“Woah, there. Do you need to sit down?” Trevor’s hands are on my shoulders, steadying me.
“What?” I shake my head, blink, blink again.
“Here.” He shoves a water bottle into my hand. “It’s really hot today. Probably too much sun, yeah? Drink. It’ll help.”
He subtly pushes down on my shoulders so I’m sitting on the wet sand. I take three large gulps of water. “Thanks. You were right. I do feel better now,” I lie.
“Need me to get you anything else?”
“I’m good. I’ll just sit for a bit.”
“I’ll sit with you. Can’t have you keeling over. What would my scout troop leader think?”
I arch a brow at him. He so doesn’t look like a boy scout. Even with a shirt on, I can see intricate tattoos wrapping around both of his arms and up along his neck into his hairline. “You were in the boy scouts?”
“No,” he replies with a light chuckle, “but I do like rescuing damsels in distress.”
“Dream on. This damsel’s not in distress, and if she were, she knows how to handle herself.”
“I’m sure you’re right. Except all the color has drained from your face and you almost passed out right in front of me. What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t stay to make sure you were ok?”
I snort. “You’re no gentleman either.”
“You’re right again,” he teases.
I take out my phone to look at the time. I need to head back to take a shower before l meet Julien. “Well, it was nice to meet you Trevor, but I have to go. Thanks for the water.” I begin to rise but he clasps my elbow. He helps me the rest of the way up but is slow to release his grip.
“Nice to meet you too, Elizabeth. Maybe we’ll run into each other on campus.”
“Maybe.”
I’m thankful he doesn’t try to get my number. It would have been very awkward when I said no. I walk back to the beach access to retrieve my flip-flops. When I reach the top step, I turn around. Trevor is still standing where I left him, watching me. He gives a wave when he sees me looking at him. I wave back. I doubt I’ll ever see him again.
Chapter 6
Julien
“I can take a personal day off work and come to lunch with you and Liz if you want.”
I finish draining the corkscrew pasta while holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder. One of Liz’s favorite dishes was gluten-free pesto pasta with pine nuts and black olives. So that’s what I’m making her for lunch.
“I hope you don’t mind E, but I really just want to spend some time with her alone. Last night was a bit crazy with all of us. I think we overwhelmed her.”
Elijah doesn’t know we jointly told our families about Liz over a video call this morning. We spent the first hour explaining everything we knew so far, the next thirty minutes crying together, and then another hour convincing them, Brea, and Jamie not to come yet. They are desperate to see Liz but understand our reasons for them to not all approach her yet. It took even more time after we ended the call for me to push Jay and Ryder out of the condo so Liz and I could spend time together. No distractions.
Elijah assures me, “I get it and I understand. See you tonight?”
I forgot we were going out to dinner and a movie. “Do you mind if I take a rain check? I just want to spend the day with Liz if that’s alright with you.”
“Lunch and dinner. Should I be jealous?”
I know he’s joking, but a part of me feels guilty as hell that I’m blowing him off. I can’t help myself, however. I have this craving need to be with Liz. After seeing her for the first time in a year, it hit me last night just how much I missed her. Life has been shit without her in it. I don’t want to miss a single second of being with her ever again. Everything’s more complicated because of her amnesia. We need to re-learn how to be with each other. It’s not going to be the easy, carefree existence we used to share. It’s going to be a lot of hard work and even more patience and understanding.
“I’ll call you tomorrow. Want to come run with me?”
“Sure. Sounds good. Love you, J.”
“Ditto. See you tomorrow.” I hang up and open the pesto just as the doorbell sounds.
