Vera barely managed to force herself to eat before heading over to Casey's farmhouse after work like usual. Her stomach twisted in knots and she thought she might throw up from the effort of trying to digest. The same thing had happened at lunch.
"Hey, Casey," she said with the customer service smile she had been using all day. "How was your day?"
Rather than answering her question, he frowned as he scrutinized her, somehow managing to see through her act in an instant. "…are you alright?"
How could he tell? She had been fooling people all day. Nobody had seemed to realize anything was off about her so how had he? She didn't want to burden a client with her problems so she did her best to reassure him.
"I'm fine!"
"Are you sir? I mean sure! Because there's something off about you today," Casey said in a concerned tone.
Vera barely bit back a sigh. He caught her but she really didn't want to talk about it even if they were friendly with each other. It was her problem and she would shoulder it alone.
"I'm fine," she repeated. "I'm going to get started on those windowsills, okay?"
"Okay…"
Casey didn't seem convinced that she was alright and surprised by her leading the conversation for once. He could tell she needed a distraction and made a valiant attempt by telling her about this DIY video he had watched and wanting to know how the technique of doing it for modern things was different than restoring them.
Bless him. Vera was actually able to relax slightly because of his efforts.
But all of that went out the window at the end of the night when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye when they were walking out to their cars and she screamed and practically jumped into his arms.
Casey's eyes widened. "V-vera? What was that for?"
Tears began leaking from her eyes when she realized it had been a deer. A stupid deer! She swiped at them desperately.
"Sorry. I got freaked out by that deer. I didn't mean to hit you."
"That doesn't matter! I'm worried about YOU not me. What's going on? You've never been scared by the wildlife before," Casey said with a frown.
He had her there. There had been deer, foxes, lynxes, all sorts of things out here at night before and she had never reacted like this. He had already been suspicious of her earlier anyway so he had seen right through her.
The dam broke. The tears Vera had been holding back all day flooded forth and she sobbed because someone had showed her concern while she was freaking out. She had never felt like such an idiot but she couldn't stop.
Casey froze, unsure what to do, and eventually reached out to very hesitantly pat her shoulder. That only made her cry harder.
"Vera," he said helplessly. "Vera, d-don't cry. It's okay! The deer isn't g-going to hurt you."
Vera's arms were wrapped tightly around her waist as she doubled over with sobs. She couldn't stop. Why couldn't she stop? What was wrong with her? She had never cried like this in front of someone else before. She wasn't sure she had ever cried this hard in her life.
She was hyperventilating. She couldn't breathe. She was going to fall over!
Before she could, Casey's gentle hands reached over to steady her. He led her over to the porch steps and helped her sit down, sitting down next to her and awkwardly patting her back.
"It's okay, you're okay," he muttered repeatedly.
Vera wasn't okay though. She was having a nervous breakdown in front of a client. She was about as far from okay as she possibly could be right now.
"Casey, I—" she tried to apologize but broke down again before she could get it out.
"Shh, don't worry about it. I-I've got you," he said softly.
Casey's back pats eventually turned into back rubs and it was quite clear he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He had never done this before, had he? But he was trying his best and that meant the world to her right now even if she was completely mortified.
"Sorry," Vera whispered when she finally managed to get a hold of herself. "I've had a really rough couple of days but I shouldn't have broken down in front of you."
Casey shook his head as he removed his hand from her back, seeming relieved she could finally talk. "D-don't apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. Ev-everybody breaks down sometimes."
He smiled sweetly but nervously at her trying to make her feel better and she wasn't sure she had ever appreciated a person more. He didn't know her that well—she was only restoring his cabinets and windowsills, after all—and he did something he definitely didn't have to do while she was having a meltdown.
"Thank you," Vera sighed before standing and brushing herself off. "We should get going now."
"…are you going to be okay to drive?"
Her head was splitting and it was a long way back. Honestly…that might be a no. But she couldn't leave her car here or she would have no way to get to work in the morning.
"Maybe not. I don't really have a choice though," she said with another sigh.
Casey's expression grew thoughtful but he hesitated before speaking. "Um…you c-could ride back with me. Depending on how early you're going to work tomorrow, I can take you there then pick you up to come back over here since it'll be the last day of working on this."
He immediately backtracked when he saw the disbelief on her face, speaking so rapidly that his words all jumbled together. "Forgetit! It was a dad idea—bad idea! You don' wanna be stuck inacar with me for that long."
Vera couldn't help it. He was so panicked at the thought of offending her and the look on his face! She let a couple of laughs loose before managing to rein them in.
"No, Casey, that isn't it. I was just surprised you would be willing to help me out like that. I'd really appreciate it, actually, but I don't want to put you out. You don't have to do that for me."
"I want to though. P-paying it forward," he insisted.
He must be thinking of the day they met. Vera shot him a brilliant smile. It seemed that good karma was finally coming her way.