My attention drifts to the top of my desk, where the stack of booklets sits from the hospital. I think of my mom and our talk outside the meat shop yesterday, how she didn’t have many answers for me. She didn’t know what I was doing in those woods, but Savannah and Rory… they have to know. Right?
“Hey, guys.” I spin my chair back around to them and see they’re now sitting up on my bed facing each other. “When I had my accident, I was in the woods on the Martin farm. Do you have any idea what I was doing there?”
They both shake their heads.
“All I know is that you toldusyou were going to work when you left the Dinor that morning,” Rory says.
I slump, disappointed. But they have to know something more than I know already.
“Well, what about in general? Is there anything major or important that happened the past couple of years? Anything I should know? Other than me almost getting pregnant,” I add, to let them know I can take a joke, that they don’t need to walk on eggshells with me. Not that they seem to be.
“I don’t think major,” Rory says, looking across my bed at Savannah.
“Well, I don’t know… though you probably wouldn’t consider this important,” Savannah says, shaking her head.
“What? Tell me. I want to know everything.” I scoot to the edge of my chair, leaning toward her.
“There’s this guy you kinda, sorta have a huge crush on, and hedefinitelylikes you back,” she says to me, and then looks at Rory. “Dinor boy?”
Rory smiles and nods. “Oh yeahhhh. Ryan.”
“Are you serious? I… really had a crush on him?” I ask. It almost feels like a relief. At least something went right in the last two years. Maybe I’m not as messed up as I thought.
“Oh my God,big-time,” Savannah answers.
“Well, is he cute?” I ask, interested to hear more about this missing part of my life.
They look at each other and then back at me, both raising one shoulder simultaneously and nodding. Cool. So obviously cute, but not rock-your-world cute.
“He works at the Dinor. We should go soon to see him. You can use your new lease on life to finally make a move. Unless you’re too busy hunting down your other mystery guy, of course.”
“I have a checkup at the hospital tomorrow. How about next week?” I reply, before I can chicken out. They exchange a look I don’t quite understand, then nod excitedly.
Good.I said I was going to go back to my normal routine to get my old self back. Maybe this is a good place to start. Even if it means jumping in headfirst. Even if the idea of going to see this boy scares the crap out of me. Even if I don’t know why.
CHAPTER 12
THE NEXT MORNING, MY MOMplaces two mugs of fresh coffee on the kitchen table.
“Hey, Dad, your coffee’s ready!” I call out, but he doesn’t answer. “He must be outside? I’ll get him.” I start to stand up, but my mom catches my arm.
“Actually, honey, your dad had to go into work,” she says, frowning.
“But he said he was going to the appointment with us.” I plop back down in my chair.
“He really wanted to. Work has just been so busy.”
“It feels like helivesthere now. I’ve been home for days but I never see him,” I reply.
“He’s been taking as many appointments as he can at the garage.”
“Does that have anything to do with those?” I flick my eyes to the hospital bills that my mom has tactfully hidden behind a fruit basket on the counter. I don’t know much about health care, but I imagine a two-week stay paired with whatever they did to my head doesn’t come cheap.
She pulls the chair out across from me and slides onto it.“That’s not for you to worry about. Okay? Here.” She slides the orange mug toward me. “Drink your coffee.”
“Mycoffee? Absolutely not. No thank you,” I reply, scrunching my nose up.
“Oh, just try it. I added your favorite hazelnut creamer.”
