“Who cares what they think? I think it should resolve in seven to ten days. These country doctors wouldn’t know a concussion from a diffuse axonal injury.”
Her lips twitched as if she were trying not to laugh. “Is it humbling to find yourself at the mercy of lesser mortals, Sebastian?”
“Why do you seem to be enjoying this?”
“I have faith that the country doctors have seen a concussion before and know exactly what to do. Wow, this mood lighting is very moody. Do you have candles somewhere? We can eat by candlelight.”
“I’m male,” Sebastian said. “I don’t have candles.”
Ben laughed.
Genevieve rolled her eyes, opened the oven, and lifted out a loaf of French bread. “Did you see the mystery woman’s car at least?”
“No.”
“It’s kind of romantic, actually,” Genevieve said. “Handsome doctor meets woman under dramatic circumstances. Becomes enamored. But is parted from her before he can learn her identity.”
“Then prowls around his house in a bad mood.” Ben grinned as he tossed the salad.
Genevieve cut the lasagna into squares. “Do you feel about the mystery woman the way that Ben feels about Leah?”
“Yes,” Sebastian answered in the exact same moment that Ben answered, “No.”
Ben gave him a look that said he couldn’t believe his ears. “I’ve known Leah for more than a year. You spent ten minutes with that woman. You can’t feel about her the way that I feel about Leah.”
“Yes I can.”
“Whatever, dude,” Ben said good-naturedly.
Sebastian went after the things he wanted. In part, because of his own powerful inner drive. In part, because he knew he could die at any time. He’d learned that truth after Luke’s brother, Ethan, who’d been with their group one moment and crushed the next moment, had died in the earthquake. The crash yesterday only confirmed Sebastian’s mortality.
It might be that his head trauma was to blame for his inability to focus on anything but the woman who’d been beside him in his car when he regained consciousness. Perhaps he’d see her the next time and find her ordinary.
Even so, therewouldbe a next time, because he needed the chance to find out.
Genevieve
We’ve been stuck down here for four days now.
I’m sure that my parents are doing everything they can to find us. But no one’s come. Still. I never imagined we’d be trapped, alone, for this long.
What if they can’t get to us?
Ben and Natasha and I are doing our best to keep everyone’s spirits up. We talk and tell stories and play games and laugh sometimes, even though we all know it’s not real laughter.
We look bad and we smell bad and we’re weak because we haven’t had anything to eat. We sleep to pass the time. I dream of my mom’s buttermilk chess pie, her lullabies, her perfume. I dream of my dad’s hugs, his voice reading out loud to me, the way he dances when he wants to make us laugh.
If it’s the middle of the night when I wake from those dreams and the darkness hides me, I cry. If it’s light, I don’t cry. I pretend to be strong and I pretend to have hope, even though I feel small and forgotten here. Like a prisoner in a dungeon.
I’m scared that my parents won’t be able to find us. But I know for sure that God already has.
I pray and pray and pray.
The God I know rescues prisoners from dungeons.
Chapter Twenty-one
Genevieve found it excruciating to act normally with her mom and dad while sitting on an enormous secret she and her sister were just minutes from debuting. It felt akin to having a tea party on top of a land mine.
