as we stop in front of the clinic. We took a nice, leisurely walk to the clinic, chatting and laughing on the way. “I suggest you get that hand looked at, just to be sure that everything is okay.” Neal reaches out and runs his hand down my arm before griping above my elbow and giving it a squeeze. As Neal walks away, my mom walks out of the clinic.

“Uh, what’s that all about?” My smile falters a bit.

“What do you mean? That was Neal; he walked me down here.” My mom walks up to me, stopping right in front.

“Yeah, I got that part. I was more wondering why that would be.” Mom gives me a quick hug and steps back. “Where are your mates?” I sigh and shrug my shoulders. I really didn’t want to revisit all of that right now. I finally got my anger under control.

“I came to get my hands checked. I’m sure they’re fine, though. I spent some time with the punching bag without any barrier.” Mom grabs my hands and starts to inspect them while making eye contact wit