“What were you thinking?” Carmen asked, settling into the chair across from June and studying the bruise on her forehead with professional assessment. Her tone was gentle but firm, the voiceof someone who’d spent decades caring for people who made poor decisions about their own safety.
“I know.” June sighed, forcing herself to focus on her sister instead of scanning the cafeteria for a man who might not have existed. “I’m sorry. I started getting the guest room ready for Ace, and then before I knew it, I was deep into a full house spring cleaning project.”
“You’re about three months too late for spring cleaning,” Carmen pointed out, one eyebrow raised in the expression June remembered from childhood. “What did the doctors say?”
“That I can go home, but I have to rest for a couple of hours,” June replied. “They think I just overdid it and forgot to eat, which caused the fainting spell. The head bump isn’t serious.”
“Then you’re going home and straight into bed,” Carmen declared in the tone that brooked no argument. “Fortunately, I have the rest of the day off, so I’ll be there to make sure you actually stay there.”
“Great,” June said weakly. She glanced around the cafeteria one more time, but there was no sign of the mysterious young man. “Can we at least stop by your bakery for a decent cup of tea? This stuff is barely fit for human consumption.”
“I’ll make you proper tea at home,” Carmen promised, standing and helping June gather her purse and the discharge papers. “Earl Grey with honey, just the way you like it.”
As they walked out of the cafeteria, June couldn’t resist looking back one more time. The feeling that she was missing something important nagged at her, but the young man was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she really had imagined the whole thing.
The thought troubled her more than she wanted to admit. If she was seeing people who weren’t there, people who looked like echoes from her past, what did that say about her mental state? The head injury had been minor according to the doctors, but trauma had a way of manifesting in unexpected ways.
“Are you okay?” Carmen asked as they stepped outside into the afternoon sunshine. “You seem distracted.”
June paused on the sidewalk, hit by a sudden wave of something she couldn’t quite name. It felt like standing at the edge of a cliff, or perhaps at a crossroads where every direction led to unknown territory. The skin on her arms prickled with awareness, and for a moment she had the strangest sensation that her entire life was about to change.
She turned back toward the hospital, drawn by an impulse she didn’t understand. Somewhere in that building, something significant was happening. Something that would affect her in ways she couldn’t imagine.
“June?” Carmen’s voice was concerned now. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” June admitted, shaking her head to clear the strange feeling. “Just a weird moment. Probably the head injury is making me paranoid.”
But as they walked to Carmen’s car, June couldn’t shake the sensation that destiny was calling her name. It was ridiculous, she told herself. She was a practical woman, a lawyer who dealt in facts and evidence, not mystical nonsense about fate and cosmic significance.
Still, when Carmen opened the passenger door for her, she climbed into the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt without thinking about it.
“Do you want one of these?” Carmen asked, pulling a small bottle of pills from the pharmacy bag the nurse had given June. “The doctor prescribed mild sedatives to help with car anxiety.”
June looked around, realizing with surprise that she was sitting calmly in the passenger seat with no sign of the panic that had overwhelmed her previous attempts at automotive travel.
“No,” she said, swallowing down a flutter of nerves that was manageable rather than paralyzing. “I need to do this on my own.” She gave Carmen a tight smile. “Besides, I shouldn’t mix medication with a head injury.”
Carmen’s eyes filled with understanding and pride. “You’re doing great,” she said softly, starting the engine. “Just let me know if you need me to stop.”
They drove through Miami at a moderate pace, Carmen keeping up a steady stream of conversation about the upcoming trip to Sandpiper Shores. The familiar streets passed by outside the windows, and June found herself thinking about how much the city had changed since she and Holt had lived here as newlyweds.
“Wait,” June said suddenly as they pulled into her driveway. “I thought I was driving up to see Willa in four days on my own, and you were going to join us later because you were too busy.”
“Oh, that’s changed,” Carmen replied, turning off the engine. “I’ve cleared my schedule. I’m driving you to Sandpiper Shores, and we’re leaving the day after tomorrow.”
“What about Ace?” June protested. “That’s terribly rude to change plans at the last minute.”
“Ace is like family,” Carmen pointed out, getting out of the car and coming around to help June. “He’s stayed here on his own before. June, you did the hard part today.” She gestured toward the car they’d just exited. “You managed to get back in a vehicle and be driven home. After seeing how you’ve reacted to cars these past few weeks, do you really think I’d let you drive to Sandpiper Shores alone?”
Relief flooded through June with such intensity that her knees nearly buckled. The thought of making that long drive by herself, of being trapped alone in a car for hours while memories of the accident played on an endless loop, had been keeping her awake at night.
“No,” June admitted, hugging her sister tightly. “You wouldn’t let me do that.”
“Never,” Carmen confirmed, stepping back so June could enter the house. “Come on, let’s get you into bed with one of your favorite shows. I’ll make you proper tea and warm up that Chinese food Greta brought.”
“That sounds wonderful,” June said, meaning it completely.
As she headed upstairs for a quick shower before settling in for the afternoon, that strange feeling hit her again. Stronger this time, like electricity in the air before a thunderstorm. June stood under the hot water, letting it wash away the hospital smell and the lingering embarrassment of the day’s events, but she couldn’t shake the sensation that something momentous was approaching.
