“Oh yeah.” I shake my head, remembering the girl with the homemade jean shorts who hovered over my bed before disappearing out the door without a word. “I feel bad she saved my life and I forgot about her. That day was such a blur.”
“I think it’d be a nice gesture to take her a little something,” Mom says, flagging down our waitress to order an Italian sub to go. You can never go wrong with that.
I replay that night in my head as we wait, how odd the girl was acting and the way her eyes never strayed from mine. I have no idea why, but I guess seeing someone almost die would be pretty intense.
“Did you guys talk to her? Get to know her at all?” I ask my mom.
“Not really. We invited her into the room with us to eat a few times, but she always declined. She must be a pretty special person to come check on you just because she saw you hurt. Though I did overhear a couple of conversations on the phone with what sounded like her mom. I think she’s pretty… tough on Nora. Maybe she also wanted to get away.” Mom shrugs.“But either way, she was there in that waiting room. Every single day.”
“Huh.” I can’t imagine not being close with my mom, especially to the extent of visiting a stranger in the hospital just to get away from her. But still… if she spent all that time in the hospital waiting for me to wake up, why did she just bolt out of the room without even saying a word when I finally did? Why didn’t she come back?
It doesn’t make any sense, but my mom’s right.
I’d say bringing her a sandwich is the absolute least I can do for her, and maybe while I’m there, I can find out more about what actually happened to me.
CHAPTER 10
MY FEET CRUNCH ACROSS THEempty gravel parking lot as I follow my mom through a faded wooden door markedMARTIN’S MEATSin red paint. We’re the only ones here, which is a good thing because there’s only enough room for a few customers. We walk around a homemade set of plywood shelves stuffed to the gills with hot sauces, steak rubs, and grill tools.
I hope she doesn’t think it’s weird us just showing up with a random sandwich, because now that I think about it… yeah, it’s kinda weird.
Well, we’re here now.
As we approach the counter, there’s a woman about Nora’s height but heavier-set behind it, her graying hair pulled back into a low ponytail. I set the bag down on the counter, watching her work with her back to us, grabbing handfuls of ground beef and dropping them onto an old-school metal scale.
“Excuse me, are you Mrs. Martin?” my mom asks, stepping up to the counter next to me. The lady glances over her shoulder just long enough to see the paper takeout bag.
“I’m not interested in whatever you’re selling.” She wraps the meat up in a sheet of butcher paper in one fluid motion. “Ifyou’re here for a fundraiser, we’re already getting involved at the county fair.”
“Oh no. That’s not why we’re here,” my mom responds.
“What can I get for you, then?” The woman turns to face us, peeling off her clear plastic gloves. “We’re running a special on stew beef, three ninety-nine a pound. Chuck eyes are—”
“I’m sorry,” my mom interrupts her, looking more apologetic than she should. “We’re actually here to drop this sandwich off for Nora. It’s from Lola’s.” She picks the bag up off the counter and holds it out.
Mrs. Martin looks skeptically between the bag and my mom. “Why is it you’ve brought my daughter a sandwich?” she says with a suspicious drawl.
My mom looks more than a little uncomfortable, but her politeness instincts kick in and she plows ahead.
“I’m Julia Green. And this is Stevie, the girl she—”
“Stevie Green,” Mrs. Martin announces, before my mom even finishes. “Now,there’sa name I recognize.” She crosses her arms over her chest, leaving my mom still holding the bag halfway over the counter between the two of them.
“Yes, well, we’resograteful for what your daughter did that day. I know it’s not much, but we thought we’d stop by and say hi. Bring her a little something for dinner,” my mom says, glancing over at me and then back again.
“Well, isn’tthatnice of you.” Mrs. Martin’s voice is dripping with sarcasm. Now I’mreallyfeeling like we shouldn’t have come here. I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t like it.
My mom shakes her head, confused. “I’m sorry, did I do something?”
“Nora has slacked off onevery single jobI’ve asked of her these last two weeks and chosen instead to wait around a hospital for some silly stranger who fell into the crick she had no business being near in the first place.” She directs her attention to me, her dull hazel eyes making my knees shake.
“I’m sorry. I—I can’t remember anything.”
“Amnesia, huh? That’s shocking. I was actually expecting you to be blind. Or did you just ignore the hundreds of No Trespassing signs posted all through the wood?”
“Hey. Don’t speak to her like that,” my mom interjects firmly. It’s enough to make me jump, but Mrs. Martin doesn’t even blink.
She just stares at my mom with a slightly amused smirk, like she’s won something. “Leave it on the counter,” she says finally, turning her back to us and grabbing another hunk of meat to drop onto the scale. “Although she won’t eat it. She’s too good for regular-people food these days.”
