Raeann puts an exclamation point on my thoughts when she hands me a glass of water and a few pills. One for pain and a few to open up my airways again, hopefully ridding them of the garbage I inhaled.
I swallow them like the good little patient I am and smile as Raeann takes the glass again. She stands, and Athena moves into her spot, nudging my good arm while I lie back down. My gaze tracks Raeann, highlighted by ornate tray ceilings, making her appear short with how tall they are. Even the walls have decoration. Not paintings or pictures, but built-in adornments.It’s the fanciest room I’ve ever been in, and it’s now my new bedroom.
I’ll say one thing for Micah Freeman, he sure can pick out an apartment. The penthouse to be exact, which I have suspicions was not actually vacant when he decided to move us in here. But Micah can move mountains if he wants. He’s just that guy.
We’re closer to the stadium and all the team facilities. A much nicer part of Nashville, if I’m being honest. Pet Threads isn’t directly downstairs like it was before, but it’s only a block away, another real estate move that I’m not sure was actually available when Micah decided to own it. He probably took Raeann on a drive and told her to point.
Knowing Raeann, she would have refused, but he made sure she got the best anyway.
I guess I should be glad I’m riding my best friend’s coattails.
Athena whines a little, and I pretend not to notice Raeann peer back at me from the door to my room as she carries away the pills and water. Instead, I focus on the doe eyes of this extraordinary dog, even though what I’m about to say is for both of them. “Don’t worry about me, girl. I’ll be alright.”
Athena licks my fingers, gaze focused on me. It’s fitting that she was saved first. She is an angel, and no one could convince me otherwise. It makes sense that I was saved last.
In fact, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
“Are you coming back in?” I call out, my voice gravelly.
“Try to stop me!” Raeann singsongs back. I strain for confirmation when that might be, but this apartment is so big. Before, I could hear everything from my bedroom. Kitchen noise, the toilet flushing, hell, I could hear the murmur of the TV in Raeann’s room and the softclick-click-clickof Athena’s paws across the wood floors.
But now when I picture our old place, I see a carcass. Everything ash and burned, crumbling under the siege of heat. Everything we built,gone.
Athena nudges my hand again, and I’ll be damned if she doesn’t have a straight line of communication to my brain. “I’m fine,” I tell her, my smile a little watery. “I promise.”
It doesn’t feel great to lie to an angel dog. Her eyes aren’t even accusing. They’re just two big spheres of love.Goddammit.
I put my face in her hair, my eyes closing. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, trailing my fingers absently through her golden-red fur. “Don’t hold it against me.”
Athena shifts, and I move away to allow her space to jump on the bed and cuddle with me. When Raeann comes back in the room, that’s where we are, lying on the massive ornate bed that looks like something out of the royal palace in England. “You two,” she says, pulling out her phone to snap a picture. I grin like old times, but by the time the camera shutters, my face falls. I don’t look anything like I did before. My hair was singed. My right arm is a mess I don’t even want to think about. But there’s something deeper too. Something that can’t be seen on the surface.
Raeann frowns at the picture, but she slips the phone back in her jeans pocket. “You know…that beginner’s sewing book is in the spare room with the sewing machine if you want to take a crack at it. It’ll keep you busy.”
I make a face, but then school my features again. Raeann’s really trying. She thinks because sewing helped pull her out of dark times that it will do the same for me, but I’ve never been the crafty type. Or creative. “Maybe I could just come back to the store.”
“Babe…” She sighs. “You know the doctors haven’t cleared you yet. “You’ve only been out of the hospital for a couple of weeks.”
“It’s been a month.”
“Are you sure?” She smiles a little, letting me know she’s teasing. “You’re just such a workaholic, Tab. I really want you to take the time you need. The store is good. We’re good. There’s no need to jump in before you’re ready.”
The way her stare lingers, it’s like she can see right through me. Her and Athena. It reaches that place inside that wonders who I am now. Maybe I’m not a store owner. Or even worse, what it will feel like to try to be my old self because she and I are not the same.
What happens when I pick my old life back up and it fits differently? Because trust me, it will. I’m forever changed. Damaged. My life ended when that spark decided to catch. Then the walls decided to be consumed. Then that fire decided to destroy.
I shake my head like I can try to erase the memories.
“Hey, it was only an observation,” Raeann says as she sits on the edge of the bed. “Plus, it’s a good idea to disassociate from the world a bit while you recov?—”
I clear my throat.
“While you glisten like a unicorn, majestic and beautiful.”
I can’t help but laugh, but it turns into another cough. While I’m tasting what the inside of my lungs must look like, I remember the conversation I had with Raeann when I told her I didn’t want to be a victim. Honestly, I was scared of what it might do to me. Ever since, I refuse to let her say the wordsrecuperatingorrecovering, like this is something I had to get over. So she keeps coming up with ridiculous things that I’m doing instead. The first time I was Cleopatra testing the comfort of elaborate pillows—which is actually sort of fitting for this place.
“So, update on Levi,” Raeann says once I catch my breath again, hiding the now blackened tissue.
I perk up at that. If there’s anything that can help me out of my own head, it’s an update on what that man is doing with his life. He’s gorgeous, to say the absolute least, but he sure treats his life like it’s a sideshow. “Do tell.”
