“Okay. If your cell phone’s charged, let’s take a look,” he said.
She went to her bedroom and brought back a late model iPhone with a massive crack up the center. She turned it on and got past the secure screen to open it, but the damage made it nearly impossible to see anything clearly. “Good thing my thumbprint opens it because I don’t remember the password.”
“Let’s stop and get you a new phone while we’re out. They’ll transfer all the info over, and then we’ll be able to actually see it.”
“Jake, I don’t think I can afford a new phone.”
“Did you have insurance? Then you could get a new one without having to pay much, if anything.”
“Good point. I’ll check on that,” she said, looking through the folders for the cell phone information.
She used Jake’s phone to call the number on the paperwork and found out it was insured. They told her she could either come in and pick up a new phone or have one mailed to her. She mouthed the question to Jake, who told her to tell them they’d come in to get it.
“Do you mind if I use your phone for a few more calls? I need to find out who my counselor at school is and then make an appointment with them. I’ll take the doctor’s note, explain everything, and see what they recommend in terms of finishing this quarter or dropping classes and starting over again next quarter. I don’t want to waste money, so if I have to finish this quarter, I’ll need to talk to the professors to find out what I’ve missed. And start going to classes again right away.”
“Use it as long as you need to. I’ll get my laptop out and log in so you can use the Internet to find phone numbers and stuff. Just add it to the list of things we need to work out. We’ll just take it all one step at a time. Everything is going to be fine.”
He set her up with his laptop, which she instinctively knew how to use. While she was searching the university’s website, she snuck a peek at Jake. He was facing away from her and was wearing jeans that hugged his ass perfectly. Of all the things she was most curious to remember, why the hell she’d told Jake she didn’t want to date him was right at the top. She must have been out of her bloody mind. He bent over to pick up something off the bottom rack of the dishwasher, and she bit the end of her pen and blushed at the thoughts running through her mind.
She intended to make some changes to her life once she got her memory back. And Jake MacDonald was one of them.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
While Hannah was on the phone with her school, Jake loaded the dishwasher and cleaned the counter. She’d relocated from the kitchen table to the couch, but he overheard her leave a message for someone, presumably the counselor.
When he walked into the living room, Hannah glanced up from one of the textbooks she’d been skimming. Her shoes sat next to the couch, and she had her feet tucked beneath her, looking perfectly comfortable and right at home. She smiled, and his heart skipped a beat.
“I left a message,” she said. “It’s Friday, so I’m not holding out much hope. Even if she does call back and can meet with me, we’d probably have to go over at a moment’s notice. Is that okay?”
“Hey, my calendar’s wide open.” He smiled. “Actually, it’ll be a good chance for me to get some studying done. I haven’t told many people, but I’m planning to take a big test at work to try and get promoted.” He wouldn’t have toldher,but since she was living here now, it would be hard to hide. He was keeping it quiet in case he totally fucked up the test. Admitting failure was not something he enjoyed.
“That’s awesome. We can be study buddies!”
“I was thinking more of just trying to keep Spence off my ass about it. He’s kind of a nag.”
“Just think. It might actually help you with the test, too,” she said, teasing him.
An hour or so later, the counselor called back asking if one o’clock would work. They’d been sitting on opposite ends of the couch, each with their own book, and when she mouthed the question to him, he gave her a thumbs up.
“Sorry for the short notice,” Hannah said after hanging up.
“No worries. I’m ready for a break. We should leave soon, though. Traffic is always a crapshoot around here. After your appointment, we can stop by the cell phone store and then decide whether we have time for your apartment and the coffee shop. If not, we can do that tomorrow.”
The drive to the university was quick and easy. Jake dropped her at the building where her meeting was and parked in a nearby lot to wait for her. Uneasy, even though it was virtually impossible that anyone knew where they were, he’d walked back and done a perimeter check around the building she was in. He talked himself out of looking around inside and had just returned to his car when his cell phone rang. It was the detective investigating Hannah’s accident.
“Hey, Ryan, how’s it going? Any news?”
“That’s why I’m calling. Did you catch the news last night? We had them run a story about the accident. They showed Hannah’s picture and asked that anyone who witnessed anything related to the accident call us.”
“And?”
“Well, no usable leads, but her family called. They’d like to see her. I told them I’d let her know but that the decision would be up to her. They did admit that they had a falling out a few years ago, but they seemed genuine in wanting to reunite with her.”
“Okay. Well, that’s cool. Why do you sound so apprehensive about it?”
“Her parents are Dean and Sonja Preston.”
Jake’s mouth fell open. “You mean the filthy rich founders of CyberScoop?” That would put their net worth into the stratosphere.
