“I know your purse is gone, and it’ll take a few days to get a new card from the bank. I don’t know if you need to get anything from the store for you or Hope.”
“Oh,” I breathe out. “I didn’t even think about that. I need to see about getting a new ID. I have the debit card from my savings account that has about four thousand dollars in it, which can hold us over until I get everything else worked out,” I mutter absently. I can’t believe I forgot my purse is gone. I didn’t have much in it, maybe forty dollars, my cellphone, and my wallet with my bank card. I don’t even have a credit card in my name.
“Are you sure you don’t want some cash just in case?”
“I’m sure,” I say, shaking my head, when Hope comes out of her room with her doll and doll stroller. “Millie wants to go for a walk, Mama.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to wait until we get back here later to take her for a walk.”
“But she really wants to go,” she pouts.
“Hope,” I say her name in my ‘mom voice’, tilting my head to the side and waiting for her to take the stroller back into the room before shaking my head and meeting Jax’s gaze again.
“Are you gonna be okay with my mom?” he asks, reaching out and touching my hand so briefly I wonder if it even happened.
“Of course, your mom seems really nice.”
“If you need me, just call.”
“I’m sure we’ll be okay, and that won’t be necessary,” I assure him.
“I know, but call anyways.”
“You know I don’t have a phone, right?” I ask softly.
“Sh—” His eyes move to Hope, who walks out to stand next to me, and then his eyes sweep up to meet mine again. “I mean, I’ll get you one today.”
“I can get my own phone.”
“You’re gonna be busy. I don’t mind getting one,” he says gently.
Pulling in a deep breath, I let it out slowly. I’m not used to anyone looking out for me, but maybe it’s time I learn to accept help from other people.
“Okay, but I’ll give you the money back for it when I get home. Can you make sure it’s not more than fifty? I need to stick to a budget.”
“Sure,” he agrees immediately, making me feel like that was way too easy. I don’t know Jax very well, but I’m getting the feeling he’s the kind of guy who’s used to getting his way, even if it’s by plowing you over.
“Also, here,” he says, handing me some kind of bar in a shiny wrapper.
“What’s this?” I frown, flipping it over and reading what’s in it.
“You need to eat.”
“This has almost a thousand calories in it,” I tell him, holding it back towards him. If I’m going to get in better shape, I’ll need to lose a little bit of weight. In order to do that, I will need to keep under around thirteen hundred calories a day. Eating that bar would leave me just a few messily calories for the rest of the day.
“It’s good for you.”
“Thank you, but I’ll just grab a banana on the way out,” I say, holding the bar closer to him until he takes it back.
“Ellie, you need to eat,” he insists.
“I will.”
“You need to eat something more than a banana. Your body needs protein to run more efficiently.”
“You’re annoying,” I mumble, snatching the bar from him, ripping it open, and taking a large bite, which I chew twice before shoving the rest back at him and running to the bathroom, spitting it out in the toilet. It tastes like chalk and peanut butter—not a good combo, if you ask me. How anyone would willingly eat that, I don’t even know.
When I step back out into the hall after rinsing my mouth out and brushing my teeth again, both Hope and Jax are laughing hysterically.
“Do you eat that crap?” I ask Jax, and he grins, his body still shaking with laughter.
“Yeah, before workouts.” He chuckles.
“Why in the world would you waste perfectly good calories on that garbage?” I ask, and he places his hand on his stomach and laughs harder while Hope giggles.